list building Archives | Digital Marketing Guide for Authors & Online Entrepreneurs

Build Your List, Your Visibility and Your Bank Account in Any Market! Why This Business Model Rocks!

shutterstock_56435674 Have you tried different online marketing strategies…but your results keep coming up short? As the old saying goes “there are many different ways to skin a cat”.

One of the least known, but highest-payback, business models for online success is hosting your own ongoing expert interview series. No matter what market you serve…if you have a passion for a subject area…then you probably have what it takes to host your own interview series. And – it’s easier than you think!

Cathy Demers, host of the popular expert interview series “The Business Success Cafe” explains…

“You’ve heard it said ‘the gold is in your list’ so it’s no surprise that you need to implement strategies that can help you quickly build your list of targeted prospects.

But…that’s not enough.

You also need a really good ‘shovel’ so you can effectively mine your list…and turn those prospects into gold nuggets. By hosting your own ongoing expert interview series you can do both – at the same time!”

According to Cathy (with over 80 “Cafe” interviews under her belt – she’s an undisputed expert in applying this strategy), there are 8 BIG benefits to hosting your own expert interview series.

You should seriously consider hosting your own expert interview series if you want to:

Build your list of targeted prospects who want really want to hear from you. When you host an ongoing series you will quickly build a list of followers who are in your target market, who are hungry for information, and who are expecting you to provide it on a regular and continual basis. That’s the just the kind of list you want, isn’t it?

Gain visibility and credibility in ANY market. When you seek out, partner with, and then interview the experts in your field… you automatically elevate your own status and perceived expertise…just by being a gracious host and allowing others to share valuable information with your hungry market. No special skills or expertise required – it’s a beautiful thing.

Make More Money from Multiple Revenue Sources. No matter what target market you serve, there are several (often surprising) ways to monetize an expert interview series…even if you give the interviews away for free! For example, you can charge for replays, collect the interviews into bundles for resale, publish them as products, earn affiliate revenues from your experts, attract advertisers and sponsors…the list goes on and on. You don’t even have to pick just one.

On March 13…and Cathy Demers and I are going dive deep into the 8 Big benefits of hosting your own ongoing expert interview series. It’s going to be live and interactive (and free!) …so bring your questions – you’ll get the answers. Register Here.

Oh…and just so you don’t think hosting your own series is always a “bed of roses” (nothing is!) Cathy has promised to share some of the downsides and “gottcha’s” you will want to avoid when you host your own series. After 2 years hosting the Business Success Cafe…she’s earned her stripes…and a few scrapes and scratches along the way.

This interview is going to be illuminating, enlightening, inspiring, practical and useful…register here so you don’t miss it.

The Top Two Reasons You’re Not Getting More Blog Subscribers

By Denise Wakeman

I'm frequently asked this question… “what is the best way to get more blog subscribers?”

You probably already know having great content with compelling headlines, published frequently will help you increase the number of people who subscribe to your blog.

And there's a lot more you can do.

You may also know using email in conjunction with your blog is one of the best ways to get people to come back to your blog over and over again. If they love what you're writing about and it solves their problems, they'll subscribe to get your updates and return to read your articles. The biggest challenge though, is moving readers to become subscribers.

When I do blog audits, there are typically two big mistakes I see bloggers make:

1) They bury the subscription form too low on the blog's sidebar so few people see it

2) They don't ASK readers to subscribe

How to correct these two mistakes and increase your blog subscriber numbers:

Put the email subscription form at or near the top of your sidebar so it's visible when the reader lands on your site. If you do nothing else, do this. You want the optin form visible “above the fold” and in a spot where eyes naturally move as your reader scans the page.
Include a call to action with your optin form with a compelling reason to subscribe, like a free gift (see this post for ideas). Merely saying “Join my list” or “Subscribe to get updates” doesn’t cut it. Offer an incentive that’s too good for your reader to ignore.

Bonus tip for boosting your subscriber numbers

If your blog is built on WordPress, you can use a simple plugin called "What Would Seth Godin Do" to include a call to action on every blog post. The plugin displays a custom welcome message to new visitors and an alternate message to returning visitors. Use this plugin to invite new visitors to subscribe to get blog updates and to welcome back returning visitors, encouraging them to subscribe (if they haven’t already), comment and share your post.

You can customize each message and set how many times a visitor sees the "new visitor" message before it switches to the "returning visitors" message.

You can also set the location of the messages: at the top of the post or the bottom. I put it at the bottom (you can see it in action below) since I believe readers are more inclined to subscribe once they have read your content and determined it’s valuable enough to show up in their sacred inbox.

Since adding this plugin, I’ve seen a 15% increase in new blog subscribers. It takes a couple of minutes to install and customize and then you're good to go.

Remember…a highly visible email optin form and a compelling offer will increase the number of subscribers to your blog.

There are at least seven ways to optimize your blog to attract more subscribers. If you’d like to learn how to generate more leads and build your list with your blog, I have a special invitation for you. Join me for a 90-minute live webinar training program on how to optimize your blog to convert more readers to subscribers. Learn more and register now.