Posts Tagged ‘ free

Landing Page Makeover Clinic #23: BabyNapsWell.com 18 March 2010 at 7:55 am by admin

Landing Page Makeover

This is another addition to our ongoing series of tutorials and case studies on landing pages that work.

Nicole Johnson wants to get babies and their moms some much-needed rest. She’s packed napping plans, schedules, and strategies into her $37 ebook/consultation package. She’s tried different pricing, Google Adwords, different offers, freemiums, and more to pop conversion, but her results still ping between a snoozy 0.5 to 3%.

She has good traffic, but needs more help getting those tired, sleepy moms to buy. Let’s see if we can’t help Nicole give her sales a much-needed wakey-wakey.

  • The Goal: Increase conversion (currently below 4%).
  • The Problem: Nearly 3,000 visitors monthly, who show an interest in the free information but don’t ultimately translate to sales.
  • Content Marketing Strategies: Various. Nicole’s free Baby Nap Guide is one piece she uses to get users into her email funnel
  • The Current Landing Page: www.babynapswell.com (home page)
  • Value: $24.95 to $37

image of landing pageClick image for larger view

The Maven’s 10-Point Critique

#1 – Your first screen has to answer the question — Why do moms want their babies to nap?

Because they’re exhausted! They want a relaxed, rested child and a chance for themselves to rest and recharge for a few hours. They’re desperate for RELIEF and they want it now.

What’s the deep, realized benefit to your ebook? Your ebook helps break the vicious no nap/irregular nap cycle, makes mom feel more competent and secure as a parent, and makes it easier to enjoy her baby.

So here’s the problem — you’ve got 2-3 seconds from the first screen to get your reader involved in your message. Perhaps they’ve already reviewed the free nap info, perhaps not. In either case, you don’t present them with a rich, emotionally resonant headline. You’ve basically repeated the banner head as if it was a headline. It’s not. At first glance, I also have no idea you’re selling anything at all. It isn’t clear to me.

So be clear. Develop and test your headlines that speak directly to the mom’s emotional environment — Too tired to enjoy your baby? Dread the nap-time power struggles day after day? In just XX days, you CAN turn your pint-sized nap-fighter into a sweet-smiling, nap-lover. All you need are the right strategies and tools . . . and so forth.

#2 — Get personal. Get emotional. Talk to your readers, Mom-to-Mom, in a letter format.

Dear Cranky Mom,

A few years ago, I was just like you. I was a new mom with a new baby that no matter what I did wouldn’t nap or when she did, it was short and fitful. When this kind of stuff goes on too long, even the most confident mom in the world begins to think she stinks at this mom thing. I was sure I was doing something wrong but I didn’t know what to do instead.

Your current copy is factual, but a little bloodless. It doesn’t speak to the heart and the desperation that I know I felt when my kids were little and wouldn’t sleep. If ever there was a problem/solution fraught with anxiety and a deep need for help, this is it. Make sure your copy reaches the frazzled mom with solace and hope that she will, once again, get a chance of closing her own eyes for an hour or two in the afternoon.

Get personal with video. I think this could be very effective for you, especially if done professionally. (I don’t think a simple chat to the webcam would support your value or credibility.) Imagine how wonderful it would feel to “Tired Mom” to have someone talk right to her and tell her that relief is in sight.

#3 — Make the case why napping issues need a $37 solution.

There are a ton of books, sites, products, and even support groups devoted to sleeping issues. I wondered why I needed a special book about napping as opposed to a broader sleep solution. That’s probably the biggest challenge you have to overcome. You’ll want to make sure your copy continues to underscore how the daytime napping problems are different and need a different set of strategies to solve them.

#4 — Show and tell the product you’re selling. Put your first call to action in the first screen.

If you want people to know you’re selling a book, you gotta show them the book and YOU’VE GOT TO SHOW THEM THE TITLE. I didn’t even realize your ebook was called “Mastering Naps and Schedules” until I saw it mentioned in a testimonial at the end of the second screen.

Your cover is very appealing so I’d definitely give it above-the-fold prominence, perhaps working it into the banner art. You also need to give your prospects the opportunity to order at several points in the copy, starting with the first screen. You want one button, text link or other call-to-action (CTA) device per screen scroll. (Right now, it takes me 3 screens to locate the order buttons.)

image of landing pageClick image for larger view

I prepared a heatmap so you can see what people look at and what they look at first. Too much attention to elements that don’t promote your message means lost sales opportunities for you. (Free heatmap courtesy of the technology at Feng-GUI.com.)

#5 — Tell me precisely what I will get and learn from your ebook.

Give your readers a bulleted list or two of goodies, and be specific.

  • 28 proven strategies that will . . .
  • 3 easy-to-use tools that make . . .
  • 12 ways to get well-meaning grandma off your back . . .

Etcetera. Nothing strengthens copy more than specificity. You already do some of this. Do more.

Also, take the feature and expand it into its core benefit. For example, “How to get LONGER naps” becomes “10 ways to get longer naps from your baby and more couch-time for you.”

#6 — Emphasize that your system works for nearly all babies and parents.

Everyone, including me, thinks their baby and parenting situation is unique. That’s why you’ll want to make sure your copy reinforces that your system works for nearly all young children — preemies, internationally adopted toddlers, twins, and also that it works for all sorts of moms and dads. Use your testimonials as a way of underscoring this.

Think about personas representing your customer types. Who is this ebook really for? Write out 3-5 ’stories,’ each representing a key member of your core parenting market, and make sure your copy delivers the message, “Yes, this ebook is perfect for someone like me,” for each one of them.

#7 — Establish and reinforce your expertise on the subject. Add a headshot.

Who are you and why are you qualified? That’s another one of the big challenges your copy needs to address. Unless I missed it, I don’t see anything about you. If you want me to spend $XX, I want to know enough about you to think I’m spending my money wisely. You don’t have to have an alphabet soup of degrees following your name, but you do need to reveal something of yourself and background within the context of your offering.

#8 — Edit, edit and edit some more.

image of landing pageClick image for larger view

Your moms are tired. Their eyes are glazing over looking at dense, forbidding text in super long paragraphs.

Think shorter, 2-5 line paragraphs. Use lots of subheads and bulleted lists to hook the eye and make scanning and scrolling less like a chore. People only need the science/other background about napping to support your ebook’s information. Don’t give more background than is necessary to help folks make a decision to purchase.

#9 — Test a 2-column format. Load your sidebar with testimonials.

Get the bulk of your “Mom-and-Baby-Tested” testimonials here. Again, edit these judiciously. You want each of these to amplify and illustrate your ebook’s core strengths. I’d also get some pediatricians, pediatric nurse practitioners, daycare center directors, home daycare moms, etc. to weigh-in with their big thumbs-up. Run these short, punchy kudos adjacent to your main copy.

#10 — Simplify the offer.

image of landing pageClick image for larger view

You need to differentiate your offers more emphatically with titling– “The Deluxe Complete BabyNapsWell System with Personal Consultation” and the “Standard BabyNapsWell System” — and with better design. I might box these and play them side by side. Perhaps add your headshot into the Deluxe box as a reminder of the relief AND personal attention your prospect is about to purchase.

BONUS:

I’d think about giving your ebook a new title. This is a huge topic for so many parents living in the fog of “my baby never sleeps.”

“Mastering Naps and Schedules” lacks the emotional juice of “No More Naptime Tears: Get Your Baby to Love Naptime So You Can Love Yours” — or something like that. You want a title that clearly, perhaps cleverly gets the point across fast. You want your title to spell RELIEF IS AT HAND.

My thanks to Nicole Johnson for her patience and support of Heifer International. Look for my next makeover in approximately 3 to 4 weeks.

Want to get a future Copywriting Maven landing page makeover?

Got a landing page that’s more poop than pop? Willing to share with Copyblogger readers? Prepared to put a little of your own “skin in the game” for a Maven Makeover? Then follow your click to Maven’s Landing Page Makeover page for all the details. I’m booked for gratis “Heifer” critiques until 05/15/10.) If you’re interested in a private critique/makeover, site audit, or other services, please email me directly.)

About the Author: Roberta Rosenberg is The Copywriting Maven at MGP Direct, Inc. Find her @CopywriterMaven on Twitter.


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Landing Page Makeover Clinic #23: BabyNapsWell.com

+ Place Your Bets on Full Tilt Poker Affiliates By admin 17 March 2010 at 8:26 am and have No Comments


Unless you’ve decided to hide in a cave for the last ten years, there’s a good chance you know about this whole Internet poker phenomenon. It’s not like poker is a new game, per se, but it has rapidly grown in popularity thanks to televised events like the World Poker Tour.

How can you cash in (no pun intended) on this growing industry? Well, as you’ll learn from this review, Full Tilt Poker actually has one of the most lucrative affiliate programs on the web today.

Affiliate with Full Tilt Poker

With big names like John Juanda and Gus Hansen, you already have a highly recognizable brand on your hands. Full Tilt Poker is one of the most popular online poker rooms, offering a wide range of different poker games and formats, but it also gives you an opportunity to “play with the pros.”

Even if you don’t play poker yourself, you can still make money with Full Tilt Poker.

That’s where the affiliate program comes into play. You can make affiliate income by referring new players to the site who go on to play for real money. It doesn’t matter if they choose to play cash games or tournaments; you get paid both ways.

From what I can see, registration requires filling out a short form and submitting it online. There does not appear to be an approval process, so you can start earning your commissions right away.

Choose from Two Payment Plans

When you sign up for the Full Tilt Poker affiliate program, you can choose from two different payment schemes. These are mutually exclusive, so you can’t double-dip on your earnings.

The first payment plan is CPA, so you are paid a one-time commission for each new player that you refer. This is based on the number of qualified referrals each month and you can earn a bonus if they are particularly active on the site. These payouts range from $75 to $215 per player.

The second payment plan is a percentage revenue plan, giving you a percentage of the money Full Tilt earns each month from your referred players. This is on an ongoing basis with commissions ranging from 20% to 35%, depending on the net revenue generated by the players you refer.

You can’t really say that one payment plan is more lucrative than the other, because it depends on the behavior of the players you refer to the site. If you send people who play regularly and spend lots of money, the PRP is probably better. If you send people who may not play as much, the CPA model may be in your best interest.

The Importance of Full Tilt Points

You’ll notice that the way Full Tilt “qualifies” a referral is based on the number of “FTPS” that the player earns. These Full Tilt Points are earned by players for participating in ring games and in tournaments.

For the former, each dollar raked from a pot results in one point being given to every player dealt into the hand (to a maximum of three points). For the latter, seven points are given for every dollar paid in multi-table and sit & go tournaments (with no maximum).

Make Money by Referring More Affiliates

What if you have an audience like John Chow dot Com where there are more people interested in Internet marketing than in Texas Hold’em? You can make money there too.

The referral program rewards you for referring other affiliates too. It seems that the “sub-affiliate” system only runs one level deep, but you can earn either 3% of net revenue or a $5 fixed CPA, depending on the payment plan you chose.

Put on Your Poker Face

You don’t have to have a website to promote Full Tilt Poker. They welcome other forms of marketing too (like ordering reviews on popular blogs). You can also remind your readers that Full Tilt offers an automatic 100% initial deposit match (up to $600) for new accounts.

What about getting paid by the affiliate program? Instead of sending your earnings via PayPal or sending you a cheque, Full Tilt deposits the money into your Full Tilt Poker player account. They want you to put the cash back on the table, you see.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FULL TILT POKER AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!



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Place Your Bets on Full Tilt Poker Affiliates

+ [Video] My Mobile Blogging Gears By admin 16 March 2010 at 7:43 pm and have No Comments


I had to take my car into North Shore Acura today to get it service and change out the winter tires. Since I was going to be stuck at the dealership for a couple of hours, I figure I would just blog from there. After all, I’ve been blogging from all over the city lately so why not a car dealership? North shore Acura was actually a pretty good place to work from. They had a nice table for me to set up my blogging gears and a coffee machine that made a great Cafe Mocha. However, their wireless Internet was pretty slow.

I decided to use my time at North Shore to do a video featuring all the stuff in my laptop bag. These are the gears which allow me to run my business from anywhere in the world. My mobile blogging setup has scaled down a lot since I showed it in China. This had a lot to do with new flight restrictions the United States imposed after that failed underwear bombing attempt.

The entire video was filmed, processed and uploaded to YouTube while at North Shore Acura. The staff were pretty cool and didn’t seem to mind me making a home for myself. One of the salesmen even recognized who I was.

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!



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[Video] My Mobile Blogging Gears

+ Clickbank Cash Supreme – For Those Who Need More Handholding By admin 16 March 2010 at 10:41 am and have No Comments


It was great to see all the positive reaction to yesterday’s Clickbank post. I’ve received a ton positive comments and emails. Thanks to everyone who provided feedback. My article was very long and detailed but it was still just an overview of the business model and only scratched the surface. For many of you, it will be enough to move forward on. However, others will need a little more handholding.

Paul Walker is the creator of Clickbank Cash Supreme, an online training course for making money with Clickbank. Paul is a huge Clickbank affiliate. He has made over $1 million promoting Clickbank products. If you’re looking for a course that breaks down my Clickbank model into easy to follow detail steps, Clickbank Cash Supreme will do just that.

Clickbank Cash Supreme includes a step by step blueprint and over 15 training videos. There’s also template packages and PLR products that you can just stick your name on and sell immediately for 100% profit. Normally, Paul sells his course for $147 but he has it on sale for only $47 right now. That makes it pretty much an impulse purchase. Go get it.

Clickbank video image

Download Clickbank Cash Supreme

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!



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+ Dot Com Pho – Entrepreneur Heroes Edition By admin 13 March 2010 at 7:33 pm and have No Comments


Dot Com Pho returns to Happy Pho for another excitement filled episode. This time we had seven people showed up to dine on a variety of Pho dishes (mostly consumed by Chef Aaron Koo AKA the new Stephen Fung). To makes thing even more happy, Michael Yurechko discovered that Happy Pho had wireless Internet access (not in the restaurant but nearby).

This episode of Dot Com Pho celebrates the heroes of entrepreneurship. Evan Carmichael came up a great idea for trading cards featuring famous entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs were selected by 33 famous bloggers (of which I am one). The bloggers were asked to name their favorite entrepreneur. That entrepreneur is featured on the front of the card and the blogger who selected him is featured on the back.

All process from the the sales of Entrepreneur Heroes trading cards goes to Kiva. They will use the money to help entrepreneurs in third world countries. The Entrepreneur Heroes trading cards goes on sale in April. Pre-order your packs today and save 20% off the regular price – only $3.95 per pack of 5 cards instead of $4.95. There’s free shipping if you order three packs or more. In addition, you’ll receive a limited edition hologram gold Steve Jobs or Woz card for every three pack pre-order. There’s also a chance to win a baseball signed by the Woz. Watch the episode and then go buy some cards!

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!



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Dot Com Pho – Entrepreneur Heroes Edition

+ Dot Com Pho – Entrepreneur Heroes Edition By admin 13 March 2010 at 7:33 pm and have No Comments


Dot Com Pho returns to Happy Pho for another excitement filled episode. This time we had seven people showed up to dine on a variety of Pho dishes (mostly consumed by Chef Aaron Koo AKA the new Stephen Fung). To makes thing even more happy, Michael Yurechko discovered that Happy Pho had wireless Internet access (not in the restaurant but nearby).

This episode of Dot Com Pho celebrates the heroes of entrepreneurship. Evan Carmichael came up a great idea for trading cards featuring famous entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs were selected by 33 famous bloggers (of which I am one). The bloggers were asked to name their favorite entrepreneur. That entrepreneur is featured on the front of the card and the blogger who selected him is featured on the back.

All process from the the sales of Entrepreneur Heroes trading cards goes to Kiva. They will use the money to help entrepreneurs in third world countries. The Entrepreneur Heroes trading cards goes on sale in April. Pre-order your packs today and save 20% off the regular price – only $3.95 per pack of 5 cards instead of $4.95. There’s free shipping if you order three packs or more. In addition, you’ll receive a limited edition hologram gold Steve Jobs or Woz card for every three pack pre-order. There’s also a chance to win a baseball signed by the Woz. Watch the episode and then go buy some cards!

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!



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+ Friday Recap: Pop-Up Video Edition By admin 12 March 2010 at 5:04 pm and have No Comments

Are you in the mood for some videos? My collection of odds and ends from surveying the Web this week came up heavy on the videos. Nevermind the stats that people have been viewing fewer videos online lately, according to comScore. I bet we can edge that number back up with this blog post alone! :P

screen shot from SEO interview video

At SMX West last week, Jennifer Lopez of SEOmoz and Dana Lookadoo of Yo! Yo! SEO interviewed a handful of attendees with a series of five questions. I was honored to be asked to join in, though completely petrified at the prospect of being stumped on camera. Note the visible sigh of relief as I answer each question. Otherwise, it’s super entertaining to hear these notable Internet marketers’ answers!

One of the featured interviewees in the video above is Ian Lurie, who, among other things, is the blogger at Conversation Marketing. On his blog, Ian takes a cue from Lindsay Lohan, who is suing E-Trade for using a character named Lindsay in their Super Bowl commercial. To avoid Ian’s litigious wrath, avoid all words that contain the letters “I”, “A” and “N” in succession. Thankfully, my name squeezes through the censors by a hair!

Ready for another video? Bruce sat down with WebProNews while at SMX West to talk about everything SEO under the sun. Attracting links, driving conversions with social media, the inner workings of local search, the effect of page speed, and optimizing for personalized search are all on the agenda in this 20 minute interview. If you’ve ever wanted to pick Bruce’s veteran SEO brain, watching this interview may just scratch that itch.

Microsoft Advertising released a whitepaper on the effectiveness of digital advertising for brand campaigns. Microsoft’s research proves a connection between the amount of time a user spends with an online ad and that user’s interaction with the brand, including visits to a site, pages viewed and time spent on-site. Not bad to have this research at your disposal when a client wants to know “Why SEM?”

While we’re on the subject of ads, Huffington Post has compiled a gallery of Google ads that bring on the lolz. Looks like eBay’s the market leader for auctions on virgins, lost children, and wives. I believe it. (Susan thinks this issue was addressed years ago, but stay on the lookout for AdWords oddities!)

Next video! What is the state of the Internet, you ask?

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

After weeks of hyping an upcoming product that would revolutionize the Internet forever, Cisco announced it was upgrading its routing system to “CRS-3″. SiliconANGLE gives us a recap of industry analysis, and from the look of it, no one’s all that impressed.

The jet packs are here! The jet packs are here! Thanks to Martin Aircraft’s persistence, for just $86,000 you may soon be able to have your own personal flying device. Just a matter of time before hover crafts and sky highways, I tell you! [Yay, we're finally in the future! --Susan]

If you lost your iPhone, would you consider it a tragedy? Ever cuddle up with your iPhone before bed time? According to a survey of 200 students, 75 percent of iPhone owners have an inappropriate relationship with their phone. That’s crazy talk. I mean, just the other day my iPhone and I were at lunch and you’d never believe what we saw a Nexus One and its owner doing! In public!

Susan’s posted her SES New York liveblogging schedule and we’re both excited to hear what the day 3 session Spotlight on Fashion: Blogging for Style will reveal. Here’s one real-world example of fashionable tech: a Vivan Tam designed digital clutch. It matches so well with my pretty, nifty things aesthetic.

As does IdeaPaint. Talk about nifty! IdeaPaint is paint that lets you dry erase. Make every surface in your home or office your creative drawing board — literally! I’ve ordered up the free sample and will let you know once I try it out!

Here’s another special offer worth sharing around. Search & Social Spring Summit is coming up in Tampa, Florida on May 3 and 4. Susan attended last year and found the intimate event to be one of the best search marketing conferences she’s ever attended. The team at Search & Social wants everyone to be able to enjoy this high-quality educational experience, so they’re offering a 15 percent discount on the conference pass when you use the discount code for Search Engine Journal readers. I guarantee every penny is worth it.

If that wasn’t enough, it just so happens that Tampa is #44 on The Daily Beast’s list of America’s craziest cities! Did your city make the cut?

After you’ve found the answer to that question, take a moment to answer a few more in the name of feeding the hungry? FreeRice asks you questions, and for every one you get right, 10 grains of rice go to the World Food Programme. You can even pick your category: art, chemistry, English, geography, languages and math. To be honest, it’s so much fun you might actually forget it’s for a good cause. [The language options are good to see how much high school French you remember. Surprisingly, I can still tell my ils from my nous. --Susan]

Here’s another warm and fuzzy. As Susan noted when she shared this with me: zombie elephant! The elephant baby that zoo staff believed had died in its momma’s womb made a surprisingly lively entrance into the world this week. May you grow humongous and prosper, little pachyderm!

And for your final video I present a little story we can all relate to:

Where the heck did that come from?! Have a great weekend!

Friday Recap: Pop-Up Video Edition was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO tools provider.

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+ Free PPV Webinar Tonight At 10PM EST By admin 10 March 2010 at 10:01 am and have No Comments


This is a reminder post. The free PPV webinar with Super Affiliate Jonathan Volk starts tonight at 10PM EST (7PM PST). If you haven’t registered for it, I highly recommend you do so now. The seating limit of the webinar software is 1,000 and we’re pretty close to that number now.

Jonathan’s guests include PPV experts David Ford and Corey Bornmann. Corey is the owner of AffPortal, an invaluable toolset that literally has changed the way people build their PPV Campaigns. David is the owner PPVPlaybook’s Coaching Forums and has helped hundreds (maybe thousands) of students learn how to become masters of affiliate marketing with PPV.

This webinar will include more information about PPV, how to use it, and will even have time for Q&A. Free Q&A with the gurus of PPV is worth it alone. They will also be going over the following:

  1. What is PPV Marketing?
  2. What are the benefits of PPV traffic?
  3. Where can you find PPV traffic?
  4. What is the potential of PPV?
  5. What is Automatic Niche Research and how can you benefit?
  6. What makes a good PPV landing page?
  7. How can PPV campaign building be automated?
  8. How can you learn more about using Pay Per View Traffic?

The webinar is open to anyone who has downloaded Jonatha’s new Affiliate Marketing 101 guide. If you have the guide, you’ll be receiving an email with the webinar information. If you haven’t downloaded the guide yet, then you can get it here.

Even if you can’t attend tonight’s webinar you should still download Affiliate Marketing 101. It’s one of the best affiliate marketing guide I’ve ever read. And it’s FREE!

I hope to see you at the webinar tonight. Make to sure to say hi if you see me!

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!



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+ Learn Viral Marketing with ViperChill By admin 09 March 2010 at 9:06 pm and have No Comments


Viral marketing is the art of getting others to spread your message for free. Whether it’s a tell a friend script or some kind of contest, viral marketing is something every blogger should learn. When done correctly, it’s one of the best ways to generate traffic and sales. Someone who can help you with viral marketing is Glen Allsopp of ViperChill.com.

Who Is Glen Allsopp?

Glen is a 20 year old successful blogger and affiliate marketer but spend as much time as he can genuinely helping people to make a living online. He built the 10th biggest personal development blog online in just 12 months and recently sold it for mid five-figures. Glen has also worked as the social media manager for companies like Land Rover and Hewlett Packard. Right now, Glen is living the Dot Com Lifestyle by traveling the globe and making five-figure monthly income from his affiliate websites.

Clen Allsopp
Glen In The Guardian Newspaper

ViperChill – Great Blog That Makes No Money

Glen’s blog, ViperChill, is unique in two ways. The first is the blog makes no money. Now, you might be asking, “What’s so unique about that? My blog makes no money!” This by choice and not by design. ViperChill has nearly 5,000 RSS readers and each post has over 50 comments in them. The blog gets enough traffic to make thousands per month but Glen has chosen to not monetize it.

Welcome to ViperChill. I’m Glen – one of the few people who makes a living online without doing it by teaching you how to make a living online. Because of that, you’ll find no ads and no affiliate links here. It’s all about the content and helping you as much as possible. As it should be.

The second thing that make ViperChill unique is the size of Glen’s blog posts. Most articles are 2,000 to 3,000 words in length and extremely detailed. Because of the size of the posts, Glen updates ViperChill only one or two times per week. Some of the more noteworthy posts include:

Living In The Cloud

Want to live in the cloud like Glen? You can start by reading all his post from the ViperChill Base. If that doesn’t get your juices flowing and you want more step-by-step instructions, then you can buy Glen’s eBook, Cloud Living (It’s the eBook he made $30,000 with).

Cloud Living includes a 176-page eBook, six video tutorials, a free affiliate website template, 8-page documentation guide and free email support from Glen. Not a bad deal for $37. You can find out more about Cloud Living here.

It’s OK To Make Money

While I don’t have a problem with Glen not monetizing ViperChill, I feel it’s a poor use of resources. I was making money online long before John Chow dot Com came along. The main reason I monetized the blog was to show money can be made by blogging, but another reason was I don’t like seeing sites that could be making a ton of money not making it.

Yes, it sounds good to say you’re not making money off the blog because you want to provide pure information. However, from a business point of view, leaving money on the table isn’t so smart. If Glen doesn’t need any income from ViperChill, I think he can actually increase his brand by monetizing the blog and giving the money away to charity. What sounds better? I don’t make money from this blog or I donate every dollar this blog makes? Whether Glen makes money from ViperChill or not, I’ll still be reading it.

ViperChill : Viral Marketing

Discover the SECRETS I’ve Learned to go from zero a month to over $40,000 a month from blogging. Download Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com for FREE!



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+ 10 Signs Why You Are Just An Average Blogger By admin 07 March 2010 at 10:22 am and have No Comments


They always say that blogging is already saturated. Saturated especially if you are going to use blogging to target a wide audience and then make money. I’m always observing the blogosphere and while I can’t argue that there are so many blogs out there on a certain topic, I think it’s not enough to call it saturated yet. Not even close if you ask me.

I always classify bloggers into three. There are those who we call professional bloggers, the medium caps bloggers and the average bloggers. Pro bloggers are those who are considered the experts, the famous ones or simply “web celebrities”. Mid cap bloggers are the ones who I describe as bloggers who do things right but not as popular as probloggers are yet. And obviously average bloggers are the pollutants, they are the majority of what comprise the entire blogosphere.

Ok, I understand that pollutants is a bit of a harsh term but unfortunately, most people don’t realize that they just fall into this category. In this post I will give a list of 10 signs why you are just an average blogger. Without further ado, here they are.

1 .You don’t have a goal (and specific goals)

Goal Setting is a very important part of every business. And blogging is an internet business, so you need to set one as well. When I ask people what is their goal, their usual response is to make money. David Risley recently made a very good post on how people should get things done. In that post, he outlined that most people just put a long haul general goal and the problem is that almost all of the times, it’s not attained.

Setting goals, targeting specific tasks and outlining subtasks are important for online success so make sure you’re not neglecting this one.

2. You don’t build a list

I used to think that list building was for spammers only. But as I’ve observed how famous people use list to their advantage, I realized that it’s really a must-have for all serious bloggers. My blog has been up for 2+ years and its just last year that I started building a customer’s list.

Remember each and every of your readers is your potential customers. They build your business for you and it’s really imperative to collect them.

3. You think of making money too much

Most bloggers get into this mistake. They start a blog then put some content, market it a bit and then go full force into making money. Most of the times they do it by plastering ads to their site or by simply switching from giving good value to their readers by having the obvious intention of making money.

Listen, do you really just want to waste all the effort you exerted by forcing your monetization tactic? It’s hard to build a loyal base of audience and once they start clicking that unsubscribe button, it’s gonna be hard for you to make them come back.

4. You have a crappy design

The problem with this is that usually people really don’t realize their blog design sucks! Just because you think it’s cool it doesn’t mean it’s great in the eyes of the majority as well. The thing is you really need to follow the majority. If they think it sucks, then ditch it!

One of my tips is to actually just make use of forum review sites. Most people think its sole purpose is for quick traffic but the use of it is still to provide reviews. Most forum lurkers are pretty straightforward so you’re going to expect some great suggestions there. People always say content is king, but isn’t it that design is part of the content?

5. You don’t utilize social media

Social Media represents Web 2.0. I’ve seen some bloggers who skyrocketed their profiles in their blogs by just maximizing its use of social media. If you’re new to social media then please consider taking some time on reading about it, understanding it more.

When I was in my early stages I even studied how each of the social sites work, built relationship with reputed people and just invested an ample part of my time. If you’re not into social media as one of the tactics in your blog then you’re missing out a lot.

6. You think blog commenting is the best marketing tactic

Blog commenting is cool especially if you just started a new blog. It’s a pretty great way to say “hey I exist!” But one thing I see most bloggers do is use it as their no.1 marketing ploy. Sure there’s nothing wrong in commenting but just doing that will bring you nowhere!

Consider who’s going to gain more traction between the two. The first blogger comments on 150 blogs everyday while the second blogger do guest posts at least thrice a week. Who’s going to get more traffic and readers at the end of one week? You judge!

7. You don’t do Guest Postings

Reading the previous one, it’s obvious that we’re going to head into this topic. Guest Posting is probably the quickest way to spit your brand out there and get noticed in a very wide scale of audience. I bet all of you guys reading this article know it but I doubt you put this into work.

Writing guest articles is not just doing it three times, four times or eight times. Man, you have to do it in bulks! You can easily notice as well that even popular bloggers do guest posting. That’s because of the unending search for a new audience that would turn into a loyal customer. Guest Posting is probably the most cost-conscious method that you can use to drive great traffic to your blog.

8. You spread yourself too thin

This is the common mistake that most bloggers make. They believe they already know the recipe for success and as a result, they create multiple blogs. In order for anyone to be successful in blogging, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. In short, you need to spend a considerable amount of time in your blog to make good progress. Don’t fall for this common mistake, don’t spread yourself thin.

9. You mass market your blog

There is nothing anything worse than seeing someone create a thread in popular forums only to say “hey check out my blog, its cool”. Or going to a high traffic social site like BlogCatalog only to spam your link out there. This is another crucial mistake that most bloggers are still doing! They think that by letting as much people as possible see their blog, they’re going to convert well.

It’s really a huge mistake not only because you get to annoy people there who cause them not to even look at your site, but more importantly you’re most likely targeting the wrong demographics. Remember, quality is more important than quantity.

10. Your content doesn’t make sense

OK, assuming everything is in line now. You now have that good design, have done a ton of really great guest posts, have an awesome list, you focus only on one blog and stuffs. In the end it all boils down to this last point, writing good content.

This has been rehashed probably a million times already but obviously everything that you’ve done is useless if you don’t write good content. Just imagine, you managed to guest post on several authority blogs, people love what you wrote and as a result they are clicking to your link. What if what they saw in your site is post about your cat? Or how ugly is your enemy? Or how you loathe you Math teacher?

In the end it all goes to waste. You see, it’s really a tough pill to swallow isn’t it? How do you write good content then? By sticking to your niche. I discuss a lot how professional blogging isn’t about having perfect grammar, superb fluency and being boring. And writing good content doesn’t have to be like that. As long as you think you’re connecting well with your readers, you’re fulfilling their needs; you’re doing your job.

Conclusion

So to end this one, I would leave it all to you. If you have been blogging and you think you’re exerting some effort and still not growing, then maybe it’s time to re-evaluate, time to jot down notes on things that you are working hard with, yet are not producing good results for you. Remember those average bloggers never evaluate things. Just by doing your job now will put you way ahead of most bloggers.

Melvin is a young blogger and entrepreneur who blogs at MelvinBlog Dot Com. He has also created a report for his readers entitled Blog Marketing for Fame which is available for download.

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10 Signs Why You Are Just An Average Blogger