Have you noticed how Copyblogger is moving from a ‘traditional’ blog to a solutions provider offering web marketing tools? Some people feel that Copyblogger should have stuck to its roots and built a better blog, but I’m not so sure.

As they say, “To stay in business, you need to be in business.”

What Copyblogger’s currently doing allows it to scale, integrate, and increases its capital value.

How many blogs can you say that about?

Web Business Models: Which work best?

Let’s back up a second. Most ‘blogs’ struggle to make money.

Why?

Their business model relies on revenue streams that are often beyond its control.

The three most common forms of revenue generation on the web are:

• Advertising
• Services
• Products

Advertising is the one most start with.

It’s very easy to add Google Adsense to your site. However, you need a phenomenal amount of traffic to make a genuine living from it. Trust me, you really do. And anyone telling you otherwise is telling a porky.

• Services are fine but they’re hard to scale. There are only so many hours in the day. You can’t service clients in your sleep. Try it!
• Products are the most difficult to develop. But the most lucrative… if you get it right.

What’s interesting for me is how Copyblogger developed a path that allowed it to escape from the blogging thread-mill and create something more substantial, with more value, and less dependency on web traffic.

Using your blog as a platform

If you go back to when Copyblogger started, it was like most blogs except that it identified, isolated and owned its niche very quickly. It grew incredibly fast.

This allowed it developed educational tools, such as Teaching Sells, which appealed to its readers.

However, the problem was scale.

Teaching Sells was/is limited to a number of subscribers. My understanding is that it’s run every year, sells out, and then re-runs the next year.

But wouldn’t something the sells 24×7 make more money?

Developing Complementary Solutions

Copyblogger moved into product development a few years ago with the Thesis Theme. This is probably the top-selling premium WordPress theme.

For different reasons, Copyblogger separated from the Thesis Theme developer and created their own offering – The Genesis Framework.

What’s interesting here is that what started as a copywriting site began to offer products that complemented their readers’ needs.

Copyblogger started to develop web products, built upon a strong brand name, that helped bloggers, ie their army of loyal readers, to be more successful.

At the moment, it offers three main products:

• StudioPress for Blog Design
• Scribe for Web Traffic
• Premise for creating Landing Pages

Scaling

The advantage of having this suite of products is obvious:

• Affiliates help spread the word and create more sales.
• It’s less dependent on weaker business models, such as advertising which has taken a huge hit in the recession.
• It can integrate these products with other partners
•  Upsell opportunities can be realized by selling premium and enterprise versions

Conclusion

Here’s another way of looking at it. Take a look at the AdAdge Power 150 and see which of the sites in the top twenty you’d like to own.

• Which sites have the best opportunities for revenue generation and licensing?
• Which sites can be scaled, i.e. build other products upon what’s already there?
• Which sites can expand into other verticals and industries?

Most sites cannot scale, have few independent revenue streams, and are vulnerable to competition.

What’s interesting about Copyblogger is how it’s building for the future. Instead of building a better blog, it’s building a better business.

What do you think? Is Copyblogger making the right move? Has it abandoned its roots? What do you think it will do next?

Want to improve your web writing skills? This short tutorial will 1) help you break old writing habits that don’t work on the web and 2) show you how to develop a writing style that’s more ‘natural’ for blogging.

Breaking bad writing habits

Ok, this is a bit harsh but what I want to do is get you away from how you were taught in school.

Academic writing doesn’t work on the web. Neither does formal business writing.

To write for the web, examine how others use it to search, digest, and share information.

Here’s how to get started:

• Go to the newsagent
• Buy a local newspaper, national paper and business magazine
• Get a yellow marker
• Start reading

Underline every piece of text you read. Ignore the rest. Do this for five minutes, then stop.

How we scan text offline

What do you notice?

The page will be streaked with yellow lines here and there. There will no logical order.
But lots of underlines where your eye fell on text, read a little, and then moved on.

Why is this important?

Because this is how most of us read. We don’t actually read.

• We search for text
• Find what we like
• Dig deeper for a few minutes (at most) and then
• Search for the next piece

Of course, you do slow down when you’re reading certain pieces. But, when reading, say the sports section, you skip and bounce over the words looking for scores, quotes and other snippets.

You don’t ‘read’ read if that makes sense.

How we scan text online

Let’s move over to the web.

When you’re reading text on the web, your eye roves over the screen. It doesn’t start at the top and read each and every word.

Why?

You’re in a hurry. Pushed for time, seeking information, scanning blocks of text looking for clues.

So, how can we use this when writing blogs and developing web content.

When I work with clients, I usually start by showing them Before and After writing samples.

This shows them a few things:

• How difficult it was to read their materials
• How ineffective it was in getting engagement
• How it demotivated readers from continuing
• How it made the sales process almost impossible and
• How it persuaded customers to leave the site

No sane person wants this.

We all want customers to stay on site, engage, and buy our stuff. Otherwise, what are we doing online?

How to write for the web

While I can’t teach you to be professional web writer in one tutorial, you can use these tips to get started.

1. Get to the point. Immediately.
2. Identify the main topic. “What you’re going to learn here is…”
3. Use short headlines. Include one feature and one benefit.
4. Keep paragraphs under three sentences.
5. Break up text fast. See how daily newspapers do it. There’s no waffle.
6. Use short, not long words. Buy instead of procure. Get instead of acquire. Fast instead of rapid.
7. Use bullet lists to callout takeaways.
8. If you’re going to use images, add a caption.
9. Use ragged text. Don’t force the text to align with the right margin.
10. Use white space to help the page breath.
11. Use short hyperlinks. Don’t under-link entire sentences.
12. Use the word ‘you’ everywhere. I’m writing this post for YOU.

Summary

It takes practice to ‘re-learn’ how to write for the web; after all, you’ve spent years writing in a different style, so it’s going to take time to change.

Look at how others do it. See how John structures this post, how Eamonn uses a natural writing style, Gene uses lists to break up text,  and Ryan provides lots of white space to improve readability.

The end result is a confident writing style that draws you in and makes you want to continue. And it’s not difficult to acquire. But you have to decide you want to make it happen.

Over to you.

What blogger has the best writing style? What have you learned from the way they write?

Image Credit

What’s the difference between writing for the web and writing for a magazine? There’s at least five main differences. Two of the most critical relate to scanning and heatmaps.

Why readers scan (not read) webpages?

On the web, we scan pages, posts, and tweets.

We don’t read every line word by word, unless the writer is clever and breaks up the text fast – like I’m going to do:)

We scan text for three reasons:

• Find what’s we’re after
• See if it’s interesting
• Decide where to go next

Let’s take a second look at this, because it’s worth examining.

When people come to your webpage, what do they want to do?

I’d say they want to:

• Scan the main sections, (e.g. hierarchy, menus, images etc) and determine what it’s about
• Research shows they stay for as little as three seconds before deciding where to go next. In other words, you have less than a heartbeat to persuade them to stay and continue browing.
• If they decide to stay, it’s the content on the top (usually left) part of the screen they read first.

Why?

Because westerners (people, not the movies) are trained to read from…

• …left to right and
• top to bottom

Designing content to be scanned and read

So, how can you encourage readers to stay on your site that little bit longer?

Here’s a tactic that works:

• Write headlines that combines a benefit with an emotional response. Don’t focus on either heart or heart. Try to appeal to both.
• Keep the headline under six words.
• Add a summary under the headline. This helps the reader understand the context of the article, i.e. where am i?, and hopefully to read onwards.
• Use transitions to carry the reader from the summary into the body of the article. How? Ask questions, make a statement, suggest what’s next or create a little controversy.

Developing Content based on Heatmaps

This brings us to ‘heatmaps’. In simple english, this refers to a ‘map’ which shows where readers look most on pages.

The areas they read most appear in Red.

For you, when developing web content, this means placing the most critical pieces of content…

• Call to Actions
• Primary Links
• Adverts

…in the red zones of the heat map.

Why?

If 90% of your readers are focussed here, why place these links elsewhere? You’ll get no clicks anyway.

Content placed…

• In sidebars, e.g. banner ads
• In large blocks of text and
• Below the fold, i.e. you have to scroll down to see it

…are rarely examined.

The Two Second Eye Tracking Test

The good news is that you don’t need expensive software to test your site’s content. Here’s a low tech way to see your content the way new visitors to your site do:

• Open your website on a laptop, not a large monitor.
• Sit back (don’t lean in, they don’t).
• Squint your eyes and look at the page.

What do you see?

If you’re honest, you’ll see a banner, your logo, and maybe the title of today’s article.

Now, keep squinting… and find the most important call to acton on the page.

• Can you see it?
• Does it stand out?
• Do you feel like clicking on it?

How to write content reader want to click

That’s the bottom line, right?

Ok, here’s how to do it.

• Write short headlines.
• Use plain english. Avoid puns.
• Lead with a benefit, such as How To Reduce…
• Include a short summary.
• Use bullet lists to break up the text.
• Use sub heads, e.g. H2, to format the page.
• Use images sparingly. If so, add a caption.
• White space helps text breath.
• Avoid cool fonts – use industry standard fonts
• Use slightly larger than normal font sizes.
• Use a limited color palate.

Conclusion

Don’t be too hard on yourself. Developing web content looks easy until you test its performance. Try and optimize it by 1%. Tricky, isn’t it.

The key to developing clickable web content is to 1) first understand how people read on the web and 2) develop scannable content based on these behaviors.

What have you found?

Have you noticed that readers scan pages faster than they used to? What type of content gets the most clicks? Where do you position images?

Which is better for selling goods online?  Clickbank or eJunkie? You’ve probably heard of Clickbank, so why go with Ejunkie?

There are three ways to make money online. Products. Services. Advertising. The real money is in selling products. You own the product, make 100% of the sale, and can setup affiliate programs if you want. You can also create upsell opportunities with your newsletter. Sounds good?

So, how do you do it? I started with Clickbank. It’s very good, not perfect, for selling digital goods. I’ve used it for nine years and seen it improve dramatically. E-junkie is another site that lets you buy and sell digital goods online. Let’s compare them and see which is best.

Why I like E-junkie to sell digital goods

E-junkie is less well-known than Clickbank but has some powerful tools for upselling, digital delivery and secure downloads. It’s not free but at 5 USD per month for 10 goods, it won’t break the bank.

• Cost – It costs $5 dollars a month to sell 10 goods. The pricing structure is staggered depending on the number of products you sell and/or bandwidth you want.

• Quality – The quality of the information products and digital goods is high. The marketplace is smaller than Clickbank, I think. I stand corrected on this.
• Delivery – Downloads are sent by email. With Clickbank, you have to create a web page where the customer goes to buy the product. Some customers don’t get it and expect an email with the digital good. Customer support can take time and time is money.
  
• Affiliate – You can setup affiliate programs in a snap. Couldn’t be much easier.
• Product Listing – you can add multiple digital products to its online marketplace. With Clickbank, you need to apply/create a master account and then link different accounts to each product. Takes time.
• Guarantee – no guarantee. It’s up to you to resolve with the affiliate manager.
• PayPal – integrates with PayPal, which also allows you to upsell digital productsl.
• Upsell – it has a built-in tool that lets you create a shopping cart and upsell other products. Possibly the one reason to choose E-junkie over Clickbank.

Why I like Clickbank to sell digital goods

• Cost – Clickbank is free!
• Quality – The quality of the digital goods may not be as high. However, the range of products is larger.
• Guarantee – you get a minimum 60 day guarantee on all products.
• Affiliate – You can setup affiliate programs, add commissions and get tips in the affiliate newsletter.
• Product Listing – you can add one core product to its marketplace. However, you can create a Master account and add different products. It’s doable but a little cumbersome.
  Clickbank Analytics Page
• Delivery – you have to create a web page where the customer goes to buy the product. Some customers don’t understand this and expect an email with the digital goods. Customer support can take time and time is money. Also, some close the download page and don’t receive the product, then request a refund. With E-junkie, they get an email with a link to the product. There is also a limit on the number of times/days they can attempt to download the product.
• Upsell – Clickbank has a manual system that lets you upsell digital products. I got the PDF with instructions but never actually tried. Too much coding and testing involved. I want something that’s automated.
• PayPal – integrates with PayPal and 2Checkout.
• Shopping Cart - built-in shopping cart that helps upsell products and increase sales. You can do this manually on Clickbank (e.g. hardcode HTML pages) but if you change the prices, then you need to go back and manually change the web pages.

Which is best for selling digital goods?

• While Clickbank is free, the five dollars for EJ shouldn’t stop you. Not if you’re serious about selling goods online.
• Quality is hard to tell until you buy. Clickbank’s reputation is better than it was and they are trying to give extra support to power users. I have a dedicated Relationship Manager, for example.
• Clickbank gives you a 60 day guarantee.
• E-junkie is a little easier for setting up affiliate programs, especially as you can separate out different products. How sure how to do this with Clickbank, tbh.
• Clickbank lets you add one core product to its Marketplace. You can apply for a Master account and add different products. With E-junkie the process is much simpler.
• Delivery – Clickbank makes you create a web page for every product, which must be open 24*7. Security issues here. The link can also be passed around. Not ideal! Many customers expect email delivery. After the purchase, some close the browser and don’t receive the product – request refunds. E-junkie sends them an email with a link to the product. Limit on the number of times/days they can attempt to download it. You can update this.
• E-junkie has a nice tool for creating a shopping cart and upselling.
• Both integrate with PayPal.
• E-junkie has a built-in shopping cart that links to PayPal. Great for upselling information products and long-tail products. You have to do this manually on Clickbank and if you change prices etc, then you need to locate, change and ftp the web pages.

Which do I use to sell digital products?

Both. I have so many products that moving them to E-junkie (mostly for the shopping cart feature) takes time. Some friends suggested that I use 1Shopping Cart to sell my digital products instead!

What do you suggest? Looking forward to hearing from you.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh is a recovering technical writer who develops internet business plans for savvy clients .He also shares business tips for smart people at Klariti.

How do you define social media? My definition? An Operating System for humans.

The parallels between a computer operating system’s DNA and how Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms interlink is closer than you’d think. As in The Matrix, because you’re inside, it hard to see how it operates.

Why Social Media is an Operating System For Humans?

One way to start is to define what is social media…

Let’s define computer Operating systems and then see if it matches how we understand social media.

An Operating System is defined as:

• Software that supports a computer’s basic functions, such as scheduling tasks, executing applications, and controlling peripherals. [Google]
• …without an operating system, a user cannot run an application program on their computer, unless the application program is self booting. [Wikipedia]
• …are multiuser, multiprocessing, multitasking, multithreading, and real-time operating systems. [WiseGeek]

Social Media is defined as:

• …a set of technologies and channels targeted at forming and enabling a potentially massive community of participants to productively collaborate. [Gartner]
• Digital content and interaction that is created by and between people. Sam Decker – Mass Relevance
• Extends engagement by creating real-time online events, extending online interactions offline, or augmenting live events online. Heidi Cohen – Riverside Marketing Strategies
• Online communications in which we shift instantly and easily between the role of audience and creator – without needing to know how to code. We do this by using social software that incorporates functions like publishing, sharing, friending, commenting, linking and tagging. Joe Thornily

Social Media – The Human Operating System

Can you see the threads they have in common?

…multiuser, multiprocessing, multitasking, multithreading, and real-time operating systems

Social media networks allow us to:

• Where we share information across different platforms in real time
• Respond, engage, like/dislike, connect/disconnect to form stronger bonds with other members of the network
• Use different personas to engage on different levels

And, most importantly, would feel lost if exiled from the system.

Conclusion

Social media is no longer a fad but a necessity. It’s hard for me to live without it. There’s an emotional itch that needs to be scratched.

Do we struggle emotionally when our social media operating systems were taken away from us?

Is our personal identify increasingly based on how others respect our social media ‘persona’?

One final question.

Which do you put more energy into? How others perceive you online or off-line. Before you hit Reply, think about it for a moment…

Before we go. It’s your turn.

Social media is ________________

What’s Facebook’s EdgeRank? In short, EdgeRank is to Facebook, what PageRank is to Google. If you’re managing a Facebook business page, you need to monitor your EdgeRank and determine which variables influence your page’s performance.

Facebook EdgeRank: What is it?

In simple terms, it’s the set of metrics Facebook uses to determine your page’s value.

Why is this important?

Your Facebook EdgeRank determines if your posts are shared with other pages/people that have ‘liked’ you.

What this means is that, even though someone has liked your page, if your posts have a low Facebook EdgeRank… it may not appear in their newsfeed, i.e. the stream of posts that appear on their page when logged in.

If you have a low Facebook EdgeRank, your posts, comments, and ‘likes’ don’t get shared upstream. It’s a bit like not appearing in Google’s search results.

Therefore, if you’ve noticed a drop in the traffic to your Facebook page, it’s probably because your Facebook EdgeRank has dropped.

Facebook EdgeRank: How to Improve it?

There are different tactics, but the following are worth examining:

• Third Party APIs – Reduce (or stop) direct feeds from third party APIs, such as Hootsuite. Research shows that this may have a negative impact on your EdgeRank.
• Embed Videos – Instead of linking to videos, embed the actual video on your page. If you don’t see the option for doing this, install a video plugin or drop me a line.
• Engagement – Instead of posting generic status updates (which have very low social interaction), look for ways to create a dialogue with others.
• Organic Likes – Avoid buying Likes (no, really don’t) and work at getting more Likes from like-minded Facebook users.
• Investment – Think long-term and invest in your page. Invest in tools, templates, and training courses that bring you up to speed faster with Facebook. TechCrunch doesn’t know everything
• Share Images – Words power Google. Images power Facebook. And videos are catching up! Find ways to source, share, and get comments on more images.

Remember, Facebook is all about being social. So, think social, community, and engage. If you’re using the same tactics on Facebook as you do on Google, you’ll get very little returns.

Over to you.

What affects your Facebook EdgeRank the most? What tactics do you use to monitor your page’s performance? And what mistakes do we need to avoid?

Clickbank’s reputation as a site for selling digital products, such as eBooks, has improved recently. It certainly had teething problems at the start but most have been sorted out now. When John Chow and ShoeMoney use it to sell their online courses, you know it’s got to be good. But, what if you’re still not convinced? What are the other options for selling goods online?

Why Leave Clickbank?

I decided to look into this. I contacted other ecommerce companies that help you sell online to see if they offered better value.

What I was really looking for was a compelling reason to switch from Clickbank and move to them.

Could they persuade me to move? Let’s take a look.

Why Sell Digital Products?

I’ve sold ebooks, software, reports, online services through Clickbank for ten years.

Customers like the simplicity of the Clickbank shopping experience. It lets them get in and out with minimum hassle. For that reason, we’ve stayed with them.

But, if you’re starting out, then look at your options before making a commitment.

For me, the attraction of selling Digital Goods, such as Information Products is that there are:

• No cost to produce
• No time to deliver
• No shipping costs
• No physical production

How Much Does Clickbank Really Cost?

Clickbank charges about 7.5% commission and a small fee for every transaction.

While this is not ideal, the technical setup is now in place with Clickbank, so moving to a new system would take time, be expensive, and may not be a success with customers.

It works out at about 10% of the final sale.

But the 10% hurts. So, I decided to explore another ecommerce provider. Or, at least, look for one that would give a better deal.

My Shopping Cart Criteria

I contacted 9 companies – these quotes are from those who responded – they other didn’t get back to me or even send out an auto-responder!

My requirements were for the following:

• Delivery mechanism to sell digital products, such as ebooks, software, templates, reports and so on.
• Real-time credit card processing system.
• Ability to manage everything online.

Most websites listed their products features and fees but I wanted to know a bit more. For example, how could I move from Clickbank to them or did they have any advice on how I could save money with volume transactions.

I sent them an email and asked 2 specific questions about selling digital online products.

Here is what I wrote:

1. I want to sell ‘Digital Products’ on my site and offer them as ‘Instant Downloads’ to my customers. From your site, it appears that you offer such as service.
2. Can you clarify how this process works, especially if a customer buys more than one product? For example, if they buy one item, they can be directed to a download page. That I can understand, But, how would this work, if (i.e. they used a shopping cart) and downloaded two or three products.
3. Do I need a Merchant Account to do this? What is the price for this service? I’m based in Europe if this makes any difference.

Note: one of the limitations of Clickbank is that it’s hard to upsell a second product automatically. You can do it but the process is rather complicated. Other ecommerce providers, such as PayLoadz and EJunkie have in-build tools for upselling.

Here are the responses (with minor edits), in no order of preference:

PayDotCom

I contacted PayDotCom, which integrates Paypal, and got a response almost immediately.

1. PayDotCom is a marketplace where you show your products.

Customers purchase them and then are taken to a download page you have setup. All this information is input into your product setup.

PayDotCom currently does not offer a shopping cart, but I understand that is coming in the near future.

2. You do not need a merchant account. All transactions are processed through PayPal or StormPay.

While this sounds good, there is no shopping cart. Customers can only buy one item at a time, which is a limitation if customers likes your products and want to make multiple purchases.

1Shoppingcart.com

1Shoppingcart.com is one of the most well-known ecommerce/online payment providers. It offers an incredible range of products and features, but it’s a little pricey compared with entry-level products such as eJunkie..

Here’s the reply:

1. If the client buys more then one product they will be given multiple download links on the download page. Basically they will be given a separate download link for each digital product.

2. As for the merchant account, where in Europe do you live?

Update: 1shoppingcart.com came back and said they could arrange for me to get a Merchant Account with one of their partners. I took the trial offer and have to say it’s very impressive. Hard to fault it except for the price but then you always pay for quality.

Stormpay

Very disappointing. Straight from auto-responder land:

“To create StormPay payment buttons for your web site, log into your StormPay account and click the “Sell” link. Next, choose the type of payment button you want to create (ie: single item, subscription, or shopping cart). After you enter the details into the form, html will be auto generated for you to paste into your web site. For advanced button codes, click the “Integration Manual” link which can be found at the bottom of any StormPay.com web page.”

Some of the answers are in here, but it is hard work. You’d think they would make a bit more effort, especially as they are competing with Paypal.

For example:

1. Does Stormpay let me upsell products?
2. Does Stormpay let me track and/or contact buyers via email?
3. What the main advantage of using Stormpay or Clickbank?

I never heard back from them.

GoDaddy

I’ve hosted my websites with these guys and they are great. Some glitches now and then but overall GoDaddy were able to offer instant downloads through email, much like EJunkie.com does but there were problems with the Merchant Accounts.

From GoDaddy’s email:

1. They would receive an email to download the product after they have purchased it.
2. To answer your second question however, we won’t offer international Merchant accounts, also if you’re planning on using this shopping cart in Europe, this would not be feasible since it’s required to be in the United States to function properly.”

In other words the: “Quick Shopping Cart is currently only designed to work with U.S. addresses.”

So, GoDaddy is an interesting option if you want to combine your web hosting and ecommerce tools and are based in the USA. If you’re in Europe or Asia, the 1ShoppingCart is a better offer.

2Checkout

Next, 2Checkout one of Clickbank’s main rivals.

Here is what happened:

1. Yes we do allow vendors to sell digital products and allow them a way to redirect the customer to a download url.

Unfortunately if a customer purchases multiple downloads a simple url redirect will only take the customer to the approved url for the last item they ordered.

You would have to build your own script that took the correct item paramaters from the 2co sale and populated a database that would decide what downloads would be on an active download page.

Or you could just email download links to the customers.

2. 2co charges a one time startup fee of $49.00. After that you will be charged is 5.5% of the sale and $0.45 per transaction.

There are a few problems here.

• Fee Per Transaction – While the 5.5% is less than Clickbank’s you need to factor in the setup fee and the cost per transaction.
• Customers Trust – The brand is not as well known as Clickbank, which may reduce sales. Customers buy from sites they know and trust. As 2co is a lesser known company, this could work against you when selling goods online.
• Technical Limitations – The part about “build your own script that took the correct item paramaters” is fine if you’re a programmer. I’m not so that rules them. I asked if they had a generic script I could use to get started. No response so far.

Do They Really Want Your Money?

Most answered the first question only.

My suggestion is to ask 1 question only when contacting Customer Service.

Most never addressed the second part, or, if they did, very fleetingly. Almost none addressed the question about being outside the US.

Several companies never got back to me. Maybe when they saw I was outside the US, they didn’t bother to waste the time responding. At least, these companies did, so let’s give them credit for that.

If I Had To Leave Clickbank, I’d Use…

If I had to leave Clickbank or was starting again in the morning, it would be either EJunkie.com or 1ShoppingCart.

Why?

• EJunkie.com is less than $5 per month, offers upsells, has an Affiliate Program, and is a trusted brand. If you’re selling your first goods online, then go with this.
• 1ShoppingCart.com – If you’re already selling goods online and want to scale up, for example, offer newsletters to your customers, create different auto-responders, then 1ShoppingCart is the best I’ve seen. It also has a terrific training centre with videos which explain how to use the epayment tools. And probably the simplest user interface to use. It also has an Affiliate program, which I recommend you sign up for. It’s free to be an affiliate.

As things stand, I’m staying with Clickbank though I have started to develop an alternative buying option with Paypal. More of that in the next post.

PS: Let me know if you’ve found any companies that provide these services, especially if you are also outside the USA.

If you like writing about SEO, are looking for a high-paying affiliate program from a trusted brand, then I’d highly recommend that you sign-up for the SEOMOZ.org affiliate program.

What is SEOmoz?

SEOmoz is a collection of software, tools, and resources that make an SEO that little bit easier. Its campaign-based web app helps you resolve complex SEO management tasks.

It also sells pretty amazing SEO tools to help you rank higher, research competitors and efficiently manage your optimization. It also provides guides, webinars and a huge Q&A database on all things SEO.

‘If search-engine rankings are supposed to represent a kind of democracy—a reflection of what Internet users collectively think is most useful—then search-engine optimizers like Fishkin are the Web’s lobbyists.’ Newsweek Magazine

Some of the tools it makes and you can sell include:

• Open Site Explorer – Research and directly compare your backlinks with competitors” for intelligent and targeted link building. Identify your top pages and analyze anchor text.
• SEO Toolbar – Instant access to critical metrics. Review and analyze on and off-page factors from Firefox or Chrome browser.
• Trifecta – Enter your site and the sites of your competitors to get quick access to data from Google, Alexa, Yahoo!, Quantcast and more all in one easy report.
• Competitive Link Research Tool – Find powerful sites your competitors are getting links from but you’re missing out on.
• Juicy Link Finder – Enter the keyword you are targeting and we’ll give you up to 200 potential link opportunities. Try the Link Acquisition Assistant for next-gen link building suggestions.
• Historical Pagerank Checker – The web’s only source of a page’s historical PageRank score. Contains PageRank data from as far back as 2007 on thousands of websites and pages.

How Much Money Can You Make with SEO Tools?

You get paid based on the account type your customers choose.

There are three account types:

• PRO – Monthly $50 10% recurring and an Annual $200 onetime payout
• PRO Elite – Monthly $250 10% recurring an Annual $1000 onetime payout
• PRO Premier – Monthly $1000 10% and Annual recurring $2000

How the Affiliate System works

Once you sign up as an affiliate, you can add the tracking code to your site. Some of the key features are:

• Cookie Duration: 60 return days
• Campaign Management: Dedicated affiliate manager assistance
• Real-time tracking with Has Offers platform
• Campaign Types: You can use your website, blog, email, coupon.
• Banners: They supply a great variety of banners and text link.

Note: Paid search campaigns require affiliate manager approval.

How much does it cost to join?

It’s Free!

‘SEOmoz, by far one of the undisputed leaders in the SEO industry.’

Customer List & Endorsements

Another way to reinforce the quality of these SEO tools and software is to use ‘social proof’ and list some of the incredible customers that use their products.

Some of the customers, endorsements and testimonials come from Fortune 500s such as:

• Facebook
• Ebay
• Cars.com
• Best Buy
• Disney
• New York Times

By reminding your customers that these firms use SEOmoz tools, you reduce some of their anxiety. After all, if it’s good enough for Ebay and Disney…

‘If you are intending to build a profile online, a website alone won’t cut it anymore, says Rand Fishkin, CEO of website consulting firm SEOmoz.’ USA Today

How You Can Make Money

The next question is how can I sell these SEO tools? Or to put it another way who’ll buy these SEO tools?

There a few ways to do this:

1. Define your Target Audience – your target customers are not home-based users. Instead you’re targeting mid-sized companies, government agencies, and other SMEs that have the budget for SEO software. Before you start any Marketing Plan, do some target audience analysis and focus your marketing efforts on this demographic.
2. Price Structure – when drumming up interest in these tools, see which pricing structure best suits your customers. Instead of going in low and offering the base package, you may have more luck offering high end products.
3. Generate ROI - One way to show the ROI on these tools is to create case studies (3-5 pages) that show the cost savings and/or revenues generated. Keep these simple and focus on the industries you’re targeting.
4. Email List Building – once you have defined your target audience, written a few case studies, and prepared a high level marketing plan, you need to build your email list. This is the best long-term strategy for creating a relationship with your customers and ‘drip-feeding’ them great information… which eventually translates into sales. I use Aweber for my email list building.

Those are four things you need to consider before you start with this product.

5 Mistakes to Avoid

While this is a rocking product (or set of products), you need to be do your marketing right.

1. Be Specific – if you run a technical blog, run a series of article on very specific SEO problems. The more specific the better. Then quote SEOMoz and/or hyperlink to their site showing how they’ve addressed this.
2. Think Long Term – because if you do this on a frequent basis, you’re readers will come to rely on SEOMoz as a trusted source. You’re also positioning SEOMoz as the best developer of SEO tools on the market.
3. Use Social Media – use your favorite Social Media channels to share SEOMoz links, connect with them on Twitter and get into their loop.
4. Contact SEOmoz – don’t be shy about talking to your affiliate manager. They want you to contact them and bounce ideas around. They want you to succeed, so make connections and see what they have to share.
5. Experiment – SEOmoz give affiliates a terrific range of banners to use on your site. Chop and change these every month and see which perform best. What you think works, and what customers actually click on, may be different. Split test if possible.

Conclusion

This is one of the best set of SEO tools I’ve seen and the affiliate program is very professional.

My suggestion is that if you blog about SEO, Social Media, Ecommerce, or Marketing then there is great potential to introduce this product to your readers and generate real sales.

Why?

• The SEO tools are incredible.
• The customer list is Fortune 100s.
• The endorsements are in place (quote these in your marketing/case studies)
• The affiliate program fees are very generous.

And it’s always easier to sell a great product.

You can signup as an affiliate here and buy the SEOmoz tools here.

Let me know what you think.

Creating your first Facebook ad?  Consider these points when setting up your first ad. Make sure to use the right dimensions when creating your Facebook ad, get the text and image ratio correct, and use compelling call to actions in the copy, otherwise you’re wasting your marketing budget.

Designing your Facebook Ad

In no order of priority, here are the guidelines you need to be aware of:

Character Limits

Your Facebook ad must include a title (the name of the ad) and body (i.e. the text).

• The title can be 25 characters max.
• The body can be 135 characters max.

Images in Facebook Ads

Every ad MUST have an image. However, your image can have text in it Or be all text. But if must technically be in an image format.

Image Size for Facebook Ads

The image can be 110 pixels wide and 80 pixels high (i.e. 110 x 80 px).

One suggestion is to keep an aspect ratio of 4:3 or 16:9.

Maximum File Size

The ads you upload to Facebook must be less than 5 megabytes.

Incorrectly Sized Images

If your image is larger or smaller than the correct dimensions, Facebook will resize your image accordingly.

Using Flash and Animated Gifs

Facebook does not support animated or flash images.

Girls in Facebook Ads

Using pretty girls to increase click-thrus does work but… if it’s not connected with what you’re selling, you’ll simply waste your budget very quickly. Use images that connect to your potential customers.

Best Practices Facebook Ads

Use a compelling image that:

• Draws attention to your product/service
• Does not confuse the viewer into clicking (after all you pay for every click)
• Is fast to load
• Has a clear call to action
• Uses words sparingly. Don’t clutter the image with words.

Facebook Ad Resources

• Webinar – Facebook Advertising Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Marketing Executives
• Facebook Advertising 101 – How To Create Facebook Ads That Work
• Killer Facebook Ads: Master Cutting-Edge Facebook Advertising Techniques
• Shoemoney System (includes Facebook Ad module)

Takeaway

Design your Facebook ads so that you the comply with Facebook’s best practices. Understand how Facebook uses ads and the way it funnels them thru the system. Ads typically peak after 24-36 hours and, unless getting very high clickthrus, will be removed from Facebook. So make sure your ads meet the correct guidelines first.

Any questions about creating a Facebook ad?

Add it in the comments so we can all share & learn.

Want to write an ebook (that you can sell) but are not sure how long it should be? 30 pages or 300? There’s different schools of thought on this but here are some tactics you can use.

Ebook: length, format, audience & price

Start backwards. Don’t worry about the size of the ebook yet. Instead do an insane amount of market research.

• Audience – define exactly who you want to sell to. For example, if you’re writing an ebook about setting up a business blog, ask yourself is this for beginners or experts? Is it for people at home (price is an issue) or someone in an office (with access to the credit card).
• Price – look at ebooks your competitors sell, for example, this from Kristi Hines on Guest Post Blogging and this from Remarkamedia are both examples of high quality information products with lots of actionable tips. Create a spreadsheet in Excel and add the price, page count and other factors, e.g. other free books or discounts.
• Format – most ebooks are PDFs. Others are available as Kindle downloads or for the iPad. Again, gather as much data as possible and see what trends emerge.
• Length – armed with this information, you should see patterns in the pricing, length, and formats. Focus on the length and look at other factors, such as in-depth tutorials as in the Twitter Dummy Guide.

For example?

How to make your Ebook longer

Let’s say you write 5000 words on how to make money writing guest posts.

You can increase the length of this book without undermining its quality in the following ways:

• Font Size – Choose a font that’s easy to read and works well on different platforms. Instead of using Times Roman 11, try Arial 12 or 14. Which is easier to read?
• Margin – Create a wide left margin. This squeezes the body of the text, increasing the page count. If you do this correctly, you can add 20% to the ebook length.
• Line Spacing – Add line space (e.g. 6 pts) above and below the text. This creates more white space, again adding to the book size. Don’t overdo it or it looks scammy.
• Add Images – Decorate the ebook with images that add a little sparkle and compliment the text. Again, make them relevant and give credit in the appendix.
• Multiple Chapters – Don’t create one long ebook. Split it into different chapters, each with an introductory page.

Takeaway

Perception is everything. If you can increase a 45 page book to 75 pages, your customer feels they are getting more value. And if you offer some nice tables and screenshots to jazz up the document, then you’re onto a winner.

Research your competitors relentlessly. Note how they’re writing, presenting, and ‘Positioning’ their ebooks. Then apply this to your information products.

What else would you add? What’s the right length for an ebook?

Should you pay for aweber or take the free route with MailChimp? I have to admit I’m tempted to drop aweber and go with MailChimp. But I need to be careful. I have don’t this before and got burned. Here are some points to consider when switching email software. It’s not all about price.

Aweber v MailChimp

• Price – Aweber starts at $1 but goes up depending on usage. I pay between 20-30 US per month. MailChimp is free (at least up to 2k users). What’s not to like.
• Deliverability – if you’re sending large email lists, then you need to be aware that ISPs recognize some email software platforms better than others. Why does this matter? If they don’t know you, the email goes into the spam filter or blocked.
• Track Record – My experience with aweber has been terrific. That’s why I still pay I’d be concerned that a firm using a free business model could (possibly) have cash-flow issues that may impact me. And if they close down, what happens to my email list? Do I have to start all over again?
• Education – On of the strengths of aweber is the very detailed tutorials (many videos) and knowledge base.
• Knowledge Exchange – as many of the leading social media experts use aweber, see john chow, they share great tips and insights into how to optimize their email marketing plans. I don’t see this with MailChimp yet. Maybe I need to look harder.
• Expertise – as Aweber has been in email marketing that much longer, I feel more confortable that with MailChimp. I ‘feel’ Aweber are more professional than MailChimp; not saying they are but it colors my thinking.

Aweber v MailChimp – How to Test

Saying that the price is an issue. No point pretending otherwise. Here’s what I’ve done. I setup a new account with MailChimp. This has (more or less) the same traffic as another site.

My plan is to compare both email lists and see what trends emerge?

If there is no major difference between the two… then maybe I will switch.

What do you think? What email software do you use?

If you had a choice between email and Facebook for web marketing, which would you choose? I hope you chose email as it’s more effective for long-term customer engagement. Try to segment your customer list on Facebook and see how hard it is. But there is a problem with email.

Email Marketing – Increase Signups By Checking Confirmations

Even though someone signups to your newsletter, that doesn’t mean they’ve actually signed up.

Sound confusing?

Here’s what’s happening and how to fix it.

When someone signups for your newsletter, the following happens:

• On your website, they enter their email address and click Submit.
• This sends a message to your email provider (I use aweber. You can get the $1 trial here).
• Aweber sends a confirmation email to the person.
• They have to confirm that they want to receive the newsletter.

This is where the problem occurs.

Email Marketing – Problems with Email Confirmations

The confirmation email will:

• Go into their inbox. If it does they may click Confirm or ignore it. Maybe they’re too busy. Or…
• Go into their spam folder. They never see it unless they check this folder. Or…
• It never got to them as they’ve entered the wrong email address. For example, I see people enter

Hotmal instead of Hotmail
Gmial instead of Gmail

And so on…

How do you fix this?

You have a few options.

One of the things I like about aweber is that it shows me the number of people who have signed up but NOT confirmed yet.

In other words, they went to the site, entered their email, but (for whatever reason) haven’t confirmed.

And until they do, I can’t send them my blog posts, newsletters, special offers and so on…

Email Marketing – How to Rescue Lost Signups

Here’s what I do.

• I give them four days to confirm. Why? If they signed up on Friday pm, they may not see it until Monday pm. So allow for this.
• I send them a short email (from my personal business account).
• I thank them for signing up and highlight that they have not confirmed yet.

Is there a problem we can help with? Did they get the email?

And then I leave it and wait for them to come back. I don’t chase them a second time.

Takeaway

You can use this technique to identify who has signed up but not confirmed.

Contact those who are in ‘limbo’ and use discretion. Many emails go to the spam folder. Remind then to add your email to their address book and your newsletter will get delivered.

What other problems have you had delivering emails? What tactic works best?

Thanks for all the emails about the making money post last week.

You asked for a few more examples. Well, here they are.

9 (More) Ways to Make Money on Your Blog

Just one word of warning. Before you choose a product to sell online do as much research as possible. It’s very frustrating when you find that after setting up a site, selling some units, that your partner doesn’t pay up.

Ask around before you choose to invest you time. It will take a little effort but it’s worth doing. With that said, here are nine more…

1. Music – When I created my first podcast I needed some background music and a jingle.  Where do you get these? Odesk is one option. Other companies have setup blogs offers royalty free music that you can add to your videos, podcast, and online shows. How hard can it be?
2. Writing Templates – if you have writing skills, develop products for non-native english speakers or for specific industries. Here are templates for technical writers
3. Voiceovers – Ever taken voice lessons? If you did, you can make money online doing screencasts, narrations, voiceovers, and tutorials. Want an example, listen to the intro to  Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income podcast.
4. Membership Sites – This takes hard work but… offers HUGE rewards. Do the math. 100 members paying 49 USD per month. How about 500 paying $79? The question is who’d pay? Again, focus on the business sector, for example, energy, software, finance, research, government. Look at Jay and Sterling at Internet Business Mastery  and the Third Tribe.
5. Mobile Apps – Again, link up with others on odesk and create an app that you can sell to mobile users. Don’t create another generic me-too product. Look for something magazines will want to review. This gives you the exposure and publicity you need to sell the product. Look at the iTunes store and see what products you could make better.
6. Buy and Sell Sites – You can use sites like Flippa.com to sell do this. Be careful when you start. Learn the basics. Get as much information about the site’s performance, traffic, memberships and sales. Then place a bid. This process works very well is you understand the fundamentals of web business and are prepared to be patient. Don’t get burnt by paying too much. See what others are bidding and then proceed.
7. Languages – While this market is saturated, look for ways to offer segmented courses or products. For example, teach American Born Chinese how to speak Shanghai-hua (the dialect spoken in Shanghai). Or teach the Scottish version of Gaelic. Most products are for the Irish version.
8. Third Parties Software – Maybe the simplest way to make money. If you can get ‘quality’ traffic in sufficient numbers, then you can sell them software on behalf of others. For example, I sell Aweber, Method123, WhiteStorm software on different sites. If you have ANY experience of these areas, then you can use this to create posts, videos, cheat sheets, downloads and other content that drives traffic back to you site.
9. Royalties – Use sites like Createspace, which is owned by Amazon, to upload music, videos and books you have written. You will be paid royalties on each sale; there are no setup costs.

You’ll notice that many of these involve selling other products. My suggestion is to try to sell products with a medium profit margin rather than real big hitter. Why?

The market is saturated with people trying to shift the very lucrative products. It’s a battlefield. Instead, step sideways and look at areas that are under-served. You’ll get much better returns in the long run.

What else did I miss?

If only Blackadder had eJunkie to publish his books!

It’s my magnum opus, says Blackadder. It took me eight years to write and now Dr Johnson may publish it. If you’ve seen Blackadder, you know what happens next.

Publishing eBooks in 1574

Most of us have a good book in us, declared Blackadder. And he’s right. The only problem for Blackadder was getting published. And paying for the distribution. And getting publicity…

In his day – 1800s – getting a book published was a major undertaking.

• You needed a patron. He wanted the self-important but influential Dr Johnson.
• Paper cost money. Unlike today, tools of the writer’s trade didn’t come cheap.
• Distribution was limited. Outside of London, it was difficult to find publishers.
• Connections mattered. Most publishing houses wouldn’t look at your manuscript unless you had some social status.

The list goes on.

Your Guide to Publishing ebooks

Today, that’s all changed. You now have:

• Your own printing press. See WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger.com
• Your own publisher. See eJunkie, Lulu
• Your own delivery mechanism. See Payloadz
• Your own way to accept payments over the web. See Clickbank, 1ShoppingCart

You can write, publish, deliver, and get paid while sitting in front of your PC.

Maybe the problem is that it’s too easy.

You can setup an account with EJunkie (for me these guys are the best) and get your own printing press in action in about five, maybe ten minutes…

What’s stopping you?

Michael Dell, CEO of Dell, is thinking about using Google Plus to replace traditional customer support channels. Is this a wise decision?

‘I am thinking about hangouts for business. Would you like to be able to connect with your Dell service and sale teams via video directly from Dell.com?’

He suggested that Dell should consider using Google Plus ‘hangouts’ (think of hangouts as video chat rooms and you get the idea) to resolve customer support issues.

The response was very, very positive.

Is Michael Dell’s Google Plus Idea an Admission of Failure?

But it’s all a bit bonkers if you think about it.

• Why is Dell considering moving customer support on Google Plus?
• What does this say about its traditional customer support channels?
• Is this an admission of failure?
• Shouldn’t he be doing something else? or
• Was he just thinking out loud?

Should Google Plus Replace Customer Support?

Let’s leave Mike alone for a moment. Maybe it’s just an idea he floated that gathered legs. But would it work?

• Would Dell service teams want to be on video while angry customers screamed at them?
• How would you restrict access to the hangout to one or two people only?
• How would you remove people from a hangout if they got abusive?
• How would you log into the same hangout if you got logged off?

And why not use Skype instead?

It also raises a more serious issue.

Social Media Will Not Fix Your Business

Social Media is many things. What it’s not is a replacement for your existing business processes. In other words…

• If customers are complaining about product defects, your software team should be fixing it.
• If customers are whinging about negative in-store experiences, your customer support team should be responding.
• If competitors are lying about your products, your legal dept should be on it.

Not your social media team.

Social Media As an Admission of Failure

Danny Sullivan takes up this point.

“I don’t want to use Hangouts to connect with Dell customer service. What I want, from you or any company, is to ensure I actually get the best customer service experience possible when I actually use your “normal” customer service channels.

Eventually, I’ll finish my long-planned blog post on how every customer service “success” on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ is really a customer service failure. In short, consider this.

If I walked into a store and started yelling about how bad the store was, to get my problem resolved, who would consider that a successful customer service model? But that’s basically what we are encouraged to do through social media, yell there as an attempt to get problems solved as a last resort.

…But these shouldn’t be end runs your customers need to use because your regular customer service channels are so convoluted and so often backed by people who aren’t enabled to just solve problems”

My concern about Dell’s suggestion is three-fold:

• That Social Media will be used to fix, resolve, or replace systems, e.g. customer support process that have been refined over decades by an immature, untested platform.
• That others will follow the same path. The response on Google Plus was very positive. But that doesn’t mean it’s right.
• That it will fail.

And that’s the worrying part. Unless they’re all sycophants, I find it hard to understand who so few see the flaws in this thinking. Maybe they want to be like by Mike, be seen as visionaries, or don’t want to be ‘that guy’.

You know, the one that finds holes in things.

Social Media As Pseudo-Customer Service

I raised this point on Jeremiah Owyang’s, 10 Reasons Customer Care Has Changed and How To Build a Strategy.

I mentioned that a while back the CEO of Starbucks UK responded to some upset tweep, not once but several times. Even at the weekends….

Was this great customer service and responsive?

No.

The CEO of a large firm should NOT be manning the station responding to every whim, moan, and grip on the web. They’ve a business to run.

Jeremiah responded that, ‘It depends on the culture and brand promise. Michael Dell, Tony Hsieh, the CMO of Best Buy all respond directly to customers, and as a result, the rest of their employees know the value of customer service. It depends on the culture.’

I’m not sure what brand promise really means.

• Why is the CEO responding directly to customers? I’d prefer them to run the company and let sales respond to customers.
• Or build products that worked?
• Or hired native English speakers for their US customer support team?

Conclusion

Would it not make more sense to fix broken customer support depts instead of monitoring tweets and getting groovy with cool new tools like Google Plus?

Maybe the real problem is that it’s not very glamorous. Let’s fix customer support? Hmmm…

As regards the ‘rest of their employees know the value of customer service.’

I’m sure they do but sending them over to Google Plus will only make frustrated customers even more furious.

Maybe I’m wrong.

What do you think?

Do you ever feel a bit dim? For example, you read something that you know is important… and one year later finally get it! This happened when Jim Connolly answered my question about internet business models last September.

Different Between Tailored Marketing and Generic Marketing

To put things in context, I asked him about passive income streams. Did he have any examples he could share? Maybe I can learn something or, who knows, adapt them for own blogs.

Jim had another take on it:

‘The key is to avoid generic marketing advice from courses, books and gurus.

It’s not about channels. It’s about tailored marketing.”

Read that again.

It’s about ‘tailored marketing’.

Why?

…as soon as you copy the generic routes to “passive income success” touted in programs, books and blogs by gurus, you’re guaranteed to fail.

Whatever you decide to do, don’t waste a penny or your time on anything that wasn’t designed specifically for you.

YOUR plan needs to be based on YOUR resources, YOUR targets, and YOUR approach to business.

You can read Jim’s blog post here.

Different Between Frameworks and Blueprints

As someone who has shelled out on many courses, webinars, and ebooks this made me look at things slightly different.

• What returns do I get from paid webinars?
• What did I learn from conferences that I didn’t know before?
• What do I get from reading X number of blogs in my Google Reader?
• Maybe you’ve had the same thoughts. Are gurus worth it?

The point isn’t to bash internet gurus. Far from it. They all have their place.

People like Seth (especially Permission Marketing), Chris Brogan (especially his social media ecosystem concept), and Dosh Dosh (no longer with us, alas) have all shaped my internet business.

The salient point is that I study gurus who offer frameworks, not blueprints.

What’s the difference?

Frameworks give you building blocks. You have to figure out which to use, where to use them, and how to design the business. This echoes Jim’s advice. It’s based on what you have at your disposal right now.

Blueprints offer a path, a user manual to success. And here we need to be careful.

Why?

• Because they have connections you don’t. And maybe never will
• Because they went to colleges/companies you didn’t and
• Because they have debts, liabilities, payments etc you don’t have

Remember, as you’re starting from a different place, the results will differ.

It’s a bit like two cooks using different ingredients, different ovens, and serving different customers. Will the results be the same?

Takeaway

Does this mean gurus are a waste of time? No. Far from it.

But rather than seeing them as an immediate solution to your situation, consider them as a finger pointing in the right direction.

See the difference?

Ever notice that A List bloggers are always talking to each other? Wouldn’t it be nice to get on their radar? One way to do this is with Twitter chats. These are very powerful if you find the right Twitter chats, for instance, those that let you share what you know, connect with like-minded bloggers, and increase your social media influence. Here’s how to do it.

Using Twitter Chats to Connect With A List Bloggers

The key, as always, is planning.

1. Choose the Right Twitter Chat. Look through the different Twitter Chat directories and see which works for you. For example, I use the KaizenBlog (Elli StGeorgeGodfrey) as it relates to my areas of expertise and it suits my schedule.
2. Schedule your Twitter Chat. I use Google Calendar to remind me of the next Twitter Chat. I’ve it set to repeat for the next 20 weeks so I don’t miss any. As I’m in Europe, I focus on Twitter Chats, such as SmallBiz that start early in the day or on the East coast.
3. Use Twitter Chat Software. I use Tweetchat.com to chat with others during the sessions. Using the twitter interface is very difficult and even Hootsuite can be a bit cramped. Try Tweetchat (free) and it will make things easier.
4. Turn Up On Time. If you’re going to join in, be there at the start. Let everyone know how 10 min before it starts that you’re about to attend.
5. Help the Host. Help the person leading the Twitter Chat by sending out reminders, tweets and RTs during the week. This type of goodwill will be noticed and, in time, come back to you.
6. Share what you know. It’s called chat for a reason. Join in and share what you know. Remember to quote others and thank them (without being too gushy.)
7. Don’t be that guy. Try to be positive and helpful. Until you know folks well, keep negative or conferential comments to yourself. Jokes can also backfire very easily. Be discreet. Engage with others and respect their opinions.
8. Stay On Topic. Don’t deviate from the main subject. Respect the ‘theme’ or topic under discussion. Stay focussed.
9. Use the Hash tag. If you don’t use the hash tag, e.g. #blogchat, then others will not see you in their chat. Remember to add it to your comments. One trick I use is to type in MS Word and then paste into Tweetchat. Works for me!
10. Short Comments. If you write short, concise comments you leave space for others to respond and retweet your comments to their followers, which is what you want, right? Don’t ramble!
11. Respect the Format. If the chat uses a specific format, like ‘Q1. Q2. Q3. etc’ then use the format. This keep the chat organized and helps the moderator with the transcripts.
12. Don’t Hog Attention. If there are many voices trying to be heard, use discretion and post every now and then. Nothing is worse than someone who ‘chats’ non-stop cluttering up the twitter stream.
13. Move Around the Room. Don’t tweet/retweet the same people all the time. Reach out to others and bring them into the conversation. Look for ways to compliment others.
14. Respect the leader. Thank the person who organized the chat. Remember to remind others when the next Twitter Chat is coming up.
15. Be Kind. We’re all in this together. The people on the Twitter Chat are probably in the same situation as you. They want to share, help others, and get a little publicity for their business. Can you help them do this?

Do Twitter Chats Work?

The only way to find out is try. I focus on three chats every week. When I look at my stats the next day, there is usually an increase of traffic to my site, increase in subscribers to my email, and more sales. What’s not to like?

What do you think of Twitter Chat? Have they helped you develop your business? What’s the one thing you’d like to know about them?

How much should you charge for your ebooks? One of the dilemmas you face when selling your first ebook is trying to price it. Should it be $9.99 or $29.99?

You want to make it affordable it so it tempts customers into hitting Buy Now but you also need to make a profit, right? If you price it too low, you reduce the profit margin. If you price it too high, you may lose customers.

Or would you? Maybe you’d make more…

What’s the Best Price To Sell ebooks?

You need to work backwards. What I mean is that best price is the price that suits your customer.

But, here’s the catch.

You can persuade your customer that they need more that they want (I bet you see this in supermarkets all the time) and you can play with their emotions, for example, by creating limited editions.

There is a strong urge in humans to have something that others can’t afford, is unique, or hard to find.

Once you understand how these emotional triggers work, you can experiment with different pricing strategies.

What’s the Best Price To Sell?

Ok, the best price is between $9.99 and $33.99.

I’ve seen exceptions to this but the best selling ebooks are in this range.

Why?

If it’s less that $9.99, it’s seen as low-value and not worth the effort. The subtext in the customer’s mind is that if I do a Google Search, I’ll find a similar product for free.

If it’s less $19.99, customers think about buying the product. It has to be something of high value that solves an immediate problem.

If it’s around $33.99, then it has to be more valuable that the hardback (if it’s an ebook) and something they can justify to their boss, for example, when they claim it as an expense.

With this in mind, you need to consider the buyers:

• Sense of urgency
• Immediate problem
• Justification to superiors or peers

Emotional Triggers & How Buyers Buy Online

Most online sales are instant purchases.

Customers don’t:

• Look on Monday
• Get an invoice on Tuesday, and
• Buy on Thursday

It’s very direct. They have a problem. They do a Google Search. They find your site. Then it’s buy or no buy.

Conclusion

The only way to determine the price your ebook is to starting selling as soon as possible. Once you’ve launched three or four books, you will have a much better insight into what your target customers are willing to pay and also use the feedback to refine your products. In some ways, this makes things simpler.

You can see these ebooks to research your target market and use the data to build better products – that sell more copies.

Additional Tip: Use E-Junkie for ebook delivery and your affiliate program. It all ties into PayPal (and other payment processors) and it’s only $5 a month.

How much do you think A List Bloggers make per hour?

Kristi, one of the most successful bloggers, looked at the hidden costs of running a blog, especially for those who want to make the leap into full-time professional blogging.

I think what surprised many people if you read the comments was the expenses that need to be incurred before profits are made. Real profits. Not $50 a month from Adsense but enough to pay the mortgage. Y’know, like it was a real job….

Let’s break this down and see if making a living as as a ‘problogger’ is do-able.

Should You Blog for Money?

Search Google for make money online, problogger, Shoemoney, and you’ll get million of hits.

• No Barrier to Entry – One of the attractions of blogging is the low barrier to entry. Blogging is the ultimate expression of meritocracy. Anyone can join in and try.
• No Entry Criteria – Unlike other professions, such as journalism, you don’t need a degree or any type of paperwork.
• Investment - unlike other types of business, you don’t need to buy a stall, shop, car or even a mobile phone. All you need is web access. The tools are mostly free to get started and you can upgrade as you go along.

So, why not give it a try?

Hidden Cost of Running a Blog

Here’s where things get interesting. Many websites show monthly reports of their earnings. Nothing wrong with that.

Are the figures real?

I don’t know.

I’m pretty sure some are making good money online, others are a little more creative with the truth.

What’s important to note are the hidden costs of running these blogs. If you think about it, there has to be costs, right?

Every business spends money on training, advertising, promotions, hiring, salary, insurance and pays taxes.

Running a web business is no different.

You have sales on one side of the page and expenses on the others. What’s left is the profit.

Business Blog Expenses

Some of the expenses of running a blog full-time include:

• Web hosting
• Google Adwords
• Email software for newsletters
• Box shot software for digital products and info products
• Training, such as Yaro’s Mastermind Group
• Forums, such as Third Tribe
• WordPress themes Thesis
• Web storage fees
• Web access fees
• Hardware
• Advanced Email Software
• Equipment
• Outsourcing fees
• Salary

How to Make Money Blogging

This leads into the question of how you can actually make money. In general, sales are generated from:

• Product Reviews
• Ebooks
• Courseware
• Digital Downloads
• Template Design
• Consultancy
• Software
• Affiliate Products
• Amazon
• Google AdSense
• Text Ads

Blogger’s Catch 22

The catch is that you have to generate enough sales to justify the expenses. Otherwise, you’re running at a loss.

There’s a few ways to do this:

• Get a loan – while your family is the first port of call, I’d advise against this unless they have deep pockets. There’s no guarantee they will get their loan back, especially if this is your first business.
• Sell something – rather than ask for a loan, look at selling things you no longer need and/or work extra hours to create a little nest egg that you can invest in the business.
• Trade services – work out an arrangement, for example, with a web designer, that you’ll provide some service for him/her if they create your blog for you.

Once you have the seed money you need to invest in the business, you can do promotions, run ad campaigns, get the best equipment, and also travel to network at shows, conferences and events.

The top bloggers are always on the road at trade shows, conferences and events.

Ever wonder why?

To network and make connections.

On the web, you’re only as successful as your network.

Want an example?

Ever notice when a new product comes out…. suddenly all the A Listers Bloggers write about it the same day. In other words, the product launch is synchronized across all the top blogger sites to have maximum impact.

Which partly explains why your blogging efforts – and sales – don’t have the same reach. Your network is smaller, that’s all.

So how do you fix this?

Let’s be honest, you’re not going to get into the inner circle from day 1, but getting out and meeting other bloggers will speed up the process.

So, having access to capital (i.e. greater cash-flow) allows you to invest in the best products and build your business faster.

How?

• Outsource – instead of doing everything yourself (coding, design, marketing, emails, support), you can delegate the task to a VA and focus on areas that generate more money.
• Advertising – instead of waiting for others to find your site organically, you can invest in ad campaigns and get your site noticed faster.
• Connections – having funds also allows you to meet others at shows and form alliances. It’s hard to do this over the web. Otherwise, why would there be trade shows? It’s all about networking.

How to Build a Business v Blog

This leads into the next point. How are you going to make real money?

The Achilles heel of blogging is that the moment you stop blogging, it starts to fade. You need to service it all the time.

whereas…

The advantage of a business is that it’s less about you and more about the products you deliver.

For me, 80% of my income is from sites not blogs.

So, before you go too far down this road, look at your business model and see which has the greatest long-term rewards.

Here are some business models to consider:

• Advertising
• Joint Ventures
• Affiliate Marketing
• Digital Product Development
• Software Development
• Royalties
• eBook Publishing
• Consultancy
• Membership forums
• Subscriptions
• Services, e.g. SEO
• Trading e.g. ebay
• Flipping aka buying and selling sites/domain names

These are some ways you can create money from a site/blog.

Note that this has little to do with SEO, Plugins, Themes, Hacks or the mechanics of running a blog.

It’s about running a business.

And what’s so great about running a business?

It’s easier to sell!

Investors can estimate how much revenue it stands to make and can give you an offer based on the income minus expenses and also factoring in other variables such as the industry sector and market demand.

Selling a blog, especially a personal blog, is a much harder sell.

How Much Do Bloggers Earn Per Hour?

This brings us back to the original point. How much do bloggers earn per hour?

Here’s how to work it out.

• Estimate your sales over a 12 month period – $25,000
• Calculate your expenses over a 12 month period – $5,000
• Profit – $20,000
• Divide the profit by 330 working days – $60
• Divide this by 4 hours per day – $15

This looks great… if you can earn 25k per year.

If your business is earning about 2k per year and over 1k is going on hosting, training, travel, software, then you may be making very little or even running at a loss.

• Estimate your sales over a 12 month period – $2,000
• Calculate your expenses over a 12 month period – $1,000
• Profit – $1,000
• Divide the profit by 330 working days – $3
• Divide this by 4 hours per day – $0.75

That’s how much you’ll earn per hour.

Is Blogging Worth it?

It depends on how much you enjoy it, how much you want/need to make money, and the opportunities for future growth.

I made very little for the first few years but then, over a three year period, transitioned from a full-time office job to a full-time ‘web’ job.

For you, maybe the transition will be quicker. Maybe you have the time, energy and smarts to make it happen.

Whatever you do, use your time wisely. And don’t be ‘pennywise and pound foolish’.

Get the best equipment you can afford, take the best courses, and then put your best foot forward.

What else would you add?

Google Adsense isn’t the only way to make money on your blog.

If anything, it may be the weakest and least lucrative way to generate income. Looking for some other examples to monezite your blog?

11 Ways to Make Money on Your Blog

1. Webinars – focus on a specific industry where your target customers have a budget for education products. Good examples are banks, finance, government agencies and software companies. Restrict the number to 100 at most to increase urgency and make it more exclusive.
2. Paid Tweets – develop a loyal following on Twitter. Become the default person for your area of expertise. Connect with as many high profile bloggers in the same space and get onto every twitter list you can. Contact firms with budgets (see above) and offer paid tweets. Charge by batch, e.g. 10 tweets per week, rather than single tweet. Or join networks that offer paid tweets services, such as paidpertweet.com
3. Sponsorship – create a blog on finance, insurance, legal or another vertical where there is serious dollars available. Avoid low value areas where companies have lesser budgets. Offer sponsorship on your tweets, blog posts, emails, and other content formats. See this tutorial from Darren on Find a Sponsor for Your Blog
4. Educational Products – one of the advantages of the recession is that folks are more willing to invest in their education. And their kids. Develop products that you can sell online (avoid the hassle of selling offline) and offer bundles and special offers to compliment your offerings. Maths, languages, finance, study aids all do well.
5. Facebook Page Design – know how to use Photoshop? Develop a portfolio of Faber designs and offer these to corporates. Again, avoid B2C and go for B2B and other lucrative agencies. See SpiderWorking.
6. Skype Coaching – what’s the one thing you know best? Consider packaging this and offering 1-1 coaching over Skype. I taught business executives in China how to speak business english for 6 months. It paid 50 USD per hour. Not bad when all you need is a Skype account (free) and good headphones.
7. Information Products – go to your local bookstore and pick out ANY self-help or DIY book. Take it home and use it as a template to create your own info product. Use eJunkie ADD LINKS to sell it. They cost 5 USD per month. The user interface is simple to use.
8. WordPress Plugins – While there are tons of free plugins out there, there is also a market for more advanced plugins. Don’t know how to code? Don’t worry. Hire a developer on oDesk. Give them the specs and you sell the product.
9. WordPress Theme – same as above. Use oDesk. Focus on a business sector and design the templates for that market. For example, create wordpress themes for the banking sector, automobile industry or other more obscure industries that get overlooked. DIY Themes is an excellent example of how to do this right.
10. Photography – Got a camera? I paid $35 USD for five pictures of spanners (wrenches) yesterday. Each time those photos are sold, the photographer gets paid a royalty. Contact the bigger players such as iStockPhoto and Photo.com. It’s a great way for students, retired, or work at home parents to make extra income. And very lucrative if you do it right. Again, focus on one area and be the expert.
11. Cartoons – Look at what The Oatmeal does. It’s not PC, juvenile, and a bit rude at times but wildly successful. He sells copies of his cartoons from the site and has niche micro sites where he sells others. Expect a book from him soon.

Those are eleven ways to make extra income online.

What have I missed? Which ones do you find the easiest to use?