Coffee Break Blogging

Hello there! Welcome to the new episode of Coffee Break Blogging!

In this particular episode, I'm actually going to do something different. I'm going to record a video of me actually doing this particular podcast just basically recording it. The video is not probably going to look very pretty, I'm literally just going to point the webcam on myself; but I'm going to try a little different. I'm going to try putting this thing up on YouTube and just kind of see what the heck happens.

But anyway, from there let's just go and move on to the topic of the show.

Hello, there! David Risley here! Welcome to another episode of Coffee Break Blogging! ;-)

With episode 33 of Coffee Break Blogging, we're still working on setting up the framework for moving forward on the 7 Stages of Building an Online Business.

In this one, I talk about how to do all that we're going to talk about... but while holding down a full-time job. Specifically, I'm going to cover 7 specific strategies in order to build leverage. If you have a full-time job, but want to build up your blog-based business on the side, then give this episode a listen.

So in this episode let's talk about my 7 Tips For Growing Your Blog While Having A Full-time Job.

This one came in from Karen. And Karen, you are the first person to submit a question to me for the podcast since I brought it back so I appreciate that very much. So, this question came from Karen and her blog is KipKitchen.com. And her question is probably one that many people feel. And it is this:

"So far, we have been doing the maintenance of our food blog KipKitchen.com ourselves and it is often tough. We are not PHP programmers. Fixing broken links and other webmaster tasks are difficult to handle. Many internet marketers advise us to outsource the work but we have concerns as we are not making money yet. What would you recommend?"

So, this is a great question to bring forth early on here because I know this is one that many people feel. You are up against that technical glass ceiling, so to speak, where you don't really know certain things with your blog or possibly you just straight up do not have time to do it but yet you do not want to spend any money at all because you are not making anything yet.

First thing that I want to do before I talk about a solution to this is I want to talk about that catch-22 situation that you are in, Karen. It is a very common catch-22 but realize this...

You are going to continue not to make any money with your blog if you spend all your time doing all these things or trying to do these things that you are not any good at.

And that is probably the basic foundation of the advice that you are getting from many of these other marketers is the fact that you do not know how to do it, you should not be trying to spend your time figuring it out.

And I agree with that advice because here is the thing...

If you want to make money with this blog at KipKitchen.com, you are going to need to do certain things to allow the money to come to you. Probably in the order of building your list and building products to sell, making offers... Those are the things that are going to be the shortest path between where you are at and bringing that business in. And that really is where your time should be spent.

Any time that you are spending not doing that but instead going around and trying to fix broken links or doing little maintenance tasks on your blog, that is time you are not going to be spending building those assets that are going to make you money. So it is a catch-22 but it is definitely one that is self-imposed and I would encourage you to question the assumption that you can't spend money if you are not making it yet.

Now, if you go out into the real world (and what I mean here is go off the internet), you probably will see that no business out there is going to making money before they ever spend anything. Generally, we kind of know that there is going to be an initial investment upfront in order to put the place of business upfront, to invest in product that you can sell, things like that.

In the regular world, we tend to have that expectation that for some reason when it gets to the internet, we think the rules are different and that we should be able to build up a nice income stream without ever spending a dime. I don't know where that expectation came from because it is actually not true.

And this situation is proof of that concept.

So you need to be willing to spend money before you've actually made it. And in fact, I've often found, and I've experienced this myself that your best chance of success is going to be found when you invest a little bit of money into it. Because until you have invested a little bit of money into it, it is almost like it's less serious. And that when you finally invest a little bit of money you got a little bit of skin in that game, you are more likely to pull it off so you didn't waste your investment.

So with all that being said, I encourage you, Karen, to focus on what you need to do in the short term to build your business and be willing to outsource those things that are not an effective use of your time.

Hello! David here and I want to talk to you a little bit in this episode about the realities of blogging for a living.

Now, I talked about in the last episode how the general plan moving forward with this podcast is going to be a true beginning to end walk through of building up a blog and starting an online business around that. And we are going to be going through the 7 Stages of Building An Online Business which was something that have been documented with an Infographic over at blogmarketingacademy.com. And if you haven't seen that, you'll see the link to it in the show notes for this particular episode.

But I thought it would be useful, before we jump in with some of the actual work involved with all these; is to set some of the foundations, some of the mindset things for going in. Because, I find that when I talk to a lot of people, there's definitely some mindset things that need to be overcome in order to have a chance of success at this. And one of them really truly understands what the realities of blogging for a living truly are.

Hello there! David Risley here; from blogmarketingacademy.com with Episode 30 of The Blog Program.

It's been a little while since you and I have spoken unless you are over at blogmarketingacademy.com and seeing what I have been doing there. I haven't actually done a podcast episode for quite a time and actually, the point of this particular episode is to tell you exactly what's been going on there and let you know what is going to be happening moving forward. :-)

So first of all, I want to start out with what my big mistake had been. It's one of those things to where none of us are fool proof. And anybody who goes out there and puts on a facade that everything that they've ever done was the best decision they have ever made, is bull crapping you. And I think we all kind of know this.

In this episode, we wrap up the series: 30 Email Marketing Power Tips For Bloggers.

In this episode of the show, I cover tips 21-30. To catch the prior email marketing tips, go back and listen to episodes #27 and #28 of the show.

This time around, we'll talk about...

• A slick psychological tactic from storytelling which can drastically increase your open rates
• A source for some awesome autoresponder emails
• What you can learn from Hollywood production that works VERY nicely for email sequences
• How you should set up your FROM name and return address on our outgoing emails
• What you SHOULDN'T be emailing your entire list
• And more. After all, they're 10 of them in this episode.

In this episode, we continue with part 2 of the series: 30 Email Marketing Power Tips For Bloggers.

If you didn't catch episode #27, go back and listen to it so that you get tips 1-10.

In this episode of the show, I cover 11-20.

We'll talk about...

• The one thing you need to make sure you do on every email you send to your list.
• The big mistake that way too many bloggers make with their email lists.
• The ideal length for that email.
• How you should format your emails to work best on mobile devices.
• How many times to include a link in the email.
• And more. After all, they're 10 of them in this episode.

Blogging and email marketing go together like fish and water. In that the fish just freakin' dies without the water.

In the same way, your blog will usually limp along in life support with the email list. So, for that reason, every blogger has to engage in email marketing.

In this episode of the podcast (as well as the next 2), I am talking about all email marketing. I am going through a list of 30 actionable tips... things you can immediately put to use to get more email opt-ins as well as properly utilize your list after they've subscribed.

In this episode of the show, I cover 1-10.

We'll talk about...

• Why a giveaway offer is a good idea... and what KIND to create to earn new subscribers.
• The typical conversion rates for sidebar opt-ins, and what converts FAR better.
• The one word that SO many bloggers use to describe their list - and they SHOULDN'T be.
• When - and when not - to use "blog broadcast" emails.
• And more. After all, they're 10 of them in this episode.

One of the reasons that growing an online business can be pretty difficult for some people is because it has a lot of other things piggy-backing along with it. Things like productivity, personal development, etc.

Why?

Because there's no buffer from yourself. If you have a day job, then you are sitting in a controlled environment of somebody else's making, doing tasks they defined for you, on a schedule they defined. And, if you don't get them done, you have the threat of being fired.

When you're on your own, you don't have any of that. Nobody can fire you from your own business. The environmental control is completely up to you. Your schedule and tasks is up to you, too.

Self discipline and self-defined structure are highly important - and this is a huge reason why it is the tigers who make it. Weak-minded people who can't seem to control themselves don't usually get that far in this business.

On that note, episode 26 of The Blog Program talks about productivity. Namely... 5 Tricks To Get More Done In Less Time.

In episode 26, you'll learn about...

• How I personally structure my day
• Why I use a timer
• The key to getting more done during production time
• The brain-dead simple tactic that all the productivity gurus seem to dance around
• Why you need to be a "ruthless son of a bitch" (probably not what you think I mean there ;) )

In this episode, I talk about my daily template that I keep inside of Evernote.

I've been thinking a little lately about how things have changed.

Not in a bad way or anything.... just... different.

See, I've been at this for 16 years now, starting with my tech blog (which I also recently announced that my intention is to retire from). And over the course of 16 years - which is a LOOONNNGGGG damn time on the Internet - I've seen things change drastically.

It used to be easy. Today, only the tigers make it.

Then, along this line, I recently saw two long-timers that I've known of for quite some time express similar sentiments.

Chris Pirillo, of Lockergnome, recently expressed his frustrations on growing his business and how the things which used to work... don't. Chris comes from the tech space, as I do. So, I've known about Chris for years now and have watched him evolve. I watched an unlisted hangout video he did where he talked more about his current frustrations... and I know exactly where he's coming from.

Then there's Yaro Starak, from Entrepreneurs Journey. Yaro recently posted Blogging For Money Has Changed: Here Is How Smart Bloggers Can Profit In 2014. In it, Yaro talks, too, about how things has changed. Yaro has been at it for 10 years. And he gives his perspective on how things has changed.

So, that's two people I've known for awhile, both seeming to have similar thoughts as myself.

And so I decided to comment on it in this week's episode of The Blog Program.

In episode 25, you'll learn about...

• My review of the 13 points Yaro Starak mentioned in his post
• Why the "old school" model of "blog monetization" is deader today than it has ever been.
• Why blogging alone doesn't work anymore.
• The two pronged strategy I am personally pursuing, given the world we operate in today.
• Where the money really comes from.
• Why traffic numbers aren't nearly as important as they used to be, and what really matters more than traffic.

I got a little.... ranty in this episode. I got quite passionate. And, be forewarned, I did drop the s-word. (gasp!) But, this is stuff I feel strongly about.