Marc Guberti

How To Get More Blog Traffic With Less Work

February 9, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

If you ask a blogger about his/her goals, it won’t take long before you hear “get more blog traffic” as one of those goals.

It takes a considerable amount of work to boost your blog traffic, especially in the beginning. The work is worth it in the long-term, but you can take some shortcuts along the way. These shortcuts will cut down on your workload so you can commit more time towards other priorities.

Even then, you may still find yourself committing a significant amount of time towards promotion. However, certain tasks can be reduced or even eliminated.

Create Evergreen Posting Cycles

If you’re the person continuously scheduling your social media posts, put this as Priority #1. Scheduling your social media posts seems like a priority, but with so much automation available, it’s more harm than good to continue scheduling your content.

Instead, you need to create an evergreen posting cycle. That way, all of your social media posts sequentially get posted over and over again in an infinite loop. I only create new tweets 2-3 times per year when I want to incorporate more of my new content into my current evergreen posting cycle.

I don’t have to constantly copy, paste, and write social media posts over and over again. This is the beauty of automation.

For a while, I used HootSuite’s bulk uploader which allowed me to schedule over 100 tweets in just six clicks. Since then, I now use ViralTag which may be more expensive, but it has evergreen posting cycles for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and many others.

I set up these evergreen cycles once and forget about them. The rest takes care of itself.

Republish Your Old Content

It’s great to publish new content. In fact, I write a new blog post every day. However, you can republish your older content to save time.

The idea behind this tactic is that instead of writing a 1,000 word blog post (or more depending on your preference) you update an existing piece of content. Preferably, update one of your top pieces of content.

By updating your top content, you’ll get search engines to notice and point more traffic to that content. You can also use successful content to drive more traffic to your new and emerging content.

Some bloggers have such massive libraries of content that all they do is republish and hone their existing content. You may not be at that point yet, nor may you want to implement that approach, but it’s worth considering.

These same bloggers that only update their new content frequently write guest posts to drive more traffic to their content. These bloggers often publish their best content on other people’s blogs while still providing immense value on their blogs.

Delegate Tasks

I always look for more ways to delegate tasks within my business. The more tasks you can delegate, the more of your time you can commit towards other areas.

And not all tasks are created equal.

You only perform certain tasks because they are necessary for your business. These tasks generate no revenue but help keep everything in place. Scheduling new content, editing the content, growing your social media audience, and other tasks fit the list.

You need to delegate these types of tasks and focus on what only you can do (i.e. creating videos for a training course).

Some of these tasks may be difficult to hand over. I know it was difficult for me to hand over my Twitter growth to someone else. However, that decision was well worth it and allowed me to pursue other ventures.

If I had to continue growing my Twitter audience on my own, there’s no way I would have hosted the Breakthrough Success Podcast or any virtual summits.

Delegating more tasks opens the doors to more opportunities, and more importantly, time to think. You can think about how you’ll expand instead of just doing.

Taking 10-15 minutes to do nothing but think of ways to expand is one of the most powerful ways to grow your business. It’s similar to creating an outline for each blog post you write. You know that the initial time it takes to create the outline will save you massive time and result in a higher value blog post.

Think of the 10-15 minute daily “Thinking Time” as writing a blog post outline for the longest piece of content you’ll ever write. It’ll definitely come out better with the initial Thinking Time.

Craft Email Rubrics

Most people spend an extraordinary amount of time in their inboxes. It seems like for every email we reply to, three new emails come to replace it.

Your inbox is a crowdsourced to-do list which, without moderation, will pull you away from what you’re actually supposed to do.

You may also send emails to reach out to more people. While this can be delegated, many people prefer to do the outreach themselves or at least in the beginning.

Eventually you’ll find yourself writing the same kinds of emails and answering the same questions over and over again. Understanding this principle is essential for getting out of your inbox quicker.

Instead of writing a different email each time, begin crafting email rubrics. Keep those emails in an easy to access folder on your computer.

The next time you respond to the same question here’s what you should do:

Head over to the email rubrics folder

Copy the appropriate email rubric

Paste the rubric into the email

Include the person’s name

Send

This will save you a lot of time. Instead of writing the email word-for-word over and over again, you can click a few buttons and then the exact email shows up. You can also apply this for outreach emails and any emails you find yourself sending often.

As bloggers, we will get the same types of emails. Developing rubrics for our responses will streamline the process so we can respond to and send more emails in a shorter period of time.

In Conclusion

Blogging take a lot of work. You have to create, promote, and monetize your content. None of those three key factors can be missing.

However, there are ways to streamline the process and cut through the noise. Delegation will help you streamline any process, but you should consider automation first. There is no reason to delegate a task that can be easily automated.

Regardless of how much time you shave off from your process, commit to implementing at least one tactic from this blog post. Whether it’s contacting potential employees on a site like UpWork or getting started with ViralTag, get in the habit of taking action based on what you read.

What were your thoughts on these tactics for getting more blog traffic with less work? Do you have any additional tactics for us? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

E90: Get More Done In 12 Weeks Than Most People Get Done All Year With Brian P. Moran

February 8, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Brian P. Moran is the founder and CEO of The Execution Company, an organization committed to improving the performance and enhancing the quality of life for leaders and entrepreneurs. He has served in management and executive positions with UPS, PepsiCo, and Northern Automotive. The sought after speaker has led successful businesses and been instrumental in the growth and success of many others.

Brian co-authored the book The 12 Week Year with Michael Lennington, and it was the first productivity book I read that had a monumental impact on my work ethic.

Quotes To Remember:

“You don’t control a goal. You don’t control the outcome. But, you desire it. You control the actions.”

“The more goals you set, the more actions you have to take, the more overwhelmed you become, the more diffused you become.”

“You can’t execute concepts.”

“If you want to predict the future, look to your daily actions.”

“In general, if you can win the week, you’ll win the 12 week year.”

“Don’t get too fixated on the outcomes because it is paralyzing.”

“To get to the next level, you got to go to uncertainty. You got to go to discomfort.”

“We never beat ourselves up for something we didn’t do today or last week but we learn from it.”

What You’ll Learn:

Setting the right goals to hit milestones
Tips on creating a plan to help achieve your 12-week goals
How to effectively review progress
How to get 85% on score cards with big goals to go after
How to avoid procrastination

Key Links From The Show:

Brian’s Site

Recommended Books:

The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington

The Go-Giver by Bob Burg

Talent Is Overrated by Geoffrey Colvin

Support Breakthrough Success On Patreon

Please consider supporting Breakthrough Success on Patreon. I publish five episodes per week which I carefully prepare for, and I choose to not run ads in my podcast to enhance the listener experience.

I offer my patrons various perks, and even a donation as small as $1/mo would make a big difference for growing and maintaining Breakthrough Success.

You can support Breakthrough Success by going here.

How To Get Out Of Writer’s Block

February 8, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Writer’s block is the last place any content creator can be. This affliction results in the blank screen that stays blank for a very long time. When writer’s block strikes, we need to put it out as quickly as possible.

This article will show you how to get out of writer’s block so your creative mind can continue to flow and provide ideas with ease.

#1: Ask Your Audience For Topics

Asking your audience is one of the best ways to get out of writer’s block. Not only will you receive many ideas, but these are ideas your audience wants more of. By providing more of what your audience wants, you’ll attract new visitors and have a more loyal audience.

In our effort to amplify our voices, we must remember that our audiences appreciate when their voices are heard. Listen to them by asking them for topic ideas. You might just stumble across a content idea that ignites your blog traffic.

#2: Consume More Content

I consume as much content as possible, especially when I’m running out of ideas. I read anywhere from 10 to 30 books every month (lately it’s been closer to 10). I read paperbacks and Kindle eBooks. I listen to audiobooks and podcast episodes.

I also publish five episodes on the Breakthrough Success Podcast every week. This isn’t just a shameless plug. Understand that for me to continue publishing episodes at this rate, I must, on average, interview at least five people every week. That’s over 250 people I interview every year, and since I usually interview more than 5 people every week, that number is closer to 300.

If I choose to turn Breakthrough Success into a daily podcast or run some more virtual summits this year, I’ll interview over 400 people every year.

I consume a lot of ideas just by interviewing people. Combine that with all of the time I spend reading and listening to content, and you can understand how much content I’m willing to consume to get better at my craft.

#3: Hack Your Mind When In The Writing Flow

Writer’s block doesn’t just happen when you can’t think of a new idea. Writer’s block sometimes happens when you’re in the middle of an idea.

You briefly leave your computer, return to the idea, and then you find yourself stuck. A blog post that once flowed so easily now feels stuck in a traffic jam.

How do you continue writing midway through a blog post when the ideas aren’t flowing out as well.

The answer is to hack your mind when you are in the writing flow. The best approach is to finish a piece of content from start to finish. This isn’t always possible, especially for a book, but there is another solution.

Before you stop typing and give yourself a break, type part of a sentence. Not the whole sentence. Just part of one.

When you return to that piece of content, your mind will quickly retrace its steps and you’ll remember where you left off. You’ll finish typing the second half of that sentence and then continue as if there was no interruption.

#4: Stop Writing & Stop Talking

It’s very common for most content creators to stop writing for a moment. Writer’s block is in the way.

It’s much less common to be without any words to say. In fact, it’s so rare for anyone to be speechless or out of words that it’s a big deal when it happens.

Writer’s block is different. It’s one of those universally understood idea among most bloggers. But if you struggle to find words to say when hanging out with your friends and when it’s your turn to talk…that’s more shocking.

If you find yourself struggling to write a blog post, speak it. Let the words naturally flow and don’t think for a second about what you’re saying. This is off-the-cuff and can be edited later. All you have is a basic outline to steer you through the content creation process.

You can either keep the content in video form or transcribe the audio so you have a completed blog post. Just because it’s called writer’s block doesn’t mean the only solution is to write your way out of it.

#5: Write About Something Else

The very first book I planned to self-publish as a Kindle book was horrible. I knew 3,000 words in that this book was going to be an utter bust. Not only that, but I knew it would be painful for me to write.

I gave up on that book, and I’m proud of it.

If you find yourself in a project heading towards the dead end, don’t continue. Get out of that project so you can pursue something else with more promise. When you choose something promising, that’s when you don’t give up.

On some days, it will feel difficult to continue. I have many feelings like that with my own brand.

But the first book I was writing…horrible. I would need a lot of time to think what I was trying to get at in the book.

For blog posts, if you feel like you’re about to hit a dead end, you have two choices. The first choice is to scrap it like I did with my first book draft (and others). Each blog post you write makes you a better blogger, even if you don’t publish the blog post.

The second option is to write a new blog post. After you write that new blog post, return to the previous blog post that proved to be difficult. If you still find it difficult to write that one blog post after multiple attempts, scrap it. Until you scrap it, you’ll keep thinking about it and continue struggling to think of ways to finish it.

Even if you finish that type of blog post, it won’t be your best work. The best content you’ll ever produce is the content you enjoy creating.

In Conclusion

Writer’s block gets all of us at certain points. My favorite way for conquering writer’s block is to speak my way out of it. Even if I don’t transcribe videos and turn them into blog posts, I’ll speak about the topic.

As I speak about the topic, ideas will quickly flow out like a rushing stream. With these ideas in place, it will be easier for me to finish writing the blog post.

What were your thoughts on these tactics? Do you have any tactics for getting out of writer’s block? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

January 2018 Performance Report

February 7, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

This was a special month for me. Not only is the start of a New Year very exciting, but I also celebrated my 20th birthday.

I’m no longer a teen entrepreneur, and that doesn’t bother me. In fact, I’m more excited than ever about my potential.

I established a few new key habits in my life and optimized what already worked.

My New Book Reading Habits

Yes, I forgot to track the books I read again. However, to make up for it, I will track them in the future and leave you with some new reading habits.

The first reading habit I developed is to read 5-10 books when I wake up. These 5-10 books are all the same books that I’ve already read. I’ll read 5-10 pages of each of these books and only read the parts that I underlined.

I choose high impact books that are easy for me to read at the start of the day. For example, The Compound Effect is one of these books, but I couldn’t stick with a social media based book because my mind isn’t ready for that at 4 am.

I’ve considered reading 5-10 different books to conclude my day which would be a guaranteed 10-20 books every month.

But how do I then read new books each month? As I originally did, I find time in my day to make it happen. However, I’m incorporating audiobooks into more parts of my life. I finally decided to listen to audiobooks during commutes. That’s had a big effect on my learning.

40 minutes each day. At the 1.5 speed rate, that’s an hour of audiobook content every day. With 30 hours of new audiobook content every month, I can get through 5-10 audiobooks each month depending on the average length of the audiobooks.

My Favorite Way To Learn

Knowledge acquisition is one of my top priorities. I know that if I expand my knowledge, I expand my potential.

Of all of the ways to learn, my favorite way to learn is by interviewing people on the Breakthrough Success Podcast. I interview at least five people each week. Since each interview is 30-45 minutes long (lately closer to the 45 minute side), I learn anywhere from 2.5 hours to 3 hours and 45 minutes every week.

From a content production standpoint, I have no need to boost this number right now. I have interviews done at least two months in advance. However, I want to continue learning new things and eventually turn Breakthrough Success into a daily podcast.

Also from that content production standpoint, I’d choose not to conduct any interviews during a two week vacation.

Podcasting is the best way to create a new piece of content. I can go on and on about podcasting, but I choose to stop here for now.

SkillShare Courses

Lately I’ve been creating more courses on SkillShare. This was inspired by one of my Thinking Sessions where I determined that I could easily generate more revenue by creating courses on SkillShare.

For me, this was an underutilized opportunity that didn’t take much time. My SkillShare courses are very short (10-30 minutes) which makes it possible for me to complete multiple courses in some days.

I’m in the process of choosing 2-3 days where I complete at least seven training courses. The goal is to eventually launch one new SkillShare course every day.

I’m focusing more of my time on SkillShare for a few reasons:

The Content Marketing Plaza has been fully buffed. I don’t need to add another update until a few weeks out.

SkillShare is the Netflix of learning. For $9.99/mo, you get unlimited access to the courses SkillShare provides. This makes binge learning possible. If you want to get your first two months free of charge, join SkillShare with this link.

The payment structure is a per minute basis. This payment structure gives me a greater incentive to create courses. The more minutes watched, the more money I make. SkillShare’s binge learning set-up also makes it beneficial to create more courses as one student may decide to watch all of your courses.

These aren’t as long as the Udemy courses I create. Right now, my plan for incorporating these courses into Udemy is to create a few themed mini courses on SkillShare and group them into one big Udemy course. However, this is yet to happen.

By the way, since I aim to eventually publish one new SkillShare course every day, what do you want to see? Please share in the comments after you read this month’s Performance Report.

I Will Be On More Podcasts In 2018

I can’t count the number of reasons why I enjoy interviewing people. At the same time, I couldn’t the number of reasons why I enjoy getting interviewed on other people’s shows. The big ones for me are the added exposure, reconnecting with myself, and reminding myself of my knowledge.

The first one is obvious so I won’t talk about that one. That’s why I’ll skip to the other two.

When I get interviewed, I almost always have to talk about my story. Sometimes we forget where we began, but getting interviewed reminds me of my roots. As we get deeper into the interview, I have to fully display my knowledge.

I know I also have to do this with every blog post I write, but interviews feel different. I get very specific questions and need to tailor my answer to the question and the host’s listeners.

I saw the impact of these interviews and my work in comments like these.

testimonial

Each time I’m interviewed, I take it very seriously. I want to create that level of impact with every interview. Obviously, some interviews are better than others. The host and guest need to flow, and in this case, Caitlin and I were absolutely jamming.

But to create the impact, I need to get on more podcasts. I’ll have a goal for that in February which I’ll talk about very soon.

Review Of January 2018 Goals

Here are my thoughts and progress on the goals I set for this month.

#1: Get Consistent CMP Sales: I am working hard to optimize the sales page. I have temporary discounts in play and will add more videos to the sales page soon. I’m using Chandler Bolt’s SPS sales page as a guide.

#2: Plan A Meet-Up: I recently learned that I can simply contact some local libraries and get my book in there. I learned this from one of the guests I had on my show. Instead of planning a meet-up, I sent several pitches to places I could speak at over the summer. My fingers are crossed.

#3: Schedule All Content Past March: My blog posts are done past February and my podcast episodes are done past March. The only challenge is scheduling them, but I am working to delegate this task soon.

February 2018 Goals

Now that I’ve reviewed my goals for February, I’ll provide the list of goals I have for February 2018:

#1: Contact 50 Podcast Hosts

Instead of setting a goal for the number of interviews I get in February, I will set a goal for the number of podcast hosts I contact.

I know that as I land on more podcasts, I’ll get more requests to be on other people’s podcasts. The initial work I do will pay great dividends later on.

#2: Delegate Scheduling Content

I have no problem with creating content, but scheduling content has been the problem. I am actually close to delegating this part. I have a Google Doc in place with set instructions for my blog posts. All I need to do now is finalize it and create a Google Doc for my podcast episodes.

This will be the easiest task to delegate, but I’ll need to boost my revenue with the extra time.

#3: Publish At Least 20 SkillShare Courses

This is one of my strategies for boosting revenue based on what I previously discussed. I will give SkillShare a month to see if this is a revenue generating activity I should continue pursuing.

The eventual goal is to make thousands of dollars of passive income through SkillShare each month. Other creators have achieved this milestone and I believe I can get there as well.

Plus, I no longer find it difficult to start doing videos. It’s become much easier for me to create videos ever since I took SkillShare seriously again.

#4: Get At Least 10 Patrons

While I can’t say enough great things about being the host of the Breakthrough Success Podcast, it costs me over $1,000 each month to keep the show running and expenses continue to grow.

To provide you with a better experience, I don’t include any ads within my shows. The problem is that this requires me to sacrifice a lot of revenue. That’s why I’m asking you and the rest of my community for help.

I recently started a Patreon Page to ensure I can run the show and keep it ad free. If you want to help me reach my goal of 10 patrons for this month, please consider leaving a small contribution on my Patreon Page.

Even $1/mo makes a big difference, and if you’re one of the patrons before we reach $100/mo, I will audit your website and give you personal recommendations on how you can boost your traffic and conversions.

This is a goal that I can only achieve with your help. Please consider becoming a patron and asking others to help support the show.

#5: Hire A Coach

My research is done. I don’t have a list of five coaches or even a list of three coaches. I have a list with one coach and one coach only. This individual has coached several of the guests on my show and some of the top influencers in my niche.

I don’t want to say this individual’s name until I’ve officially hired him and we’re getting started, but I have one coach in mind.

The more successful I am with SkillShare and my other ventures, the earlier in the month I can hire him. This is something that I know needs to happen.

In Conclusion

I started off the year strong. I’ve acquired much knowledge, established some new habits, and am excited about what February brings. Hiring my coach will represent a big investment for my success, but I know it will be well worth it.

What were your thoughts on this month’s performance report? Do you have any questions for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

E89: 80/20 Sales & Marketing With Perry Marshall

February 7, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Perry Marshall is one of the world’s most expensive and sought-after business consultants, endorsed by FORBES, INC Magazine, and the most respected entrepreneurs in the world. His works include the world’s most popular book on web advertising, Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords, 80/20 Sales & Marketing; Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising and Ultimate Guide to Local Business Marketing.

Quotes To Remember:

“A part of 80/20 is everything is exponential.”

“You have to say NO to a lot of things.”

“Start by outsourcing the most basic tasks in your life.”

“You would actually make more money if you fired the right customers”

“You need to schedule time to do nothing.”

What You’ll Learn:

How to find time to pursue 80/20 rule in sales & marketing
Advantages of riding an Uber that can benefit your business
How to make more while working less
Insights about the 80/20 Sales & Marketing

Key Links From The Show:

Perry’s Site

Recommended Books:

80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall

The Star Principle by Richard Koch

Book of Proverbs

How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis

Support Breakthrough Success On Patreon

I offer my patrons various perks, and even a donation as small as $1/mo would make a big difference for growing and maintaining Breakthrough Success.

You can support Breakthrough Success by going here.

E88: Generating Over $35M In Leads With Alex Berman

February 6, 2018 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Alex Berman is the co-founder and CEO of Experiment 27. Alex is responsible for generating over $6.5 million in B2B sales and over $35+ million in leads for his clients. He also creates weekly videos to help agency owners grow their businesses and bring in more revenue. He teaches them how to optimize B2B sales cycles and put inbound marketing strategies in place.

Quotes To Remember:

“There’s nothing a business wants more than more business.”

“The key to get them to pay more is to understand the problem.”

“Talk to people in the industry and generalize them out.”

“Sales strategies just evolves and gets very intricate for each company.”

“It is not really needing to nurture them. It’s making that big of an impression.”

“It really is just trying your hardest to deliver value, not trying your best to sell them.”

What You’ll Learn: