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5 Pitfalls To Avoid When Accepting Guest Blog Posts

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guest blogging pitfalls

Featuring guest posts on your blog can provide you with fresh content, SEO growth, and blog traffic. The challenge is finding quality contributors whose content your audience will love, and understanding which submissions may not be right for your blog. These are the top five pitfalls to avoid:

 

#1: Accepting Every Guest Post

If you accept every guest submission that comes your way, you’ll compromise the quality of your blog. While it’s flattering to be pitched, and tempting to add fresh content, not every submission will work for your blog; accepting them all can dilute the value of your content and confuse your readers.

That means you’ll have to pass on some contributions. To feel less bad about turning someone down, I suggest submitting some of your own guest posts. Like me, you will likely be denied by at least some of the people you pitch. But if you submit valuable content often, some of the prominent blogs within your niche will accept your guest blog posts.

 

#2: Avoid Over Promotional Bloggers

Let’s be real about guest blogging: people often write guest posts with the intent of getting more traffic, building credibility, and including a backlink. And I don’t mind that as long as someone is providing my readers with valuable content.

But I do mind content that is overly self-promotional. There aren’t any specific warning signs, so you’ll have to make assessments on a case-by-case basis. It’s important that the post provides value, and that any attempts at promotion are subtle and relevant to the topic, seamlessly woven into the overall content.

 

#3: Not Owning The Content

Guest posts should be original and not seen anywhere else on the web. You may face a SEO penalty for publishing content that exists elsewhere on the internet, which will compromise your efforts.

Guest blogging benefit the blogger as well as the blog owner (but only when the owner is the exclusive provider of that content). No matter how great the content, always deny contributions that may have been published anywhere on the web. To be considered, all submissions must be fresh and original.

 

#4: Content Mismatch

I recently received a guest blog post submission that I was eager to approve (I was making Mistake #1 and approving everything I got). However, I felt a little uneasy about the submission and sent it to my editor. She told me the post was not the right fit because the content was outside of my specific niche.

Why would a Twitter-related blog accept a guest blog post about Facebook? While it’s true that both Twitter and Facebook are social networks, dedicated blogs focus solely on content related to one or the other, not both.

If you find yourself looking for ways to make certain content work so that you can publish it on your blog, it’s probably a content mismatch. Contacting relevant contributors is a much better use of your time than trying to rework a mismatch.

 

#5: A Weak Submission Form

A weak submission form will make it significantly more difficult to receive quality contributions. Don’t expect bloggers to guess which content is most appropriate for your blog. Smart bloggers will spend time reading your past content, but a bad form makes everyone’s job more difficult.

Be sure to provide guidelines, examples and ideas before encouraging submissions. Here are the requirements for guest blog posts on my own submission form:

  • Your guest post must be at least 1,500 words. The more words, the better, but don’t sacrifice value.
  • Link to three of my blog posts.
  • Include at least three images.
  • You have the option to promote one of your blog posts, but not landing pages. You CAN promote your landing page in your bio.
  • All content must be original and not published anywhere else.

Since I don’t always link to three of my blog posts or include three images, I can’t expect a guest blogger to do the same without asking.

I also mention something about the benefits of writing for my blog such as exposure and credibility. These benefits give guest bloggers more reasons to want to contribute to my blog.

 

What’s Left?

The only thing left for you to do is encourage guest bloggers to write content for your blog. As your blog gets more traffic, more guest bloggers will submit their content through your form. But in the beginning, you’ll have to do most of the legwork.

You’ll have to advocate for your blog and entice guest bloggers to contribute. But finding guest bloggers is actually easier than you think. All you have to do is find a prominent blog in your niche that accepts guest posts. Then start contacting past contributors one by one.

These guest bloggers prequalify themselves since they’ve already written for a prominent blog within your niche. If you can present the guest bloggers with benefits that justify the effort, they’ll write content for your blog.

I like to contact at least three potential bloggers per day. As I get more guest bloggers to contribute to my blog, I’ll hire a freelancer to conduct outreach. Some of the most successful blogs hire freelancers for contributor outreach.

When I wrote a guest post for Crazy Egg, Neil Patel didn’t reach out to me, and I didn’t submit my post through a form. An individual from Crazy Egg’s outreach team contacted me and invited me to write the guest post. A few weeks later, my guest post showed up on Crazy Egg.

This individual reached out to me through Twitter (which was a smart move since I’m more active on Twitter than any other social network). You can reach out to potential contributors through email or social media. While I personally prefer email, social media conversations have made some of my contributions — and podcast interviews for that matter — possible.

Never rule out a method that works.

 

In Conclusion

Accepting guest posts for your blog is exciting and adds value. You finally get to learn from your own blog, and your content will reach more people.

But you want to make sure your guest blog posts are valuable. If you say yes to every submission without thinking about your audience, you risk sacrificing your blog’s value or creating a content mismatch that confuses your readers.

What are your thoughts on accepting guest blog posts? Are you a guest blogger? Have any questions for me? Sound off in the comments section below. I’ll read them 🙂

100 Lessons I Learned In 2016

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You and I are heading towards 2017, and the best time to prepare for an awesome year is right now. I dove through dozens of books, hundreds of videos and thousands of blog posts in 2016, and this is what I’ve learned:

#1: Massive action is the most natural state of action.

#2: Structuring each day of the week gives you more control over what you do.

#3: Sometimes opportunities come to you when you stop obsessing over them.

#4: As you don’t give up on yourself, you’ll be fine even if the world gives up on you.

#5: Every minute you spend self-criticizing is another minute that you can’t get closer to your dreams. Life is too short for self-criticism.

#6: Your story plays a big impact in how people view you, how many products you sell, and the power of word of mouth marketing for your brand.

#7: Before you grow your email list, you need to create a system for generating revenue for that email list so your other efforts aren’t in vain.

#8: Do anything you can to move forward each day.

#9: The less resistance there is between you and your work, the more you will accomplish.

#10: All pleasures are temporary. The impact you have on others is permanent.

#11: If you aren’t using Instagram then you are really missing out.

#12: If you ever get written up on a website like The Huffington Post, and you want to be a contributor, ask the person who mentioned you in the article to introduce you to the editor.

#13: If you are remarkable, the opportunities will come knocking on your door instead of the other way around.

#14: You need an arsenal of products and an emailing plan that ties them all together to get more sales from your email list.

#15: Reading 10+ books every year is doable if you do a little reading each day. If you read 30 pages per day, you end up reading 900 pages each month. Combine that with audiobooks and you’ll read more than 10 books per month in no time.

#16: It doesn’t matter how many books you read. While more is usually better, what matters is implementing what you learned from those books.

#17: Having hundreds of millions of users doesn’t make you safe. I never expected Twitter to shut down Vine, and I never expected the people at Blab to shut down their service (although Blab is concentrating its efforts to come out with a better Blab 2.0).

#18: We make decisions about people before a word is said. Within most lengthy interviews, the decision is made within five minutes and the rest of the interview is verification of that decision.

#19: We don’t like being told we are wrong. Don’t tell people they are wrong. Craft a different story that resonates with the audience without telling them they are wrong.

#20: It’s better to share a message in one sentence than it is to share the same message in two sentences. Value your readers’ time.

#21: There are so many times during which you can acquire more knowledge such as during a drive, while doing your grocery store shopping, while waiting on the train, and a long ride to your vacation destination. Audiobooks and podcast episodes make learning much easier.

#22: When reading a book, rush through it and underline the important stuff. Most of the books can be condensed into 20 pages. You want to get the important insights out of each book you read, not the same stuff you’ve been reading in all of the other books. If you commit to reading 10+ books each month about your niche, some things will sound familiar within the future books you read.

#23: The moment you stop giving yourself goals for the day and week is the moment your motivation will start to wane. If you don’t give yourself goals for the day, you’ll feel lost for some of it.

#24: Launching a podcast is a great way to connect with other influencers in your niche.

#25: Don’t be afraid to ask anyone for a favor that benefits both of you. If you told me in January that I would have interviewed Seth Godin, Neil Patel, and many others by the end of the year, I would have thought you were crazy.

#26: Going back to the other lesson, I would have given you a stranger look for telling me that I would start a podcast in the first place.  I denied myself the chance for two years. Then, before I could think about what was happening, I sent emails to influencers as if I already had a podcast. Once some of these influencers wanted me to interview them, I was committed.

#27: The more freelancers you hire, the more motivated you will be to make more revenue.

#28: Get into other people’s networks because you never know what opportunities await you.

#29: Face-to-face is still the best way to communicate with people.

#30: To produce the same effect online, you need to communicate with that person for a few months. While it takes a few months to produce the same effect of a face-to-face conversation, it is possible to create that level of connection on the web.

#31: Never stop learning new things.

#32: Don’t repeat the same things if they aren’t helping you to move forward.

#33: Twitter automated DMs work for acquiring more leads. Some people will get annoyed, but others will click through and become subscribers.

#34: If you are the smartest person in the room, you need to be in a different room.

#35: Always overestimate the amount of effort you need to apply to accomplish any given goal.

#36: If you keep producing content without investing a heavy amount of time towards marketing that content, you will be the world’s greatest secret.

#37: The social media landscape is very different from when I first started. I wish Twitter could go back to its prime sooner, but if I were starting today, I’d still start with Twitter. It’s been easier for me to meet remarkable people on Twitter than any other social network.

#38: Instagram is a close second though.

#39: Do one new thing every day.

#40: For each minute you spend doing something, you lose 60 seconds that could have went to something else. Use your time wisely.

#41: Market conditions won’t improve until you change the way you think.

#42: Taking action is a natural response to having passion for your work.

#43: Do multiple podcasts once the first podcast performs well.

#44: Advertisers must never be your primary source of income.

#45: Blogging doesn’t make you stand out anymore. Blogger is the crowd. For every 2,000 bloggers there is one podcaster.

#46: Create content calendars so you know exactly what you will produce each day of any given month of the year.

#47: The last slide in a presentation is critical. That’s when you promote yourself.

#48: If you are looking for a new shirt, you can custom make a shirt on Zazzle that features your SnapChat QR Code. That way, people can take a picture of your shirt and then automatically follow you on SnapChat.

#49: Growth hacking is as simple as changing your mindset.

#50: In a world dominated by Siri, Cortana, and other built-in virtual assistants, having an FAQ page is more important than ever since people ask those virtual assistants QUESTIONS about their niche.

#51: Retention is more important than acquisition.

#52: If you want to be a blogger with 100K visitors per month, hang out with the bloggers who get 100K visitors per month.

#53: Analyze the entire lifecycle of your customers and optimize each phase of that lifecycle.

#54: It helps to know the event organizer if you want to land the speaking gig.

#55: Info overload costs 25% of our time.

#56: Your brain needs energy but energy is not infinite. While I always understood the brain’s impact on the body, hearing it described in that manner made me realize my need to acquire more energy.

#57: Like eager puppies, new emails beg for attention. I always knew that new emails grabbed our attention, but this was a metaphor that had to make the list. I came across the metaphor in Ned Hallowell’s book Driven To Distraction At Work.

#58: Most of us pay continuous partial attention. Focus is the hidden driver of excellence.

#59: Viewing problems as games (or for my generation, video games) makes it easier for you to solve those problems. Part of my success was when I drew the connection between building a business and playing video games.

#60: You get better by dwelling in your success, so stop focusing on what went wrong.

#61: Happiness is wanting what you have.

#62: Challenge your brain to do different things. For instance, I recently started writing with my left hand. Now I’m decent and getting a little better.

#63: Reading helps you sleep faster. Guess when I start reading.

#64: It is in giving that we receive. People feel better about themselves when they donate money than when they make money.

#65: Write down 10 ideas every day.

#66: When David Letterman was still hosting The Late Show, the room’s temperature was strategically lowered to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature, Letterman’s voice sounded more crisp and the audience was more attentive. That’s knowing your environment!

#67: If we don’t create and control the environment, we are control by the environment we dwell in.

#68: It is important to adjust your leadership based on your followers’ readiness.

#69: If you want to say certain things at a meeting or behave at a certain way, carry an index card with you that tells you what to do during the situation.

#70: Ask yourself active questions (not passive questions) every day (i.e. Did I do my best). These questions need to reinforce your commitment.

#71: Ask yourself “Am I getting better” multiple times each day.

#72: We become more fatigued as we are forced to make more decisions.

#73: Marginal motivation produces marginal results.

#74: If you change your behavior, you change the behavior of the people around you.

#75: For SEO, you must do the greatest amount of work and initially anticipate the least return.

#76: The best way to create a successful blog or website is to focus on the user experience.

#77: Think about the buying process and use that knowledge to write blog posts adding value based on specific stages of the buying process.

#78: Write a guest post on an authority site that links back to one of your blog posts. Then, repeatedly link to that guest post in your other writing to increase the link juice of that guest post. It’s easier to rank guest posts on authority sites high, and by doing so, the blog post you linked within the guest post will get a lot of traffic.

#79: Bullet points are easy for us to read. Use them more often.

#80: If you want to like someone, play a mental trick on yourself and think of that person as a long lost friend from 20 years ago. It works…even for an 18-year-old.

#81: Your eyes are grenades that have the power to detonate people’s emotions. Profound eye contact signals trust. I wish I could take credit for the prior description of eyes, but that goes to Leil Lowndes who wrote How To Talk To Anyone.

#82: Posture is associated with success. Practice good posture each time you walk through a door to turn it into a habit.

#83: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

#84: Work ethic isn’t just a duty. It’s also spiritual.

#85: If you write notes but forget to write how you will take action based on those notes, you are taking notes wrong.

#86: Launch stacking makes each launch better than the last.

#87: To get more revenue, you can increase the number of your customers, increase the amount of revenue per transaction, and increase the quality of transactions.

#88: Focus on increasing your opt-in rate instead of whether you’re slightly below or above average. Getting slightly above average only makes you slightly better than everyone else. With the slightly better mindset, it is IMPOSSIBLE to dominate your niche in any way, shape, or form. The only person you should ever compete with is you.

#89: The data you obtain from a survey to your audience will help you create a high demand lead magnet.

#90: Email swaps (cross promotion to respective email lists) are a great way to get hundreds of new subscribers in a single day. Just make sure you only conduct email swaps with people in your niche.

#91: If your emails don’t look good on an iPhone (or any smartphone), you are missing out on a big chunk of traffic from your email list.

#92: Create two different versions of the same autoresponder. Split test virtually every part of your business to see what converts better.

#93: Offering a bonus related to an affiliate product you are promoting will result in more affiliate sales.

#94: 64% of people will open your email based on the subject line.

#95: AIDA = Attention, Interest, Desire (emotion), and Action.

#96: Some companies give their employees the same type of email address. If you can detect which pattern is used, you can contact anyone on the list. For instance, several high schools use the model of the last name followed by the first initial of the first name. If Joe Schmo went to Schmoville High School, the email address would be schmoj@schmovillehighschool.com. With this pattern detected, you know someone’s email address just by knowing the person’s name. Well-known magazines like Inc, Huffington Post, and many other magazines and brands follow a rule of this nature when assigning email addresses to employees.

#97: Instagram’s API rules make schedule pictures annoying, but it’s worth the effort. I schedule my Instagram pictures for a certain time and date. HootSuite then notifies me on my iPhone letting me know that now is the time to manually post the picture. Then I do so.

#98: Life is always better with an optimistic worldview than with a pessimistic worldview.

#99: Some would say the way I got into The Huffington Post and Success Magazine was pure luck (people contacted me out of the blue about both opportunities). That “pure luck” was seven years of work (more than a third of my life) leading up to those respective moments.

#100: Reflecting on the lessons you learned is a great way to remember them in the first place.

Drops mic until 2017

This is my final blog post of 2016. I’ll come back to this blog post on occasion in 2017, so this has been for both of us. I appreciate you being a part of my journey in 2016, and I look forward to serving you in 2017 as well.

What have you learned in 2016? Did any of the lessons on this list strike a chord with you?

December 2016 Performance Report

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December is always an exciting month for me. It’s one where I feel the holiday spirit, plan out for 2017, and sprint to the finish line of 2016. I also got interviewed in December, and I think you’ll be interested in what I said about digital marketing. With that said, here are some of December’s highlights:

 

Udemy Power

I initially had a slow start on Udemy, but since my middle of the month promotions, I’ve exceeded 37,000 students.

I’ve also added two courses to my arsenal giving me a total of 23 courses.

Write 1 Book In Under 6 Hours–the retail price is $40 but I lowered the price to $10 for the purposes of this Performance Report.

How To Accomplish Any Stretch Goal–this course is free for everyone.

While it seems like the end of the year has struck, I can very easily publish two additional courses (both free) by the end of the year. One would be about getting more blog traffic while the other would be a free Twitter course. I’ve done all of the blog traffic videos and am just about done with the Twitter course videos.

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to surpass 150,000 Udemy students by the end of 2017. At this rate, I need to gain at least 300 students per day. I’ll reach this milestone by creating more free courses.

I’m aiming for 40 courses on my Udemy profile before April 1st.

 

TSMD

I am NEARLY done with the Total Social Media Domination membership site. I’ve created the Facebook Group, added dozens of videos, and am working on the final stages.

I don’t have much to say about it now. The suspense continues 🙂

 

90% Of My Christmas List Consisted Of Books

I got many books this Christmas, and it’s my intention to read them all before the next Christmas. I enjoy reading books because they keep my mind sharp on matters relating to my niche.

Learning new things every day also makes it easier for me to come up with blog post ideas and video ideas. Since one of my goals is to come out with one YouTube video EVERY DAY for the entire year, I need as many ideas as I can possibly get.

In total, I got 21 books and I’ve already read a few of them (more on that later).

 

New Year’s Resolutions

I have mentioned two of my New Year’s resolutions so far. The rest of those resolutions are all included in this video.

Getting more blog traffic has been a recurring goal. With that in mind, I committed to getting 100,000 monthly blog visitors by the end of 2017. I made this goal public in a video that I can’t take off the web now. It’s too late to back out.

 

My Commitment To My Readers

At the end of 2016, my blog surpassed 700,000 lifetime views. Based on my goal to surpass 100,000 monthly visitors, I realize that, in 2017, my blog will surpass 1 million lifetime views.

To think I started this blog about five years ago…

As I thought about the milestone, I remembered that YOU are one of the many people who will make this milestone possible. To share my thanks, I am committed to providing a new experience on my blog.

I got comfortable with only publishing 1 blog post every week. While those blog posts were valuable, I know as a fact that publish 1 blog post every week isn’t enough. I will gradually increase the number of new blog posts until AT LEAST 1 blog posts gets published on this blog every day!

Here are some ways I plan on publishing 1 new blog post on this blog every day:

 

Accepting more guest posts: I like to learn from my blog too. In 2016, I publish two guest posts on this blog. While that may not sound like many guest posts, I started offering this option late into the year.

 

Do a better job with the podcast integration: Right now, my podcast tab leads people to a very basic webpage. In the upcoming weeks, that same tab will lead people to podcast interviews that you can find on this blog. The podcast interviews and the blog posts will now have the same home on the web.

UPDATE: I just got the podcast integration working yesterday with the PowerPress plugin. Huge hat-tip to Tom Corson-Knowles who I mention again in this performance report.

 

Write an extra blog post myself. I’m getting much better at writing a large quantity of quality, lengthy blog posts. My greatest fear of writing 1 blog post per day was sacrificing value, but I don’t have to do that since I’ll have help.

I am very excited about providing you with more content in 2017…and that doesn’t even include me publishing 1 new YouTube video every day. You can rest assured that some of those videos will end up on my blog.

 

My New Productivity Format

My productivity workflow is never set in stone. For about two years, I engaged in the weekly scorecard. With this weekly scorecard, I tallied my way to accomplishing a goal and used a checkmark to indicate I accomplished the goal.

My new weekly scorecard is more advanced.

Instead of giving myself weekly goals, I give myself daily minimums. Here’s how a daily minimum and a weekly goal differ:

Weekly Goal: Create 35 videos

Daily Goal: Create AT LEAST 5 videos

The weekly goal results in 35 videos that I can do at any moment I desire. If I really wanted to, I could do all 35 videos in two days. It would be stressful, and missing one of those days would spell “Game Over” for that goal.

The daily minimum makes video creation a habit. This form of goal setting made me feel more comfortable with creating videos. On some days, I find myself doing over a dozen videos in one sitting.

At the end of the week, I’ve created AT LEAST 35 videos. On some weeks, I create exactly 35 videos. On other days, I create over 45 videos. If I feel up to the task, I have no problem with creating additional videos.

The weekly goal structure got me focused, but I limited myself to 35 videos. With the new daily minimums, I can create as many videos as I please as long as I create at least 35 videos.

 

Books I Read

This portion of my performance report should get broken down into two sections: books I read before Christmas and books I read after Christmas. This month was my first semester of college finals so I didn’t do much reading before the break.

I only managed to listen to Find Your Extraordinary by Jessica Dilullo Herrin. While I don’t like only reading one book in one month, I’m happy I digitally picked this book up.

And the books after Christmas? Oh, I’m glad you asked. These are the books that I read from Christmas Day to the time I published this performance report.

The Kindle Publishing Bible by Tom Corson-Knowles

Secrets Of The Six-Figure Author by Tom Corson-Knowles

Email Marketing Mastery by Tom Corson-Knowles

What To Do When It’s Your Turn by Seth Godin

Content Machine by Dan Norris

There was one day in which I read two books. That made me feel great considering I had been slacking for the entire month. It’s also worth noting that I am also in the middle of reading The Success System That Never Fails by W. Clement Stone.

 

Blog Posts I Wrote

5 Social Media Lessons Pool Taught Me

23 Lessons I Learned From My Podcast In 2016

How I Went From Zero Books To Reading 10 Books Every Month

I’m honestly not very impressed with the quantity of blog posts. I know that each of them are valuable, but I want to provide more content for readers like you. I address this issue later in my performance report.

 

Podcast Episodes I Published

A glitch from UpWork combined with an inefficient workflow only resulted in two episodes this month. This is the last month that I will forget to do a weekly episode.

Episode 17: How To Host A Successful Event With Ramon Ray

Episode 18: How To Get Customers To Eagerly Buy Your Books With Tom Corson-Knowles

Both of those interviews are jam-packed with value. In terms of my workflow, I would do the interview, send it to my audio editor, and do the outro a few days later. The problem is that this would cut too close to the episode publication date.

I literally saved my outros for the last minute, and that didn’t go well since my audio editor was given very little time.

Now I do the outros immediately after I finish every interview. It saves me from frustration and the inability to serve my audience with my podcast.

 

January Goals

For most of my performance reports, the goals for the next month were rarely connected. The great part about coming out with a New Year’s resolutions video is that I am now very clear with what I need to do from now until the end of 2017. With that said, these are my goals for January:

 

#1: Surpass 1,000 Blog Visitors In 1 Day

I have achieved this milestone before, but I honestly don’t remember the last time I achieved it. To enlighten my memory, I’ve decided that I will accomplish that goal in January 2017.

My email list will be a critical factor that allows me to surpass 1,000 blog visitors in 1 day.

 

#2: Get My 1st TSMD Sale

I’m virtually ready to launch TSMD, and I’m getting its first sale this month. I will promote TSMD through Facebook advertising. Since TSMD is a $47/mo membership site, I expect to have a strong ROI from the Facebook ad I run.

 

#3: Have Videos Scheduled Past March

I currently have videos scheduled through January, but I want to strengthen my buffer. Creating videos isn’t a problem for me anymore. With a minimum goal of five videos per day, I’ll create 150 videos this month. That gives me at least 90 videos that I can dedicate to training courses and TSMD.

To achieve my other video related goals, I envision myself doing well over 10 videos on some days.

 

#4: Get 20 Guest Posts In The Queue

Every day, for the rest of the month, I will contact at least four people and invite them to write content for my blog. Getting guest contributors will allow me to learn from my blog and provide you with a better experience.

By following this plan, I’ll contact at least 124 guest bloggers by the end of the month.

If 16.2% of the guest bloggers I contact submit a quality guest post, then I have achieved my goal. This small approval percentage is the fuel behind my goal.

If I only contacted 20 guest bloggers in January, I’d have to hope that all 20 of those guest bloggers submitted quality guest posts. The margin for success is very small. Contacting 124 guest bloggers in January greatly expands my margin for success. The bigger my margin for success is, the better.

The cool thing is that as I get more guest posts on my blog, more people will submit their guest posts. Eventually, at least four people will submit their guest posts each day. That will be very cool.

 

#5: Publish At Least 16 Blog Posts

This is a big step for me. I’m slowly getting back to publishing 1 blog post per day. In one month, I will go from publishing 4 blog posts per month to publishing 4 blog posts per week.

I’ve made bigger leaps before 🙂

But enough blabbering. Here’s how I’ll publish at least 16 blog posts this month:

 

1: I write and publish two blog posts every week. These are the blog posts that you are accustomed to reading on my blog.

 

2: I complete the podcast integration. I publish new episodes on my podcast every Wednesday. So far, all podcast episodes exist on a separate entity. I will bring them to this blog to provide a new method of consuming content — audio. Previously I’ve only offered written content and videos.

UPDATE: I literally just figured this out. I apologize for an update on the same topic, but now I can focus on the artwork for each episode and using pictures to highlight the guests better.

 

3: Publish one guest post each week. I currently have no guest posts in the queue. If you know someone or would like to contribute following these guidelines, I’d love to have your guest post. I do have several guest bloggers who are interested in writing content for my blog, so I need at least four of them to give me quality posts by the end of January. If I get more guest posts, then I simply publish more content.

And that doesn’t include the fact that I’ll be publishing 1 YouTube video every day of the year.

 

#6: Create My 32nd Udemy Course

As of writing, I currently have published 23 Udemy courses. By the time you read this, chances are I’ve published a few others. While the New Year is rapidly approaching, I’m squeezing out as many valuable courses on Udemy as possible before 2016 comes to a close.

My goal for the end of 2017 is to have at least 50 Udemy courses. Publishing my 32nd course at the end of January means I only have to complete 18 courses to reach my minimum goal. 18 Udemy courses in 11 months is very doable for me…especially when summer rolls along.

Also, I’m still in the middle of my winter break. I will capitalize on the extra time to make this goal a reality.

 

#7: Surpass 50,000 Udemy Students

Between now and the end of January, I will have added nine courses to my arsenal. Those nine courses will be pivotal for me to surpass 50,000 Udemy students in January 2017.

Accomplishing this goal is dependent on my creating the additional courses. I know how to promote them. It’s just a matter of having new training courses to promote.

 

#8: Read 10 Books

I got a lot of books during Christmas. Now I have to read through them. I am currently researching to discover which method of speed reading will allow me to achieve the best results without blurring my vision.

I am excited to go through them. I’ll set a time at night to read through books. That way, it’s easier for me to fall asleep afterwards.

 

#9: Reassess How I Use Twitter

I believe a few small tweaks to my Twitter strategy will double my traffic and save me money and/or time. Here’s are some of the things I’ll reassess in January:

Outsourcing Costs—I think I could find five minutes in my day to do the bulk file uploads. If adding an extra task on my plate makes me go crazy, I’ll outsource it. I can also take on more work for my Twitter strategy and outsource more tasks in exchange.

The Tweets—I need to share more of my new content more often. Expect more tweets about my podcast episodes too! I might even tweet once every five minutes. I’m back to experimenting with new tactics. I also need to get better at including pictures within my tweets.

 

In Conclusion

This performance report is my last performance report of 2016. I wrote this performance report with my New Year’s resolutions in mind. I don’t fully know how to accomplish about half of them, but I’ll figure them out as I go.

Each performance report in 2017 will focus on my resolutions. All of my goals excite me, but the most exciting thing will be revamping this blog with new content at a more frequent rate.

Now that I think of it, a weekly Q&A blog post doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility. 2017 is going to be a great year in my journey, and I hope you’ll stick with me to see its completion.

What were your thoughts on this performance report? Have any tips on accomplishing New Year’s resolutions? What are your goals for 2017? Sound off in the comments section below.

Episode 18: How To Get Customers To Eagerly Buy Your Books With Tom Corson-Knowles

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In our latest episode, I am joined by Tom Corson-Knowles, an entrepreneur, publisher, and author of 20 bestselling books. Listen in as we discuss his career, and as Tom drops some super valuable information on success as a writer.

 

Tom had a different dream than his classmates, and wanted to be successful for his quality of life and to make a change in the world…rather than working crazy hours at a Wall Street cubicle. He had a clear vision and set his sights on it.

 

Tom talks us through his start and how he became a bestselling author. Tom discusses how we should model our way to success and wants us to avoid a devastating mistake most people make when they publish their first book.

 

Wondering how to get people to buy your books? Tom goes deep into this question within the episode. You’ll also hear about “thinking time” and many other lessons that will help you become a more successful author and entrepreneur.

 

Key Links from The Show:

 

www.tckpublishing.com  – Tom’s Publishing Company’s Site

www.ebookpublishingschool.com – a free Video tutorial on publishing

www.publishingprofitspodcast.com – Tom’s Podcast

 

Learn:

 

– Tom’s 3 Keys of Authorship

– How to run a business and still have time to write

– Tom’s best lesson learned during his career

– To model success on those who you consider successful

– How and why to create a great team around you

How I Went From Zero Books To Reading 10+ Books Every Month

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It turns out the advice our parents and teachers gave us was spot on. Reading is good for you. I remember the days of reading short fiction books. Those were the days when reading could easily become a hobby.

That was in 2nd grade. Now the world is getting busier and busier. And teenagers don’t have as much time to pick up new hobbies as the typical 2nd grader.

I built a successful blog, wrote several books myself, and grew my business on social media. But I slacked off on my reading. Sure, I read a blog post every now and then, but skimping on reading showed in my results.

Once I stopped acquiring additional knowledge related to my niche, I didn’t make big improvements. I either produced the same results or saw a slight decline. Blog traffic went down. My Twitter growth stayed the same.

Then everything started to grow, and I attribute that in large part to reading 10+ books every month.

But I didn’t just read any books. I read books with the specific aim of growing my personal brand. And I can tell you right now that reading 10+ books about your brand every month can completely transform your business (as in get you the results you’ve been dreaming of).

Here are some tips you can start utilizing today so you too will get through 10 books every month.

#1: Listen To Audiobooks

I don’t actually read all of the books that I consume. Sometimes, I will listen to an audiobook. There are certain activities that are nearly impossible to engage in while reading, but are very doable if listening to an audiobook.

For instance, I listen to an audiobook while I ride a workout bike for 30 minutes each day. To get the most information out of those 30 minutes, I have the built-in narrator read the book 2-3 times faster than the original pace.

That means during a 30 minute bike ride, I hear 1-1.5 hours of audiobook content. That totals up to 30-45 hours of audiobooks every month. Most of the audiobooks I read are within the five hour range. Just by riding on the bike for 30 minutes while listening to an audiobook each day, I read 6-9 books and get physically stronger at the same time.

I tried listening to an audiobook in the middle of a run, but that didn’t work well for me. I can more easily listen to an audiobook on a workout bike.

What activities do you do every day that can also become moments of knowledge acquisition? The more you can think of, the more audiobooks you can listen to from start to finish. Just find 30 minutes in your day, every day. You’ll thank yourself later.

#2: Read Quickly 

I listen to anywhere from 6-9 audiobooks each month. That means I read my way through the 10+ book milestone. I blaze my way through the finish line. The key information for almost any book can be condensed into 20 pages. Authors don’t do that because a 20 page book wouldn’t sell.

As you read more books about your niche, you’ll come across similar insights. I don’t need to hear another story about someone who regrets not building an email list earlier. I’ve heard that story before. And the only difference between this story and the other ones I’ve heard is that each person tells the story from a unique perspective (but always arrives at a similar conclusion).

The overall message is the same. Many books tell you that making excuses is bad and suggest ways to combat excuse making. I skip right to the suggestions. I don’t need to be told that avoiding excuses is a good thing. I already know that. And if I’ve already heard the suggestions in an earlier book, I skip those too.

Some books intentionally or unintentionally borrow ideas from each other. Why re-read the same thing more than once when you can acquire more knowledge instead?

#3: Publicly Announce Your Goal

I have been very public about my goal to consume 10 books every month. In fact, I also state which books I read each month in my performance reports. When I first got started with my performance reports, I struggled with reading five books in a given month.

Now I effortlessly get through 10+ books. Every. Single. Month.

As I came out with more performance reports, my reading increased. I made myself accountable to my entire audience—email list, social media audience, blog visitors… just about everyone.

If I don’t perform, I feel like I’ve let my audience down. I automatically obligate myself to read at least 10 books in a given month.

What’s Your Excuse?

I’m a student-athlete in college. I wake up at 5:30am to get ready for 7:30am practice. I get my homework done and also squeeze in time to hang out with friends. But I still have a personal brand that demands my attention.

Oh, did I mention that I read a bunch of books every month, too?

I’m not saying that I have the hardest schedule in the world, but I don’t have a crazy amount of time to play with, either. My obligations take up most of my time.

If you don’t have at least 30 minutes each day to read a book or listen to an audiobook, then you have a basket of lame excuses. Anyone can find 30 extra minutes each day by reducing the time spent on less productive activities.

Would it kill you to turn off the TV a little earlier? Would it hurt to avoid surfing YouTube? While it may be difficult in the beginning, once you make the adjustment over 66 days, it will stick.

If you feel you can’t commit to 30 minutes of reading or listening each day, you can AT LEAST commit to 15 minutes of reading or listening each day.

In the end, I don’t care about excuses. I only care about whether or not the work gets done.

Compound It!

Gradual evolution leads to massive evolution. The easiest way to go from zero pages to 100 pages per day within three months is to read an additional page each day. Start with a baseline of 11 pages, which is very doable.

On Day #2, read 12 pages. On Day #3, read 13 pages. Soon enough, you’ll begin to approach 100 pages. And if you count audiobooks, you can easily get through over 100 pages each day.

When I’m actually reading a book, I can usually get through 30-50 pages in a given day.

All of this knowledge compounded together will turn you into an expert in your niche and help you achieve your dreams.

As with anything in life, if you do something every day, and make continuous progress, you’ll be shocked by what you’ve achieved in a year from now.

In Conclusion

Reading books and listening to audiobooks allows you to acquire more knowledge about your niche. As you acquire more knowledge, your mind will expand.

The remaining challenge is to implement what you’ve learned, but you will already have the information you need. What happens then? Do you continue reading?

No matter how established you become, reading is still important. Reading fires up your brain cells, gives you new knowledge, and reminds you of things that you may have forgotten.

I mentioned earlier that I sometimes skip sections of a book if I have an idea of what’s coming. I may skip those sections, but I also remember what I’d learned previously.

Reading is a way of acquiring new knowledge while tapping into prior knowledge.

How many books do you read each month? Do you have any book recommendations for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

 

23 Lessons I Learned From My Podcast In 2016

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I have published 21 podcast episodes in which I have interviewed a variety of people. During the entire process (connecting with people, preparation, and the interviews themselves), I learned many new things.

As a part of my end of the year reflection series, I decided to come up with a list of 23 lessons I learned from my podcasting adventure.

I already knew some of these lessons but thought they were important to share. In addition, I needed to remind myself of some of these lessons, especially #17.

#1: Start Before You Are Ready

I had many false starts before I finally launched my podcast. It was two years in the making. What made it happen? I started contacting people about the podcast before I could even think of what I was doing. I then had to think really fast when I got the first yes.

#2: Conduct Your First Interview With A Fellow Podcaster

The first person I interviewed for my podcast was none other than Jeffrey Shaw. Big shout out to you my friend. He gave me some tips after the interview and steered me on the right path.

#3: Don’t Be Afraid To Ask

I contacted some people knowing that they would almost certainly agree to be guests on my podcast. I contacted other people in hopes they would say yes. Some of those people said yes while others said no. I wasn’t afraid to ask people like Seth Godin, Neil Patel, Mike Michalowicz, and many other people.

#4: There Are No Limits.

One of the things I despise the most is when people say they don’t have the right credentials to pursue a goal. If you think of an 18-year-old without a license, do you think about me? I am that 18-year-old, but that hasn’t stopped me from interviewing millionaires, bestselling authors, TEDx speakers, and other successful people. I don’t say this to brag but rather to show you the possibilities.

#5: Be Over Prepared

Each guest is different. Some of them will elaborate with their answers while others will give you quick answers that make you run through all of your questions quickly. If you don’t have enough questions, you’ll have to improvise on the fly. After enough interviews, I decided to come up with at least 20 questions for every guest. I don’t get to all 20 questions, but I do get to the important questions. Everything else is icing on the cake.

#6: Outsource Most Of The Work

I have never edited a single episode and yet they get published as if they were edited. These episodes are edited, but they get edited by one of my freelancers. Without this individual, the podcast would not be possible. I don’t have enough time to devote to editing the audio, so I hired someone else to do it instead.

#7: Go

I continuously hunt for motivational quotes I can share with my audience. I asked Seth for his most inspirational quote and he just said, “Start.” As the conversation unfolded, Seth gave us another motivational quote, “Go.” The simplest approaches are often the most effective. If “Go” doesn’t get you fired up, I don’t know what will.

#8: Everyone Wants Another Breakthrough

I have interviewed several people with six, seven, and even eight figure brands. I have interviewed guests who have achieved everything that many of their listeners want to accomplish. These same guests aspire to hit the next breakthrough. They aren’t settling with where they are now. They continue to push the envelop, and that’s why these guests have achieved great admiration for what they do.

#9: Don’t Give Up If The Launch Is A Bust

While I got hundreds of listeners for my podcast, it did not end up in the iTunes New & Noteworthy section. At this point, some people give up because their intention is to get into that New & Noteworthy section. But to be a successful podcaster, blogger, YouTuber, or anything else of that nature, you must continue producing content, video, or audio for many years to come. Keep those launch ambitions alive, but remember there’s far more to a podcast than those first weeks after the launch.

#10: Have A Structure

All of my podcast episodes follow a structure. The intro, interview, and outro reside within the structure of each episode. I also have an email rubric that I use to contact potential guests. The more structure you have in your life, the more efficient and effective you will become.

I learned the first 10 lessons by pushing through and launching the podcast. The rest of the lessons mentioned here come directly from prior episodes.

#11: Have a team around you that shares the same vision.

#12: Set bigger goals to get bigger results.

#13: The habits you develop will make or break you.

#14: It’s possible to chase your startup dream without quitting your job. To do that, you’ll have to be a 10% Entrepreneur.

#15: Outlining your goal enables you to take action at a quicker rate.

#16: Writing a book increases your authority within that subject.

#17: Perseverance is vital regardless of what ambition you pursue.

#18: Speaking to a targeted audience may mean reinventing your methods of delivery. If you are a KeyNote presenter, you’ll have to go without the slides if you wish to speak at a TEDx.

#19: The email list is the most important platform you have for your business. If you don’t have an email list, create one now.

#20: Fear can be a motivator that results in you accomplishing your goals. From personal experience, fear of the deadline works very well.

#21: Don’t say yes to any client who comes your way. Only say yes to the clients you want to work with.

#22: Several guests on the show grow their businesses exponentially with the help of referrals. For some, it meant raffling free prizes to people who got you more email addresses. For others, it meant cross promotion.

#23: Recruiting affiliates for your products will allow your products to spread farther than you could have spread them on your own.

Which lesson was your favorite? Who would you like for me to interview? Have any lessons for us as we head towards 2017? Sound off in the comments section below.