The Blogger Genius Podcast

This episode, about advanced email marketing strategies you want to know, is one of the most popular Blogger Genius Podcast episodes of 2019, which is why I'm rebroadcasting it here. My guest on the show is Matt Molen from Email Crush. In this episode we talk about advanced email marketing strategies. We talk about why you want to use your own traffic to grow your email list, and why if you can offer something of real value, people will join. And by the way, this offer can be something you've already created, just repackaged for email subscribers. I continue to see the power of our email lists to sell products and services to our subscribers at both Catch My Party and MiloTree. I think this podcast will inspire you to dig deeper into email marketing in your business. Read the podcast transcript here TOP 4 EPISODE TAKEAWAYS To be successful at email marketing, you must become an aggressive email acquirer. Set up a "forever series"—a 10-post email series around one evergreen topic. Segment your list to build a loyal audience. Spend time writing attention-grabbing subject lines and editing your emails to be as short as possible. Prune your list every 3-4 months. Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Today, Jillian Leslie, from The Blogger Genius Podcast, is interviewing Kaycee Geeding from Roost and Restore. Kaycee never thought she'd build a successful business using her wood saw, but that's what her audience wanted from her—her scrap wood products—and that's what she starting sell them. Listen to Kaycee share about her lightbulb moment when she figured this out, how her Facebook page is a critical part of her business, how she's managed burnout by reducing the number of products she sells, and what she learned in our Six-Week Coaching Group. Kaycee demonstrates that by staying open and flexible, and committed to your audience, you can build a successful business that you couldn't even imagine at the beginning of your journey. Show Notes: MiloTree MiloTree Coaching Group MiloTree Phone Consultation Roost and Restore The Blogger Genius Podcast MiloTree Mastermind Facebook Group

Intro for Episode #130 Photography is such a big part of being a blogger or online entrepreneur, that learning how to take photos like a pro is worth your time. The quality of your photos can make or break your content, especially when it comes to Pinterest and Google image search. Today I have Cheryl Norris from Bakes by Brown Sugar on the podcast to talk about how she learned to take stunning photos as a dessert blogger. When I first saw Cheryl's photos I could have sworn she was a professional photographer, so to learn that she was self-taught, was fascinating. What she proves is that if you work at something and practice, you too can get good! Cheryl also shares how she puts her engineering mind to work on recipe development as well. And Cheryl shares what it has been like for her to be in our Six-Week MiloTree Coaching Group. I think she really enjoyed growing her business in real time, in a systematic way, while being coached by David and me. I think you'll find Cheryl's story inspiring, so please don't miss this episode. Show Notes: MiloTree MiloTree Coaching Group MiloTree Phone Consultation Bakes by Brown Sugar Foodtography School The Blogger Genius Podcast MiloTree Mastermind Facebook Group MiloTree Entrepreneur Coaching Group Starts August 4th - Join Us! Hello, everyone. Before I get started, I wanted to announce that our next Coaching Group is starting August 4th. If you want to take your blog or online business to the next level, or you're just getting started and you really need some coaching and some direction please go look at MiloTree.com/group and you can read all about it. It's a six-week program. We show up live on Zoom as a group. David and I lead workshops where we go through step by step how to build an online business. We give you homework assignments, we look at your homework and give you feedback. There's a lot of personal attention and I think it gives you the fundamentals, you need to build a business and you build it in real time. So, these six weeks you're building your business. Also, if you're interested, please come get on a call with me. if you go to MiloTree.com/meet, we can meet each other and we can just chat for a little bit and I can hear about your business, give you some pointers and some tips and see if it's a good fit. I'd love to meet you again. MiloTree.com/meet. Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Today, we're talking about email marketing, and how your email list is like an ATM and makes you money if you know how to use it for sales. I've got Sarah Williams from Framed By Sarah back on the show for a Part 2 Interview. If you haven't listened to our Part 1, you can do so here. Sarah has built a successful subscription box business, and in this episode we dig deeper into how she thinks about putting a box together to sell to her customers—how do you deal with managing subscribers, inventory, planning for the future, the experience for her customers, etc. We also dig deep into Sarah's email strategy. By combining different parts of her business into her emails, like her weekly Facebook Lives, and promoting different items every week, she's figured out how to use email directly for sales. She's gotten so good at targeting her customers using sophisticated email automations, she's able to serve up the right email to the right customer at the right time. If you're looking for new strategies for making money online, especially ways to build recurring revenue, please don't miss this episode. Before I get started, I wanted to let you know that our next Six-Week MiloTree Coaching Group is starting August 4th. This is the coaching group that David and I teach live on Zoom. It meets for six weeks. And we show up with you twice a week. We do a teaching workshop session and we do a Q&A session. And the great thing about it is we get to know you. So while we're teaching general stuff, we are also teaching specific stuff for you. It's that we show up live with you, we hold you accountable. And you are growing your business in real time. If this sounds interesting to you, I'd love you to sign up for a time to get on the phone with me so that you could tell me about your business. I will look at your blog or your website and give you some feedback. I'll talk about what we could do for you what this group could do for you. And I'd love to meet you. Please sign up at milotree.com/meet.

I've got my friend and Pinterest expert, Kate Ahl from Simple Pin Media, back on the show for her third appearance. If you want to know what is working on Pinterest now, you will want to listen to this episode. Some of the topics we discuss in this episode: The power of "Fresh Pins" How to schedule out your new pins Why relevancy matters Why you want to add your call-to-action directly to your pin Why you might want to experiment with Video Pins What Story Pins are and how you might use them If Pinterest is important to your business, don't miss this episode! Show Notes: MiloTree Catch My Party The Blogger Genius Podcast MiloTree Coaching Group MiloTree Membership Group MiloTree Mastermind Facebook Group Simple Pin Media Simple Pin Podcast Story Pins Simple Pin Pinterest Strategy Facebook Group Host 0:04 Welcome to the Blogger Genius Podcast brought to you by MiloTree. Here's your host, Jillian Leslie. Jillian Leslie 0:11 Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the show. I wanted to start by saying that building a business on the internet is a journey. So for example, David, my husband and I started our first business Catch My Party in 2009. And we grew it—and it's still growing—into the largest party ideas site on the web. And then, because we needed to grow our own social media followers, David built MiloTree, the pop up that grows your followers on Pinterest, and Instagram, and YouTube and Facebook and your email list, and all of that. We built it for ourselves. And then we rolled it out as a separate business because we thought other bloggers and online entrepreneurs could get value out of it. So boom, there we started our second business, and then to put a human face on MiloTree which looked like a cold app. I started The Blogger Genius Podcast where I interview the best experts, online experts, successful entrepreneurs to really figure out what's working now in online business. And from this, David and I, given all of our experience, started coaching. And so we have a Six Week Coaching Group, and we have a Membership. So once you finish the six weeks, you can join our Monthly Membership. And in the six week program, we get to know you so well, and we help you build your business in real time. So we do live Zoom calls every week. We give homework every week and hold you accountable. Not only that, but we know all about your business. We know all about your website. We are constantly giving you personalized attention. If that feels interesting or something you'd like to participate in. Please head to milotree.com/group and you can read all about it. Our new group is starting August 4, and I'd love to actually get on a call with you to talk to you about it. Just a free call to give you some insight. I want you to send me your website so I can take a look, give you some pointers and see if it's a good fit. That's interesting to you. Please reach out to me at Jillian@milotree.com. I've got one of my favorite guests on the show today. It is my friend Kate Ahl from Simple Pin Media. I've known Kate now for years. This is her third appearance on the podcast. And what I love to do is to check in with Kate to talk about what is working on Pinterest right now. Pinterest is a huge traffic driver for all of us so this episode is a must-listen for anyone trying to drive traffic to their site. Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Ever wondered how to set up a successful subscription business? My guest today is Sarah from Framed by Sarah. She started her subscription business selling mystery boxes to her local customers. When that proved successful, she started selling personalized subscription boxes and subscription tees online. And you wouldn't believe the success she's made of that! Sarah shares how she started her subscription business, how she grew it using Facebook lives and Facebook ads. She also shares how she personalizes her boxes, how she interacts with her customers, and how she uses email and social media for her business. We get into the nitty gritty, and Sarah is so open and forthcoming in what she shares. If you've ever wondered how to sell subscriptions to your customers, this is the episode for you! Show Notes: MiloTree MiloTree Coaching Group MiloTree Mastermind Facebook Group Framed! By Sarah Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… If you are looking for ways to grow your community whether that be email whether that be social media, right now head to Milotree.com install the MiloTree app on your blog and it will do the work for you. Let it do the heavy lifting for you. Let it pop up in front of your visitors and ask them to follow you on Instagram Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, join your list, check out the exit intent but really get your community growing. And we'd love to help you with MiloTree. And I will see you here again next week. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Email is such a powerful piece of your online business. It is where you'll get the biggest ROI (return on investment). But how do you use it to maximize your list's potential? I've got my friend, Kate Doster from KateDoster.com, back on the show to break down why email is so powerful, why it's different from social media, why it's the best way to build a close relationship with your audience, and how to create an easy email sales funnel to sell to your subscribers. Kate's email philosophy is to show up as a real person. I love that! And you'll love this episode. Plus, Kate is an absolute hoot! Show Notes: MiloTree MiloTree Coaching Group Kate Doster Inbox Besties Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Google Play Stitcher YouTube Host 0:04 Welcome to the Blogger Genius Podcast brought to you by MiloTree. Here's your host, Jillian Leslie. What Do I Get in the MiloTree 6-Week Coaching Group? Jillian Leslie 0:11 Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the show. Before I start, I wanted to let everybody know that right now David and I are in the midst of our current six-week Blogger Coaching Group. And we are going to start our next one at the beginning of August. So I want you to pencil that in. I'll be telling you more about it as it gets closer, but I want you to just put that in your mind. Because if you are a blogger, or an online entrepreneur and you feel like you are stuck, or you feel like you don't know which way to go, you definitely want to join our next group because we as I say we roll up our sleeves. We not only dig into your site and optimizing your site because, of course, David is a technologist, but we teach you strategies and we hold you accountable. So during those six weeks, you're not just learning. You're building your business with constant feedback from us. There are weekly assignments to move you forward and you develop the skills as you're building. It's really awesome. So again, just remember beginning of August, this could really be a game changer for you. For today's episode, I have my friend Kate Doster back on the show; she was one of my early guests. She is an email marketing expert and she is a hoot. I just love her on the show. And we are talking about what is working in email marketing today. You know, things are always changing. They're always new trends, and she is so up to date. I really think you are going to get a lot out of this episode. So without further delay, here is my interview with Kate Doster.

Did you know there's power in your email list beyond sending them emails? Listen to this episode with Adam Reimer, email expert, about interesting ways to target your email list through ads on Google, Facebook, and Pinterest, to grow your business without ever sending an email. That right. You can target your list by sending them ads using the data they've already provided you. We talk about targeting potential customers with specific opt-ins, dealing with a cold email list, setting up sales funnels based on your customers' needs, and so much more. Listen to this episode to understand how to grow your business by using your email list in a whole new way! This definitely opened my eyes. Show Notes: MiloTree MiloTree BlogStart Adam Riemer Pubcon Slade Cutter lawyer Jaime Hawke lawyer The Blogger Genius Podcast on iTunes Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Google Play Stitcher YouTube Read the episode transcript here! Start a WordPress Blog Easily with MiloTree BlogStart As what I like to call the "hub" of their business so that they can build the spokes off of it. Now David and I talk about this all the time, technology is tricky, and having somebody help you who understands it is a really good thing. Therefore we would love to help you set up your WordPress blog. And not only will we set it up, we will optimize it. We will install the plugins that you need and we will explain everything to you and we'll be there for any technical questions you have. Honestly, I really highly recommend this to anybody who's ready to get started. To learn more, head to milotree.com/blogstart. And again, that's milotree.com/blogstart. If you have any questions about this, please reach out to me at jillian@milotree.com. Our goal is to put more online entrepreneurs out there in the world. This is a perfect time to take your fate into your own hands and we really want to support you. So for today's episode, I have Adam Riemer on the show and he is an email marketing expert. As you'll learn I was at a conference, I met him and he had some really interesting strategies around email marketing and when I heard him, I said, "Oh my God, please come on the show." I think you are going to think about your list very differently after listening to this episode. So without further delay, here is my interview with Adam Riemer. Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… It can be with MiloTree! Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free! Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. Sign up today! Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

There's a new kid in town called TikTok, and it's not just for thirteen-year-olds. In this podcast episode, I'm talking to Evey Alvarez-Flores from Evey's Creations about what you need to know about TikTok for your business. One thing I always recommend is to jump on a platform before it gets too popular. It's the easiest time to grow your page. Of course, you have to take a risk to do that because what if that platform fizzles? But TikTok is exploding as we speak. I think you are going to be hearing more and more about it. And I believe it's here to stay. So listen to this episode to begin to understand the power of the platform. And I definitely recommend you download the app, if you haven't. Start playing around with it. One thing I have to say... it's fun! Show Notes: MiloTree MiloTree Membership Program Evey's Creations MiloTree Mastermind Facebook Group Old Fashioned Milk Paint Unicorn Spit CatchMyParty TikTok MiloTree TikTok Catch My Party Subscribe to The Blogger Genius Podcast: iTunes Google Play Stitcher YouTube Imagine a world where growing your social media followers and email list was easy… It can be with MiloTree! Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free! Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. Sign up today! Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes. Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

It takes a special kind of person to strike out on their own and start a business. Today I'm interviewing Jennifer Allwood, business coach, author, entrepreneur, and thought leader. We are talking about how to know if you're made to be an entrepreneur. Are you able to deal with the ups and downs, the uncertainty, the hard work and long days? Plus, how will you deal with self-doubt, uncertainty, and the world continually changing around you? It's a tough road, but for some of us, it's the only road. Does this sound like you? Or maybe you'd be better suited as someone's number 2, helping support their vision without having to take on all the responsibility of it being your business. Listen to this honest, intimate and fun conversation between Jennifer and me. It's definitely entertaining and it might help you find out what your true calling is. Show Notes: MiloTree MiloTree Membership Program Jennifer Allwood Catch My Party The War of Art Need Ongoing Tech Help? Join our MiloTree Membership Hello friends. Before I get started, I wanted to share about our new program. It's called the MiloTree Membership Program. And as part of it, you get ongoing tech support for your blog or online business. You get community filled with other bloggers and online entrepreneurs. And you get one teaching session a month, where David and I talk about a current topic in online business. And there's one Q&A session a month where you can come and ask any questions you have related to technology, blogging, marketing, selling products, whatever, we're there to answer them. I'd love you to check it out. Head to MiloTree.com/membership. So come join and there are no contracts or anything. We would just love you to be a part of it.