The Blogger Genius Podcast

We are doing something a little bit different today. I recently hit a podcasting milestone, so I decided to celebrate by sharing what I've learned reaching 100+ episodes. Phew! I can't believe I did it! My friend and MiloTree community manager, Paula Rollo, is back to help me share with you all some behind the scenes from the podcast.  Before we jump into the content though, I want to speak directly to those people who have been listening to this podcast for a long time because they’re interested in starting their own blog but they haven’t made the leap yet, for whatever reason.  Blogging is a great way to set up your online business, but the technology holds so many people back.  Well now, you don’t have to wait anymore!  MiloTree now has blogging start-up services. For a small fee, we will get your Wordpress blog up and running, with the plug-ins we recommend and your blog optimized.  If you’ve decided that 2020 is the year you finally jump in and start your business, let us help!  Just go to MiloTree and sign up today.  Why I Started This Podcast I have always listened to and enjoyed podcasts. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I even look for excuses in my life to listen to my podcasts.  When I started this podcast, it was because I went to Podcast Movement and took a course on how to start a podcast.  I came home and told my daughter I was going to start a podcast and she said, “No you’re not.”  I had learned that if you can make it to your eighth episode, you are more likely to continue creating content for your podcast.  I told my daughter I would make it to episode 8, and I did it to prove to her that I could! I wanted her to see how if you put your mind to it, and do the work, things will happen. My Favorite Part of Having A Podcast  My favorite part is that I am having an intimate, one-on-one conversation with someone that the world gets to listen in on.  I am not on a stage with a crowd of people watching me; I get to feel comfortable talking to someone as my natural self.  I can be my authentic self because I am focused on listening to the person I’m interviewing and responding to them.  I feel super honored to be let into people’s ears and I love meeting my listeners.  The Space This Podcast Fills I try to get guests who are going to have different perspectives on building online businesses.  I want to be really curious and ask questions about what people want to know. My audience is very sophisticated and they want to know the inner workings and tactics on how to build a business.  I want my guests to share their failures so that my audience knows what not to do, as well as what to do.  No one on my show is an overnight success. We share our struggles, the years of hard work it took, and the sacrifices we had to make in order to get where we are now. I am all about debunking the myth of the overnight success.  How I Plan Future Episodes  I usually fly by the seat of my pants episode by episode. However, I’m always looking for interesting people to interview.  One thing I like is people who build their businesses in unique ways. We all know that there are certain things you can do to build an online business, but I want to talk to those people who try new things and who discover new ways to find success.  My audience is very diverse.  I want to introduce new ideas about money, social media, etc., to my more experienced audience who need to be taking those next steps.  Helping New Bloggers I also have an audience of people who are just getting started in this sphere. For that audience, I want to help them get off the ground.  There is so much to learn about blogging and building an online business and it can be overwhelming.  That’s why my husband, David, and I started the BlogStart Service at MiloTree. We get it. We know how hard it can be if you don’t have experience in online business. Just getting a blog set up is a huge hurdle for most people. We wanted to help people overcome that hurdle, so we now have a service that will get a blog up and running in a very short time for someone who wants to get started but is held back by the technology required.  I want to build a path for the people who want to start their businesses but don’t know the in’s and out’s.  If that describes you, please join our New Blogger Coaching Group we are starting March 2nd. Our goal is to give you a roadmap to go from blogger to profitable online entrepreneur. Our coaching group will focus more on beginning bloggers, while this podcast will continue to do deep dives into specific aspects of the blogging business.  What I Want Listeners To Learn  I want my listeners to know that I want to help them. I am still learning too; we are all on this journey together.  To be successful on the internet we must all be continual learners, and having a podcast gives me the platform to ask all the questions I am wondering about.  My Message To You  If you enjoy this podcast, I want to say thank you. I am so honored that you make the choice to let me into your earbuds and that you trust me with at least part of your blogging education.  I would love to have you join my Facebook group.  I am trying to be in there every day, encouraging and offering tips and support for all of you. It is such a wonderful community of supportive entrepreneurs.  It is a dance. There are days where you kick butt. And there will be days when you feel too low to continue. You will question why you are even trying to accomplish this online business thing.  It is never as bad as you think, and it is probably not as great as you think.  You have to work through your emotions and know that you can still make a difference and grow. Tomorrow is another day. Always know that you are making a difference in someone’s life. Whether that’s a reader, a family member, or someone you’ve never met.  It was fun to do this episode for you all. I hope you learned more about me and my reasons and goals for this podcast. Now, why don’t you go right on over and join the Facebook group, and then head to MiloTree and let us help you with getting your blog set up or with some personal coaching?  Transcript for "What I've Learned From Reaching 100+ Episodes" 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!

Do you struggle with knowing how to write successful blog posts today? How about how to constantly create new content and still do all the other things that blogging requires?  If you are curious about ads or systematizing your content creation, you’re going to want to listen to today’s conversation with Amber Bracegirdle.  But first, I wanted to share something with you. My husband and business partner, David, and I have noticed something; a lot of the listeners of this podcast want to start an online business or a blog, but they have no idea where to start. So, if the tech required for starting a blog has been holding you back, I have great news for you!  MiloTree is now offering blog start-up services! Just go to MiloTree/BlogStart to see how we can help you. We know how overwhelming it can be to start a business if you’re not tech-savvy.  That’s why we decided it was time to help people get over the hump of getting their blog set up so they could move on to creating content, serving their audience, and developing products.  If you’re ready to make 2020 the year you finally start that business or blog you’ve been dreaming of for a long time, let us help. Head over to MiloTree/BlogStart to get started.  We can’t wait to see what you build in 2020! Amber Bracegirdle is one of the founders of MediaVine, an online ad network. Many of our listeners use MediaVine on their blogs for ads.  In this conversation, Amber shares how Mediavine came to be a business, her system for creating great content, and what the future holds for publishers and bloggers.  I think you’re going to love this episode, so let’s get to it.  Qualifications for MediaVine There are many different ad networks that bloggers can work with and they each have their own unique qualifications.  Mediavine requires you to have at least 25,000 sessions, not pageviews, in a 30-day period.   They prefer to work with bloggers who target audiences from mostly English-speaking countries because that is where you are going to make the most money.  The other requirements are that you must post long-form content, your site must be at least 3-4 months old, and you must be in good standing with Google AdSense.  Creating Unique Blog Content In today’s world of blogging, you have to differentiate yourself from other bloggers. Finding ways to stand out from the crowd is a good thing. If you’ve been blogging for several years, as Amber and I have, you may have an idea of what a blog post is “supposed” to look like.  You start with your topic, create long-form content around that topic, and at the end of the post, you give your reader a call to action. Unfortunately, that’s where most bloggers stop.  But there are so many other types of content that will allow your blog to rank higher in search engines.  One great way to use your own content, and incorporate content from other bloggers as well, is to do round-up style posts. Round-ups are lists of posts all revolving around a certain topic.  If you want to increase the traffic to your site, create content that answers specific questions. People go to Google to ask questions and Google then sends those people to articles that answer their questions. The key here is to create different types of content (lists, DIYs, recipes, how-tos) aside from what you think of as basic blog content. Venture out from the type of post you’ve always created and try a list or answer some common questions.  Keyword Research to Rank in Google Back in the early days of blogging, bloggers could write about whatever they wanted. If I wanted to try a recipe for dinner, I could snap a few photos and write about how I made the recipe and whether or not my family enjoyed it.  Not anymore. Blogs are no longer merely online journals of your daily life. Nowadays, bloggers have to be much more strategic about what they write about and how they write about it.  And that’s where keyword research comes into play. Knowing what your audience is searching for is going to grow your traffic as you provide answers to their questions.  Be strategic about how you cover every aspect of a topic, with a different problem and answer in every post. And be sure to include links in each post to the other posts on that topic.  Multiple Blog Audiences  You don’t have to put your content out to every audience you have, but it is on your site for the person who’s going to ask that question and need your answer.  You have multiple audiences and you can cater to the different people coming to you from all over the internet.  Someone coming from Pinterest wants something different than someone coming from Google.  Be strategic about who you are writing your content for, and how you can reach everyone from every walk of life. This helps you avoid burnout as you create different forms of content rather than always having to create something new from scratch. The Importance of Video as a Blogger Video is growing in popularity and in importance.  It’s great for your site’s SEO; it’s great user experience; it’s huge for your income.  Just as an example, the CPM, (or cost per 1K ad impressions) for video ads in 2019 was $19. Whereas the CPM for display ads was $2-3.  The only problem with video is there isn’t enough video content to meet the demand for it.  From the beginning, Mediavine has been interested in giving the reader what they want, and in the process, they gave the advertisers what they wanted as well. If you’re ready to start working with Mediavine, you can contact them at Mediavine.com, and listen to Amber’s podcast at Theory of Content.  Read the Transcript for “How to Write Successful Blog Posts Today” 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!

Is 2020 the year you are finally going to start an online business and follow your dreams? If so, you’re going to want to listen in to my conversation with Sue de Chiara, creator of The Zhush. Sue and I discuss how she built her blog, and how she grew her Instagram to nearly 116K followers. And be sure to stay tuned to the end because Sue is sharing some of the biggest mistakes she made along the way.   I always want to dig into the mistakes because those are an inevitable part of any business. Sue is very transparent and I think this conversation will be very valuable for you if you’re ready to start your own business. But first, I wanted to share something with you. My husband and business partner, David, and I have noticed something; a lot of the listeners of this podcast want to start an online business or a blog, but they have no idea where to start. So, if the tech required for starting a blog has been holding you back, I have great news for you!  MiloTree is now offering blog start-up services! Just go to MiloTree/BlogStart to see how we can help you. We know how overwhelming it can be to start a business if you’re not tech-savvy.  That’s why we decided it was time to help people get over the hump of getting their blog set up so they could move on to creating content, serving their audience, and developing products.  If you’re ready to make 2020 the year you finally start that business or blog you’ve been dreaming of for a long time, let us help. Head over to MiloTree/BlogStart to get started.  We can’t wait to see what you build in 2020! Pivoting Your Business  In 2010, Sue started a blog where she shared how she decorated her home.  People came to her blog for inspiration, so she decided to do some affiliate marketing from it, setting up a storefront to sell the types of items she was using in her own home.  She ran the store for 7 years, which she says was “a year and a half too long.” The business was very successful for a while. They had great press coverage and feedback, but Sue just couldn’t figure out how to scale it.  With no background in retail, and because this was the wild west days of online business, the business became more of a headache than it was worth. However, at the same time, the blog was bringing in its own revenue and was something she thoroughly enjoyed doing.  She was afraid to shut the store down, but now, she wishes she had done it much sooner. Do not be afraid to move forward with a new idea if what you’re doing isn’t panning out for you. We need to be flexible and learn how to read our audience.  Monetizing a Blog  With the storefront closed down, Sue began to focus solely on her blog in 2017.  She monetizes that blog through ads, affiliate links, and a few sponsored posts. She doesn’t pursue sponsored work however; if a brand contacts her and is a great fit for her audience, she will take on the work.  Sue sells packages to sponsors that include a blog post, 1-2 IG posts, and IG stories.  Sponsored work has changed a ton since she started monetizing her blog. Now, the brands are more in charge of how they want the information shared, where and when it gets the most engagement.  For our own site, Catch My Party, I’ve noticed that brands are far more demanding than in the past, and that campaigns take much more time than they used to. Developing a Strategy for Affiliate Marketing If you plan to use affiliate marketing as a stream of income for your blog, you have to go into that with a strategy. If you don’t have a strategy, you won’t see the success you desire.  Sue uses Reward Style to share products with her audience. Reward Style is affiliated with so many businesses that it makes it easy for Sue to talk about things she really loves.  She also creates gift guides on her blog using sponsored content.  These gift guides are very specific. If you want your gift guides to be successful, they can’t be generalized. Using Instagram as a Marketing Tool Sue was a very early adopter of IG. At the time, she was just using it for fun, posting photos of her children.  But because she had a public account and was on there from the beginning, she built up a large following.  It wasn’t until Sue had around 25,000 followers that she realized she could use Instagram to help her business.  *Side note - As a business owner who helps people grow their social media accounts, I know that it can be discouraging to see your follower counts drop. But you need to keep in mind that Facebook and IG are always trying to find and delete spam accounts. So what may appear to be falling follower counts could merely be that IG has discovered more spam accounts and deleted them. Focusing on your numbers is not always healthy for you. Your following will rise and fall naturally day-by-day. Your engaged followers are going to be there for you as long as you continue to put out good content.  And if you want your real, engaged IG followers to grow faster, definitely add MiloTree to your site.  Sue posts to her feed once a day and to stories multiple times per day. She uses a mixture of personal content, swipe-ups to blog posts, and swipe-ups to affiliate products. A Typical Workweek Sue spends 40+ hours per week working on her blog and business. She posts to her blog 5 times per week, but 1-2 of those are usually repurposed content.  For a while, Sue had a guest poster once a month on the blog, which was a huge help, but she is now creating all the blog content herself. And she admits to hitting burnout at times. To head off the feeling of overwhelm, she relies on an editorial calendar and an ongoing monthly series to keep the content fresh and exciting.  Tips for Growing an Online Business (and Mistakes to Avoid)  Sue wants everybody to understand that the most important thing for new online business owners to focus on is building an email list.  Sue says she “was asleep to that concept for too many years.” It’s important to begin building that list from day one. Not only was Sue late to the email game, but she also only recently created a lead magnet to get folks on her list.  Sue also suggests that you focus on one area at a time. Don’t try to learn Facebook, blogging, Pinterest, and Instagram all at the same time.  Conquer one area, learn everything you can about it, and then pick the next thing to work on.  Read the Transcript for "How to Ride the Ups and Downs of Blogging" Here 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!

This episode explores how to go from a blogging failure to massive success, but before we launch in... Have you been dreaming of starting a WordPress blog but you’re overwhelmed by the tech aspects of it all? I get it.  Getting a blog up and running can be the one thing that hinders you from starting your online business. Maybe you want 2020 to be your year, but you know that setting up a blog is going to be the one thing that keeps you from reaching your goals.  Now imagine if you could do it effortlessly. We, at MiloTree, are now offering blog set-up packages where we set up your blog for you right, and you can focus on creating content and developing your own products to sell. We have been in this business for a long time, and we know what it takes to get a blog up and running the right way. We hear from so many of you that getting your blog set up is an obstacle you just can’t get past. Well, now you have help. Just go to MiloTree to see what we can do for you. We have several packages to choose from based on your specific needs. There is a package that’s perfect for you! If you have any questions, please reach out. We'd love to help you! In today’s episode, I am interviewing Lauren McManus.  I find Lauren’s story interesting, especially the party where she and her business partner started a blog that didn’t go anywhere. Not everybody hits it big with that first iteration. After the failure, they started another blog, Avocadu, that was a huge success by all standards. They followed that success with a business teaching others how to grow online businesses called Create and Go.  Lauren now lives the life I dream of a digital nomad. She travels the world while running her businesses. In fact, she joined me for this conversation from Chile.  From Failure to Massive Success The difference between the first blog (failure) and the second blog (massive success) was the audience focus.  Lauren tried to cater to people exactly like herself with her first website.  Her demographic was young people who wanted to be social, but maintain their health at the same time. That website failed. The diet program they were trying to sell failed.  The second time they started a website, they hid their own faces and wrote articles addressing all health questions. The audience they ended up attracting the most was 45-year old women, mostly mothers.  They took the time to learn how to market to the correct demographic and their product sold immediately.  They took the time to drive traffic, build an audience, and learn their audience before selling products, and that made all the difference.  They still sell their original e-book with video updates, and it still performs very well.  Building an Avatar Through an Email List As the blog was growing, Lauren was using Pinterest to drive traffic to it. Once someone came to the blog, there were multiple opportunities to sign up for emails.  Lauren and her partner also wrote articles on every single subject related to health they could think of in the beginning test phase.  They needed to find out exactly who their audience was so that they could create content and products specifically for that person. Once they learned that yoga and weight loss content was what the majority of their audience wanted, they focused on creating products for those two topics.  At the bottom of their first email to new subscribers, Lauren would ask what the person’s number one problem was in achieving their goals. The responses were typically very in-depth, and gave them the insight they needed to create a customer avatar.  How Many “At Bats” Does It Take?  Just like Lauren discovered, we don’t always blow it out of the water on our first go ‘round.  Sometimes, we have to try multiple times before we find the thing that’s going to work for us. I call these “at-bats,” because they aren’t failures; they’re simply figuring out what works.  Do not be scared to change what you create when you see what resonates the most with your audience.  The more you tweak and test, the more you will know about your audience, and what works best. Content Creation  For the first blog that was hugely successful, Lauren and her partner split the writing duties and only occasionally hired it out. These days, it is all hired out. On the blog about leaving your 9-5, they really only create blog content when they create new courses. Projects demand most of their work time, so they tend to leave everything else behind for a bit while big projects take the focus. They also focus on other types of content now, such as YouTube, podcast interviews, and updated courses.  Don’t be afraid that by starting a blog, you will be creating written content for 60 hours a week forever.  Opportunities For You  Do you ever feel like there are so many blogs that there’s no point in you even trying to start something? I think a lot of people feel that way.  But the fact is that even in a very saturated market (weight loss), Lauren was able to make money in the first few months of her blog. And she made 6 figures in her first 12 months! There is always room at the top. But you need to know what your unique selling point is.  For Lauren, Pinterest and Youtube are the best platforms for her business.  The most important thing is to not overthink what you want your topics to be. Share where you have experience.  When you sell what you know, your audience will believe you and engage with you.  Lauren’s Advice for You It is so important to connect with your audience.  No matter what stage you are in with your business, find out who your target audience is and be relatable to them.  Be transparent, be yourself. People want to relate to you. They want to believe what you say and who you are.  Learn as much as you can from your audience and continue connecting.  If my conversation with Lauren has you all fired up and ready to start that blog you’ve been meaning to start for a while now, head on over to MiloTree and we can get you set up fast and right.  If the tech makes you want to pull your hair out, let us help! It’s time to get your online business off the ground, whether you want to be a nomad or you just want to share your passions with others. Visit MiloTree today! Read the transcript for "How to Go From Blogging Failure to Massive Success" 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!

Do you want to learn how to build a seven-figure business teaching something you already know? If so, stay tuned to hear my conversation with Luisa Zhou about how she built her business teaching people how to quit their day jobs.  Luisa shares the failures she experienced when building her business, and how much time it took her to figure out what she was going to offer her audience.  She also shares how she got started, and her decision to serve her people without worrying about how pretty everything was at the beginning. But before we jump into my conversation with Luisa, I wanted to let you know that we have rolled out a brand new service here at MiloTree called MiloTree BlogStart. We know that blogging can be a great way to start your online business, but we also know that it can be really challenging if you don’t have a lot of technical skills.  I’m so fortunate that my husband, David, is very gifted in the tech space, but I can tell you right now, I would be stuck more than I care to admit without him! Our new service will have your WordPress blog up and running in a jiffy. We will help you purchase your domain name and hosting, set up your secure site, optimize it, and we will also provide technical support afterward so you can be free of fear. 2020 is a great time to make your dream of owning an online business come true, so what are you waiting for? Head on over to MiloTree BlogStart today and sign up to get your blog up and running!  Now, on with the show! Learning from Your Mistakes   Luisa had been trying to start her own business for several years before she began to build the one that would ultimately allow her to quit her 9-5. Learning what works and what does not work early helped Luisa launch her business successfully once she knew what she wanted to offer the world.  One of Luisa’s biggest mistakes was not getting to know her audience before she started trying to sell her knowledge. A second mistake was making a beautiful site but not working to get traffic to her page or building a connection with her audience.  Once Luisa began doing things in the right order, she was making six figures in less than 4 months because she had learned what worked and what didn’t.  That was only possible because of the past 3 years of failures Luisa had gone through.  Failure is not a setback, it’s a lesson on how to move forward.  The Need for Flexibility  After those four successful months, Luisa left her day job to focus on a Facebook ad coaching business she was building. But Luisa began getting questions on how to build a business while still employed in a 9-5.  After getting all of those questions, Luisa realized she could take the opportunity to coach people on how to start their own businesses.  Luisa didn’t start out with a plan to coach others, but when the opportunity presented itself, she knew she had the skills and experience, so she thought, why not? If you hold too tightly to your dreams and plans, you could potentially miss huge opportunities that might not fit in with your plan for the moment, but could ultimately prove to be more lucrative and more satisfying. Creating A Group Program  When people started reaching out to Luisa about building a business and leaving their jobs, she already had experience creating a new business.  So, Luisa worked with a few clients before ultimately deciding to create a group program.  A group program is a hybrid of a course and a coaching program. There is course content, but it’s not completely self-paced. Luisa also comes in and answers questions, holds coaching calls, etc.  Luisa created the content as she went along. The questions and comments she received each week helped her form the content for the next week.  The people in Luisa’s group were shocked that she somehow always answered the questions they were going to ask. It was because she listened and learned what her audience needed. Luisa also made sure that she was involved personally with everyone in her group. Reaching out to the ones struggling, messaging them, having calls, and investing in everyone who was part of her group.  Scaling The Business  After the huge success of her first group program, Luisa built up more content to be able to offer a larger, six-month group program.  She knew the number of people she needed in order to make X dollar amount because she had been experimenting with smaller groups.  She invited more customers this time around and increased the price of her program, and she had a six-figure launch.  Luisa used a combination of Facebook,  Periscope, and webinars to get clients for the new group. She created a 5-day challenge to pique interest and drive sales. She took the income number she wanted to reach and worked to drive that many sales for the group program. And she hit it with a $100K launch.  Educating Yourself  Luisa took many courses over the years as she prepared to start her own business.  When she became successful, she hired coaches of her own.  Luisa knew that she needed to be willing to learn anything necessary to run her business.  Even if you don’t use the strategies that you learn, you will broaden your perspective and have ideas that are not your own.  It can be hard to invest in something and only get one piece of the puzzle you need. Luisa was often discouraged by learning all the things she didn’t know she needed to know.  Focus on One Product  Some people want to sell everything under the sun, and this simply doesn’t work. The work that goes into building your knowledge, building the product, gaining an audience, and earning testimonials is incredibly time-consuming.  And you must do this for every service you want to offer.  Once you’ve built a product, focus on making sales rather than always having to build the next thing.  You’re going to be learning as you go, so spend your learning time fine-tuning what’s already working for you.  Biggest Next Step  If you want to quit your 9-5 and be a successful entrepreneur, this is what you need to do: Figure out what you have to offer Luisa says you can’t just offer anything and expect to replace your income. The best thing you can offer is some kind of premium consulting or coaching.  If you are selling your knowledge for $1K per client, you will be able to support yourself in quitting your regular job.  If you are selling a $100-500 course, you must sell many, many of them before replacing the income of a steady job.  Once you know what you can offer to the world, focus on going out and connecting with potential clients Figure out where your potential clients may be online. Find them and mark on your calendar when you will take the time to connect, share value, and engage with them.  After a couple of weeks, people will begin recognizing you and you can offer free coaching calls.  After the call, you can pitch what more your clients can get from you for a fee.  Once you have three to five clients, you can start getting testimonials, and figure out the best way to help others.  Use the revenue you’ve made to set up your website so you can reach the audience you know you want to reach Set up an email list for your audience.  After this, go back to focusing on getting potential clients.  The key here is to do the things that move the needle and stop doing the things that don’t matter. Connecting with people is the thing that moves the needle more than anything else.  If you don’t make connections with others, you will never build a successful business. Luisa has a free offer for my listeners so be sure to grab that and get started building your own successful business! And while you’re over there, be sure to check out her blog. She has a ton of great articles and amazing content to help you grow. Read the transcript for "How to Build a Seven-Figure Business Teaching Something You Already Know" 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!

What should you do in a world of changing algorithms? Should you be directing people back to your blog instead of your social media platforms? Can you adapt and adjust in the world of online business? That’s what my friend Camile Whiting and I are talking about in today’s episode. Camile has a blog called Friday’s We’re In Love, where she documents the dates she goes on with her husband every Friday night.  We talk about how to stay nimble as an entrepreneur in an online world that is constantly changing. Camille has a unique perspective on how to be flexible and continue to test new things in her business.  How to Monetize a Blog  Camile has four main ways that she monetizes her blog:  Sponsored posts  Ad network Affiliate links/product recommendations Services and consulting  Right now, Camile is focused on growing her traffic.  A year ago, Camile was working hard on her Instagram. But after seeing how the platform was changing and not serving her as well as it could, she decided to be flexible and seek out other avenues.  Camile uses social media because it’s fun to her, but she is serious about her site and using it to grow traffic.  Shifting Toward Growth Camile is not one of those people who wastes time whining about algorithm changes. As a matter of fact, as a user, she appreciates the algorithms and how they work to make her experience better.  The algorithm changes do act as a wake-up call for her business though. It serves as a reminder that nothing is constant. We, as bloggers, know that things change constantly.  So Camile asked herself a question: With social media changing all the time, what could she own that wouldn’t change? And the answer was email.  She’s had an email list for a couple of years but this year, she shifted toward more of an owner mentality. She realized the reach she has with her list; that her message is not limited in any way when she communicates with her email subscribers.  A Big Company Mindset  Camile believes in copying big companies’ strategies.  When she first started seeing blogs take off and make money from their readers, she also had the advantage of being in a group of Fortune 500 companies who were experimenting with their own websites and social platforms.  Camile got to watch these businesses spend millions of dollars just trying new things. That’s where she gets her experimental mindset.  What new things can you afford to try or implement?  Big companies go above and beyond to serve potential customers; they give away freebies, etc., before they try and make a sale.  Right now Camile is trying to continue growing her audience, as well as fortify the relationship she has with her current audience, so she can make more sales.  SEO Strategy  Camile has switched up her use of Google Analytics to find out what people want to read from her, not just what she wants to write for them.  In past years, Camile would only write about her passions, but people were looking for more than just date ideas.  Camile wrote more varied content, covering the topics her audience wanted to know about.  You will see more traffic when you give people what they want.  So you must be strategic when thinking about the topics you are going to write about.  See what content is already doing well, and create more content around that topic. And be sure to include links to the other posts you have on that topic so that Google will know that you have the information searchers are looking for.  Creating Content for Niche Topics  As Camile has shifted her focus from writing about whatever grabbed her attention, to writing the content that serves her audience, she has seen organic traffic growth.  You can write tons of content for very niche subjects. Take that big-picture subject and break it down into smaller pieces. And don’t feel like you’ve covered everything; there is always something else to say or another point of view to write from.  A previous guest on my show, Nate Woodbury, has a great way of thinking about creating content for niche topics. He says that as you gain authority in small topics that all relate to each other, over time you gain overall authority in that topic. Think of a tree as the topic as a whole. Then go leaf by leaf by leaf (smaller niche areas). Once you have a few leaves covered, begin to cover the trunk. Before you know it, you will have covered the entire tree.  Where are the opportunities for Bloggers Camile attributes her success to being an early adaptor to new platforms. Video is very important on all platforms this year. Camile has had to recognize and adapt to the fact that she needs to upload videos, as well as written content, in order to grow.  Camile sees her competitive advantage as finding ways to create content that’s not easily duplicated. If somebody can easily copy your style or your content, it’s time to up your game. That's why she's doing much more video. Changing with Online Trends When Camile learns a new skill or hops onto a new trend, she thinks about how that knowledge can serve her even if her business were to fail.  How she could adapt and move on to something else and succeed with what she’s learned? Online entrepreneurs typically have more diverse knowledge and skills needed for their business than most people.  The more you learn, stay up to date on changes, and adapt to those changes, the bigger the competitive edge you are going to have.  What is your competitive edge? What skills have you learned in your online business that you could take to another opportunity if your online business failed today? I’d love to hear from you on the things you’re learning. Are you an early adopter? Does fear hold you back from trying new things?  Come join me on Facebook on Mondays at 3 pm where I discuss the podcast and all my favorite takeaways.  TIMESTAMP Intro 3:20 How Camile Built A business by Building Her Marriage 10:17 Monetizing a Blog 15:00 Shifting Toward Growth 17:36 A Big Company Mindset  22:57 SEO Strategy  27:40 Creating Content for Niche Topics  33:54 Opportunities for Bloggers 38:10 Changing with Online Trends  TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS  If you hate algorithm changes, look at them from the user’s point of view, and focus your attention on the things you can control, like your email list. Be willing to experiment with new things and be an early adopter of new platforms.  Stop only writing the content you want to write and start writing what your audience wants to read. Stay up to date on changes in the online world so that you continue to build skills that you can use in various ways and in various businesses. 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!

If you think that niching down cuts into your earnings, think again. We're talking about how to easily profit from your niche. As you know, I’ve been a proponent of niching down for a long time. And if you still aren’t sure that the “riches are in the niches,” this episode is sure to change your mind.  My guest, Tamara Bennett, has built an empire with her site, Southern A-Door-nments Decor. You will be inspired as you hear how Tamara has built her business by teaching people how to paint door hangers.  But first, if you haven’t joined my Facebook group, I want to encourage you to do that today! Every Monday at 3:00 EST, I go live in the group to talk about that week’s podcast episode.  I go over the highlights, what I've learned, and what I think is important for you all to take away from the discussion.  How to Find Your Niche  Have you ever gone to a direct sales party in someone’s home?  I’m sure most of you have. But, did you ever think of starting your own style of the in-home party? That’s exactly what Tamara did! She began by hosting painting parties in her home while her husband was deployed. But when he came home, she felt the need to discontinue the parties she was having at home. However, she missed the camaraderie of the other women so much that she decided to offer to do the parties in the homes of others.  She would allow the hostess to paint her project for free and the guests each paid a fee for all of the materials needed to create their own personalized door hanger. Word spread quickly as the women began hosting parties for their own friends. Using Facebook Live to Grow Your Business Tamara admits to being an early adopter of new technology, so when Facebook started, it was no different.  She decided to do a live video while she created a bow for one of her door hangers from the parties. The live videos quickly became almost addicting for Tamara. She loved the fact that she could be at home, working on her crafts, but still be carrying on conversations with friends who were watching.  She quickly began painting door hangers on Facebook lives.  She figured people would like to see the process, and again, it provided her with that sense of community that she longed for. Creating a Membership Site Tamara noticed that her audience was divided into two segments: those who wanted to learn to paint, and those who just wanted to watch.  Tamara built her membership site to help the audience that wanted to learn more in-depth painting techniques.  People were already asking questions and Tamara was teaching as best she could during a Facebook Live, but she realized there were better platforms to teach her audience.  A few days before she launched her membership site, she began doing Facebook Lives every day, talking about the new site and all the benefits of joining.  When she officially opened the site a few days later, 407 people joined immediately.  407 people. As soon as the site was opened. Organic Facebook Growth  When Tamara started her Facebook Live videos, she had around 2,500 followers.  A year later Tamara had 5,000 followers, without running any Facebook ads. And that’s when she hired a coach to help her continue to grow her page. The main things the coach told her were to be consistent with her videos and to show her face in every video.  Scaling A Business Using Facebook Ads Tamara hired her business coach when she had 5,000 Facebook followers, in August of 2017.  By January of 2018, Tamara had 7,500 followers on her page.  At this point, Tamara hired someone to manage her Facebook ads.  After four months of running Facebook ads, she had 15,000 followers. She doubled her followers in just 4 months. Today, Tamara has 103,000 Facebook followers.  How to Build a Team  As your business grows, you get to a point where you simply can’t do everything yourself.  Tamara now has a Director of Operations. She helped build Tamara’s website, manages the membership site, and she is also responsible for delegating tasks to other team members.  The beauty of an operations manager is that it frees you up to focus on those tasks that have the biggest ROI, rather than spending your time micromanaging your team members. Tamara also has a social media assistant who manages her Facebook ads, and who helps to create and manage the content for Facebook and Instagram. Adding a Blog to Your Business One of the things I found fascinating about Tamara’s story is that she has only recently added a blog to her offerings.  She and her team are posting to the blog a few times a week, focusing on content that is relevant to people who are interested in painting door hangers.  It may seem counter-intuitive to start a blog after your business is successful, but your social media posts don’t stick around like blog content does. It’s difficult to go back and look at past content on social media, whereas on a blog, it’s easy to access previous content. Stay in Your Lane One of the things that Tamara struggled with when she first started was comparing herself to others.  Her advice to anyone starting a blog or online business is to not worry about what the competition is doing.  The moment she decided to focus on her community, and on the path she was taking was the moment everything changed for her. We all have an innate need for community, so I want you to think about your own business and figure out how you can create that sense of community for your audience.  I’m building a community in my MiloTree Mastermind Group on Facebook. If you aren’t a member, please come over and join us!  Read the transcript for “How To Easily Profit From Your Niche” 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!

This episode is one of my most popular of 2019, which is why I'm rebroadcasting it here. My guest on the show is Jeff Hawley. He is an SEO guru who works with publishers, bloggers, and online entrepreneurs to find successful SEO strategies for their businesses. In this episode, we talk about how SEO is more of an art form than a numbers game. But there are definitely things you need to know to help you in your quest for growth. If you’re trying to increase more organic traffic from Google (and even Pinterest, which is also a search engine), this episode is for you!

As bloggers, our number one need is traffic. We all know it, and yet sometimes, we try to talk ourselves out of it. We think we can grow our blogs and our businesses and not worry about traffic. And that’s not true. If you want to increase your blog income, you have to increase your traffic first. Here are 6 easy hacks to get more traffic to your blog Today, I’ve got my friend, and MiloTree Community Manager, Paula Rollo, back on the show, and we are talking about increasing your blog traffic. SEO, Pinterest, email marketing, and MiloTree are all great ways to grow your traffic. You’ll notice I didn’t mention Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. While social media can still provide traffic, the game has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. When the social media platforms first started, there were many hacks and tricks you could use to gain lots of traffic. Today, those platforms have tightened up so much, you have to truly provide good content to gain that traffic. Google doesn’t run on keywords alone anymore either. Today, Google actually reads your content and serves up only the best content to its audience, not just the most keyword-heavy posts. Easy strategies to get your content found So, if social media isn’t the way to get your blog in front of new readers, what are the best ways to do that now? There are several strategies you can use to get more eyes on your content: Answer actual questions that people are asking You want to be the authoritative voice in your niche Master your niche In order to be an authority, you have to figure out what it is about your content that your audience is connecting with Look at your analytics See which posts get the most engagement After you’ve done this: Build up your content Create blog posts on this topic and related topics Link your posts internally on your blog Google will see those links and serve up that content when someone has a question about your expertise. Create a page on your site where you have all your posts organized in a useful way Create long-form content Google likes longer content so aim for 1,500 3,000 words per post Know who your perfect audience is MiloTree’s perfect audience is people who already have traffic and want to convert that traffic. That’s who I want to go after because I can actually help them. I am very intentional in my blog posts and podcast episodes so that my target audience knows it is for them and is going to help them. You want to strategically go after the audience that will benefit from you. If you know your audience, then you will know the things they will be interested in. You do not want to go after every audience possible. You want to go after a specific person you know is interested in your topic. Growing your traffic through Pinterest To grow your traffic through Pinterest – Search Pinterest for popular pins and create content that is similar or on similar topics Use keywords in your title, your board descriptions, your pin descriptions, and on your pins Use relevant hashtags — 2-3 per pin description Just being active on Pinterest is not enough anymore. You have to be intentional. Why you need to be intentional and focused in your business If you think you cannot be creative in your niche, then you can experiment outside that, but I would suggest you find new ways to be creative inside it. While you do have the ability to do what you want, you have to be consistent if you expect to grow your business. You certainly don’t have the same level of freedom that bloggers had several years ago. If you are an influencer as a business, you do not have the freedom to just do what you want. You can always start a little side project to play with, but you should not let it affect your business. The audience I am looking to help is business people. Even if they have no experience with making money on a blog, that is their first and foremost desire. If you have a creative idea, and you don’t care about making money with it, go for it. But do not sink your business to follow a creative idea that will not make you money. It isn’t all fun and games. Sometimes you have to sit down and look at the numbers, you have to think about the business side of it. How to get traffic from newsletters I know a food blogger who sends out three recipes a week to her email list. Her RSS feed is what drives the majority of her traffic because she has a very loyal audience. At the end of the day, you’re paying for your email service. Email services aren’t cheap, so you have to balance what you’re making on ads versus what you’re spending to send them. You need to make sure you can make money from those emails and not just get traffic. If you’re planning on selling a product, then your email list is essential. Your subscribers are your biggest opportunity for making money through selling. On MiloTree, I put together a post about growing your Instagram followers. I give this valuable information away to people who are willing to give me their email address.  What Type of Business Owner is MiloTree Right For? Now that I’m getting more intentional with my own blog and business, I’m not just going to be going after people who just want to grow their Instagram followers, but people who already think of themselves as a business –people who can see that MiloTree is a great way to help them grow their business. Are you in the middle stages of growing your blog? Have you got some traffic but you know you need more? Let MiloTree help you get to that next level. Sign up today! Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE! TIMESTAMP  7:04 Strategies To Get Your Content Found 17:57 Know Who Your Perfect Audience Is 24:02 Growing Your Traffic Through Pinterest 29:34 Being Intentional and Focused 35:29 Traffic and Newsletters Get Full Podcast Transcript Here

Are you looking for the cheapest way to get started with Facebook ads? If so, you’re going to want to listen in today because I have my very own Facebook ads experts on the show.  Jessica Gleim and Amy Christie are the founders and creators of their own “mom-powered, marketing agency,” called Flairst.  Today, we are going to be talking about how to run ads to cold audiences, people who haven't yet heard of your business. If you want to begin with ads on Facebook, this is going to be the least expensive option for you and a great way to start. If you find Facebook ads confusing or you tried them and they didn't work, you’re going to walk away from today’s show with some solid ideas! The Value of Facebook Ads  Ten years ago when Jess and Amy began their online business, the social media platforms were not only supportive of content creators, they were promoting your content to your followers. Imagine a time when, if you posted to Facebook, your followers saw 100% of what you posted? Or the days when your followers on Pinterest actually saw your pins? As we all know, the algorithms have changed over the years, and those social media platforms no longer work to serve content creators. They now work to serve themselves. If you want your content to be seen today, you have to do what some people call “pay to play,” also known as ads. You can still get organic traffic through posting and SEO, but your main source of traffic from social media is going to come from ads.  Are Facebook Ads Cost-Effective? One of the biggest misconceptions about ads is that it’s expensive to run. But there is a way to do it so that you aren’t draining every cent you bring in. It can actually be cost-effective to run ads on Facebook. The minimum ad campaign daily spend is $5, so for a small amount of investment on your part, you can run more than one campaign and see what kinds of results you get.  If you are trying to reach a cold audience -- people who don't know of your business -- this is the best way to do it. Your small investment brings new eyes to your brand and your content.  Should Bloggers Run Ads for Content? I think we all understand why businesses want to run ads, but what if you’re a blogger whose income is mostly from ads on your site and sponsored posts? Is it ever worth it for a blogger to run ads to their content? Let’s consider that bloggers make about $1 per one thousand views for ads on their site. So, if you are only trying to get traffic to your site to see your personal ads, it is not be worth the money.  But if you need more clicks to your site to show an advertiser, ads can help you. Ads are a great way to increase the number of eyeballs on your content. ADVICE: Have a Ad Strategy in Place  When you decide to run ads, you have to go into it knowing exactly what you want from the ads.  Before you start your campaign, you should have an end goal in mind. Know what results you are expecting and who your target audience is.  If you are running ads in order to direct traffic to sponsored content on your blog, be sure to allocate some of the payment from the sponsored content toward those ads.  I personally share with the brand I am working with how much money I intend to put toward ad spend and I increase my fees to cover that ad spend.  Should I Boost A Post on Facebook?  Even if you haven’t run Facebook ads, you’ve likely seen the option to boost your posts.  The difference between boosting a post and running regular ads is that when you boost, you’re just getting more eyes on the post itself.   If you need more viewers on your page to show a brand partner that you have an audience large enough to deserve their sponsorship money, boosting posts might be enough for you. But a cold traffic campaign is a more customized process. It allows you to do a lot more than just grab some extra likes on your posts. Cold Audience Campaigns  A cold audience campaign might be for you if you have a specific plan for how you are going to monetize your content. If you sell a product, have a tripwire of some type, or a gift guide, that is the ideal type of content to run cold audience ads to. If you have a seasonal, evergreen post that converts extremely well during certain times of the year, you could do a cold traffic ad for that content.  Should You Run Ads to Grow Your List? It makes sense to run ads to content that you are monetizing, but what about running ads to grow your email list? Is that ever worth it? The answer is, it depends. You can send a traffic campaign to your site, to a landing page where they can get your free offer, and be added to your list.  Or you can build a campaign into the Facebook platform so that the user can actually sign up for your list without leaving Facebook itself. This is a great strategy because we all know that nobody wants to click through anymore. So, this allows you to run ads and build your list without the user having to click through to your site. How to Budget for Ads Conventional wisdom says that if you make $100 on a piece of content, you can spend one-third of that amount on marketing that content.  If you sell that item for $100, but you’ve spent $99 in ads, chances are you already spent the other $1 on other costs in your business. So, you have to be mindful that you are actually going to make a profit on your ad campaigns.  What is a Cold Traffic Campaign on Facebook? Let’s take a step back and define what we mean by cold traffic. These are people who do not know you, who have never seen your product, and aren’t at all familiar with who you are or what you do. Your ads will put your products or content in front of this cold audience. A cold traffic campaign is one of the cheapest ways to get your products in front of people who would otherwise never see it. The average cost per click across all ad platforms on the internet in 2019 was $1.72. You can use this average to decide if a cold campaign is worth it to you.  Another thing to think about is that people are ready to spend money in the holiday season. They want to see things that they can buy, so if you have products to sell, it’s a great time to run an ad campaign to those products. Just know that holiday ad spend tends to be higher per click.  If you are thinking about starting an ad campaign for an evergreen piece, you might want to wait to start in January if you want the ad spend to be less expensive.  Learning Through Experimenting  Don’t be surprised by the learning curve when running ad campaigns.  You have to put in the time in order to figure out which ads do the best for you and how much you need to spend to get the results you want.  But here’s a tip: the more you spend, the faster you will learn.  If you are paying the minimum of $5 per day, you will be learning at a slower rate, and possibly paying the same amount of money over a slower period of time.  Learning from the Facebook Ads Experts Jess and Amy actually have a course that will teach you to run a traffic campaign.  The objective of these ads is that you are asking Facebook to show people your ad in order to have them click through to your website.  Within the ad campaign, they will also teach you how to build two audience segments.  The first segment is interest targeting. This means you will tell Facebook who your audience is and what they want.  The second segment is a look-alike audience. This audience is a group of people who are like the audience who already visits your site, but who have never visited your site themselves.  Not only is Facebook going to show your ads to people they think will like your brand, but also to people who are more likely to click through to your website.  The beauty of Facebook ads is that Facebook will show your ads to the people you tell them to, but they know more about what people want than you do, and so, they will target the people they know want what you have to offer.  Are you ready to get started with Facebook ads after listening to this? Are you still feeling a bit nervous though? If so, Jess and Amy are here to help you. They have a course designed just for you to help you get started. To learn more about the course and the other services they offer, head over to Facebook Ads are Fun. (affil) And be sure to come over to Facebook and join my MiloTree Mastermind Group.  I want this to be a place where you can come to get your questions answered and where we can all grow together.  I go live in the group every Monday at 12pm PT/ 3pm ET to discuss the latest podcast episode and to share my biggest takeaways. So be sure to join our active and growing group today! Read the transcript for “How to Get Started with Cold Audience Ads on Facebook” TIMESTAMP Intro 2:10 The Value of Facebook Ads  6:25 Cost-Effectiveness of Ads 8:40 Should Bloggers Run Ads for Content? 11:27 Have a Strategy in Place  13:27 Should I Boost A Post?  16:40 Cold Audience Campaigns 18:15 Should You Run Ads to Grow Your List? 22:21 How to Budget for Ads  23:25 A Cold Traffic Campaign  27:00 Learning Through Experimenting 31:17 Learning from the Experts   TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS  The days of social media showing your content to your audience are over; if you want your content shown today, you have to be willing to pay to play. Running Facebook ads can be a cost-effective way to get your content in front of new eyes, but you need a carefully thought-out strategy going in. Monetized content is the best type of content to run ads to, although you may also find value in running ads to your email list. The more you spend, the faster you will learn what works, so jump in with as much as you can handle in order to shorten your learning curve.  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!