Grow your email list and Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and YouTube followers with our WordPress plugin pop-up!
Today, I’ve got a special episode, where I’m talking about how to find success during coronavirus. Yes, it is possible if you know how to pivot your business.
These are scary times, especially as online business owners, bloggers, and entrepreneurs.
Have you heard? Pinterest is making changes. In today’s podcast episode, Alisa Meredith, my dear friend and Pinterest expert, and I are talking about how to get ahead of the changes at Pinterest to win on the platform.
As bloggers, most of us depend on several platforms to drive traffic to our blogs. One of the major players in the game is Pinterest. Pinterest is responsible for driving millions of page views to our site, Catch My Party, every single month.
We are doing something a little bit different today. I recently hit a podcasting milestone, so I decided to celebrate by sharing what I’ve learned reaching 100+ episodes. Phew! I can’t believe I did it!
My friend and MiloTree community manager, Paula Rollo, is back to help me share with you all some behind the scenes from the podcast.
Before we jump into the content though, I want to speak directly to those people who have been listening to this podcast for a long time because they’re interested in starting their own blog but they haven’t made the leap yet, for whatever reason.
Blogging is a great way to set up your online business, but the technology holds so many people back.
Well now, you don’t have to wait anymore!
MiloTree now has blogging start-up services. For a small fee, we will get your WordPress blog up and running, with the plug-ins we recommend and your blog optimized.
If you’ve decided that 2020 is the year you finally jump in and start your business, let us help!
Just go to MiloTree and sign up today.
I have always listened to and enjoyed podcasts. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I even look for excuses in my life to listen to my podcasts.
When I started this podcast, it was because I went to Podcast Movement and took a course on how to start a podcast.
I came home and told my daughter I was going to start a podcast and she said, “No you’re not.”
I had learned that if you can make it to your eighth episode, you are more likely to continue creating content for your podcast.
I told my daughter I would make it to episode 8, and I did it to prove to her that I could! I wanted her to see how if you put your mind to it, and do the work, things will happen.
My favorite part is that I am having an intimate, one-on-one conversation with someone that the world gets to listen in on.
I am not on a stage with a crowd of people watching me; I get to feel comfortable talking to someone as my natural self.
I can be my authentic self because I am focused on listening to the person I’m interviewing and responding to them.
I feel super honored to be let into people’s ears and I love meeting my listeners.
I try to get guests who are going to have different perspectives on building online businesses.
I want to be really curious and ask questions about what people want to know.
My audience is very sophisticated and they want to know the inner workings and tactics on how to build a business.
I want my guests to share their failures so that my audience knows what not to do, as well as what to do.
No one on my show is an overnight success.
We share our struggles, the years of hard work it took, and the sacrifices we had to make in order to get where we are now. I am all about debunking the myth of the overnight success.
I usually fly by the seat of my pants episode by episode. However, I’m always looking for interesting people to interview.
One thing I like is people who build their businesses in unique ways. We all know that there are certain things you can do to build an online business, but I want to talk to those people who try new things and who discover new ways to find success.
My audience is very diverse.
I want to introduce new ideas about money, social media, etc., to my more experienced audience who need to be taking those next steps.
I also have an audience of people who are just getting started in this sphere. For that audience, I want to help them get off the ground.
There is so much to learn about blogging and building an online business and it can be overwhelming.
That’s why my husband, David, and I started the BlogStart Service at MiloTree. We get it. We know how hard it can be if you don’t have experience in online business. Just getting a blog set up is a huge hurdle for most people.
We wanted to help people overcome that hurdle, so we now have a service that will get a blog up and running in a very short time for someone who wants to get started but is held back by the technology required.
I want to build a path for the people who want to start their businesses but don’t know the in’s and out’s.
If that describes you, please join our New Blogger Coaching Group we are starting March 2nd. Our goal is to give you a roadmap to go from blogger to profitable online entrepreneur.
Our coaching group will focus more on beginning bloggers, while this podcast will continue to do deep dives into specific aspects of the blogging business.
I want my listeners to know that I want to help them. I am still learning too; we are all on this journey together.
To be successful on the internet we must all be continual learners, and having a podcast gives me the platform to ask all the questions I am wondering about.
If you enjoy this podcast, I want to say thank you. I am so honored that you make the choice to let me into your earbuds and that you trust me with at least part of your blogging education.
I would love to have you join my Facebook group.
I am trying to be in there every day, encouraging and offering tips and support for all of you. It is such a wonderful community of supportive entrepreneurs.
It is a dance. There are days where you kick butt. And there will be days when you feel too low to continue. You will question why you are even trying to accomplish this online business thing.
It is never as bad as you think, and it is probably not as great as you think.
You have to work through your emotions and know that you can still make a difference and grow. Tomorrow is another day.
Always know that you are making a difference in someone’s life. Whether that’s a reader, a family member, or someone you’ve never met.
It was fun to do this episode for you all. I hope you learned more about me and my reasons and goals for this podcast.
Now, why don’t you go right on over and join the Facebook group, and then head to MiloTree and let us help you with getting your blog set up or with some personal coaching?
Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free!
Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube.
Sign up today!
Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes.
Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!
Do you struggle with knowing how to write successful blog posts today?
How about how to constantly create new content and still do all the other things that blogging requires?
If you are curious about ads or systematizing your content creation, you’re going to want to listen to today’s conversation with Amber Bracegirdle.
But first, I wanted to share something with you. My husband and business partner, David, and I have noticed something; a lot of the listeners of this podcast want to start an online business or a blog, but they have no idea where to start.
So, if the tech required for starting a blog has been holding you back, I have great news for you!
MiloTree is now offering blog start-up services! Just go to MiloTree.com/BlogStart to see how we can help you.
We know how overwhelming it can be to start a business if you’re not tech-savvy.
That’s why we decided it was time to help people get over the hump of getting their blog set up so they could move on to creating content, serving their audience, and developing products.
=&0=&MiloTree.com/BlogStart =&2=&
We can’t wait to see what you build in 2020!
Amber Bracegirdle is one of the founders of MediaVine, an online ad network. Many of our listeners use MediaVine on their blogs for ads.
In this conversation, Amber shares how Mediavine came to be a business, her system for creating great content, and what the future holds for publishers and bloggers.
I think you’re going to love this episode, so let’s get to it.
There are many different ad networks that bloggers can work with and they each have their own unique qualifications.
Mediavine requires you to have at least 25,000 sessions, not pageviews, in a 30-day period.
They prefer to work with bloggers who target audiences from mostly English-speaking countries because that is where you are going to make the most money.
The other requirements are that you must post long-form content, your site must be at least 3-4 months old, and you must be in good standing with Google AdSense.
In today’s world of blogging, you have to differentiate yourself from other bloggers. Finding ways to stand out from the crowd is a good thing.
If you’ve been blogging for several years, as Amber and I have, you may have an idea of what a blog post is “supposed” to look like.
You start with your topic, create long-form content around that topic, and at the end of the post, you give your reader a call to action.
Unfortunately, that’s where most bloggers stop.
But there are so many other types of content that will allow your blog to rank higher in search engines.
Venture out from the type of post you’ve always created and try a list or answer some common questions.
Back in the early days of blogging, bloggers could write about whatever they wanted. If I wanted to try a recipe for dinner, I could snap a few photos and write about how I made the recipe and whether or not my family enjoyed it.
Not anymore.
Blogs are no longer merely online journals of your daily life. Nowadays, bloggers have to be much more strategic about what they write about and how they write about it.
And that’s where keyword research comes into play. Knowing what your audience is searching for is going to grow your traffic as you provide answers to their questions.
Be strategic about how you cover every aspect of a topic, with a different problem and answer in every post. And be sure to include links in each post to the other posts on that topic.
You don’t have to put your content out to every audience you have, but it is on your site for the person who’s going to ask that question and need your answer.
You have multiple audiences and you can cater to the different people coming to you from all over the internet.
Someone coming from Pinterest wants something different than someone coming from Google.
Be strategic about who you are writing your content for, and how you can reach everyone from every walk of life. This helps you avoid burnout as you create different forms of content rather than always having to create something new from scratch.
Video is growing in popularity and in importance.
It’s great for your site’s SEO; it’s great user experience; it’s huge for your income.
Just as an example, the CPM, (or cost per 1K ad impressions) for video ads in 2019 was $19. Whereas the CPM for display ads was $2-3.
The only problem with video is there isn’t enough video content to meet the demand for it.
From the beginning, Mediavine has been interested in giving the reader what they want, and in the process, they gave the advertisers what they wanted as well.
If you’re ready to start working with Mediavine, you can contact them at Mediavine.com, and listen to Amber’s podcast at Theory of Content.
Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free!
Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube.
Sign up today!
Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes.
Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!
Do you want to learn how to build a seven-figure business teaching something you already know?
If so, stay tuned to hear my conversation with Luisa Zhou about how she built her business teaching people how to quit their day jobs.
Luisa shares the failures she experienced when building her business, and how much time it took her to figure out what she was going to offer her audience.
She also shares how she got started, and her decision to serve her people without worrying about how pretty everything was at the beginning.
But before we jump into my conversation with Luisa, I wanted to let you know that we have rolled out a brand new service here at MiloTree called MiloTree BlogStart.
We know that blogging can be a great way to start your online business, but we also know that it can be really challenging if you don’t have a lot of technical skills.
I’m so fortunate that my husband, David, is very gifted in the tech space, but I can tell you right now, I would be stuck more than I care to admit without him!
Our new service will have your WordPress blog up and running in a jiffy.
We will help you purchase your domain name and hosting, set up your secure site, optimize it, and we will also provide technical support afterward so you can be free of fear.
=&0=&
Head on over to MiloTree BlogStart=&2=&
Now, on with the show!
Luisa had been trying to start her own business for several years before she began to build the one that would ultimately allow her to quit her 9-5.
Learning what works and what does not work early helped Luisa launch her business successfully once she knew what she wanted to offer the world.
One of Luisa’s biggest mistakes was not getting to know her audience before she started trying to sell her knowledge.
A second mistake was making a beautiful site but not working to get traffic to her page or building a connection with her audience.
Once Luisa began doing things in the right order, she was making six figures in less than 4 months because she had learned what worked and what didn’t.
That was only possible because of the past 3 years of failures Luisa had gone through.
Failure is not a setback, it’s a lesson on how to move forward.
After those four successful months, Luisa left her day job to focus on a Facebook ad coaching business she was building.
But Luisa began getting questions on how to build a business while still employed in a 9-5.
After getting all of those questions, Luisa realized she could take the opportunity to coach people on how to start their own businesses.
Luisa didn’t start out with a plan to coach others, but when the opportunity presented itself, she knew she had the skills and experience, so she thought, why not?
If you hold too tightly to your dreams and plans, you could potentially miss huge opportunities that might not fit in with your plan for the moment, but could ultimately prove to be more lucrative and more satisfying.
When people started reaching out to Luisa about building a business and leaving their jobs, she already had experience creating a new business.
So, Luisa worked with a few clients before ultimately deciding to create a group program.
A group program is a hybrid of a course and a coaching program. There is course content, but it’s not completely self-paced. Luisa also comes in and answers questions, holds coaching calls, etc.
Luisa created the content as she went along. The questions and comments she received each week helped her form the content for the next week.
The people in Luisa’s group were shocked that she somehow always answered the questions they were going to ask. It was because she listened and learned what her audience needed.
Luisa also made sure that she was involved personally with everyone in her group. Reaching out to the ones struggling, messaging them, having calls, and investing in everyone who was part of her group.
After the huge success of her first group program, Luisa built up more content to be able to offer a larger, six-month group program.
She knew the number of people she needed in order to make X dollar amount because she had been experimenting with smaller groups.
She invited more customers this time around and increased the price of her program, and she had a six-figure launch.
Luisa used a combination of Facebook, Periscope, and webinars to get clients for the new group. She created a 5-day challenge to pique interest and drive sales.
She took the income number she wanted to reach and worked to drive that many sales for the group program. And she hit it with a $100K launch.
And over time she figured out how to build a seven-figure business teaching something she already knew.
Luisa took many courses over the years as she prepared to start her own business.
When she became successful, she hired coaches of her own.
Luisa knew that she needed to be willing to learn anything necessary to run her business.
Even if you don’t use the strategies that you learn, you will broaden your perspective and have ideas that are not your own.
It can be hard to invest in something and only get one piece of the puzzle you need. Luisa was often discouraged by learning all the things she didn’t know she needed to know.
Some people want to sell everything under the sun, and this simply doesn’t work.
The work that goes into building your knowledge, building the product, gaining an audience, and earning testimonials is incredibly time-consuming.
And you must do this for every service you want to offer.
Once you’ve built a product, focus on making sales rather than always having to build the next thing.
You’re going to be learning as you go, so spend your learning time fine-tuning what’s already working for you.
If you want to quit your 9-5 and be a successful entrepreneur, this is what you need to do:
Luisa says you can’t just offer anything and expect to replace your income. The best thing you can offer is some kind of premium consulting or coaching.
If you are selling your knowledge for $1K per client, you will be able to support yourself in quitting your regular job.
If you are selling a $100-500 course, you must sell many, many of them before replacing the income of a steady job.
Figure out where your potential clients may be online. Find them and mark on your calendar when you will take the time to connect, share value, and engage with them.
After a couple of weeks, people will begin recognizing you and you can offer free coaching calls.
After the call, you can pitch what more your clients can get from you for a fee.
Once you have three to five clients, you can start getting testimonials, and figure out the best way to help others.
After this, go back to focusing on getting potential clients.
The key here is to do the things that move the needle and stop doing the things that don’t matter. Connecting with people is the thing that moves the needle more than anything else.
If you don’t make connections with others, you will never build a successful business.
Luisa has a free offer for my listeners so be sure to grab that and get started building your own successful business!
And while you’re over there, be sure to check out her blog. She has a ton of great articles and amazing content to help you grow.
Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free!
Let your MiloTree pop-ups help you get to that next level by turning your visitors into email subscribers and social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube.
Sign up today!
Install your MiloTree pop-ups on your site in under two minutes.
Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!