#315: Capitalize on Your “Vibe,” Use It To Grow Your Blog
Today I delve into the evolving landscape of content creation, digital marketing for bloggers, and why your “vibe” has never been more important.
Facing the competition from AI-generated content and the possible decline of ad revenue due to the phase-out of third-party cookies, I propose a strategic pivot for content creators toward selling “who you are,” not just the information you put out.
This is why I emphasize the importance of starting to sell digital products and services directly to audiences as a sustainable income source in 2024.
Table of Contents
Show Notes:
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- Personality Quiz: What Digital Product Should I Create?
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Selling Your “Vibe,” Not Your Content
Also, I’m talking about the concept of selling your ‘vibe’—a unique blend of personality, energy, humor, and worldview—rather than just information. I argue that in an AI-dominated landscape, the human touch becomes invaluable.
I share my personal journey with Instagram Reels, describing how I us them to convey my vibe and connect with my audience. I leverage tools like ChatGPT to streamline content creation, demonstrating the synergy between human creativity and AI.
I also discusses Kevin Kelly’s “1000 True Fans” concept, encouraging creators to focus on building a small, loyal audience rather than chasing massive traffic. This approach, I argue, can lead to significant income when fans are offered valuable products.
Emphasis on Human Connection and Email Marketing
Emphasizing the importance of email marketing, I advise creators and bloggers to nurture their email lists, viewing them as a direct line to their audience’s ‘living room’. I advocate for authenticity in email communications, as it’s an effective channel for selling and building relationships.
Remember, embracing change and putting oneself out there, despite potential discomfort is the way to go.
Get a Personalized Digital Product Action Plan
And MiloTreeCart as an accessible and efficient solution for creators looking to sell digital products, contrasting it with more complex platforms. I invite listeners to a free call to discuss digital product strategies.
If you want to talk about your digital product strategy, I would love it if you jumped on a free 20 minute call with me. It’s no hard sell.
It is really to talk through what you want to build. I’ll give you some ideas for your digital product strategy. I’ll share with you how others are having success. I’ll show you MiloTreeCart. You could see if it’s a good fit for you, but truly, I am here to help all of us make this transition into this new world. If you want to get on a call with me, just go here to book a session.
Other Related Blogger Genius Podcast episodes You’ll Enjoy:
- How to Make Money Blogging in 2024 (New Trends) with Jillian Leslie
- Capitalize on Your “Vibe,” Use It To Grow Your Blog with Jillian Leslie
- A New, Exciting Way to Make Money with Brand Collaborations with Anca Toderic
- How to Embrace Imperfection and Authenticity as a Blogger with Brooke Riley
MiloTreeCart, the Best Tool for Non-Techies to Sell Digital Products
I also want to introduce you to the MiloTreeCart, a tool designed for non-techies to sell digital products easily. It comes with features like fill-in-the-blank sales pages, check-out pages, a sales dashboard, upsells, and customer support. MiloTreeCart is currently available for a lifetime deal of $349 or three easy installments of $116.33.
Transcript: #315: Capitalize on Your “Vibe,” Use It To Grow Your Blog
Jillian Leslie (00:00):
Hi, I’m Jillian. Welcome to a brand new episode of the Blogger Genius podcast. But before I launch in, I have a question for you. How are you planning to grow your income in 2024 with competition from AI content and ad revenue potentially declining due to the phase out of third party cookies? My advice, it’s time to pivot by selling your own digital products and services to your audience. And this is where Milo Tree Cart comes in. Imagine setting up unlimited memberships, digital downloads, workshops, coaching and mini courses. And with our new AI created sales pages, all you need to do is type in your product name and you have a fully fleshed out sales page in seconds. It is like magic purchase by the end of January and we will get on a one hour coaching call. What I will help you come up with your strategy, share best practices, and show you how others are having tremendous success. And remember, we offer a 30 day no questions asked, money back guarantee, so there is absolutely no risk. Pause this episode, head over to milot tree.com and get selling your digital products immediately.
Announcer (01:22):
Welcome to the Blogger Genius Podcast, brought to you by Milo Tree. Here’s your host, Jillian Leslie.
Jillian Leslie (01:29):
Hey guys, it is Jillian, welcome back to the show. I have something interesting I want to talk about, and it is about this changing landscape we are finding ourselves in and how we can not only survive it but really thrive. What I really want to focus on is how we are no longer in this world of selling information. We are in a world where we are selling our vibes, our individual vibes. So what is a vibe? Well, to be honest with you, it’s a combination of your personality and your energy and your humor, your worldview, how you communicate, all of that stuff I call your vibe. And this is what is becoming invaluable. If you think about it in the past as bloggers, so let’s say you’re a food blogger, what was the goal? The goal was traffic loads of traffic. The more the better.
(02:40):
And it’d be like you’d have anonymous readers coming to your blog, consuming your content, and you’d be monetizing passively through ads on your site. Maybe you’re putting affiliate links into your post, hoping somebody clicks and purchases and notice we called it traffic and not people. But guess what? That is what I think is changing. In fact, I think it’s changing right now as search has evolved and AI has stepped in, third party, cookies are on their way out. This is how advertisers track people around the internet. If you think that your business is going to survive by relying solely on traffic, I think that’s a mistake. Now, do I think this is all going away tomorrow? I don’t. But my job is to look out into the future, see what’s changing and bring it back now to prepare you for any of these seismic shifts.
(03:44):
I will tell you AI is not going away and it is only going to get more popular and more powerful. What is this new business model? How are we ever going to compete with ai? Well, I will tell you what is the one thing that AI can’t be and that is human. It’s a different way of thinking about your business. Before, as bloggers, we could hide behind our blogs. I’m the creator of this blog, but really you, some random person who’s really traffic in my mind is just interacting with my blog. And I think that piece is going to go away because why come to your blog if I can automatically get that information through a Google search on YouTube and especially with chat GPT. So now it becomes much more about showing up with your expertise as a way to get people to feel who you are, sniff you out to see whether you show up as somebody they can trust, somebody they connect with. So it’s kind of about a feel and how do you then get your vibe out there? Well, before we talk about that, I want to just kind of do some simple math with you.
(05:14):
There is a guy, and his name is Kevin Kelly. He’s the founder of Wired Magazine, and he came up with this concept called 1000 True Fans. And what he said is, all you really need is an audience of a thousand true fans because if you could sell something to each of them for a hundred dollars a year, so that turns out to be like $8 and 25 cents a month after one year, you have made a hundred thousand dollars. That blows my mind. This is where I think this idea of cultivating your true fans becomes so powerful. So how do you do this? How do you attract people to you? It’s not to your blog, it’s not even to your content. It really is to you and your vibe. The way that I am doing this, and I welcome you to follow along with me is I had have decided 30 days ago that I was going to show up on Instagram doing two reels a day.
(06:21):
And yeah, I’ve been passively on Instagram, but the truth is when I think about Instagram, it’s always kind of made me uncomfortable. I don’t know why. And so I said, I’ve got to put my preconceived ideas about Instagram aside and I’m just going to jump in and make this commitment to myself to show up for 30 days and see what happens. So if you, again, follow me on Instagram at my lore, you can see my journey. And by the way, I’ve done it. I’ve done it for 30 days and a spoiler. I am now going to do it for another 30 days because I’ve really enjoyed it. Good stuff has come from it and I want to keep going. So let me talk about first of all, how I’ve been doing these reels and what the good stuff is. I am showing up in the morning.
(07:17):
I don’t even have an idea. I kind of have a basic idea. I shoot some, I look around, I see what’s going on, what people are doing. I get inspired. I think about my perspective, my view of the world, and I have a lot of opinions as if you listen to my podcast about digital products, about monetizing, about mindset, about where people are really having success. I’m all about separating out kind of the BS from the reel, and that’s what I decided I wanted to put out in my reels, but I don’t really know what I’m going to do in the morning and I just wing it. What I have learned is Instagram reels are different than they were a year, year and a half ago when I first started. They are really short A lot of times it’s almost just like this tiny teaser of five seconds of content and then you elaborate in the caption.
(08:13):
And now with chat GBT, it’s never been easier. So I come up with a concept, I film it. I haven’t even brushed my hair that day. I’ve got my coffee at least, and I’m just shooting stuff. And then I’m going to chat GPT and saying, Hey, flesh this out for me. This is what I want it to be about. And I get a rough draft and I edit it a little bit to make sure it sounds like me and I post it and I even go to chat GPT and say, give me 30 popular hashtags and post those as well. And probably within 10 minutes I have a reel. And it’s been really fun to see what happens. So has my follower count? Yes, not by a ton. And in fact, from what I’ve been learning, when you do something like this, it can take a while to start to pick up.
(09:05):
So maybe my followers have grown by 25 in these last 30 days. And I was told though, to not expect that that should be your result. Not to think that that’s going to tell you whether you’re doing it right or wrong. And in truth, it’s more of a vanity metric than anything else. The good stuff that has come from this is my connections to people. There are people I’ve known on the internet, but that they’ve reached out to me because they’ve been noticing I’m doing reels and we’ve gotten more connected. I’ve met new people, I’ve found new guests for my podcast. Here’s this one. I have sold my low tree cart just by them getting to feel my vibe. And trust me, I have had deeper conversations in dms. And so all of that has been such a win. And here is the other win.
(10:06):
I feel less, I mean, of course I will shoot a reel and cringe when I press publish, so please know that I am of course self-critical and all of that, but it’s lessening. And people have reached out to me and have said to me, wow, you seem really confident in your reels. And I almost laugh because if only they knew how I felt on the inside, it’s just so funny to me. But I do believe in fake it till you make it. And I’m starting to see that happen because in other areas of my business now, I’m totally cool shooting a video, I’m putting videos on my landing pages, I’m putting videos in my sales pages, I’m putting videos all over the place, and I credit doing these Instagram reels. So that is something that I recommend you challenge yourself to do. This speaks to this concept of nobody really cares about you.
(11:13):
They care how you can help them, but they’re not judging you and they are not looking at you through those critical eyes. And I think like everything that’s uncomfortable and awkward, when you work at it, you get better at it. I say this a lot about selling because it’s another thing that when you are no longer just focused on putting out content and getting traffic, but you are now, you’ve got this tribe of people that you’re connecting to. Your job is to sell them products and services to get to that thousand true fans selling each one something for a hundred dollars. So selling is another that I recommend you work on and get good at it. I find this whole approach incredibly liberating. So this is something I recommend you think about even if you’re an introvert, there are so many ways to make reels where you don’t even show your face.
(12:12):
Just use B roll like you walking or you drinking coffee from the back, and then just put a bunch of text on it, watch how other people are doing reels, and you will see it’s not as hard as you think. The other thing I recommend you lean into to cultivate your people is email your list. Your email list is only going to become more valuable. You have been hearing this on this podcast forever, that the money’s in your list, your email list is this asset that you own. Well, I believe your email list is only going to become more important in your business. So yes, please focus on growing your list. Yes, offer an opt-in that I say should be like a Hershey’s kiss. It should be tiny quick to unwrap and pop in your mouth and you don’t notice when somebody offers you a Hersheys kiss.
(13:13):
You do not save this for later. It gives you this rush of chocolatey goodness and you want another one. That’s how your opt-in should be. And it leaves you wanting more, like I give you this quick useful, maybe fun or easy to consume. And you go, whoa, I like Jillian. She’s giving me value. What else does she offer? Think about it this way, because someone has opted into your list, they have really invited you into their inbox. That’s an honor. It’s almost like somebody inviting you into their living room. So let them know that you appreciate that. Share who you are and why you’re an expert and why you’re trustworthy in your emails. Give them lots of value. And remember, email is the best way to sell what you offer. Okay, so to wrap this up, what do I recommend? I recommend you start by putting yourself out there.
(14:21):
It can feel awkward, but the reward is real. Think about how you can cultivate your 1000 true fans and remember finding your fans, finding your vibe is all about trial and error. It’s like you put something out there, you see how people respond. So I’m looking at my reels and seeing which ones do well and figuring out why they did well, maybe I know maybe I don’t. And doing stuff that’s similar to that. It is all about moving fast. It is all about finding traction. People talk to me about their digital product strategies a lot, and I definitely say, Hey, you want to create an ebook? Great, do it. Sell it for $15. Start there. But that’s just the start because then you move on to a live one hour workshop or courses or coaching or services that you can sell or memberships. And by the way, remember the money is in the memberships, but it’s all about taking that first step and seeing what sticks.
(15:35):
That’s how you are going to be building your business today. And what’s exciting about it is people are going to be building businesses in different ways. I think in say blogging, it was all of this magic traffic and then everything came off of that. I am thrilled to see the creativity blooming in this community of bloggers and online entrepreneurs. In fact, I have an upcoming episode with Anka from the Butter Table. She’s a food blogger, by the way. She’s a new food blogger. She doesn’t have a ton of traffic, she doesn’t have a ton of followers, but she has figured out how she can sell her user generated content to brands, which is really just short form video around food and cooking. And she’s doing awesome at this, and she shares her whole strategy. I love that she has found this. And I said to her, I bet you in six months you’re going to start teaching this to other food bloggers.
(16:39):
So here’s the thing, this can all feel overwhelming and scary. It can also feel exciting, and I recommend you choose exciting because when things change, there are opportunities. You just have to keep your eyes open and look for them. Assume most people won’t do what I’m recommending, they’ll be scared off. So if you are one of the people that does, you will win because it’s the law of numbers. It’s that most people are going to kind of shy away from all of this. You go toward it. You put your vibe out there, you let people get to know who you are, and they will be drawn to you and they will buy from you. So see this as your moment and be the person that starts figuring it out. Just be willing to be ready. A little cringey, a little awkward, and as my friend Faith Mariah says, be willing to be in the suck.
(17:38):
And then slowly, like I’m doing with Instagram, you start to get your sea legs. And I am here to help you navigate these waters as I am navigating them for myself. So what is the takeaway? It’s time to rethink your approach. We’re not just content creators. We are, as I like to call it, we are vibe creators. And in this world of AI and algorithms, that human touch, your unique vibe is more valuable than ever. So as we wrap up, remember Milo Tree Cart is here to support your journey because you can get a product up and selling on Milo Tree Cart in 10 minutes. And we’ve just rolled out AI created Sales pages. All you do type in the name of your product, and it is like magic. You will have a fully fleshed out sales page that you can put in front of your true fans to see if this is what they want from you.
(18:44):
So people keep asking me, well, why my low tree cart? Why not Podia or Teachable or Kajabi? They’ve got so many features. Well, you want to know why I don’t recommend Podia or Kajabi or Teachable because they have so many features. If you want to spend months building out these platforms, go for it. But you will end up spending a lot of time on YouTube watching videos. You will be obsessed with your fonts and you will not be selling, and I will get you selling and get you testing and get you stretching yourself so you can be one of those people who are really leaning into the change who will have success. If this sounds interesting to you and you want to talk about your digital product strategy, I would love it if you jumped on a free 20 minute call with me. It’s no hard sell.
(19:45):
It is really to talk through what you want to build. I’ll give you some ideas for your digital product strategy. I’ll share with you how others are having success. I’ll show you mileage regard. You could see if it’s a good fit for you, but truly, I am here to help all of us make this transition into this new world. If you want to get on a call with me, just go to milotree.com/meet milotree.com/meet because I would love to meet you. Please share this episode with someone who you think would benefit from it. And if you found a new interesting way to monetize, I would love to interview you on the podcast. Just reach out to me at jillian@milotree.com and I will see you here again next week.
