Monday, May 2, 2016
Sunday, May 1, 2016
$16 Million Golf Course Conservation Deduction Disallowed On Fine Points
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Rainmaker Rewind: How to Book Engaging Podcast Interviews
According to The Showrunner hosts Jerod Morris and Jon Nastor, there is one path that stands above all others as the simplest way to build an audience of responsive and loyal listeners.
It's a path that removes the burden of constant content creation, places you at the forefront of a brand, and harnesses the power of experts and their audiences.
This path is an interview-based podcast.
In this week's episode of The Showrunner, Jerod and Jonny thoroughly discuss the essential steps necessary to book engaging interview guests for your podcast - from tips about finding guests, to crafting your pitch to increase the odds of getting a “yes,” and all the way to tools you can use to make the process simple and effective.
Here are two more episodes you shouldn't miss this week:
Brian Clark and The Side Hustle Show host Nick Loper dive into the details of monetizing a blog, what it's like to start a blog today, and what it means to be “unemployable.”
Brian Clark on The Side Hustle Show
Sonia Simone has a short episode for you this week, honoring the life of Prince and sharing some ideas about leadership, community, and building something that matters.
Leadership, Categories of One, and Purple Rain
And one more thing …
If you want to get my Rainmaker Rewind pick of the week sent straight to your favorite podcast player, subscribe right here on Rainmaker FM.
See you next week.
The post Rainmaker Rewind: How to Book Engaging Podcast Interviews appeared first on Copyblogger.
How A Trio Of Immigrants May Dominate The Background Check Business
Friday, April 29, 2016
The $100,000 Challenge: March Update
We finally finished the last month of the $100,000 challenge. March was an awesome month for Nutrition Secrets. Not only did the traffic grow to 218,811 visitors, but revenue did too-it went up to $121,492.65.
It wasn't hard to hit the revenue goals as we had enough fish oil in stock, plus we started to generate money from affiliate sales.
So let's dive right in…
Traffic
Compared to February, the traffic went up to 218,811 visitors and 269,814 pageviews. The increase was only 18,102, which isn't much.
But considering that the popularity of nutrition and fitness sites is cyclical (January and February are most popular) and that Mike didn't blog much on NutritionSecrets.com in March, it wasn't too bad.
Overall, Mike has slowed down on the blogging front. Over the next few months, he wants to try a few fun content formats such as infographics and wants to see what happens if we were to dump a few hundred grand into the blog. It won't be much of an experiment at that point, but we are just curious to see if we can get the blog to a million visitors a month.
Nonetheless, the traffic isn't performing too badly. Even in April, the traffic has been on an upward trend while little to no effort has been put into the blog since the challenge has been over.
Revenue
The revenue is a bit more complicated to breakdown as it is coming from two sources now: Amazon and affiliates.
In March, revenue from Amazon hit $112,573.30.
There are a few key elements to growing Amazon sales:
- Reviews – the more people you can get to leave a review, the better off you are. Most people don't even read the reviews, but if they are high in ratings and you have tons in quantity, you are in good shape. If you have a blog that's driving sales, a great way to get more reviews is through marketing automation. You can promote the product to your email list, and then after a few weeks of promoting your product to those people, you would send an automated email asking them to leave a review. You won't really know who bought the product, but you would still put the review email-applicable to a portion of your list-in your sequence.
- Keywords – with Amazon, you can add keywords. Most people add basic ones like “fish oil,” but as you know, it is all about the long tail. Amazon opened it up so you can stuff hundreds of keywords now, and with the use of Google Keyword Planner, you can come up with popular variations. You'll then start ranking for tons of keywords on Amazon.
- Combating negative Amazon reviews – similarly to what happens when people employ negative SEO, competitors sabotage your Amazon listing by taking up your front page with terrible reviews. They do this to tank your sales so they can generate more income. You fight this by building up your email list on your blog and continually blasting out to your list when you have bad reviews, asking your readers to up-vote the positive ones.
- Ads – Amazon allows ads on its platform. Whether it is profitable or not, ads help you generate more sales. And if you can increase your sales velocity, you'll find that your listing climbs up higher and starts to stick-it stays up there even after your ads stop showing. Sure, other people can do the same thing, but most don't.
As for affiliate income, we started to push stuff by the Truth About Abs guys. We started doing email blasts to our list in order to generate the sales, and it has been working out well. The copy isn't too bad, but there are two reasons it's working out well.
- We collect a lot more emails – we are generating 300 to 400 email sign-ups a day. It's much larger than our previous numbers for one reason: we turned off double opt-in. Aweber usually requires double opt-in when you use third-party software to collect emails, but Mike called Aweber and got them to disable double opt-ins.
- Good copy – our copy converts well. You can see an example email below. And we have many more emails like this in the sequence. So, we continually send you affiliate offers over time, which helps.
Here is the email copy we have been testing:
Email – This plant food HARMS your metabolism & heart
Hi {!firstname_fix}
Sometimes it's not the enemy you know that's the problem, but the friend you think you know.
In this case, I'm talking about nutrition in foods. It's common knowledge that stuff like sugary drinks are just plain bad for you. The best you can say is that your body can absorb the bad effects if you only have them occasionally.
But what about foods you thought weren't bad, and you heard were actually good for you?
I have some bad news, and some good news. The bad: some so-called “healthy” foods may be the cause of why you work so hard to eat healthy and haven't seen the results you expected. The good news: There's a solution I read about from best selling author Mike Geary. Read on… (removed affiliate link)
Email – 2 Simple steps to REMOVE visceral belly fat (the DEADLIEST type)
Hi {!firstname_fix}
People often refer to past times as “the good old days” with a nostalgic tone. At least when it comes to many nutritional and health practices, I think of them more like the “bad old days.”
For example, people thought the wonders of science had delivered new, healthy products called “trans fats” that were featured in margarine, to replace that nasty butter. We now know that trans fats are about the worst thing you can coat your innards with.
People also thought they could do “spot reducing” of unattractive belly fat by using those jiggling-belt machines, or some other gimmick.
Well, belly fat certainly is still unattractive, and research says it's also a danger sign. But research has also identified more-effective ways of getting rid of that spare tire. Here's how. (removed affiliate link)
Email – 7 “fatty” foods for a flat stomach
Hi {!firstname_fix}
I spend full time on nutrition- and health-related activities. That's the business I'm in.
I'm also an improvement junkie, always looking for the latest, best information. So you can imagine that I've pretty much seen it all: Every product, every supplement, every type of exercise.
Most of them are underwhelming. Yawn.
I'm writing you today because I recently came across something that made me sit up and pay attention. It's a short-term blueprint for eating the right foods to burn substantial fat, and it's all explained here… (removed affiliate link)
You can find high converting offers on sites such as Clickbank. They even sort the offers by popularity. I need to get a screenshot of our Clickbank revenue and our other affiliate income sources from Mike as he created the accounts and has the logins. Once I do, I will update the post with a screenshot (we use three networks).
The total affiliate revenue was $8,919.35.
Profit
As for monthly profit, it was high…but for a different reason than you might think. When you sell tangible products, you buy tons of inventory and then sell it over the following few months. We didn't want to be out for our last month, so we spent a good chunk of money in the previous month, and, of course, we bought more in March.
Here is a breakdown of the expenses:
- Fish oil – $68,492.52 (including Amazon fees, shipping to Amazon for Prime, coupon-related expenses, and producing more inventory)
- Aweber – $149
- Designer – $375 (continually tweaking the site)
- Hosting – $249
- Mike – free (Mike doesn't get paid, but he owns a percentage of the blog)
- Accounting – $290 (we are now paying a bookkeeper to help out with the books)
Total expenses came out to $69,555.52.
That brings the total profit to $51,937.13.
Of course, to maintain the growth, we would have to keep buying fish oil, but after awhile, we would cap out on sales, and our margins should be a healthy 30% plus. As for March, I didn't spend much on buying tons more inventory as I wanted to show that selling supplements can be profitable.
Conclusion
Overall, the $100,000 challenge was fun, but I wouldn't do it again. It's just too much work with everything I have going on.
It was still a good learning experience. One thing I realized is how much harder it is to rank on Google today compared to 5 years ago. Almost all of my sites are old, so it is much easier for them to rank.
And although NutritionSecrets.com generated good traffic, if it were 5 years ago, the blog would have been at a million visitors a month with the same amount of effort.
So, what do you think of the $100,000 challenge?
The 5-Step Process that Solves 3 Painful Writing Problems
I once asked the Copyblogger community to name their biggest writing challenges.
From the many responses, a pattern developed:
- How to get started
- How to cut the fluff
- How to finish
These three issues are really symptoms of the same painful problem, which boils down to not clearly understanding what you're trying to accomplish with your writing. Don't worry … it's a fairly common ailment.
There's a five-step process you can work through that will help clarify your objectives, which leads to greater clarity in your writing.
This method also helps you kick-start any writing project (and finish it) with only the necessary elements, because you'll know exactly what you're after and how to make it happen.
Step #1: Begin with the end in mind
The most important step in the process happens before you even write a word.
You must understand your objective for the content.
You have an idea, but what's the goal? From a content marketing standpoint, you're usually seeking to educate or persuade (often both, and as we'll see in the next step, they're actually the same thing even when intentions vary).
Having a “great idea” and sitting down to write can often lead to a half-finished train wreck.
What's the “why” behind the idea? Figure this out first, or move on to another idea.
Step #2: Identify questions
Okay, so now you have a goal in mind - a mission, if you will.
What's standing in the way of your mission?
The obstacles you face are the concepts your audience does not understand yet, but must accept by the time they're finished reading. These are the questions you must answer before you can achieve the goal you've identified in Step #1.
In copywriting circles, we say an unanswered question (an objection) is a barrier to buying.
With education, an unanswered question is a barrier to learning. Education is persuasion (and vice versa) when you realize this fundamental truth.
Step #3: Write the headline and subheads
With your goal in mind and the questions you must answer identified, now you start to put things down on virtual paper.
Some people open a word processor during Step #2; I do everything up until now in my head. Do what works for you.
What promise are you making to your audience with this piece of content? What will you teach them? And why should they care? That's your working headline.
Then, each of the major questions you must answer to achieve your mission (and the promise your headline makes) becomes a subhead. Your subheads don't ultimately have to be phrased as questions, but this technique helps you compose a focused draft.
Take some time to decide if a particular question is its own subhead or part of the content below a subhead. It's simply outlining at this point.
Step #4: Fill in the blanks
Want to write lean copy?
Answer the questions designated by each subhead, and answer only that question.
Do not digress. Do not go off on a tangent.
Just answer the question. Do it as simply and clearly as possible.
Step #5: Now … edit
If you've followed these steps, you're not likely suffering from fluff.
Rather, you might find that you need to add more details or rephrase for clarity.
This is also the time to refine your language. Experienced writers can often pull the perfect turn of phrase in some places of a first draft, while in other places there are opportunities for better, more precise word choices.
Finally, review how the piece of content turned out:
- Does your working headline still reflect the fulfilled promise?
- Does your opening keep the momentum going?
- Can you revise the headline, opening, and subheads so that they are even more compelling?
Over to you …
Everyone's approach to the writing process is different. This process works for me, and I wrote this article fairly quickly using the process as a demonstration.
What works for you?
Any tips you can pass along that might help your fellow content marketers?
Let us know in the comments.
Are you a writer who wants to become a Certified Content Marketer?
We open our Certified Content Marketer training to new students periodically. Click the button below to find out more.
Editor's note: The original version of this post was published on October 6, 2011.
The post The 5-Step Process that Solves 3 Painful Writing Problems appeared first on Copyblogger.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Cornerstone Content Defined in 60 Seconds [Animated Video]
Cornerstone content is vital for both seasoned bloggers and anyone launching a brand-new website because it can help you accomplish many of your content marketing goals.
Goals like:
- Getting links to your website
- Finding new readers
- Attracting subscribers
- Ranking in search engines for competitive keywords
- Highlighting archived material
But what exactly is cornerstone content?
Watch our short video for cornerstone content
With help from our friends at The Draw Shop, we whipped up 12 definitions from our new Content Marketing Glossary into short, fun whiteboard animated videos.
Here's our video for the definition of cornerstone content:
Animation by The Draw Shop
And for those of you who would prefer to read, here's the transcript:
Online, cornerstone content is the basic, essential, and indispensable information on your website that answers common questions, solves problems, entertains, educates, or all of the above.
The key is creating compelling content that's worth linking to and then finding ways to get the word out. A page hosting cornerstone content helps readers by pulling all of your content about a specific topic together in one place.
You'll often link to your cornerstone pages in your everyday content because they help define common topics you talk about on your website.
Each cornerstone content page is a home for related content. It groups basic, essential, and indispensable information onto one page.
Cornerstone pages let you highlight your most important archived content. They also help you attract links, get subscribers, and increase traffic.
And that's the goal of every profitable website.
Share this video
Click here to check out this definition on YouTube and share it with your audience. You'll also find 11 additional Content Marketing Glossary videos.
Additional cornerstone content resources
More in-depth cornerstone content education can be found in these articles:
- Your Cornerstone Content Blueprint: Answers to 9 Common Questions
- 11 Essential Ingredients Every Cornerstone Content Page Needs [Infographic]
- A Practical Approach to Using Powerful Cornerstone Content on Your Site
- This Simple Illustration Explains the Difference Between a Cornerstone Content Page and a Blog Post
- How to Create Cornerstone Content That Google Loves
Learn more from the Content Marketing Glossary
We'll feature the other videos soon, but if you don't want to wait, you can watch all the videos now by going directly to the Content Marketing Glossary.
By the way, let us know if you have any definitions you'd like us to add to the glossary! Just drop your responses in the comments below.
The post Cornerstone Content Defined in 60 Seconds [Animated Video] appeared first on Copyblogger.
