In this video, I explain how I got Neil Patel to buy me a brand new $2,000 MacBook Air. I also explain why Neil did it and the lessons you can learn from it. Enjoy the video, and I welcome your feedback.
I’ve been blogging for so many years and work in many different niches. Aside from my personal blogs, I work with many others, consulting them on how to get online. My cliental includes bloggers, ecommerce, general websites, etc., and this can become very tedious for me. However, I’ve learned a lot along the way and would like to share some of my experience with you now. I’m surprised by how many of my clients have NOT been able to be successful simply because of the way they have approached their business over the years. I’ve figured out some things that were holding people back and what the major problems with blogging are, so I would like to discuss some of the factors below.
This series will be divided into “2” parts…
Let’s get started…
One of the major problems right now is people don’t have the right idea before they get started. They think blogging is going to be very easy and start blogging about anything, hoping to make money. However, you need an “idea” to get you moving in the right direction and this can be the difference between success and failure. I always encourage my clients to NOT think too outside of the box and focus on a single idea. Why? The answer is simple…
I’ve noticed a simple idea usually flourishes into something more valuable and this should always be your initial focus. When you think too much, it can push you in the wrong direction and I try to avoid it at all costs. You’ll learn in the next section where your “simple” idea should stem from.
If you are NOT passionate about your business, then you’re going to fail almost immediately. One huge problem I find with blogging is people get involved for the wrong reasons and this can have an opposite effect going forward. For example, if I’m starting for profits and don’t see them immediately, then I might give up because I have nothing else pushing me in the right direction. The MOST successful blogs online started NOT for profit, but because they wanted to solve a major problem online. By doing this, they kept pushing forward when all else failed and this eventually ended up generating profits for them going forward.
Here is something to keep in mind…
Always start with a simple idea that should be based around your passion. You can dig deeper into your passion and find something specific but make sure the core of your idea is based on your passion.
Another huge problem with blogging is people NO longer provide value and are more consumed with bulk blogging. The internet has grown so much over the years that people know EXACTLY what they are looking for and won’t read your content if it doesn’t provide substance. This is why I always encourage bloggers to take time and research before writing. Next, they should make sure their content is lengthy and provides enormous value at the same time.
Writing high value content doesn’t have to be tough, but you have to have patience so you can do the following to help streamline your content writing and value.
Please stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll be looking at some others, which are destroying blogging.
It’s a pretty standard practice at most supermarkets and grocery stores. I think the only place where I haven’t seen it (yet) is Costco. You mosey your way through the aisles to pick up a carton of milk, a box of cereal, a pack of chicken thighs and a loaf of bread. These are all pretty typical items on the shopping list for most families. No big deal.
You make your way over to the checkout and you’re immediately hit by a variety of celebrity gossip magazines. There’s a bit of a lineup, so you catch yourself skimming through the headlines for some of the latest scandalous dealings. The line moves a little bit and you’re hit with fully stocked shelves of candy, chocolate bars and chewing gum, along with more magazines. There may be some cold beverages in little fridges there too, sold for at least double the price (on a per unit basis) of the larger packs you found back in the regular (non-refrigerated) aisles.
And I don’t know about your local supermarkets, but the Real Canadian Superstore here in Vancouver always has a deal of the day or a deal of the week. The cashier is obligated to offer this to you — it could be anything from cough lozenges to dish soap — or else you get one for free.
Why? Why do all supermarkets stock up their cashier lines with these relatively small items? Because they’re all impulse buys, designed to tempt you after you’ve already gone through all your regular shopping in the main part of the store. You see, there’s this concept in psychology called ego depletion and the idea is that your self-control is a limited resource that gets depleted the more you use it.
So, what does picking up a sleazy tabloid and a bottle of fizzy drink have to do with Internet marketing and making money online? The very same mechanism at play at the checkout stand before you’re greeted by the cashier is equally applicable to how you go about approaching your day-to-day life as a self-employed professional.
When you set your own schedule and when you don’t have a traditional “boss” to answer to, the opportunities for distraction and procrastination are limitless. And after you exhaust your self-control trying to avoid Facebook and YouTube for a couple hours, it becomes so much easier to give in to your temptation to dive into some forum or fall into a bottomless pit of Google searches, and these end up being a tremendous waste of time.
Perhaps with a healthy dose of irony, I came across an interesting strategy as I was meandering my way through the Internet one day. It’s called the procrastination list, but you can call it whatever you want. Basically, you maintain a list of tasks that you are “allowed” to do when you feel the urge to procrastinate. The key is that when you want to procrastinate, these are the ONLY things you’re allowed to do.
This is a little different from the scheduled breaks you would allow yourself under the Pomodoro technique, as those 5 to 15 minute breaks should be spent away from the computer anyhow. Instead, pull in some items from your Kanban boards or your other to-do lists, items that are lighter and “fun” and could serve as a pleasant escape or “break” from what you’re normally working on.
If you write a lot, as you probably should as a blogger, then perhaps one of your permissible procrastination list items is to take pictures for a product review or shoot a video for your YouTube channel. Maybe it’s to dive into a helpful book that you’ve been meaning to read. The main thing is that when you feel like you want to procrastinate, you must pick something from your procrastination list. If you don’t want to do anything from the list, then you have no choice but to return to whatever it is that you’re currently working on.
Now while some researchers have evidence that may debunk the notion of ego depletion, the lessons we can learn from the concept can still be applied to our everyday lives, both personally and professionally. Stack the odds in your favor of actually getting important work done. Always keep a procrastination list.
For this episode of the Dot Com Lifestyle Vlog, I head to Garden Grove in Orange County to eat giant snails and hot pot lunch at OC & Lau. They also serve the biggest shrimps I’ve ever seen.
This episode of the Dot Com Lifestyle Vlog was filmed using the new Sony A7III with 16-35 F/2.8 super wide angle lens. Let me know what you think of of the setup.
This week’s South Orange County Cars and Coffee was full of supercars, especially Ferraris and McLarens. There was also a VW Bug (also known as a Punch Buggy) that was powered by a 427 cubic inch (that’s 7 liters) big block Chevy motor! That’s way too much motor for a bug, but it’s one way to pack a big punch into a punch buggy!
This episode of the Dot Com Lifestyle Vlog was filmed using the new Sony A7III and 16-35 F/2.8 super wide angle lens equipped with a Tiffen 82mm Variable ND Filter. Let me know what you think of of the setup.
This is a great question often asked by the best bloggers within the industry. For those of you new to the world of blogging, “LP” stands for landing pages, which are often used to get visitors to opt in to a newsletter or subscription list. By having people opt-in, you are increasing the chances of sending follow-ups and building a more personal relationship with the visitor. This helps streamline your bottom line of creating conversions and profits more quickly. However, creating the right type of landing pages does take time and effort, which is why it is important you read case studies to find out what has worked in the past.
Over the years, I’ve had a lot of experience with landing pages and have tested what works compared to what doesn’t. Anyway, let’s look at a few key ingredients of a successful landing page so you can implement these into your blog going forward.
What do I mean by this? The answer is very simple…
The visitor has arrived on your blog because they expect to find value and a solution to a common problem. It’s important that you meet all expectations when creating your landing page because this will increase the chances of getting a person to opt-in. For example, if I write content on “weight loss” and my audiences expects to find diet plans then I won’t be able to convert them with a landing page based on “automotive tips”…right? So, here is the first ingredient…
You have to make sure your landing page meets all requirements and expectations because this will help with conversions. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
To capture the visitor’s attention quickly, you should focus on creative headlines focused on the topic and reason they have come to your landing page.
Landing page conversions are increased when you provide trust and value to your readers. There are a few ways you can achieve this and I’d like to discuss the two most valuable:
First, trust and value is achieved when you are sending loyal readers to your LP and these people are already familiar with your brand. This means they trust your content and are more likely to opt-in to your form. You’ll have different offers throughout your blog so sending a quick follow-up or popup to existing visitors is a great way to produce conversions. Secondly, testimonials and reviews have worked well for huge brands and they continue to utilize this strategy going forward. For example, if you are selling a product, then think about how easy it is to convert visitors when they know others have had a great experience on your blog. Consider how easy it is to convert visitors when they see others have found your products and services useful.
An optimal way to increase conversions is by ONLY asking for the information you need when they arrive on your page. For example, if you are offering a FREE eBook, there is NO reason to ask for phone number and address. This just complicates the opt-in process and forces people to move away. I like to keep my forms simple and don’t even ask for a name on my forms. However, the form you choose should, and will, depend on your niche and what type of subscriber the visitors are becoming. If they are signing up for a FREE trial, then you might need to ask for more information than the normal opt-in form does.
Here are a few more tips you should consider going forward:
Yesterday, I told you the story of how Google nuked me from their search engine and how I was able to survive it. In this blog post I want to share with you how I got back into Google’s good graces and the lessons learned from it.
Since the challenge of building a blog without Google was pretty much done and proven, the new challenge was trying to get back into Google. Would Google even talk to me after I’ve made them look bad for three years?
The normal way for getting a banned/slapped site back into Google is to correct whatever got you banned in the first place and then send a reconsideration request using Google Webmaster Tools.
There is no assurance or guarantee that Google will reconsider you and let you back in. You just basically have to hope and pray.
This was something I didn’t want to do.
Instead, I talked to my friend Neil Patel. Neil told me the best way to get back into Google was just to talk to Matt Cutts, head of Google’s webspam team at that time. Neil told me that Matt is an extremely fair guy and would be open to the idea of letting me back in even after all those violations I pulled.
Neil facilitated an introduction and Matt and I exchanged several emails. I got the feeling that Matt must work 24 hours a day because every time he emailed me, it was after 10PM.
Neil was correct in saying that Matt was extremely fair and after correcting one misunderstanding, Matt informed me that a member of his team had submitted a reconsideration request on my behalf. The next day, I was back in Google!
There are two take-away lessons you can learn from this.
The first one is… It’s not what you know, it’s who you know!
Without Neil Patel, I would have never got an audience with Matt Cutts. Instead, I’ll be hoping and praying like every webmaster who submitted a reconsideration request. Neil allowed me to go straight to The Man and get my blog back in Google almost instantly.
This is why networking is so important to me, and why I attend a lot of industry events. Your network is your net worth!
The second take away is… Have an email list!
If I didn’t have an email list when Google slapped hit, I wouldn’t be around today. The list allowed me to survived three years with no Google traffic.
My email list is the foundation of my entire online business. Without it, I would be just another broke blogger making peanuts, instead of of a millionaire blogger living the Dot Com Lifestyle.
If you truly want to make money online and live the Dot Com Lifestyle, you MUST have a list. And you MUST start it from day 1 (that’s today).
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In upcoming post seris, I will show you how to take full advantage of all the unique features Constant Contact has to offer. Go set up your free trial now so you learn can along with the training. Remember, it’s free and no credit card is required.
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