7 Ways To Lengthen The Blog Post Lifespan

For most blogs, the life cycle of a blog post is pretty short. Unless you do a pretty good job with post SEO and it brings you long-term search traffic, your post which you worked so hard on will simply fall into the archives of your blog – never to be seen again.

What a waste! Because, I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of good stuff back in the archives of my blogs. And it is a real shame when they don’t serve me longer.

Well, there ARE things you can do in order to lengthen the life cycle of a blog post.

So, let’s discuss it.

#1 – Use A Related Posts Plug-in

You’ve seen them. You get to the bottom of a post and it recommends several others which you might also like. Nice and simple.

There are a ton of plug-ins out there which do related posts, in varying degrees of coolness. For what its worth, the one I’m using is Yet Another Related Posts Plug-in.

#2 – Remove Dates From Your Blog

Blogs are chronological, by nature. But, that doesn’t mean you have to be forced to accept that fact.

Psychologically, when we see an old post date on a blog post, we automatically dismiss the post. We say, “This post is old, so it probably isn’t relevant anymore.”. And we say this even if every word of that post is just as relevant today as it was when it was written.

You could have AWESOME stuff in your archives, but people will write it off automatically if they see an old post date on it.

The solution: Remove dates.

In so many niches, the dates aren’t important anyway. Honestly, unless your niche is very time-driven (i.e. news), you probably don’t need dates on your posts.

Now, I bet you’re asking, “OK, Dave. But, how?”

Well, some themes have the option built-in. If not, you’ll need to hack it. Look in your single.php file of your template and search for instances of the_date(). See this page for more information. When you find it, simply remove it from your theme. To remove from post listings, you’ll need to do the same in index.php, category.php, archive.php (if your theme has these files).

#3 – Inter-Linking

When you write a post, be sure to link relevant keyword phrases in your post to previously published articles, where appropriate.

Not only does this help with search engine optimization, but it can also lead your readers back into your archives.

#4 – Do Themed Guides Or Resource Pages

You can set up resource pages on your blog which do nothing but link back to relevant blog posts, all centered around a particular topic.

For example, if you look at the membership sites guide on this site, you’ll see that it is a page which links to blog posts I’ve written about the subject of membership sites. You can set up these pages as landing pages, target the HELL out of them with SEO, and it can work wonders for blog traffic.

#5 – Create a “Getting Started” Page

This makes sense from a couple perspectives:

1. You can link back to past posts.
2. You’re solving the “what do I do now?” question that often happens with new arrivals to your site. When people ask themselves that question and they don’t see an answer, they’ll often merely bounce off the site. Hello, bounce rates.

You can see the page I have for this purpose: Getting Started With Making Money Blogging. It guides them through several things, including getting on my email list, reading some of my posts, a word on mindset (so I don’t attract the “get rich quick” seekers), and connecting socially.

#6 – Repurposing

You can re-use blog posts in a variety of ways, including:

• Spinning and re-distributing in article directories.
• Re-stating the same information in a different form of content (i.e. a video, podcast, etc.)
• Compiling old posts into an ebook
• Doing a webinar on the same topic.

#7 – Integrate Into Your Autoresponder Sequence

Using your autoresponder sequence to build a solid relationship with each email subscriber is a SUPER good idea. Obviously.

Well, a great way to do this is by pointing them into some of your best stuff on your blog. You can either tease them a bit then link them to the post itself, or you can simply swipe the post and essentially email it to them (so the email itself is valuable).

Essentially, then, you can turn your list into a form of “drip feed” of your best stuff to all new subscribers. Aweber is, by far, the best tool to set this up with.

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So, anything I’m forgetting?

Weekly Wrap: Bounce Rates, Millionaires, And Launch Gossip

Another solid week, and another “round up”. Before I share out some of my faves for the week, here’s what’s going on around here:

• The Fastest Way to Make Money Blogging. Not what most people think of, although many do it.
•  15-Step Checklist Before You Publish A Post. Pretty thorough post, if I do say so myself. Plus, there’s a PDF you can grab so you can use the checklist.
• I’ll be dropping Episode 1 of my new podcast next week (probably on Tuesday, since we’re currently planning to take the family to Disney World on Monday). It’ll be released right here on the blog… that way I can verify all the feeds and everything before submitting to Itunes. I also just dropped $500 on some nice audio equipment (including the famed Heil PR40 microphone), so I’ll be able to make this stuff sound good.

OK, here’s what’s happening elsewhere…

30 Brilliant Bloggers Talk About Bounce Rate
This post over on the Blogworld blog probably has any possible viewpoint there is to be had on the subject of bounce rate. The bounce rate is a web stat which measures the percentage of people who immediately leave your site once they arrive. Obviously, you want to push the bounce rate as close to zero as you can. What do these 30 bloggers think? And, I guess I can’t argue with the whole “brilliant” thing, seeing as they listed me on there, too.

How Self Made Millionaires Succeed
This is a guest post by Jamie Tardy over on the blog of Erica Douglass. And, I love this post because of the mindset it communicates. If you have any excuses about why you’re not making as much money as you want, this post will tear them to shreds.

An Easy Way To Decrease Your Unsubscribe Rate
A super simple strategy to keep people on your list once they’ve subscribed. Just comes down to being real.

February Launch Watch: Websites, Books, and Gossip
I enjoy these summary posts that Jade Craven produces. Jade does a great job of keeping tabs on what everybody is doing in the niche and bringing it all together into a “launch watch”. Well done, Jade.

How To Get More YouTube Video Views
Title says it all. This one is from Michelle Macpherson, who I just recently had the opportunity to “meet” (online, anyway).

Be Everywhere: How I Got 2000+ NEW Visitors To My Site…With A Front Page PowerPoint Presentation on Slideshare
Pat Flynn chiming in on his latest leg of the “be everywhere” strategy. Speaking of being everywhere…. Pat is going to be in New York for Blogworld in June. I’m the track leader for monetization for Blogworld for the fourth time running, and Pat did so well out in LA, we just had to bring him back.

How to Write Killer Blog Post Openings that Keep People From Leaving
Blogging is a skill that must be learned. It isn’t like writing for school. With blogging, the art of grabbing and holding a reader’s attention is paramount. This post gives some nice advice on how to start out your blog posts in order to keep the reader engaged.

The Most Effective Piece of Content (From 24 Experts)
24 bloggers (including me) chiming in on what piece of content we’ve created that performed the best for us.

15-Step Blogger Checklist: Before You Hit The Publish Button [Downloadable]

There are certain actions that you should try to execute before you hit the publish button on any blog post. Some of these actions are for readability, others for SEO purposes, others just for organization.

Having a checklist is of paramount importance.

I see too many bloggers who just brain dump into WordPress and hit “Publish”. No strategy in mind – no nothing. Then, nobody comes. Not only that, if you had an opportunity to sit over the shoulders of most of your readers (if you have any), you’d find that most of them aren’t even reading your post at all. No comments. No tweets.

[insert cricket noises here]

So, what I’m going to do in this post is give you a checklist. I’ll go over it and give the reasons why each step is there.

Then, at the bottom, I’m going to outright GIVE you a PDF of the checklist. Download it, print it and tape it onto your desk. Then, from here on out, reference it for each post you put together.

OK, let’s roll.

Section 1: Evaluation

Evaluation is all about ensuring your post is worth somebody’s time. If the post is boring, nobody will care about it and it isn’t going to do any good for you. You don’t want to publish a post merely to satisfy some quota. It needs to have a reason for existing.

[1A] Are People Searching For The Kind Of Information You’re Writing?

This is one of the most important things to consider if you’re trying to put your blog on the map. All it takes is some basic keyword research. The tools anybody can use are:

1. The Google Keyword Tool
2. Google

With the keyword tool, you simply plug in the search phrase that you think people would most likely use in order to find a post just like the one you’re publishing. Then, see the search volume that comes up.

With Google, you just run that actual search and see what comes up. I recommend having an SEO plug-in of some kind installed. For example, if you’re using Chrome, I really like the  SEO For Chrome plug-in (available in the Chrome Web Store for free). When you’re looking at the search results, you’re looking at the sites in the top 10 results and gauging your likelihood to be able to outrank them.

If the sites on the front page are high pagerank, your job will be harder. If you’re competing against authority sites (i.e. sites which Google would automatically trust, like Wikipedia or major corporate sites), it’ll be harder to outrank them.

However, if the sites in the top 10 are fairly low pagerank, then you might be able to outrank them.

So, what you’re looking for is decent monthly search volume combined with sites which you think you can outrank. And you can “massage” the keyword phrases you target with your blog post in order to find those which give you the best odds of ranking in the top 10.

[1B] Will People Be Able To Walk Away From The Post With A “Take-Away”?

It is one thing to just post an opinion, give somebody a laugh, or just get somebody thinking. It is quite another to truly HELP them. And the best way to give THEM the sense that you’ve actually helped them is to give them a “take away”.

Will the reader walk away from your post with something to DO? Is there an action item? Will they learn anything? Any “aha moments”?

For example, this very post is one that I think will be useful to people. And I’m hooking you up with a PDF checklist at the end.  It is a “take away”. Your’s doesn’t have to be downloadable, but there has to be something there.

[1C] Is Your Post Unique In Some Way?

Being a “me too” post which just parrots what tons of others have said… is useless.

What makes YOUR post stand out?

Is it more in-depth than usual? Is it backed by research? Does it “wow” people with the amount of info? Does it have a video whereas most people in your niche never use video? Does it have a download associated with it?

Section 2: Optimize For Search

We touched on one of the most important aspects of post SEO above. But, let’s get even more specific.

[2A] Fine-tune The Headline

You want to try to work your main keyword phrase into the headline. But, you also need to formulate the headline to grab people’s attention. Writing for a search spider while also standing out to human beings is a real art.

“How To” headlines work well. List posts also work. A typical formula people use is:

[X][Keyword Phrase][Curiosity Phrase]

So, if the phrase I wanted to rank for was “blog post headlines”, I might try something like:

10 Blog Post Headlines That Work Every Time They’re Tried

You can also put a qualifier onto the headline in order to make the reader realize it is for them. Let’s say I was trying to rank for “time saving tips”. Well, my audience is bloggers (obviously), so I might use something like:

7 Powerful Time Saving Tips For Bloggers

The big idea here is to work your keyword phrase into the headline, while also making it compelling. Will the headline make people want to click on it? Does it contain a promise of payoff for the reader?

[2B] Clean Up The Slug.

The word “slug” is one of the strangest words in the entire blogging lexicon. All it is is the phrase which goes into the URL of the post. You can define the slug right beneath the headline in the WordPress interface.

By default, WordPress dumps every single word of your headline into the slug. But, that’s very cluttered and I don’t recommend you keep it that way. What you want, instead, is for your slug to contain the keyword phrase which you’re trying to target.

So, let’s take the headline: 10 Blog Post Headlines That Work Every Time They’re Tried.

• Default URL: davidrisley.com/10-blog-post-headlines-that-work-every-time-theyre-tried/
• Ideal URL: davidrisley.com/blog-post-headlines/

See, in the ideal URL, the slug has been shortened to only contain the main keyword phrase.

Having the keyword phrase in the URL itself helps with your SEO.

[2C] Make Sure Your Keyword Phrase Is Within The Content, Too

Your keyword phrase is in your headline and in your slug. It needs to also be within your content – obviously.

Chances are, this will be done without even thinking about it. After all, if I’m writing a post about blog post headlines, chances are the words “blog post headlines” will appear in my post a few times.

[2D] Sub-Headlines In Place, Using H2 or H3 tags.

Using sub-headlines within your post is HUGELY important. They serve two functions:

1. They break up the flow of the post. You NEVER want your reader to see a big, long block of uninterrupted text when they look at your post. Your readers are lazy (for the most part) and they simply won’t read it. If you break it up with subheadlines, the reader can scan them and judge whether to read the post (and better see what’s in it).
2. Sub-headlines are important for SEO. Your post headline should be in H1 tags, but sub-headlines are usually in H2 and H3 tags – and the search spiders place importance on the text within those sub-headlines in order to help rank your post.

So, just like headlines, you want your sub-headlines to contain words which (a) help spiders rank you for your keyword phrase, and (b) entice the reader to want to read the text immediately beneath the sub-headline.

Section 3: Formatting And Structure

People won’t read your post just because you wrote it. The post needs to contain a promise of pay-off for the time it takes to read it, and the post needs to be formatted so that it seems easy enough to read and won’t overwhelm.

[3A] Paragraphs are short.

Do not use long paragraphs – and NEVER, EVER, EVER justify the text left and right.

When you use justified text and combine that with long paragraphs, I can pretty much guarantee you that 90% of your visitors will see that post and immediately back off – NEVER reading it.

They won’t read it because:

1. They can’t scan it and see if there’s going to be a pay-off for them.
2. It seems like work to read it.

Sub-headlines (already discussed) play a huge role in scannability. But, you also need to make sure your paragraphs are short and pithy.

In English classes in school, we were taught to use paragraphs to discuss a central idea. Using that logic, a paragraph could be pretty long. All the “supporting sentences” support the main idea of the paragraph – usually the first line.

In blogging – THAT ISN’T TRUE.

In blogging, a paragraph is a form of flow control. It is a form of pattern interrupt. Long, uninterrupted patterns hypnotize and put people to sleep. People instinctually want to avoid that.

You can use paragraphs to break up flow, to make things more scannable, to make it easier to read, to enhance an idea, etc.

[3B] Post scans tell the story.

Going off the same idea that readers are lazy, you want to make sure that they can SCAN the post and still get the idea. Don’t be conceited enough to think people actually care to read every word you wrote. Most don’t.

So, increase scan-friendliness by:

1. Use bullet points and lists where appropriate to do so.
2. Strategically bold or italicize certain eye-catching phrases. You can use it to emphasize an idea, or even emphasize something attention-grabbing. Bold, especially, will catch post scanners.

[3C] Strategic Use of imagery.

The chief reason for an image being in your post is to get them to want to READ the post. So, ideally, you’d use an image which communicates an EMOTION and makes the reader curious. You can also have the image communicate a promise (such as the image of a checklist in this post, seeing as the post itself is essentially a checklist).

There’s also an SEO perspective to using images. I often forget to do this myself, but I know it should be done. They are:

1. Rename the filename of the image to your keyword phrase. Like [keyword-phrase.png].
2. Set the TITLE of the image to the keyword phrase (controllable when you upload to WordPress).
3. Set the ALT text to the keyword phrase (also controllable on upload).

Lastly, it is best to use a caption on images. Many times, the images we pick don’t communicate the same ideas to our readers as it did to us when we chose the image. So, by including a caption, not only does it help with SEO, but it ensures a full understanding of the image being used and what it has to do with your post.

[3D] Internal Linking To Relevant Posts In Your Archives

Scan over your post and see if any phrases jump out at you as being relevant to a past post that you wrote. If so, hyperlink that phrase to your past blog post. This helps with your SEO as well as just internal visitor flow.

You don’t need to litter your post with internal links. Maybe just 2-3 times per post. If you really don’t have any phrases in your post which fit the bill, then don’t worry about it.

[3E] External Linking To Relevant Sites/Posts

Linking outside of your own blog is also a good idea. Linking out to authority sites, especially.

[3F] Define Your Meta-Data.

You want to be able to define the meta tags of your content. While it is still up for debate on whether these things matter as much as they used to (from an SEO perspective), the meta description is still relevant. It is that description which will appear in the Google search results, right beneath the headline.

So, you want that meta description to be relevant (from a keyword perspective), but also contain an enticing promise to attract people to actually click and read the post if your post comes up in Google.

Use a plug-in like All In One SEO Pack (or something similar) on your blog. Then, each post will have options for the meta tags. Just be sure to fill out the description, at a minimum.

[3G] Define the Excerpt.

By default, WordPress will auto-fill the excerpt with text from your post. Problem is, it is cut off at a certain character limit, whether it makes sense or not.

However, you can manually define the excerpt and put anything you want into it (even HTML). So, you can manually copy/paste part of your post into the excerpt. Make sure the excerpt is designed to entice people to read. Can you end off the excerpt with a cliff-hanger?

This is even MORE important if you only put excerpts into your blog’s RSS feed.

[3H] Include a “Call To Action”

Each post should leave the reader with a next action step. Realize that each and every post is a form of MARKETING for your blog and your brand. So, like any good promotional piece, give the reader something to DO. Typical CTA’s are:

1. Ask them to post a comment.
2. Ask them to share the post on social media.
3. Ask them to subscribe to your list.
4. Tell them where to go for more information.

The call to action usually comes at the tail-end of the post.

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So, there you have it. Now, obviously, I left out some of the brain-dead obvious things (like category selection). With this checklist, I wanted to concentrate primarily on those things I see a lot of people forgetting (including myself at times).

-> Download The Checklist <-

As promised, you can download a PDF of the basic checklist.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD [PDF]

You might need to right-click and select “Save” to download to your computer.

My recommendation is that you PRINT this and then tape it up somewhere near the computer that you use to blog. The idea is that you can use it as a reference checklist each time you publish a post.

If you do that and put it to use, you will get a LOT more bang out of every post you write than you were  before.

The Fast (Often Overlooked) Way To Making Money From Your Blog

A lot of bloggers are looking to make money blogging. This leads down a typical pathway…

It starts with banner ads. It is easy to implement and so it seems like low hanging fruit. Then, the reality sets in on that. You need a BOATLOAD of traffic to make decent money with ads.

The next progression usually brings the blogger into the world of internet marketing. They start learning about affiliate marketing, information marketing and the like. You learn about the importance of building the list, but then you’re told you need a giveaway. Realizing that those who are really banking are typically product creators, you start thinking you need to create a product.

The whole thing is overwhelming. The truth sets in: this stuff is hard!

Re-Think Your “Training”

First of all, let’s get a simple fact out of the way here.

While I’m all about making money with a blog (and this is what I teach people to do), I’ll be the first to admit…

If all you want to do is make money, then blogging is one of the WORST ways to start.

That’s because blogging isn’t a business. And it takes a lot of patience to build up to a point where you can “monetize” in all the ways one typically thinks about monetization. Most successful bloggers who started out as bloggers took a year or (in most cases) more to build up. In order to shorten the runway, you’ve got to be very strategic about how you get on the map.

So, instead of starting off with a blog, consider starting off with your BUSINESS.

If ads, affiliate marketing, info marketing – and all that stuff – is all outside your reach because you’re just getting started, then what can you do to bring in money?

FREELANCING.

But…

What About Passive Income?

When I talk about freelancing, a lot of people would likely react with a shudder.

… Because the whole “internet marketing” field seems to be wrapped up in this idea of quick money, passive income, and sitting on the beach while money rolls in.

The reality of passive income is that it takes a shitload of work. There isn’t anything passive about it. The only thing “passive” about it is that it is income which isn’t tied to your time. But, it takes a LOT of work to build up truly passive income.

When you’re at the beginning, your priority is to establish yourself. Establish your authority in your niche. Establish your value.

You also need to get your feet wet with making money independent of a J-O-B. Because, otherwise, you never actually are able to break that bond to your job and it actually can keep you from ever transitioning to this internet lifestyle that you want.

Starting As A Freelancer

Identify a SERVICE you can provide.

If your blog topic doesn’t lend itself to any kind of service, then perhaps you need to re-think some things. Because any good niche is going to be based around a need and want of another group of people. That need and want, in most cases, could be translated into some kind of “done for you” service. If your niche has no service option – and no real options in the info marketing arena either – then there’s a pretty good chance you’re just in a bad niche with a dead end.

I can speak more about potential services in another post, but for now, let’s just assume there is a service you can offer.

Instead of littering your blog with affiliate offers and banner ads, you turn your blog into a lead generator for your service. Get people onto your list. Work on getting them to hire you for this service. Also, most definitely think outside the blog. See, you’re not a blogger at this point. You’re a ___________ (whatever you’re actually providing for people).

So, promote locally on Craigslist, local PPC ads, classified ads – whatever. You’re building a BUSINESS here. Not a blog.

What Comes Later

During this process, you will be building a real business. You’ll be learning your craft incredibly well by helping others. You’ll come to know exactly what kinds of problems your clients deal with on a routine basis. You’ll also build credibility and authority.

All of this then allows you to more easily enter the information marketing world. Because, at this point, you truly will be an expert in whatever you’re doing. You’ll know what problems people are dealing with. So, product creation should be a HECK of a lot easier now.

And so you engineer a transition. Because freelancing is tied to your time and we all know you can’t get wealthy if your income is tied to your time. So, you begin to transition your services into “done for you”, automatic products. You  can scale up by selling your product instead of your time. You can branch out nationally or internationally with your reach because, again, this isn’t tied to you and your own schedule anymore.

Another good thing about this approach is that you’re establishing your value. You know what your time is worth and you will price your products accordingly. And not only that, you’ll have the BACKUP to actually price the product the way that you do. This is SO much better than coming out with some dinky ebook and trying to sell it for $9.95.

The Fast Path To “Make Money Online”

When you get right down to it, the fastest way to make money online is as a freelancer. You provide a service and you use the Internet to find/attract business.

A lot of people already do this. For them, the challenge is transitioning into the productization of their solution and selling it online. A lot of that will come down to systematizing their service delivery. Then, the systems you create in order to deliver to your clients are what then form the bedrock of your products.

But, for those just starting… give it some thought. What can you offer?

Don’t become so distracted by the shiny light of the “passive income” that you forget the business basics first. Namely, (1) Find a need or want, (2) Put yourself into service to deliver a solution to that need or want.

One doesn’t start an internet business by bypassing the obvious.

 

Weekly Round Up: The Cussing Internet Marketer’s Edition

OK, we’re about to wrap up another week here.

A reminder, if you want to make sure you get the latest from this blog sent right to you automagically, be sure to subscribe to this blog. I don’t send all my blog posts to my main email list (which will make Allison from Blogworld happy – see below for context)… but I do have options if that’s what you would like.

From my side of the ship, we’ve got:

• Why there’s something to be said for deleting email subscribers
• What to do about all those banners on your blog getting hardly any clicks AT ALL
• Why I’m Pissed at GoDaddy

Also, I’ll begin releasing the video recordings from Tuesday’s webinar soon. Gonna get everything transcribed first.

OK, in the rest of the blogosphere, here are a few highlights. And the title of this blog post is a shout-out to my man, Ryan Lee. You’ll see.

14 Tips For Blogging And Personal Success
This one is from John Chow and, while the advice was simple, there’s some great reminders on there. Worth the couple minutes it takes to read it.

The Marketer’s Guide to Pinterest
Pinterest is still a bit of an enigma to me, honestly. I can’t help but look at it as some weird fad. But, at the same time, I realize I might be being very short-sighted. I had the same reaction to Twitter initially and look what happened. If you don’t really “get” Pinterest, then Neil Patel has a great overview here of why we should care. Worth a look, for sure.

41% of Super Bowl Ad Searches Were Mobile
Posting this as a bit of a “heads up”, and a reminder not to ignore mobile when it comes to your blog design. Most of these searches were probably people sitting next to the TV with their iPad or something, searching for various things or posting social media updates. But, still… that’s major. And, to back it up, this was the first year that the NFL actually livestreamed the entire game on the Internet.

How to Choose the Right Mailing List Provider
A simple post, but it offers a simple pros/cons breakdown of the various list companies, like Aweber and Mailchimp.

F*ck the Latte!
My man, Ryan Lee, has been a lot more “in your face” lately. But, I like this post because it goes right to the heart of the scarcity-minded mindset so many people seem to have. And I HATE the scarcity-minded. You’ve got the “glass half empty” types and the “glass half full” types. And – almost without fail – it is the “glass half full” people who end up having more money and more freedom. It is all about mindset.

Creating Kickass Infographics On A Budget
Outspoken Media has some resources which might help you with creating Infographics. More people are using them lately… and that’s because they work.

No, I Don’t Want To Sign Up For Your Mailing List (And Here’s Why)
A great little post from Allison over on the Blogworld blog. A good reminder, too, on the psychology that your readers might be thinking when you try to get them to join your list. You have to keep in mind, though, that you can’t satisfy everybody. No matter what you do, there will be some who dig what you’re doing and some who don’t. That’s life.

 

Don’t Use GoDaddy

Why so many people end up doing business with GoDaddy, I have no idea.

But, of course, I must look in the mirror. As I used to use GoDaddy for my domains. Well, not anymore.

Like many who’ve been in online business for awhile, I owned a lot of domains. Close to 90 of them, actually. I have been meaning to ditch some of them that I realized I’d never use. But, in the process, I’ve decided to transfer the ones I’m keeping away from GoDaddy.

I’m switching everything to Namecheap. In fact, I’ve been slowly working on this for many months now. But, recently, decided to speed it up and officially walk away. Last night, I transferred 17 domains over to NameCheap. Now, I have almost 30 of them with NameCheap. And I turned OFF auto-renewal on everything which is left in my GoDaddy account.

Here’s why:

1. Their upsells – for the stupidest crap – are excessive and insane. I have to click “No” a ton of times just to buy a domain.
2. Their interface sucks. Tons of clicks to do the stupidest things.
3. They’ve been known to simply disable domains for stupid reasons, as they did to John Chow.
4. There have been many, many cases of GoDaddy simply holding your domain hostage for various reasons. A search for “godaddy hostage” on Google returns almost 2 million results. Take your pick.
5. I like good looking women as much as the next guy, but their commercials are still stupid. If somebody honestly thinks you’re going to see T&A when you visit GoDaddy.com from the Super Bowl commercial, you deserve the service you get.
6. A few months ago, they mysteriously – and without me asking – enabled “Premium CashParking” on my account and started billing me $9.99/month without my permission. When I called support about it, they said it was included in their “domain club” (which I used to be in), but when I canceled that, I started getting billed for CashParking. Well, gee, thanks for making that clear at the time. :-/
7. The CEO of GoDaddy is a pompous ass who apparently enjoys killing elephants for sport.
8. They supported SOPA, until it pissed off enough people and they changed their mind.

It was #6 that was the final nail in the coffin and provoked a final mass transfer of my domains to Namecheap. I’ve had  it.

GoDaddy is, from my observation, a company that likes to skate on the edge and create conflict for the purposes of publicity. And, as for customers, turn them upside down and shake until all the money falls out of our pockets. Perhaps they live by the “any press is good press” mentality, but I don’t believe that’s true. A quick comment about this last night on Twitter and Facebook sparked all kinds of responses from friends of mine in the business. Here’s a sample:

So, the question one has to ask is…. if the people who are IN THE BUSINESS and deal with websites all the time are saying not to use GoDaddy, then what’s wrong here? If you’re not an expert on this stuff, don’t default to GoDaddy just because they advertise alot and use pretty women to do it.

Oh, and as for their hosting – they’re horrible. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard horror stories about their hosting accounts. Sure, there are those who’ve done just fine with them, but the ratio isn’t great.

Plus, GoDaddy is a domain company who does hosting. It isn’t their specialty. You’d be SOOO much better off getting a hosting account with Hostgator (aff link). I’ve worked with Hostgator, as do many people I know. Their support is excellent. Their servers are solid. And they actually ARE a hosting company, not a registrar posing as one.

In fact, if you want, we’ll even set up your blog FOR YOU if you sign up for Hostgator. We’ve got a deal over at PCMech – Free Website Setup Service. Sign up for Hostgator via us, we’ll set up your blog for you.

I’ll end off with this…

I’m sure GoDaddy has a lot of good people working there. And I also know there are people who have domains or hosting accounts with GoDaddy who have no complaints about their service. And I think that’s awesome. I’m sure the domain registrar business is pretty competitive, and the quest to increase profits can be pretty hard in that environment. However, it appears to me as if GoDaddy has run for the lowest common denominator. Their marketing caters to newbies and people who don’t know any better – and they charge accordingly.

I wrote this as a bit of a rant – but also something that I can refer people to when people ask for my opinion.

And, so it is.

Reality: Click-Through Rates On Banners Suck. What To Do?

Banner ads continue to be the de facto way to make money with a blog – or so it seems. But, the headline says it all: click-through rates on banners are typically pretty horrible.

This has an effect on everybody involved:

1. Advertisers get increasingly more desperate to make their ad campaigns work, which leads to lower pay-outs, more annoying banners, etc.
2. The end users end up being barraged with ever-increasing amounts of ads, thereby leading them to be even MORE likely to dismiss them.
3. The blogger, looking to generate some revenue, ends up making less money with more ads.

The Problem

Here is a screenshot of the click stats on a small little banner campaign I recently ran on a site via BuySellAds:

Now, I fully admit that the banner I used in this campaign wasn’t the greatest. But, look at that click-through rate! Really, really low.

In this case, I am the advertiser. And, I won’t be renewing this ad. It just isn’t working. Good thing I didn’t pay out too much for it in the first place.

Most advertisers will agree that click-through rates, across the board, are low. You can get the CTR up with really ideal targeting (hard to pull off unless the niche is very specific), or one tries to combat it with more noticeable ads. You know the ones: animated images, “punch the monkey” ads – crap like that. Ironically enough, some companies have increased their CTR by going back to basics and making their banners look like simply HTML blue hyperlinks.

As a site owner looking to make money with ad campaigns, it puts us into a position, too. We’re compelled to accept more annoying advertising in order to make a buck. Or we try to make up for it in quantity. All of this just makes your site more annoying to visit.

Interruption Marketing versus Permission Marketing

The problem comes down to that.

Interruption marketing is advertising that is designed to reach out and grab your attention from whatever you’re doing and entice you to come on over. Banner ads ARE interruption marketing. You’re almost never looking for the things being advertised. They’re trying to make an uninterested prospect (who isn’t really a prospect at all)… and turn them into a prospect.

This is incredibly difficult to do – especially these days. The noise level is through the roof. While there are various studies out there with claims on the number of ads people are exposed to every day, it is safe to say we’re all exposed to a LOT of ads every single day. That number is increasing, too.

Neither bloggers or advertisers are helping the situation, either. Bloggers pack their sidebars with 125×125 ads, for example. With all those ads, the likelihood of any of them being clicked on is almost zero. Many bloggers try to make their site look popular by packing affiliate banners into those spots, not realizing they’re sending their click-rates through the floor by doing that – along with their incomes.

The other way to go is permission marketing.

You’ve probably figured it out already, but this means marketing to people who are pre-qualified and interested in that kind of message. The engagement level is MUCH higher this way.

But…

The Bar Is Raised – Yet Again

Even though marketing with permission is obviously better, the truth is even this has been abused to the point where now people are starting to perceive permission marketing as just more… interruption!

People are one-click away from unsubscribing to any email list. There are ad blockers out there. Systems like Google Voice are even making it more difficult for phone advertisers to get through. So, basically, advertisers started abusing these permission-based mediums. And consumers are throwing up their guard.

Time To Re-Think The Approach And Return To Basics.

In online marketing circles, the word “relationship” is used alot. It is important to build a relationship, a bond, a form of friendship with your blog readers. Then, NEVER, EVER abuse that relationship.

Put yourself into the position of curator, for example. All this noise is happening out there. But, you have an audience of people hopefully united by a goal of some kind (an important factor in niche selection, BTW). And, you only bring offers to them which are personally vetted by you, known to be good, and you recommend it as a source of help.

Is this easy to do?

Nope.

And those looking for the easy button or quick revenue will still try to default to the interruption marketing and hope to squeeze a few bucks out of it. It can still work. I mean, despite the metrics, companies are still spending a boatload of money on online ads.

But, even the ads work better if you respect your audience. Don’t pack your site with so many ads that it is like being raped in the eye. (NOTE: sorry about that visual, but it is how it feels sometimes.)

There are those who operate by the notion that the more you send out (in terms of promotion), then the more income comes in. While true, in essence, it is also short-sighted. Because, when taken out to a high degree, you begin to abuse your own lines of promotion. Then your prospects begin to find you annoying and all your ads have the reverse impact of what you wanted. That’s the mentality of a spammer. And the effectiveness of this approach has never been lower than it is today.

Some Tips For Everybody

Let’s do this list style, just to make it nice and simple.

1. PUBLISHERS: Realize you can make more money utilizing the permission-based approach than with banner ads. For example, a promo email to your list or a blog post can have a far better monetary effect than a banner ad. Think about it… you either eye rape them with a banner ad, or you post a piece of truly helpful content and then gently lead them into an offer which makes perfect sense given the content they just read. Which do you think will perform better?
2. PUBLISHERS: If you’re trying to work out private ad deals with companies, don’t limit things only to banner ads. Use sponsored blog posts and solo mailings to your list as parts of the ad campaign. Explain to the advertiser the value of these mediums. Charge accordingly. (NOTE: NEVER abuse your list, or hand over emails. Respect your subscribers and obey privacy policies).
3. ADVERTISERS: Realize that a banner ad is more for branding today than click performance. But, in order to get the most bang out of working with a blogger, you need to be willing to explore permission-based marketing. Real content, relevant promotions.
4. PUBLISHERS: Don’t overload your site with banners. In many cases, you can make more money with less. Just test it and see what works for you.
5. PUBLISHERS: If you want to make money with affiliate promotions, the easiest way to do it is by putting the banner ad on your site. But, because it is that easy… it is also the least effective. Put more effort into your affiliate promotions. Create real content and fully explain WHY you’re recommending this product to your readers. If you’re trying to drive affiliate sales using banner ads, you’re most likely going to be quite disappointed.
6. ADVERTISERS: Create “swipe” content for your affiliates or sponsored campaigns. In the online marketing world, this is done all the time. But, outside of that niche, not so much. On my tech site, for example, almost anything I would promote simply has a lame selection of banner ads. These companies don’t think like permission marketers! They don’t make it easy for their campaigns to work. Instead, create REAL content that bloggers can use. Encourage bloggers and site owners to advertise you in permission-based ways and respect the audience.

The wild, wild west of the Internet is disappearing. It used to be easy to make money in this space. Plop a few ads up and – bam! – you had an income.

But, then everybody piled on. The Internet isn’t anything special these days. No gold rush mentality. Sure, there are TONS of ways to run a business online. The opportunities are many, and the costs of entry are incredibly low.

But, the easy buttons don’t exist. The noise level is so high now that only the real cream rises to the top.

The awesome part is… anybody can be the cream. It just takes work and dedication to your readers. Help them. Treat them with respect. And stop trying to eye rape them.

 

Why Periodically Deleting Email Subscribers Makes Sense [Subscriber Re-Engagement]

What if I told you it might make sense to delete a bunch of email subscribers from your email list?

Would you think I was nuts?

Well, let me explain why it isn’t nuts. And, in fact, it might be something you want to do on an annual basis.

Engagement > Numbers

Simply put, the number of email subscribers who are actually paying attention to you and act on what you say…. is FAR more important than the size of your list.

I’d rather have a list of 1,000 people who open every email I send them than a list of 50,000 who mostly don’t open my emails and just send my stuff to their spam folder. And I bet I can make far more money with those 1,000 engaged subscribers than a non-engaged list of 50,000.

Now, those numbers might be a little extreme. After all, if I had a list of 50,000, I’d be doing a pretty piss-poor job if less than 1,000 of them actually care about my emails.

… but, it goes to show that the size of the list isn’t what’s important. It is how engaged they are with you. Do they open your emails? And do they click on things?

The fact of the matter is that a majority of the emails you send to your email list are going nowhere. They’re not being opened. Yet…

• It is probably costing you money to have those emails on your list.
• It is reducing your open rates.

Almost all email list services (including Aweber, which I use) charge more for the number of emails in your database. Why pay for them to be there if they’re never opening your emails?

But, then there’s the effect on open rates. Not only does it artificially deflate your open stats, but it could be harming the open rates of perfectly valid subscribers. See, in the ongoing battle against spam, ISPs are now taking into account people’s open habits to determine whether you’re a spammer or not. So, if they see that a bulk of their clients are not opening emails from you, then they’re more likely to just flag all your emails as spam. This means you’re less likely to get through even to perfectly valid, interested subscribers. Not good!

The Solution Is…

It is a re-engagement campaign. The idea is simple…

Most email list services (like Aweber) provide segmenting options based on a number of factors – including whether a subscriber is opening your emails or not.

So, what you can do is run a search for all subscribers which haven’t opened an email from you  before a certain date (say, a few months ago). You save those leads into a segment. The result is a segment of your list which contains the “aged leads”, or those subscribers who (according to the system) aren’t opening any of your emails.

A small note: It IS possible that a subscriber is opening emails yet isn’t being counted. This is because most services use a tracking image to detect an open, and most web-based email services (like Gmail) block images by default. So, open rates are inherently inaccurate. However,  a CLICK counts just like an open. After all, if they clicked on a link, they’d have to have opened it to do that.

Once you have this segment, you then begin a series of emails to them over the course of 2-3 weeks which invites them to “reengage”. You can do this however you like, but the entire point is to get them to either open the email or click something. By them doing that, it shows they’re indeed still there and Aweber will automatically remove them from the “aged leads” segment.

After 3 or 4 emails trying to get them to do something… if they still haven’t responded, then it means that their email address is old, they’re not checking it anymore, or they’re indeed not interested in hearing from you. This, of course, means you can delete them from your list and save them and you the hassle.

An Example From Me

The idea of running a campaign like this just entered my world 2-3 months ago. And, over the last month or so, I’ve been working on it for my PCMech.com email lists. Once that is done, I’ll be running a similar cleanup on the DavidRisley.com lists. In fact, I’m changing some things with how I interact with my list (but, more on that later).

Being in this business as long as I have, I had several different sub-lists created for various purposes.

With PCMech.com, I have the main weekly newsletter list. I also have a daily alerts list and a forum list. These lists are all used presently. Now, I had 3 lists associated with PCMech which were no longer in use. Collectively, these 3 lists had over 4,000 people on them. I had no way to know whether they were getting my weekly newsletter or not. They were just…. there.

So, I started out by sending a series of 4 emails to each of these 3 lists. I set up a simple squeeze page for the main newsletter (using OptimizePress, of course). The entire point of the emails was to inform them that their subscription was queued for removal, and if they want to continue hearing from us, to please subscribe to the newsletter on that squeeze page.

That squeeze page is pictured above. Or you can click here to see the real thing.

Since Aweber provides inclusion/exclusion options for multiple lists, I just make sure that each email EXCLUDED the weekly list. After all, if they’re already getting the newsletter, I don’t want them thinking I’ve gone bonkers by acting like they’re not getting it.

I sent these 4 emails over the course of about 3 weeks. Over the course of those 4 emails, I could see the open rates going down… and down. Which means it was working and I was truly whittling the lists down to the truly inactive subscribers.

Once the whole thing is done and I can tell I’m not really squeezing anymore valid people from these old lists, I simply de-activate the lists in Aweber. They hold the list for 30 days (unless you contact their support and tell them to just delete it). After that, those old leads are gone and will no longer be affecting open rates or your monthly bill.

Now, here’s the part which makes people nervous….

Once I handled the old sub-lists, I was faced with the main weekly email list. It has about 25,000 people on it. However, when I ran a search for aged leads (using August 1, 2011 as the cut-off dates for opens), I came back with a little over 11,000 leads. That’s 11,000 people sitting on my list which, according to Aweber, haven’t opened or clicked on anything since August.

That’s pretty freakin’ substantial, but also not surprising. I had NEVER done a re-engagement campaign before! So this is literally YEARS of buildup.

Here is the email I sent to these 11,000 leads:

You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to the PCMech.com Weekly Newsletter. You subscribed back on {!signdate long}.

According to our records, you haven’t opened one of our newsletters in quite some time. In the interest of making sure we’re only sending to people who truly want to hear from us, we’re sending you this email.

Do You Want To Continue Receiving PCMech.com’s Free Weekly Newsletter?

As a reminder, here’s the summary of the newsletter:

=> Sent every Wednesday
=> Running for well over 400 issues (and counting)
=> Keeps you up-to-date on the latest news from the world of computers and technology.
=> Includes an article of the week, a weekly rant from our head writer, and a download of the week (usually free)

You’ll be able to stay informed, get announcements on tech deals you may be interested in, and learn new ways to use your computer.

So, all we need for you to do is select one of the following answers:

YES, I want to continue to receive your weekly newsletter.
(this click will take you to our homepage, but the click will register your interest to continue your subscription. It is free and you can unsubscribe at any time.)

or…

NO, please unsubscribe me from your list. I’m no longer interested in your free newsletter.

Please take a moment to respond.

If we don’t hear from you at all, we’ll assume your email address is no longer valid and it will be queued for deletion in the next couple weeks or so.

Thanks for your time.

- David Risley
Founder, PCMech.com

So, I gave them a clear yes/no option. Clicking “yes” will take them to our site, but will register the click and therefore remove them from the aged leads segment. Clicking “no” is a direct link to unsubscribe. You can see I also showed them WHEN they subscribed, reminded them of the benefits, reminded them it was completely free.

If you wanted to get all “ninja” on this, you could make the “yes” option take them to an offer of some kind. Hmmm….

But, you get the point.

The open rate on this email is pretty low (considering I’m sending it to inactive subscribers), but the good news is that about 80% of the people are clicking the “yes” button.

Freak Out Time!?!?!

There’s a solid chance that, when this whole thing is done, I’ll be removing close to 10,000 people from the PCMech main email list.

Insane?

Some might think so. It certainly does hamper your bragging rights. When people ask how big your list is, you don’t have as impressive a number. If you’re in the internet marketing arena, you’d need to consider that. After all, getting nice joint ventures often comes down to how big your reach is.

But, that is a tradeoff you have to consider. It seems to me that if your open rates are low (and many people are now considering a 20% open rate to be good… which is rather sad, really), then having a big list is irrelevant. Your REAL list size is only the number of people who open your stuff. The rest of them might as well not even be there. You’re just paying more to keep them there. Plus, their presence can negatively effect delivery for everybody else.

Constant care of your email list is the secret to high open rates. 50%… 60%, 70% and higher… those kind of open rates only happen when you really take care of your list. That includes sending them valuable information which they look forward to…. as well as removing those who aren’t interested.

I’m probably going to start doing this once per year or so. You may want to consider it as well.

To end off, a few relevant links for you:

• Aweber. The segmenting abilities of Aweber are awesome and make running a reengagement campaign a fairly trivial matter.
• Optimizepress. If you’re trying to merge lists, you want to point people to a high-converting squeeze page for your main list. Optimizepress is awesome for this.
• Master Your List. To learn how to really get the most out of your list, keep them engaged, and know what to say, check out my mini training course: Master Your List.

Weekly Round Up: Google Hates Your Blog?

As I do each Friday, I’ll share some of the cool stuff I came across around the blogosphere in the last week.

This week, we have the 10 commandments, Google hatin’, one HUGE list post from handome Chris Brogan, and some of what’s happening over on Pinterest. Let’s get going…

How to Make Skype Play Nicely with Google Voice
This was a purely geek post that I shared earlier in the week. Not so much about marketing. But, hey, I’m a geek. Plus, I’m a big fan of using cheaper, cloud-based alternatives where possible. Why even have an office phone these days? Using Skype and Google Voice, you have a cheap, spam-proof way to place and receive calls.

4 Good Reasons Your Images Should Have Captions
OK, that’s not the real title of the post. But, I like it. This Copyblogger post outlines why you should be using captions on the images you pop into your posts. Actually, it is a good reminder for me, too. I forget to use captions way too often.

Writing a book? Grab a rebooted edition of Author 2.0
If you’re interested in writing a book, Joanna Penn has a totally free (no opt-in required, either) e-book available to help you out.

10 Commandments of Epic Business [image]
This one is from Jonathan Fields. Just a simple image, but I really liked the message. It resonates. So, I’m passing it along to you.

Do you have a YouTube conversion tracking strategy?
A simple, but important tactic to track effectiveness of your Youtube videos in terms of driving clicks. It is from John Chow’s blog, and it wouldn’t be a true JC post without an affiliate link to something which costs money. You can do the same basic link tracking strategy for free using something like the Pretty Links plug-in. Plus, the links would be on your own domain, too.

25 Reasons Google Hates Your Blog
Not gettin’ ranked? Checked out this post from Problogger.

Online Sellers Have New Tax Filing Requirement
If you’re making side-money selling things on Ebay or Paypal, the IRS is coming for you. The gov’t needs their money to fund those studies of the sexual habits of Mongolian rats, or some such shit.

Test Your Sitemaps Before Submitting Them To Google
Search Engine Land has the news that Google Webmaster Tools now has a utility to test your XML sitemaps before officially submitting them. Very handy. BTW, if you’re not… do get the Google XML Sitemap plug-in and start using it. Have it generate an XML sitemap and then submit it to Google Webmaster Tools. It can help you get indexed faster by big G.

97 ideas for building a valuable platform
A list post on steroids, by the ever-handsome Chris Brogan.

How Some Brands Are Using Pinterest
Pinterest. The latest fad site, I swear. But, hey, who knows? Apparently some brands are using it. Sakita Holley has the goods on how they’re doing it.

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OK, my friends. Before I wrap it up…

Be sure you are registered for the “20 Questions” webinar on Tuesday. And, submit your question ASAP. I’m about to start going through these and preparing the webinar.

6 Uncommon Techniques For List Building

A lot of great questions have come in for the “20 Questions” webinar next week. Make sure to RSVP for it.

We all want to build up our email lists and get more subscribers.

And the common way to go about that is to offer an “ethical bribe”, or “free giveaway”. And, in almost all cases, this ends up being an ebook.

In some niches, an ebook is still a rather novel idea. However, in a growing portion of the Internet, free ebook giveaways are getting so common that the effectiveness of the offer has dropped a lot.

Of course, much of this comes down to how well you entice people. With an effective title, good cover images, enticing bullet points which tap into that sense of mystery… you can undoubtedly still get people to drool over your free ebook.

However, the perceived value of an ebook has dropped. The novelty has worn out, to a degree.

So, let’s look at some more uncommon ways to go about it. “Uncommon” not in the fact that nobody has thought of it before… but because the majority don’t seem to do it.

#1 – Webinars

Doing webinars is a FANTASTIC way to build a list. Think about it… not only are you getting their email address when they register, but you’re also getting a PRIME opportunity to really build a strong relationship with them by providing solid information for an hour or so.

More people are doing webinars now, but a vast majority still don’t. They either think it is too technical, don’t like the cost of a GotoWebinar account, or are still afraid to do a live event for fear of looking like an idiot. But, I promise you… it isn’t technical, the cost is minimal when compared to the return, and you’ll get over that nervousness VERY quickly.

Take what you might otherwise offer in a blog post and doing it in a webinar instead. You should know what kinds of things your market will go for.

On the technical side, it is imperative that you capture emails. If you use a GotoWebinar system, the emails go there. You can export the emails and put them into an email system like IContact… but that’s tedious. A MUCH better way is to use a system which dual-subscribes the user. It captures their email in your email list and RSVP’s them for your webinar at the same time.

There are a few of these solutions out there now, but my favorite (and the one I use personally) is WP Webinar Pro. You just set up a page on your WordPress blog for the webinar RSVP page, enter the settings, pick a template – and you’re done. Instead of pointing them to GTW directly, you point them to your own RSVP page.

I personally prefer WP Webinar Pro over the others because I think the templates are better and the functionality is just cleaner to use. And, I’ve tried several others.

Works fantastically to build an email list.

#2 – Free Membership Sites

Simple idea, of course. The big idea behind it is that membership sites have a higher perceived value than an ebook. So, whatever you might otherwise pop into a PDF and give away, just put it into a membership site instead. You can even use other forms of delivery (like video, MP3, etc.) because you’ll have that flexibility.

Using Wishlist Member, you can have people sign up for a free membership very easily. Wishlist will auto-subscribe them to your email list using the built-in autoresponder integration.

#3 – Facebook Fan Pages

This is one that I’m going to be soon acting upon. See, I have a Facebook fan page. I even have a custom landing page on it. However, I DON’T have it set up to subscribe people to my list. And I should.

The way to do this is using a “fan gate”. It means showing different content for non-fans versus fans on a custom tab. So, you set your page to point to a custom tab. That page defaults to the non-fan version, which of course is all about getting them to hit the LIKE button. Once they like the page, they then see the fan version… which is an OPT-IN FORM.

So, first they like your page, then they opt-in. The fan-gate page can be customized to tell them why they should opt-in. You can even have video on there if you want. And, now you’ve just suddenly turned your fan page into a real lead generator.

There’s a free Facebook app called TabPress which can help you set up a fan-gate. Problem is, you’ll need to manually code some stuff in HTML to use that.

A much more full-featured solution is WP Fan Pro, which will allow you to set up your fan page using… WordPress. Freakin’ awesome.

#4 – Facebook Opt-in Forms

I’m starting to see these on a few sites, but it is still a pretty new idea. Instead of having an opt-in form have the standard name and email fields, you have a form which is pre-filled using the reader’s contact information from Facebook.

This is powerful because (1) they see their own profile photo, which is instant recognition, (2) the name is pre-filled and it is actually accurate, (3) the email is pre-filled using their REAL email address.

Those last two points are important. Because more and more people are (unfortunately) entering “throw away” email addresses into opt-in forms these days. Or bogus names (like “Mickey Mouse”). However, on Facebook they have their real information. And most of us are surfing the Internet already logged into Facebook.

These are super easy to make now using Aweber (my preferred email list provider). Aweber now provides super-easy Facebook opt-in forms you can use. If the person isn’t logged into Facebook, they just see a normal opt-in form.

#5 – Comment Opt-In

When people post a comment on your blog, they’re entering their email address anyway. Why not give them the option to subscribe to your list right then and there? Only make sense, doesn’t it?

An easy way to set this up is using the Action Comments plug-in. The only “catch” is that this won’t work if you’re using a third-party comment system like Disqus or Livefyre. You have to be using WordPress’s built-in comment system.

#6 – Mini-Courses and Training

This one is, again, simple. If an ebook is a 2 or 3 on a 10-point scale of coolness… access to a full training course would be a good solid 9. Give your subscriber something you would normally expect to pay for… but they’ll get it for free just by subscribing. A 10-video series might be a nice example. Really over-deliver.

I’m throwing some ideas around to set this up myself. I mean, my Blueprint report is pretty good (so I’m told), but still…its an ebook. There are clearly untapped opportunities here. Hell, the Blueprint itself could even be turned into a mini training course.

You could even use Wishlist Member with this idea and protect the whole thing with a free membership level (see above).

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The idea here is to think outside the box. If everybody else is giving away an ebook, there’s a lot of opportunity in trying something different.