I'll admit it. I'm one of those writers that used to blush when being called a blogger. My embarrassment was based on stereotypes, of course, and I'll confess them here only to prove a point. I didn't like being called a blogger because bloggers weren't artists. Bloggers were in it for the money and would do anything to make a sale. And if they weren't that, bloggers were publishing drip about their personal lives, which I didn't care for.
I started blogging in 2005, when perhaps those stereotypes had a percentage of truth to them. I kept my blog to myself, oddly enough, but as people started to find me and as my short stories and essays earned recognition in the literary world, The Writing Life blog started growing - whether I was ready for it or not. Now more than ever, I understand that bloggers can't be boxed in to a single category and that, as a young writer trying to earn a living, one of the most important things I can do for my career is identify as a blogger.
Reading Phil Hollows' List Building for Bloggers e-book changed my entire outlook. I purchased it because I'm also an editor for TRACHODON Magazine and am in charge of its blog, Cheek Teeth. I figured I shouldn't let my stereotypes about blogging get in the way of my business as an editor. But, wait a minute…didn't I also have a business as a writer? Listbuilding helped me see that as a blogger I am also an "accidental marketer," as Phil would say, and that by failing to take advantage of branding, list building, and email blasts, I was missing an opportunity to make a name for myself…and maybe even make a little money for postage and gas. I could still write quality blog posts and publish short stories I was proud of, but I could also maintain an active blog and website that offered incentives and literary products to my readers.
So I read the book, twice, with highlighter in hand. I already had the FeedBlitz "subscribe by email" bubble on my site, but it wasn't in the right place and I hadn't notified my contacts, branded the newsletter, or paid any attention to its schedule. Following the instructions in List Building, within a matter of days my email subscribers quadrupled and, several months later, I still get a few new subscribers each week. More importantly, I saw the hits on my website increase over the weekends - when I never post new content - because my subscribers were taking their time with my weekly FeedBlitz newsletter (which is emailed Friday mornings) and perusing my blog via click-throughs that FeedBlitz makes so easy in the newsletter format. Despite my belief that if I organized my readers through an email list my hits would go down, in fact, my hits kept going up.
Bolstered by this experience, I followed the other tips in List Building to a tee. Most changes were small - including a subscription link in my email signature, titling blog posts to make them appear readily in Google searches, dreaming up relevant incentives for subscribers - and within one month traffic on my site increased by over 35% and continues to grow. Excited, I set up my first autoresponder, as List Building suggests. Using an email blast to announce the project, and further promoting it on the blog and through social media outlets, I launched Monthly Fiction by Katey Schultz, 12 short stories in as many months for just $12 - a FeedBlitz autoresponder with my branding that delivers one new short story to subscribers each month for an entire year.
I'm a small operation with a lot on my mind, but List Building for Bloggers made marketing easy for this non-tecchie writer and helped me gain confidence that I do have things I can sell. Just last week I tested Phil's suggestion to market by using repetition. I posted one status update each morning on FaceBook with a quote from my chapbook Lost Crossings. In less than a week, I sold eight copies. We're not talking New York bestseller, but that's eight books that were collecting dust a week ago and will now be wrapped under people's Christmas trees.
I wouldn't be a good "accidental marketer" if I didn't end this post with a pitch. So here it is, fellow bloggers and business owners: Subscribe to Monthly Fiction by December 31st and get 33% off - just $8 for 1 year of award-winning fiction.
About the Author
Katey Shultz is a writer living in Bakersville, North Carolina. In 2010, she had over 10 short stories published and was recognized with 5 fiction awards, including the Linda Flowers Literary Prize. Her most recent work, Flashes of War, is a collection of 29 fictional stories focusing on characters in and around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The blog post series and subsequent publication as an e-book, List Building for Bloggers, has been very well received. Nearly seven hundred copies of the book have been sold since it launched in May (get yours here). With luck, you've been starting to follow the advice and have started to see the quantity and quality of your lists improve.
Which begs a question, though. Now you're building your list, what to do with it? And, in particular - because let's cut to the chase, why not? - how can you make money from your mailing list?
You've probably heard the phrase "the money's in the list." That's what this next series - and, who knows, perhaps the next book! - will be all about: Making money from your list (or lists, I'll get to that too). Practical tips and techniques gleaned from personal experience, leaders in the field on how to grow your income via email marketing.
Like its precursor series, List Monetization for Bloggers (a.k.a. LMB) will appear more-or-less weekly. Although I'll be focusing on list monetization for blogging and social media (or, more formally, "content marketing"), many of the tips will be gleaned from (and applicable to) what's called "internet marketing." Bloggers will learn core internet marketing techniques that they can apply to gain new revenue streams via their list and other venues; internet markers will end up with a comprehensive one-stop guide to list monetization and insights into how blogging and social media can further their income growth.
Topics I will cover include:
Multi-list strategies
Master lists
Advanced autoresponders
Affiliate programs
Monetizing list signups
Incentives and giveaways
Packaging, partnering and bundles
List hygiene
Ethics and best practice
Where appropriate, LMB will recap or reference LBB (start reading online, or buy the book). Online, there will be content showing you how to configure FeedBlitz to help you monetize your list.
Posts will be tagged "LMB" here and I'll be tweeting about it on Twitter with the #LMB and #LBB (for continuity) hash tags.
Next week I'll start with a comprehensive introductory post, after which I'll jump directly in to multi-list strategies.
About List Monetization for Bloggers
Written by Phil Hollows, author of List Building for Bloggers and FeedBlitz's Founder & CEO, List Monetization for Bloggers is a series of posts to help you make more money by effectively using these monetization tips. No matter whether you're a novice, a more advanced blogger or and internet marketer, there will be something for you to learn, apply and benefit from in this series.
P.S. If you think your friends or followers would find this series valuable, please retweet on Twitter or "Like" on Facebook using the buttons below. Thank you!
To celebrate the Type-A Parent conference I'm delighted to be able to offer a $10 discount off the list price of List Building for Bloggers - simply use the TYPEACON code at check out to get the saving.
If you're unfamiliar with the book, it's all about how to maximize your blog's best resource: its email subscribers. It covers how to build a better list, faster, along with autoresponders and HTML design tips. Visit the book's site for more information (PDF download), or get it for the Kindle here.
To celebrate the 500th sale of List Building for Bloggersin just over five weeks, use the code 500 at checkoutthis weekend only to save 500 pennies ($5) off the MSRP of $24.95. Offer expires Sunday night.
The show's home page is here, with the audio online. There are links there to iTunes for all you podcast types as well.
So go ahead and tune in. It isn't dull, trust me on this one. Better yet, I have a deal for those of you who make it through to the end, so pay attention. Listen now.
First the book, now the movie! Or, strictly speaking, movies, because I had to split the video of my recent session at Blog World NY into 4 uploads to keep the moving parts at YouTube happy (less than 15 minutes per video).
If you like, you can watch the videos and keep pace with the slides posted on SlideShare (linked to here). Although not the official conference recording the sound and the video itself came across really well, given I had to rely on an audience member for the camerawork! So enjoy -- and if you make it through to the fourth video you'll see how well I can hurl a t-shirt too (it was a *big* room!).
At Blog World Expo last week I gave a presentation about how bloggers (and, really, anyone!) can use email better. In case you missed my session or weren't at the conference, I've uploaded my slides to slideshare where you can take a look at the deck. Enjoy!
I'm heading off to New York City today for Blog World Expo, where I'll be giving a session on Wednesday at 3:45pm on List Building for Bloggers. If you're attending BWENY, you should click here to pre-register. Hope to see you there!
It has been something of a challenge to convert 45,000+ words and nearly 170 pages into a 45 minute talk. I'll be awaiting the feedback from my presentation with bated breath...
Meanwhile, however, the e-book's launch offer coupon (LBBLAUNCH) expires today. The price goes up to $24.95 at midnight tonight. Save yourself $15 and head over to ListBuildingForBloggers.com and grab it now at the launch offer price of just $9.95.
P.S. While I'm away, Lynn Terry of clicknewz.com has written a series about online affiliate marketing which will unfold all week here - stay tuned!
P.P.S. Follow Blog World Expo updates via the Twitter hash tag #BWENY, and follow Phil Hollows as @phollows
Mike Cliffe-Jones is the epitome of modern content-based marketing. He has two published, two more on the way, and speaks on the topics of social media and on-line marketing.Mike helps business to understand what he calls the new "people driven economy." Here's what he thinks about List Building for Bloggers and the importance of email marketing:
Ask anyone who successfully blogs for an income to name the single most important asset they own, and they'll tell you it's their email subscriber list. As a professional blogger, my email list is both the heart of my online community and the backbone of the income I generate
Email converts sales for me five times better than my website.
I've learned the hard way what works and what doesn't, and how to build my own email list quickly and to the right people.
List Building for Bloggers will take that pain away for you, showing you why you need to build a list, who you should target, and most importantly, how to do so.
If you are serious about making an income from blogging, then you need to be serious about your email list. You should start by investing in this book.
If you want your list to convert 5 times better than your site, take Mike's advice and invest in List Building for Bloggers. Click here to find out more.
If you've been contemplating buying List Building for Bloggers, the e-book by FeedBlitz Founder and CEO, Phil Hollows, but haven't yet done so, may I make a suggestion?
Hurry up.
The launch offer price expires midnight, May 23rd. You can buy it now for $9.95 ... or you can wait and spend $24.95 later.
I know what I'd do.
The e-book contains 24 chapters, 167 pages of solid advice, three case studies and more. If you put into practice its 10 Power Tips at just one a day - and they're not hard to do - the book will pay for itself in terms of a better list, growing faster, earning you more. In just 10 days.
Ten days to a better mailing list. Is that worth $9.95 to you?
So you can save $15 and buy now, or dither and pay full freight come midnight on Monday.
Just buy the book. You know you should :) Might as well save the money, right?
P.S. If you're in New York next week for Blog World at the Javits Center, say hello and attend my List Building for Bloggers session on Wednesday afternoon.
One of the things that I hoped to achieve, as a beginning author writing a "trade" (i.e. business non-fiction) book was to keep it real. To make it a little fun and a lot helpful without veering into too much, well, baloney. So I was dead chuffed (I'm reverting to my native English here) when Antony Mayfield, a consultant, author and commentator on web media strategy, social media, online content, reputation management and digital literacy, wrote this about List Building for Bloggers:
"When you have a gap in your knowledge you want this kind of an e-book, with the depth and integrity and lack of blather that List Building For Bloggers offers. After reading just a few pages I knew that this was going to be fantastically useful to me personally and many others."
Antony also founded the content and social media teams at iCrossing, which became the largest independent digital marketing firm in the world, before being sold to Hearst Media in 2010. Prior to iCrossing, Antony spent a decade in journalism and corporate communications, most recently as a director in the Bell Pottinger Group.
Thank you, Antony. Wow. That means a lot to me as a newbie.
Chris Rand writes the Business Marketing Online blog in the U.K., covering SEO and online marketing. He bought his copy of List Building for Bloggers on its first day, and writes:
"I don't normally recommend stuff you have to pay for, but I'm going to make an exception today, because I've just bought an excellent eBook and would thoroughly recommend that you get a copy and have a read too."
Thank you, Chris! Click here to read other testimonials and learn more about the List Building for Bloggers e-book, available now at its launch price of $9.95 until May 23rd (list price is $24.95, so you're saving $15 if you buy before then).
Are You Wasting your Blog's Most Precious Resource?
Don't miss out on the easiest, fastest and most under-rated way to grow your blogging business.
I've seen it happen too many times to mention.
Over the years I've found great blogs, fascinating people, and amazing content. But far, far too many were missing out on easy wins to help make a little extra money for their families, promote their businesses or grow their cause. Simply because they were neglecting their email lists.
You too?
Thanks to plugins, widgets and social media technology, tens of thousands - maybe hundreds of thousands - of bloggers, just like you, have become accidental email marketers. While obsessing about SEO, poring over Google Analytics, agonizing over what to write next, email subscriptions have become a casual "put the form over there" checkbox item and then forgotten.
Which is a shame. Your email subscribers are, in fact, your greatest fans and probably your most under-valued resource. By not paying attention to them - by staying an accidental email marketer - you're missing out on increased page views, increased revenues and increased engagement.
The problem is that the tools that make it easy for us to blog - themes, plugins and templates - simply make it all too easy to neglect this vital opportunity.
Been there, done that.
I know - you don't have the time. You're not an email expert. Yet the blogging superstars we all follow have lists numbering in the tens and hundreds of thousands. What's their secret?
Wouldn't you like to know?
I'm a blogger too; I started in 2003. I know how it is; I made all the mistakes. I learned the hard way. But my business, FeedBlitz, happens to be an email service, for bloggers. I do this for a living.
So now I can help you avoid the rookie mistakes and casual errors that are limiting your blog's potential, stifling its growth and costing you money. With this book, you can learn in days what it took me years to figure out by trial and error.
List Building for Bloggers - Proven Email Strategies that Build your Audience, Increase Engagement and Grow your Income
So this is it. After eight years combining blogging and email marketing, I've taken these lessons and created List Building for Bloggers. A book that, in just ten days, can transform your blog's potential.
Here's what you get:
Ten Power Tips to turn your blog into a rocking-socking, butt-kicking, inbox-busting, fully automated email marketing and subscriber retention system.
Three case studies so you can avoid the mistakes even the Big Guys make.
Easily actionable tips to grow both list quality and quantity.
Chapters on autoresponders so you can market while you sleep, custom fields for personalization, and how to avoid spam traps.
All in easy to understand plain English!
Now available for Immediate Download!
"Trust what Phil Hollows has to say. Not only does he talk the talk, but he walks the walk when it comes to mastering email marketing. I'd recommend tattooing his recommendations on your arm."
Step by step, page by page, you'll find ideas that will quickly make a difference and tasks that you can easily achieve. From suggestions about subscription forms to discussions about the risks and rewards of incentives, you'll find it easy to make better use of what you've built already - and the ability to rethink what's possible in the future.
You see, unlike other email marketing books, List Building for Bloggers isn't targeted at the corporate sector, nor at professional marketers, nor is it for IT geeks looking for a manual.
Instead, List Building for Bloggers is written in plain English. It is full of actionable, proven tips and techniques you can easily put in place, step by step, on your blog. Each one makes your email list better. Together, they make your blog outstanding.
"List Building for Bloggers is thoughtful, detailed and progresses in a natural way to introduce bloggers not only to why they need to focus on list building but also how to ethically and consistently build a list that supports their business goals, step by step. This must be required reading for every blogger serious about building their business on the Web."
It's practical. It's for bloggers by a blogger. It's for you. And it includes:
Over 45,000 words
24 chapters
167 pages
Three case studies
Five key steps to grow your blog's mailing list
Nine essential inbox-busting, spam trap trumping, anti-complaint tips
Seven top landing page tips
Exactly one mention of the mating habits of the South American ping pong ball
Start Making the Most of Your Mailing List Now
"A comprehensive guide that enables bloggers to reach their readers and clients through effective and strategic email marketing. Phil helps you understand the importance of email marketing, and then leads you through the practical steps necessary to make the most of your email newsletters."
Not at all! Email subscribers are the most committed you have - look at what they have to do to sign up! Dual opt-in. Squiggly puzzles to prove they're human. There's nothing casual about it.
True, many people follow hundreds of "friends" on Facebook, Twitter accounts. Yet all those teeny-weeny, unbranded, untracked, undifferentiated, easy to miss messages simply fly by.
So, compare and contrast. Your email to a subscriber is in their inbox, by invitation. Fully branded. Content rich. Tracked. Customized. Personalized. A Tweet? A Like? Not so much.
They've committed to you. Why not return the favor? List Building for Bloggers makes it easy as well as worthwhile.
"Phil Hollows takes the geek-only out of marketing your blog and makes it possible, and surprisingly easy, for anyone to get and keep an audience for their online content. Comprehensive and written in everyday language, this is a must-read how-to for any blogger."
~ Mark David Gerson, screenwriter and award-winning author of The MoonQuest: A True Fantasy www.markdavidgerson.com
Get List Building for Bloggers Now!
You can carry on being casual. Or you can choose, now, to stop being an accidental email marketer, and to start making a difference.
You could hire a VA to do this for you at $30 an hour. A specialist consultant at between $1,000 and $3,000 per day (which is what I charge for my time, by the way).
Or... or you can get all this great stuff for only $24.95 (or less if you've a discount code). Right now.
It will work for you no matter which email service or app you use. And I'm backing the book with my 100% guarantee so you can buy in confidence, risk-free.
List Price: $24.95 - Launch Price just $9.95 through May 23!
Save $15.00 when you use the code LBBLAUNCH at check out!
(Expires May 23rd)
No Hassle, 100% Bullet-Proof Guarantee
This book will pay for itself when you use its ideas on your blog. I guarantee it. I put my name, email address and Twitter account on the cover! That's how confident I am about the value this book can bring you.
Still not enough? Sure, I get it. So here's the deal:
You don't like it, for whatever reason, I'll buy it back from you. No quibbles, no stalling, you get a 100% refund; no questions asked.
"Phil Hollows is a mensch, and a generous one. In this book, he's sharing a ton. Stuff he learned the hard way. Ignore it at your peril."
~ Somebody so famous I'm not allowed to name them except in the book! Seriously.
(Buy it and see who it is!)
P.S. Did I mention the BONUS CHAPTER?
Not only will this book rock your email world, I've added a BONUS CHAPTER on how to use Twitter for real-time sales results. Super actionable, easy to use techniques that can find your next customer on Twitter at exactly the time they want to hear from you. Make just one sale using this chapter and the book more than pays for itself!
REMEMBER: Save $15.00 if you use the LBBLAUNCH code
at checkout until May 23rd!
P.P.S. We also have an affiliate program
You can also make a little extra by referring sales for the book via our affiliate program, which pays 50% (not a typo) commission. Visit http://listbuildingforbloggers.com/affiliate-program/ for more on the program and sign yourself up.
Regular readers will know that I've been on something of a tear with quotes this week, following the availability of the List Building for Bloggers e-book.
While I am thrilled with all the quotes and support from everyone, I am particularly honored to share this quote from Kare Anderson, Leader, Collaborative Strategies, Center for the Edge, Deloitte.
Before we get to the quote itself, though, you should know that Kare's lengthy job title simply doesn't do her justice.
Kare has helped diverse clients develop a profitable collaborative culture, communication and methods, including mutual mentoring, self-managed teams, charettes and crowdsourcing. Her clients include LEGO, Singapore and Mayo Clinic.
She was the Obama campaign’s Issues Team Formation Director and is an Emmy-winning former NBC and Wall Street Journal reporter. Anderson is the author of Getting What You Want, Walk Your Talk and Resolving Conflict Sooner.
And so I am humbled and flattered when Kare wrote this about List Building for Bloggers:
“Just as I think meeting planners could ask us speakers, who see hundreds of conferences, for insights on how to engage their attendees, I strongly believe that it behooves bloggers to get tips from someone who has seen, first-hand, what makes some bloggers break-out stars with thousands of avid subscribers. More than anyone else I know, Phil Hollows knows what turns subscribers on and off. If you are going to read just one book on how to be one of those break-out stars consider reading List Building for Bloggers.”
Becky Cortino of Express-IT, an integrated marketing communication and professional services firm writes:
An opt-in email list is one of your most valuable business assets. Although the need for developing a viable list is widely-recognized, folks are often unsure of the best strategies to use to build their audience. Others plunge into list-building, but feel the need to fine-tune their efforts, to be more effective.
I recommend Phil Hollows' “List Building for Bloggers” eBook. This is a comprehensive and insightful guide for building your list, using email effectively, and growing your business — starting now!
Denise Wakeman, business blogging and online marketing advisor, posted a review here, titled "How to Maintain Visibility with Your Blog Audience [Recommended Reading]"
Regardless of what list system you use, setting up an email list, managing it, using it ethically, and promoting it can be confusing and overwhelming. That's why I love Phil Hollows, CEO of Feedblitz. He has just released a detailed, comprehensive ebook called List Building for Bloggers.I had the privilege of reviewing the book and I was blown away by the level of detail Phil goes into around three core strategies:
Chris Rand, publisher of the U.K.'s Business Marketing Online blog, posted his analysis on Monday, the day the book launched! Chris is clearly a speed reader :) He writes:
I don't normally recommend stuff you have to pay for, but I'm going to make an exception today, because I've just bought an excellent eBook and would thoroughly recommend that you get a copy and have a read too. The reason? It's all about email, and in particular, list building.
"This is an invaluable treasury drawn from real experience from what may seem a specialized field, but it will have innumerable useful applications for many people simply involved in email marketing - and in digital marketing in general. And it is also good to see someone proselytize for the continuing importance of email at a time when many people are falsely proclaiming that it is somehow in decline - in reality its importance is still growing."
Thanks, Rory! Much appreciated. Click here to read other testimonials and learn more about the List Building for Bloggers e-book, available now at its launch price of $9.95 until May 23rd (list price is $24.95, so you're saving $15 if you buy before then).
P.S. If you've bought the book and have a comment, please let me know!
Mark David Gerson is a screen writer and award-winning author of "The MoonQuest: A True Fantasy."
I'm delighted and humbled that Mark David has this to says about List Building for Bloggers:
“Phil Hollows takes the geek-only out of marketing your blog and makes it possible, and surprisingly easy, for anyone to get and keep an audience for their online content. Comprehensive and written in everyday language, this is a must-read how-to for any blogger.”
Thank you, Mark David! Can't wait to see your book on the silver screen...
Meanwhile, click here to read other testimonials and learn more about the List Building for Bloggers e-book, available now at its launch price of $9.95 until May 23rd (list price is $24.95, so you're saving $15 if you buy before then).
Erin Chaseis the $5 Dinner Mom. She cooks. She blogs. She authors cookbooks. She writes for SCJohnson.com. She's also one of the founders of the SavvyBlogging community and the Savvy Blogging Summit.
Erin comments on List Building for Bloggers:
“A comprehensive guide that enables bloggers to reach their readers and clients through effective and strategic email marketing. Phil helps you understand the importance of email marketing, and then leads you through the practical steps necessary to make the most of your email newsletters.”
I'll admit it. I'm one of those writers that used to blush when being called a blogger. My embarrassment was based on stereotypes, of course, and I'll confess them here only to prove a point. I didn't like being called a blogger because bloggers weren't artists. Bloggers were in it for the money and would do anything to make a sale. And if they weren't that, bloggers were publishing drip about their personal lives, which I didn't care for.
posted at 8:34 AM
0 comments
So this is it. After eight years combining blogging and email marketing, I've taken these lessons and created List Building for Bloggers. A book that, in just ten days, can transform your blog's potential.
This book will pay for itself when you use its ideas on your blog. I guarantee it. I put my name, email address and Twitter account on the cover! That's how confident I am about the value this book can bring you.
