This brand new podcast is hosted by DigitalMarketer’s very own Director of Content, Garrett Holmes, and Content Producer, Jenna Snavely. And, as you can see below, we’ve got a lot of amazing guests lined up!
With this podcast, our goal is to make you the smartest person in the room through incredible interviews with entrepreneurs and thought leaders spanning across all facets of the digital marketing world!
But, it’s not just interviewing… after we sit down with each guest, we bring YOU back with us to DigitalMarketer HQ (or, as we like to call it, “The Batcave”) and unpack these conversations so that you can apply these tactics and strategies in your business, starting today.
BUT—we need help from the DigitalMarketer community!
We want to reach as many podcast listeners as possible, and it helps the podcast tremendously to have subscribers, reviews, and ratings.
So we’re holding a fun giveaway contest to help get more podcast subscribers, reviews, and ratings and 2 lucky winners will each receive a ticket to Traffic & Conversion Summit 2019!
3) Share the podcast on Facebook or Twitter using #DMPodcast (if you’re not sure how to share a podcast, check out this nifty video tutorial)
We will randomly select 2 lucky subscribers on July 16, 2018, so please make sure you’ve completed all 3 steps above by July 15th.
We’re really excited about this podcast, and we know that you will be too. So be sure to set aside some time today to subscribe and listen, but most importantly, to take action on the digital marketing strategies that are being shared because they are tactics that can be implemented TODAY!
And now, a quick overview of the first 4 episodes, all available today!
Episode 1: Daymond John, CEO @ Fubu on His ‘Rise & Grind’ Approach to Business Success
Join the experts as they interview Daymond John, author of the best selling book Rise & Grind on what “Rise and Grind” is, how he’s put it to work for himself, and how it saved his life. If you’re not where you want to be in your life or business, this episode will teach you what you need to know to start putting in the work without quitting your day job.
Episode 2: Ezra Firestone, CEO @ Smart Marketer Inc. on How To Reach More Customers By Telling Better Stories
Find out why Ezra is moving from a 30-day sales cycle to a 90-day sales cycle, why he didn’t get much ROI on a $1,000,000 investment in marketing on Pinterest (but you might), why he doesn’t run a Facebook group, and what the biggest threats are to the industry right now.
Episode 3: Suzi Nelson, Community Strategist @ DigitalMarketer on How To Leverage Communities to Generate Revenue For Your Business
Learn what it takes to start and grow a community around your business to start creating a network of brand ambassadors that will generate revenue while you sleep. Discover the ins and outs of community management and how important community is in today’s digital marketing landscape.
Episode 4: Billy Gene Shaw, Founder & CEO @ Billy Gene Is Marketing on How To Make Video Ads That Actually ROI
Dive into the formula for making video advertisements that actually bring you a return on your investment and find out how Billy Gene Shaw created a name for himself creating some of the funniest, craziest, and downright entertaining video ads you’ll find on the internet today.
I am especially excited about today’s guest. The reason is that he’s a guy who admits to having depression, admits to having what I’ve called a counter mind. But he has accomplished so much by breaking free of those limitations. I want to talk about how he did it. Andrew Thomas is the co-founder of SkyBell. SkyBell is a smart Wi-Fi enabled doorbell that allows you to answer your door from a smartphone and allows you to see who’s at your door. There are several huge competitors in the space. I want to find out about how he did it.
Andrew Thomas is the co-founder of SkyBell, a smart Wi-Fi enabled doorbell that allows you to answer your door from a smartphone and allows you to see who’s at your door.
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You’re building your blog, hoping to one day turn it into a full-time income, but you have no guarantees it will ever pay off.
What if this blog you created is doomed to fail? What if you’re wasting your time? What if you’re fooling yourself thinking this will ever lead anywhere?
Building a profitable blog is hard work, and it usually takes time to see the rewards. Not everyone has the wherewithal to see it through.
But those who do can find amazing opportunities.
Today, we’re showcasing a few of the biggest blogging success stories. These 10 bloggers built their blogs and today make $1 million per year or more.
We’ll tell you how they got started, how they built their blogs, and how they generate revenue.
These stories will show you that you can take many paths to blogging success, and hopefully they’ll inspire you to see it through.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner didn’t intend for her blog to become the income machine it is today. She started it more as a hobby, not even thinking she would ever make money from it.
Once she made her first $100 from her blog, though, that changed. She saw the potential and got more interested in turning her hobby into a business.
Her blog kept doing better and better, and eventually she was able to quit her job as a financial analyst and work on her blog full-time.
She’s currently traveling full-time, touring North America in an RV and loving her life with her husband.
How she makes money from her blog:
Her blogging income picked up some serious steam in 2016, when she further diversified her income.
Her main source of income up to that point was affiliate marketing, with some money coming in through sponsorships and advertisements. In 2016, though, she created her course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.
Her income doubled the month she launched her course, and in 2017 she had her first million-dollar year.
#2. Steve Pavlina
Site:Steve Pavlina Niche: Personal Development Income: ~$12 million/year (source)
Steve Pavlina is an author, a motivational speaker, and one of the most prolific self-development bloggers online. He grew his blog to more than two million monthly visitors without spending a dime on marketing or promotion.
Steve’s passion for personal development began when he was sitting in jail, having been arrested for felony grand theft. At that moment, he decided to work on improving himself and turn his life around.
And it paid off. He accomplished many amazing things. He earned two college degrees in the span of three semesters. He founded a software company that developed computer games. He ran the Los Angeles Marathon and trained in martial arts.
How he makes money from his blog:
Steve has experimented with many income streams to see which he likes best.
He mostly makes his money from affiliate marketing/joint ventures and hosting live workshops.
When hosting one of his workshops, he asks people who register about their personal struggles and uses this feedback to custom-tailor each workshop, which means he never does the same workshop twice.
Steve has also written a book called Personal Development for Smart People, the purpose of which was to create a single framework for growth that people could apply to all areas of their lives.
Pat Flynn was thriving in his career as an architect and had no plans to leave — until an economic downturn hit his industry hard and he was laid off from his job.
Before all this happened, Pat had created a little website to help him study for an architectural exam. It got thousands of visitors, and he realized he could leverage this traffic for income.
After studying up on doing business online, he created an ebook which he sold for $19.99 and made over $7,000 in his first month.
This got him so excited that he started Smart Passive Income, a blog on which he would share his strategies that helped him grow his online business. Today, this blog generates over $100K each month, with some months doubling or even tripling that figure.
But it’s not the money or material wealth that motivates him. Pat has remained a down-to-earth guy whose primary motivation is his family. He loves the freedom to plan his day around his family instead of his business, which allows him to spend the day with them and save work for after his kids go to sleep.
How he makes money from his blog:
Pat has done a great job of diversifying his income over the years.
The bulk of his income comes from affiliate marketing and course sales, but he also sells books, software, and apps, and he makes money from podcast sponsorships.
#4. Chiara Ferragni
Site:The Blonde Salad Niche: Fashion & Lifestyle Income: $2.5 million from her blog in 2015 (source); $20 million from her shoe line in 2016 (source)
Chiara Ferragni’s track record is impressive, to say the least.
She got her feet off the ground posting her daily outfits to Flickr, an image-sharing website, where she amassed a significant following. She then started her personal style blog in 2009 — when personal style blogs weren’t really a thing yet — and within two months she got tens of thousands of visitors per day.
She quickly began receiving sponsorship offers from fashion brands such as Dior and Louis Vuitton.
And three exams away from finishing her law degree, she decided to make The Blonde Salad her main focus.
Since then, Chiara has amassed over ten million followers on Instagram, Forbes named her one of the most influential people under 30, and she was the first fashion blogger to score a cover on Vogue.
How she makes money from her blog:
The Blonde Salad transitioned from an outfit-of-the-day blog to a full-on lifestyle platform with its own e-commerce clothing store.
And Chiara Ferragni has become a brand in her own right and makes thousands of dollars through sponsorships, modeling, and appearance fees.
On top of that, Chiara leveraged her platform to launch her own shoe line, the Chiara Ferragni Collection, aside from her blog. This line has reportedly made made eight figures in 2016.
#5. Vitaly Friedman
Site:Smashing Magazine Niche: Web Design & Development Income: ~$2,5 million in 2017 (source)
Vitaly Friedman was a freelance web designer before he started blogging. He had never taken a single design class at the time, but learned his skills from reading articles online.
He always had an interest in writing and editing as well, though, and he wanted to give back to the design community, so he started blogging.
Through one of his projects he was introduced to Sven Lennartz, who asked him to write for his German magazine Dr. Web. One year later, they started Smashing Magazine. They had no idea it would become one of the most influential resources for web designers and developers.
It grew from two people’s hobby to a business with a dozen employees and hundreds of contributors, and today gets over three million page views per month.
(Sven Lennartz is no longer actively involved with the site.)
How he makes money from his blog:
For most of its existence, Smashing Magazine made money primarily from ad revenues. But seeing those revenues decline a few years ago, they focused more on selling their books and diversifying their income.
They now have a library of 60+ e-books for sale (which they also sell in packages). They run high-ticket conferences and workshops. They added a job board where companies can purchase job postings and find skilled employees. And they offer membership packages which are reportedly their biggest source of income today.
#6. Brian Clark
Site:CopyBlogger Niche: Content Marketing Income: $12 million per year (source)
Brian Clark started writing about content marketing before people started calling it content marketing. He had been using content to market products and services for several years when he started CopyBlogger in 2006.
At the time, he wasn’t focused on selling because he didn’t know what he would sell. He focused on building an audience and had faith that he would identify their pain points.
And his faith was justified. As his audience grew, Brian was able to identify the problems content creators were having online, and he partnered with other entrepreneurs to create and sell solutions.
How he makes money from his blog:
Brian has offered a number of training programs, plugins, products, and services through his blog over the years. Many of them have since been taken off the market, and today his main income sources include:
Rainmaker Digital — a hybrid service and technology agency that builds sophisticated websites for its clients and offers services to create and implement successful digital marketing strategies.
StudioPress — a marketplace that sells premium WordPress themes and hosting.
Authority — a membership-based training program and community for content marketers, which also offers exclusive access to an additional course that you can take to become a CopyBlogger Certified Content Marketer.
#7. Timothy Sykes
Site:Timothy Sykes Niche: Stock trading Income: ~$15–$20 million in 2014 (source)
Timothy Sykes took $12,000 of his Bar Mitzvah money and turned it into $2 million by trading penny stocks. This feat got him on Trader Monthly’s “Top 30 under 30” list and on a TV show called Wall Street Warriors.
He then got hundreds of emails per day from people asking questions, which led him to write his book An American Hedge Fund. He initially launched his blog to help promote his book.
Around that time though, his hedge fund lost 30%, which lost him a lot of credibility. To get it back, he decided to start from scratch and repeat his earlier feat of turning a few thousand into a few million, resolving to track each step of the way.
Now he makes more money from teaching others how to trade than from trading himself.
How he makes money from his blog:
Timothy sells DVDs, offers coaching, and offers a subscription program called Tim Alerts, which lets his subscribers follow his trades in real time.
Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman are a sister team who have turned their food and DIY crafts blog into a raging success.
Elsie started A Beautiful Mess in 2007 and Emma started a food blog a couple of years later. They then decided to combine forces, and that’s when things took off for them.
At the time Elsie was running a retail shop, and she used the blog to move products, but the sisters soon realized that they enjoyed the blog more and that it was more profitable. They decided to close the shop and make the blog their main focus.
How they make money from their blog:
They once got business advice from a friend who said they should diversify their income, and boy, have they taken it to heart. They have built up several healthy and reliable income streams over the years and they try to add a new one every year.
They sell banner ads through AdThrive, promote products through affiliate marketing, and offer sponsored content.
They sell fashion, beauty, and wellness products in their online store as well as subscriptions to monthly beauty boxes and monthly stationery packages.
On top of that, they’ve written three books, created several courses, and launched three bestselling photo-editing apps.
When Darren Rowse started blogging, he was only looking for a new hobby. He blogged about living in Australia, religion, politics, and other topics he found interesting. He didn’t even know you could make money blogging at the time.
A year later, he started another blog on digital photography and discovered he could make money through ads and affiliate marketing.
He only made a few dollars per week at first, but it was enough for him to see the potential. After consulting his fianceé, he decided to treat blogging as a part-time job and devote two days per week to it. He saw his income grow from a part-time into a full-time income, and eventually into an income most only dream about.
Darren has started and been involved with numerous blogs over the years, but learned after a few years that his blogs perform better when he focuses on a few. So today he only focuses on ProBlogger and Digital Photography School.
How he makes money from his blogs:
While affiliate marketing is still his biggest income source today, Darren has since been experimenting with different income streams over the years.
His second-biggest income source is product sales. Between his two blogs, he sells dozens of e-books and several courses. On Digital Photography School, he also sells Lightroom presets.
On ProBlogger he makes additional money through a job board, and also through hosting an annual event in Australia.
In 2016, his earnings were split as follows:
#10. Heather Delaney Reese (and Her Family)
Site:It’s a Lovely Life Niche: Family, Lifestyle and Travel Income: $1,696,672 over the last 12 months (source)
After two of her daughters were born, Heather Delaney Reese looked for ways she could use the journalism skills she acquired in college and still remain a full-time stay-at-home mom.
At first she wrote about budgeting and saving money, but over time she transitioned to writing about her family’s lifestyle and travel.
Her husband Pete eventually quit his job to also work on the blog, and their three daughters now contribute as well.
Over time, she has turned what started as a hobby into a full-time career for their entire family.
How they make money from their blog:
Until March 2017, the Reese’s blogging income came solely from sponsored content. Every year their income increased as their audience grew and they were able to increase their rates.
From March 2017, they also started promoting products and services through affiliate marketing.
But their income truly boomed over the past seven months when they launched their premium courses, Blogging Blastoff and the Travel Blogging Fast Track, which they launched only months apart.
The launch of these two courses doubled their income and propelled them into their first seven-figure year.
Now Find Your Own Path to Blogging Success
If you ever have doubts whether you’re chasing a pipe dream with your blog, keep these stories in mind.
They all took different paths to success.
Not everyone struck gold with their first blog, and you may not either. Not everyone got rich on their first attempt, and you may not either.
That’s okay. Every step is a learning moment.
If you keep going and keep trying new things, you’ll reach your goals eventually.
It may be faster than you think, or it might take longer than you hope. But. You. Will. Get. There.
Keep that in mind the next time you’re plagued with doubts.
About the Author: Robert van Tongeren is the Associate Editor of Smart Blogger, who helps our writers get their posts in tip-top shape. He also runs his own blog that helps guys dress a little sharper at Restart Your Style. You can find him on Twitter here.
Thomas Frank is a massively successful YouTuber and the creator of CollegeInfoGeek.com. We’ve been friends for a while, and this episode has been a long time coming. We’re sitting down to chat about how he built his brand, how he got into the online business world, and the strategies, tips, tools, and tricks that he’s using to kill it on YouTube.
If you’ve ever thought about building a niche site or launching a YouTube channel, you won’t want to miss out on this episode! Thomas has crafted an invaluable, supportive website in the student success niche, and his Resource page is one of the best on the web. I actually use it as an example for my affiliate marketing students. Thomas’s Essential Books for Students page is another inspiring resource page.
Thomas stumbled into the online space without thinking too much of it, but once he hit his first breakthrough, he caught the bug and couldn’t stop. Now he has a highly-successful YouTube channel and personal brand. We’re diving deep into his YouTube strategy to find out how he found his stride, and how he designs videos like “The Method Elon Musk Uses to Manage His Time” for success. Thomas is bringing loads of nuanced strategies and tips to the table, so grab something to write with, because this episode is stuffed with gold nuggets that you won’t want to forget. Let’s do this!
In this episode, I mention a picture of Frank and I from BlogWorld in 2012. Here it is (check out how young we look)!
Oh also—that home-video ninja video that Frank mentions at the top of the episode? I got it for you guys! From ninja videos to videos on Elon Musk, Frank’s clearly been killing it from a young age :-).
I’m starting to do more live trainings on Smart Passive Income: Podcasting, affiliate marketing, how to get started, finding your niche—you name it. We’re doing live trainings every month now. You can register, watch me live, and learn some new things by visiting SmartPassiveIncome.com/trainings.
I’m constantly worried about my own reputation, and here’s what scared me about today’s guesy. Scott Gerber sent me this sizzle reel that made him look so good. I go, “This is a guy who’s really good at being on the news, but I don’t even fricking know his company.” I had him on for an interview. And then he contacted me at some point afterwards, and he said, “I started this new thing that’s called Young Entrepreneurs Council.” Here’s why I invited him back. Community building is a pain in the ass. We all try to do it, and then we embarrass ourselves if we don’t get it right. And so this guy Scott says, “I got it right. I think I could turn it into like a service.” And so he did, and he built it up. Scott Gerber is the founder of The Community Company. They build communities for media companies and global brands.
Scott Gerber is the founder of The Community Company. They build communities for media companies and global brands.
Sponsored by
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Have you launched a minimum viable product for your business? What exactly qualifies as and defines a minimum viable product? What are the questions you need to ask yourself during the process?
A minimum viable product or MVP is one of the most established ways of getting a new business off the ground. By design, the framework allows a business owner to start small and get the most out of this production process. We at Fizzle are all in for MVPs, but how to pull them off to your best benefit, you ask?
In this episode, we are tackling that exact question and helping you unpack how to create, deliver and promote your MVP. This means research, ideas, production, and follow-through, we cover it all!
We also give helpful examples of minimum viable products and what these show us in terms of pre-game and follow up, notably emphasizing the longevity that is possible with an MVP. Remember, once it is launched it is not necessarily on to the next thing!
So for all you entrepreneurs out there, young and old, seasoned or fresh, gather round as we break it down!
Key Points From This Episode:
Looking at different minimum viable products across industries and markets.[0:06:38.1]
The opportunity that MVPs offer your business.[0:08:51.3]
Chase’s example of an MVP from his wife Mellisa’s business.[0:10:31.2]
Reflecting on Mellisa’s strategy and the usefulness of pre-selling.[0:15:25.6]
What comes after you have completed your MVP?[0:21:10.6]
Doubling down on what you already have in your business.[0:24:20.4]
Why you do not always have to ask ‘what’s next’ immediately.[0:29:01.3]
What else to pursue after launching your MVP and your season of promotion.[0:31:02.5]
Using an MVP primarily as a mechanism for customer feedback.[0:34:10.2]
The actual launch of an MVP and assessing its success.[0:36:47.2]
Compiling the qualitative and quantitative data that an MVP launch offers.[0:39:40.8]
The initial step, where the rubber hits the road![0:43:40.5]
Whenever you are trying to talk to your clients about actually attracting links (versus building them), there are always two types of excuses: either the niche is too boring, or there are no technical capabilities (in terms of a good design team and experience).
I don’t believe in boring niches – neither do I believe in the absence of design skills that would be able to prevent you from building an effective link bait. The beauty of the Internet promotion is that anyone can do that: It all comes down to how creative you are ready to get.
Infographics have been largely abused: There’s one popping up daily with overused design element with little research or thought behind it. They are no more as effective as they used to be. However really creative and cool ideas still work.
Below are five styles of infographics that are well known for producing results:
Venn diagrams have become some of the most popular on the web, usually providing entertaining data rather than anything too serious. It features two or more colored circles, each representing a different factor. They intersect at various points to indicate a shared element, and in the center they all intersect to show something with all provided qualities.
Pie charts are a popular item on social media sites. Certain websites, such as The Onion, used them on a regular basis to make a point or joke. With so many generators around the web to help you to make your own, it is now easier than ever to use a simple pie chart as a poignant infographic.
Flowcharts are excellent conveyers of information, because they are visually engaging. The viewer has to actually follow the chart from one end to the other, making it an interactive piece that sticks in the mind. One of the best parts about this style of infographic is that you can connect any number of elements and factors for a few eventualities that could be reached in several situations.
Used frequently to create an infographic about the history of anything, from a country to a brand, the timeline is one of your most effective visual data styles. It provides you with a platform for a clean, informative graph with endless potential for information. Even if the viewer is merely skimming the content for a specific fact.
Because it is immediately recognizable, the periodic table has been used again and again for effective infographics. Usually, however, they are made with a double layer style that allows the user to skim over each “element” with their cursor to get more information. This is usually a good tactic as it is both interactive and more expansive than just the table itself might be.
These five infographic types have been proven as effective styles time and again. But they also have the added benefit of being easy to create, with a lot of room for your own flair.
What are some examples of your favorites? Link to them in the comments.
So you’re here because you want to know how to launch a brand new website (with a bang!). That’s exciting, and you should feel proud! This post will show you exactly how to do that and will cover a wide range of website launch tips, including:
What an ideal website launch day looks like.
How to maximize your reach and website traffic on day one of your launch.
Why you need to be able to pitch your website in seven seconds.
What content to choose to be live on day one of your launch.
How to create your viral piece: a beastly resource page and a round-up post.
Why I also recommend having how-to content, case studies, and more.
How to create a well-designed website people want to stick around for.
Why you should create a Google Alert for your brand.
What is a Share Page, and why do you need one, too?
How to build a pre-launch coming soon teaser website landing page.
What you can do to build relationships and buzz for launch day.
And the connections, promotions, and content building you will create after launch.
Before we jump into how to launch your new website, I first need to share some personal context:
I’m often asked about the biggest mistakes that I’ve made while starting and running my online businesses. I typically answer with the following:
Not starting sooner.
Thinking about money before serving an audience.
Trying to do everything on my own.
Not immediately starting an email list.
Using a trademark in a domain name.
I learned a lot about how to launch a website through trial and error with my Niche Site Duel project back in 2010. I was challenged by a friend to create a niche website, and within 73 days I was earning $700 per month and was able to propel the site to #1 on Google search results for my target keyword. That site I built eventually became SecurityGuardTrainingHQ.com.
While some of the content in my Niche Site Duel project may be a little dated, I bring it up because it was a revelatory and essential part of my online business journey. I learned so much, failed a lot, stumbled a bunch along the way, and now make my living online.
And so can you.
One of the mistakes I want to talk about today is one I made when starting each of my first online businesses:
Not creating a launch plan for my websites.
While you don’t need a launch plan in order to build a successful website or online business, without one you miss out on the opportunity to make the noise on Day One that could easily put you three to six months ahead of where you would be if you just started publishing content without a plan.
Without a launch plan, you’re publishing content for nobody.
When you first create a website, nobody knows about it but you. Your best content is wasted and eventually over time gets hidden in the archives. There are ways to bring new life back to old blog posts, but when you’re first starting out you want as many people to read those posts as possible. More readers = more sharing, and more authority right off the bat.
There’s no reason you should ever be writing for nobody.
Let’s explore how to avoid that.
An Ideal Launch Day: The Goals
On the day that you launch and share your new website (which is different from the day that you start it), the aim is to have lots of traffic coming your way. “Lots of traffic” is relative, of course (and for any brand new website, any traffic is something to be proud about), but there are ways to maximize your reach and traffic on day one, which we’ll get into in this post.
You’ll also want your new visitors to perform a number of different actions—as many of the following as possible:
Read your content (duh!).
Subscribe to your email list.
Share your content and website with others.
Engage on your website and leave comments.
Get excited about what’s coming next.
The main purpose of the launch, beyond getting maximum traffic and engagement on day one, is to truly establish you and your brand as a new authority in the niche that you’re entering—one that’s worth paying close attention to. If you want a little extra challenge to kick off your launch on steady footing, I created Build Your Own Brand, a FREE five-day challenge that’s designed to help you build a brand and website you can be proud of (click the logo below to sign up!).
Entering a niche late is actually an advantage because you can see what’s missing from an existing market, come in to fill those holes, and be the solution that has yet to exist. With a launch plan in place, if done correctly, you can definitely ride the “New & Noteworthy” wave.
Ideally, you’ll want people to think something along the lines of: “Finally! Where has this been all my life?”
What to Do Before You Launch
You’ll want to think of the launch of your new website like an event—something important that happens on a specific day, at a specific time, where your brand and everything it has to offer becomes available to the public.
Doing this puts the launch in the correct frame of mind—not just for you, but for those you’ll be contacting before launch day to help you promote, as well as those who visit your site on launch day. If you are feeling a little overwhelmed (believe me, I get it!), I created what I call the PAT Formula that helps you plan anything—even a website launch.
The specific date also helps you schedule what happens when, and gives you a target date or deadline to shoot for, which will help you avoid procrastination and putting things off “until tomorrow.”
Before you contact anyone, however, there are certain things you should have in place and figured out first:
1. Your Seven-Second Pitch
The first and most important thing to do is find the right way to quickly let people know what your brand is about and why it’s worth paying attention to. This exercise will become the foundation for everything else that happens in and around your launch.
If you can’t pitch your website in seven seconds or less and it doesn’t sound like a no-brainer for those you are pitching to, then you’re not ready to launch.
Therefore, a significant amount of time should be spent on your seven-second pitch and determining the right language to use. It will help you figure out your tagline and the copy to use on your website to get people to stick around and subscribe to your list when they visit, and it’ll also help you figure out how to send the perfect (and quickest to read) emails to people who help you promote.
Why seven seconds?
It’s sort of an arbitrary number, similar to the 30-second elevator pitch, but the fact of the matter is that it’s quick—really quick. It needs to be the MED (Minimum Effective Dosage) of pitches because online you only have a small window to make a first impression before people leave and look for a better solution. Or, in the case of an email, you only have a small window of time before people read it and think, “This isn’t worth my time right now.”
2. Content That Will Be Live on Day One
On launch day, aim to have multiple pieces of highly valuable content already available to consume—not just one single post.
If you don’t have a launch plan, it doesn’t matter. Hardly anyone is there to read that first post anyway. But if you plan a launch, you’re going to set yourself back if all you have is one piece of content to read.
I made a mistake like this when I launched the SPI Podcast in July 2010. I only created one introductory episode before submitting my podcast feed to iTunes, so when people listened to the new show, all they could possibly listen to was that first episode. I actually received a number of low ratings and comments from people saying that the show actually had very little value to offer, which was totally true at that point. All of the good value was to come, so if I were to do it all over again I would wait until I had three or four episodes already in my feed.
The same goes for your website. You’ll have one viral piece of content that you’ll be promoting heavily, but you also want other cornerstones, pillar-type content published on your site, too. Sometimes, it’s not that initial piece of content they read that gets them to buy into you and your brand, but those other posts that may actually be more relevant to them.
Plus, as a whole, your site will already look like a resource to serve that audience that will be worth subscribing too. Again, it should be a no-brainer for your new visitors.
So what kinds of content should you initially publish?
First, let’s talk about that viral piece that’s going to put you on the map and help you promote your site.
Your Viral Piece
All of the content that’s initially on your site is important and should be of the highest quality; however, there should be one incredible stand-out post that you’ll use as your promotional tool from day one, and it should help your site experience some viral qualities right off the bat.
In my eyes, there are two types of viral pieces that you can create. They take some work, but the work can definitely pay off. They are:
1. A Beastly Resource
In SPI Podcast session #67, Neil Patel from QuickSprout.com mentioned that one of the best ways to promote a new website and make noise in a particular market is to create a highly detailed guide—the ultimate one-stop solution for people in that particular market who are trying to learn something. This guide is not a downloadable guide, but rather something formatted within the website itself which will help promote sharing, as well as search engine optimization.
For example, I recently created a helpful resource for how to create and sell an online course. These types of pages are packed with value and really can be a powerful draw to your website if done well.
Not only that, it almost proves authority and expertise right away to new visitors.
This is how Trevor Page from SPI Podcast Session #55 got started so quickly. Within a year, he built and monetized a website with a published ebook and membership site, and it all started with a beastly resource for those getting started with Java programming. It was picked up on LifeHacker.com and things just started to happen right out of the gate for Trevor, which is awesome. Similarly, Lucas Hall from SPI Podcast Session #232, built and sold an “ultimate resource” blog.
A website could contain several of these guides covering many different topics within your niche, but when you start out, pick the one you know is just right for your target audience—the one they are probably already asking for or hinting at elsewhere on the web.
The resource doesn’t have to be a 45,000-word, book-worthy piece of content like what Neil typically creates, but something more substantial than a regular blog post can definitely do the trick. Of course, the length of the piece isn’t what really matters (although that can make an impression), it’s the quality and usefulness of whatever is provided.
2. An Expert Round-Up Post
An expert round-up post was first mentioned here on SPI when Corbett Barr from ThinkTraffic.net was a guest on SPI Podcast Session #08, and it’s exactly what he used to launch ThinkTraffic.net back in 2010 and take it from 0 to 60 in a very short time period.
Compared to something like a beastly resource, an expert round-up post isn’t quite as instructional or step-by-step, but it can definitely be just as useful and impactful for the launch of your site.
Here’s a round-up post I created that compiles online course creation tips from students of my first year of creating online courses.
An expert round-up post is simply a post that’s made up of answers to a specific question that other experts in your field have answered for you and your audience.
Here’s how to do it:
Determine the most important question that your target audience wants answered.
Email other experts in your niche, asking them to answer that one specific question.
Compile all of the answers into a single blog post, and you’ll begin to see just how much of a resource this post will be for new visitors!
The beauty of this strategy is that not only will you be able to provide this massive resource to your audience, but you’ll have made connections with several influential people in your niche. If you approach these people correctly and follow up with them after your blog post is published, you can easily have several of them sharing the post that they’re featured in with their friends and followers.
If you’d like some help emailing influential people, check out Derek Halpern’s video here.
So which one is better: a beastly resource or a round-up post?
It really depends on your niche, but one is better than none. They both take a lot of different kinds of work to complete, but like I said, you can be put on the map on day one if you do it right.
I’d avoid having both available on day one because they each deserve full attention and promotion.
Other Types of Content to Have Published on Day One
Besides a beastly resource or a round-up post, you’ll want other pillar-style content published on your site as well. An additional three or four pieces can go a very long way.
The most important thing when it comes to all of the content on your site is this: Don’t write about what you want to say, write about exactly what your target audience wants to read. This is always going to be the case, but it’s especially important during the launch of your website.
It’s also a good idea to mix up the types of additional content you have posted on your site. Very much inspired by the content pyramid, different types of posts will appeal to different types of readers. Touch on them all, and you’ll resonate with your audience one way or another.
Forget your personal story—that should be reserved for your about page, and you can touch more on that later. (By the way, I recently created this video to show you how to write an amazing About Page!)
Forget current events and news articles—that stuff isn’t evergreen material. Once you establish some authority, you can definitely tap into what’s happening in the news if you want.
With whatever you write about, make sure to craft that content using three different variations:
Analytical or Rational Content: This type of content appeals to those in your audience who are left-brainers—people who are all about the numbers and analytics, reasoning and logic. An example of this would be if I were to write a post titled: How Much Does It Cost to Start and Run a Food Truck Business?
Philosophical or Theoretical Content: This type of content appeals to the right-brainers—people who are all about design and theory, intuition and emotion. An example of this would be if I were to write a post titled: 10 Reasons Why People Buy from the Food Truck Parked Next to Yours.
Case Studies and How-To Content: Case studies and how-tos are the backbone of the SPI blog, and it’s what people enjoy reading the most. The niche site duel is an example of a case study, as is information about Green Exam Academy and FoodTruckr, for example. How-to content examples include How to Get More Email Subscribers (17 Lead Magnet Ideas) and How to Write a Book: The Secret to a Super-Fast First Draft. The common thread is that this content is made up of examples, experiences, and results) from real-life that people can learn from. An example of this would be if I were to write a post titled: How the Patty Flynn Food Truck Went From $15,000 in Debt to $50,000 in Profit in 6 months.
Putting all of these hypothetical posts together, we get:
How Much Does It Cost to Start and Run a Food Truck Business?
10 Reasons Why People Buy from the Food Truck Parked Next to Yours.
How the Patty Flynn Food Truck Went From $15,000 in Debt to $50,000 in Profit in 6 months.
That’s a nice set of articles to initially have on a site and would definitely give first-time visitors a great first impression of the types of content to expect in the future.
A Well-Designed Website
Before you launch, you’ll want to have a well-designed website in place to house all of the amazing content you’re going to create and publish in the future. It doesn’t have to be fancy or include all of the latest in website design and technology (and really, it shouldn’t), it just has to accomplish a few major things.
All in all, it should leave a great first impression. Your content will help the cause, but before the content is even consumed people are going to make snap judgments about your brand and the website based on the design, and you want that judgment to be favorable.
A clean website that’s easy to navigate and isn’t too overwhelming (e.g., too many options, especially advertisements) is what you should be aiming for.
The branding elements including your logo, tagline, and any other graphical elements on the site should make it easy for new visitors to understand why the site exists and why they should stick around. Remember, people will be approaching your website asking themselves, “Why am I here and what’s in it for me?”
The quality and design of how we present our content can mean the difference between:
A new visitor staying or bouncing.
A regular visitor reader getting excited or bored.
A potential customer buying from you, or buying from your competitor.
An existing customer being satisfied, or asking for their money back.
You can have the best content in the world, but without good design, you might not make that lasting first impression.
First Impressions
Design and presentation are vital for first impressions. Online, first impressions mean a lot more than you think.
The average person spends about 7 seconds on a single website, which means you have about 7 seconds to make a good first impression on your new visitors, or else they’re going to leave.
This means having a strong visual impact right from the moment the page loads, especially when it comes to what your website is about and exactly what it can do for your visitors. Can you tell exactly what your site is about just from looking at the homepage?
This means including something that makes you stand out from the other 200+ websites they visited that day. Why do things the same, when there is an unlimited number of things you can do to be different? Think of what makes your brand, and you (because you are your brand) unique. Implement that within your website design. Make it your own!
And lastly, you’ll want to make it incredibly easy for visitors to do the following:
Read your content.
Subscribe to your email list.
Share your content.
Leave comments.
An entire blog post could be dedicated to just the design of a website for launch date (check out my post where I go into detail about the design for FoodTruckr for NSD2.0). For now, these are the main elements to keep in mind:
Set Up a Google Alert for Your New Brand
Go to Google Alerts and set up an alert for keywords that match your brand name, your URL, and even your own name. The idea here is to have Google monitor activity on the web and send you emails the moment another site mentions your brand on their website so you can go there and thank them, but also capitalize on any PR that might be happening after you officially launch.
This is just preparation work for what happens after you launch.
Create a Share Page
After you launch, you want people to share your website in any way possible. So, you should create a page that makes it incredibly easy to share your website in any way that people desire.
Before you officially launch your website, you can already begin the marketing process for your site by creating and promoting a pre-launch “coming soon” teaser page. People love to know in advance of the next big thing, so if you can convince people that what you’re creating is worth paying attention to and you create an environment of anticipation, creating this page will be well worth the effort.
Once you launch, you can send an email to your list and immediately have traffic coming to your website, not to mention a list that’s already greater than zero.
Furthermore, if you begin to notice a number of people getting interested in your website before you launch, that’s a huge motivator for you to keep going and get things done.
On this teaser page, you’ll want to make sure you:
Let your visitors know what you’re doing.
Spark some interest.
Capitalize on that interest by capturing email addresses.
Think of these early subscribers as ambassadors. They will be the first to know when your new site is up and can be there to help you spread the word right from the start. If possible, give something away to them as a thank you for subscribing that will only be available before the launch.
So technically, how do you create this page on your site?
The tool I have experience with is LeadPages, an incredible landing page resource that makes it super easy to create a sleek, WordPress compatible, mobile-friendly and responsive landing page in just minutes. [Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for LeadPages.]
LaunchRock is another that I’ve heard people use and have enjoyed, but I don’t have any experience with it myself.
Build Relationships and Buzz for Launch Day
Before you read through this section, first check out my YouTube video, FAIL-PROOF Launch? 5 Strategies to Launch Your Product or Business. In the video, I walk you through 5 unique strategies that will help set yourself up for success on launch day, including crowdsourcing a launch, running a contest, using “passive strategies,” and more. Check it out:
All of the previous sections of this blog post talked about stuff you create yourself, but unfortunately, we don’t live in a world where “if you build it, they will come.” Although it can happen sometimes, it’s never guaranteed and it never happens without the work and influence of other people involved.
You must get other people involved to help you maximize the effectiveness of your launch.
If you want to launch with a bang, it’s important to start building relationships before you launch your website (or launch your book, like I did by creating a “street team” for Will It Fly?). Nothing else will help get your site off the ground more than other people talking about it, and if you have a relationship with other influencers and people with a similar target audience, you will have people on launch day who will genuinely want to help you, which is awesome.
To build the relationships, or that “street team,” you’ll need to build that buzz, here are a few essential tips:
First, invite people to be a part of your street team or launch team. Create a simple sign-up form using Typeform, Survey Monkey, or Google Forms, and send that out to your audience via email and social media to ask them to sign up and be a part of your launch. You can also text your friends and ask.
When you’re filling out your form, make sure to capture the following information: name, email address, social media channels. Also ask why they want to be a part of the launch team, what they could contribute, and ask them to share something unique about themselves.
Make it fun. While your community may want to help you because you’ve built that authority and trust, it’s also important to make it fun for them. Engage with them, and make sure to treat them. If you’re launching a book, you can give them an advance reader copy of the book. For a website launch, create a Facebook group, ask them to be a part of your building process, ask for feedback on content, make sure they know that they are truly part of the process.
Organize your launch team two months before your launch date. This will give you plenty of time to build up your team, foster engagement and excitement for the launch, and give you time to make adjustments and hone the product/website/book before your launch date.
Remember, always, that your launch team is a community comprised of individuals. Treat them well, engage with them, ask them questions, make sure they know how grateful you are for their support. Lean on them, and trust them.
@PatFlynn Connect with your industry and build community before launch. You’ll have people eagerly waiting to visit and share your site.
First, it’s important to understand who you should be building relationships with. Taking advice from Neil Patel in SPI Podcast Session #67, you (or your virtual assistant) could organize a spreadsheet and follow the 200-outreach program.
Here’s how it works:
On that spreadsheet, list the top 200 websites that are highly relevant to your topic who may be interested in what your site is about. Next to that column, add a space for either a contact form URL or an email address so you can easily contact the owners of these websites.
In another column, start listing the top 200 blogs.
In additional columns, list the top 200 Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter Accounts, Instagram profiles, and LinkedIn profiles.
I would also add as many relevant podcasts to that spreadsheet as possible.
This spreadsheet will become your go-to resource for who to reach out to and start building relationships with, and yes—you can start building these relationships before you officially launch your website.
It’s really important to understand, however, that when you reach out, it’s not about you. It’s about who you’re reaching out to and what’s in it for them.
@PatFlynn Email people you don’t know, that have an audience you want to reach, with something they feel compelled to share.
If you’re doing a massive round-up post as the featured post during your launch, your spreadsheet is exactly where you’ll want to start. As Neil recommends, I would customize each email slightly so they don’t read too “cut-and-paste.” Go to the websites you’re reaching out to before you send an email to the owner and mention something they’ve been writing about recently on their site in the email.
To take it a step further, even before you email people, retweet their stuff, thank them on Twitter and Facebook, and have legitimate conversations with them so they at least notice you’re there. Now is not the time to pitch your new website—that will come in a later email. Plus, if there’s a relationship at all, less pitching will be needed. Then, when you eventually email those people, it’ll feel less like it’s out of the blue because you’ve at least attempted to make contact with them before via social media.
What this does is introduce you to these influencers in your niche, and if your teaser page is compelling, these influencers will not be able to ignore a new potential player in this niche who is obviously trying to work with them, not against them.
If you’re doing a beastly resource instead, you can still reach out to these top influencers beforehand and even include them in your resource and mention that to them. Don’t be afraid to share that resource and mention your launch plan, too. A few of them might show major interest in what you’re doing and help you out in more ways than you can imagine.
Guest Posts
The old tried-and-true method of guest posting can definitely work before you launch your main site to help build buzz for your brand, kindle relationships with website owners, and build your email list at the same time.
Linking to your homepage before the launch in a guest post you publish on another site will drive traffic to the teaser page, which is exactly what you want. After launch, the teaser page will no longer exist and traffic will see your main site instead.
If you have a list of at least fifty potential posts to publish on your site over time, it’s definitely worth investing some of those articles into other websites to make a big splash on launch day.
Build An Off-Site Audience
Just because your site isn’t live doesn’t mean you can’t start building a community of fans and followers. You can create a Facebook Page and start to build a community there (and paid traffic is definitely a great option if you have the money to spend), but you could also go to where hordes of your target audience already exist.
Beyond other people’s websites, which you can get in front of via guest posts, you can actually have a lot of influence on forums, too. Provide value, answer people’s questions and don’t pitch, and if you include a link to your teaser/homepage in your by-line, chances are you’ll start to build a little bit of authority there which can easily transfer to your site on launch day.
Ask Your Existing Network
I remember a friend who launched a new iPhone app last year, and I did get an email from him about it, but it was on the day it went live!
He spent three months building the app, which was three months he could have used to build buzz and get people ready for its launch. I would have totally been down to not only help him develop a launch plan but simply be ready to mention the app to those who I thought it would be useful to on the day it went live. Because I didn’t know about it I couldn’t just randomly post about it and even if I did, it wouldn’t be as effective as if I knew about it beforehand.
Don’t be afraid to ask your existing network for help—like friends or family. If it’s something you truly believe in, even if it doesn’t 100 percent apply to those people, it’s something they will be proud to share for you.
@PatFlynn Personally email close friends and/or peers asking them for support. It’s amazing how helpful people want to be! Ask kindly!
The launch of your website should be treated like an event, so build anticipation for it and keep people who have given you words of support up-to-date on your plans. Then, when the date comes around and you turn off that teaser page, celebrate what you’ve just accomplished, but realize that you still have a lot of work to do.
After You Launch
The moment you flick off that teaser page there are a number of things you should do:
Email the list you’ve built. You already have an email list—awesome! Now it’s time to email your subscribers and let them know you’re live. Also, give them an easy way to share your new site by including a link to that convenient share page on your website. These are your ambassadors, and you’re definitely allowed to ask them to share for you.
Source your 200-outreach program. Beyond tapping into your existing list, send a quick, personalized email out to each website and blog on your 200-outreach program spreadsheet. You could even draft each of these emails beforehand so you aren’t spending time on launch day writing them. A quick mention that you’re live and a link to your ultimate resource can go a long way, and even if you get a two to five percent response rate, that’s more than you’d get if you didn’t send any emails at all. Don’t force anything or be aggressive in your emails, and remember what’s in it for them too.
Thank those who have helped you. If anyone has helped you get to this point, email them to thank them. It can go a very long way. If you’re thanking those in a round-up post, include a quick, easy-to-copy-and-paste link that they can share on their social media platforms. If you find people are retweeting your stuff or mentioning your new website on Twitter, reach out and thank them too.
Reply to every comment. On launch day, if you do it right and you have traffic coming to your website, chances are you’ll get a number of comments on each of the posts that you’ve already written. Respond to each one of them. You want to be as present on day one as possible because if new visitors see you’re actually replying to comments and active on the site, they’ll be more likely to stick around and share. You won’t always be able to reply to every comment down the road, but it’s one of the most important things to do within the first few months of a website’s start.
Reach out to local news. Local news stations are always looking for new stories, content, and events to share. There’s no harm in reaching out to all of the local news networks and pitching them your new website and seeing if they’d be willing to cover the story. What’s the worst that could happen? They’ll say no. . . and that’s not a big deal.
Keep producing more content. If things are going well, you’ll want to ride that “New & Noteworthy” wave as long as possible, and the best way to do that is to continue to provide more content frequently right from the start. Check out my blogging tips for a bunch of strategies for keeping your content train on the tracks.
Beyond those things, keep asking people (and providing easy ways) to share and subscribe to your list. Within the first week or two, you’ll be several months ahead of where you would be if you just started dripping content to an audience of zero. Keep your eyes and ears open around the web about you and your brand, and over time make pivots to better serve your audience in the way that they want to be served.
I hope you enjoyed this post. It came out much longer than I anticipated but I couldn’t shave off any of it because I want you to learn from my mistakes and have the best chance to make the most noise right from the start.
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