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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.
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?
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Where are the opportunities with changing algorithms?
Should you be directing people back to your blog instead of your social media platforms? Can you adapt and adjust in the ever-changing world of online business?
That’s what my friend Camille Whiting and I are talking about in today’s episode. Camille has a blog called Friday’s We’re In Love, where she documents the dates she goes on with her husband every Friday night.
We talk about how to stay nimble as an entrepreneur in an online world that is constantly changing. Camille has a unique perspective on how to be flexible and continue to test new things in her business.
Camille has four main ways that she monetizes her blog:
Right now, Camille is focused on growing her traffic.
A year ago, Camille was working hard on her Instagram. But after seeing how the platform was changing and not serving her as well as it could, she decided to be flexible and seek out other avenues.
Camille uses social media because it’s fun to her, but she is serious about her site and using it to grow traffic.
Camille is not one of those people who wastes time whining about algorithm changes. As a matter of fact, as a user, she appreciates the algorithms and how they work to make her experience better.
The algorithm changes do act as a wake-up call for her business though. It serves as a reminder that nothing is constant. We, as bloggers, know that things change constantly.
So Camille asked herself a question: With social media changing all the time, what could she own that wouldn’t change? And the answer was email.
She’s had an email list for a couple of years but this year, she shifted toward more of an owner mentality. She realized the reach she has with her list; that her message is not limited in any way when she communicates with her email subscribers.
Camille believes in copying big companies’ strategies.
When she first started seeing blogs take off and make money from their readers, she also had the advantage of being in a group of Fortune 500 companies who were experimenting with their own websites and social platforms.
Camille got to watch these businesses spend millions of dollars just trying new things. That’s where she gets her experimental mindset.
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Big companies go above and beyond to serve potential customers; they give away freebies, etc., before they try and make a sale.
Right now Camille is trying to continue growing her audience, as well as fortify the relationship she has with her current audience, so she can make more sales.
Camille has switched up her use of Google Analytics to find out what people want to read from her, not just what she wants to write for them.
In past years, Camille would only write about her passions, but people were looking for more than just date ideas.
Camille wrote more varied content, covering the topics her audience wanted to know about.
You will see more traffic when you give people what they want.
So you must be strategic when thinking about the topics you are going to write about.
See what content is already doing well, and create more content around that topic. And be sure to include links to the other posts you have on that topic so that Google will know that you have the information searchers are looking for.
As Camille has shifted her focus from writing about whatever grabbed her attention, to writing the content that serves her audience, she has seen organic traffic growth.
You can write tons of content for very niche subjects. Take that big-picture subject and break it down into smaller pieces. And don’t feel like you’ve covered everything; there is always something else to say or another point of view to write from.
A previous guest on my show, Nate Woodbury, has a great way of thinking about creating content for niche topics.
He says that as you gain authority in small topics that all relate to each other, over time you gain overall authority in that topic.
Think of a tree as the topic as a whole. Then go leaf by leaf by leaf (smaller niche areas). Once you have a few leaves covered, begin to cover the trunk. Before you know it, you will have covered the entire tree.
Camille attributes her success to being an early adaptor to new platforms.
Video is very important on all platforms this year. Camille has had to recognize and adapt to the fact that she needs to upload videos, as well as written content, in order to grow.
Camille sees her competitive advantage as finding ways to create content that’s not easily duplicated. If somebody can easily copy your style or your content, it’s time to up your game. That’s why she’s doing much more video.
When Camille learns a new skill or hops onto a new trend, she thinks about how that knowledge can serve her even if her business were to fail.
How she could adapt and move on to something else and succeed with what she’s learned?
Online entrepreneurs typically have more diverse knowledge and skills needed for their business than most people.
The more you learn, stay up to date on changes, and adapt to those changes, the bigger the competitive edge you are going to have.
What is your competitive edge? What skills have you learned in your online business that you could take to another opportunity if your online business failed today?
I’d love to hear from you on the things you’re learning. Are you an early adopter? Does fear hold you back from trying new things?
Come join me on Facebook on Mondays at 3 pm where I discuss the podcast and all my favorite takeaways.
Try the MiloTree pop-up app on your blog for 30 days risk-free!
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If I say the words, “social media,” what comes to mind?
Does it fill you with a sense of dread because you’re overwhelmed trying to figure out what you should be doing and how much? Or do you feel confident because you love social media and it the easiest part of your business?
Whichever way you lean, I think you will get a ton of information from today’s show where we’re talking about how to use social media to grow relationships and engagement with your audience.
Today, my guest is Neal Schaffer, a social media strategy consultant.
Neal teaches large companies how to best use social media to grow and stay engaged with their customers. We’re talking about many different social media platforms today, hearing his insights on how to have success on each.
But first, if you haven’t joined my Facebook group, The MiloTree Mastermind Group, I want to encourage you to do that today! Every Monday at 3:00 ET, I go live in the group to talk about that week’s podcast episode.
I go over the highlights, what I learned, and what I think it’s important for you all to take away from the discussion. It’s a great place for you to ask questions and to share your knowledge with others. I hope you’ll join me!
As bloggers, we work alone most of the time. It can be an extremely isolating lifestyle.
That’s why Neal puts a huge focus on building relationships. I want to tell you how I met Neal as a great example of using online research to build those relationships.
I use an app called Bonjoro to send a personal video to everyone who signs up for MiloTree.
Recently, I had sent a video like this to Neal, as he had signed up for MiloTree. A few weeks later, I was randomly researching “social media experts” and I saw Neal’s name on a list of people to follow.
I knew the name looked familiar so I went to his website and realized I had just recently sent him that video, welcoming him to MiloTree. And the rest, as they say, is history. We connected from there and here he is, on my show!
All of that to say, you have to be reaching out and building those relationships with your followers and with those you follow.
Neal points out that if you follow 1,500 people on Instagram and you send just 5 of them a direct message every day, you will have contacted every one of the people you follow in a year!
But don’t just message them; ask them how you can serve them. Being able to connect one-on-one is a huge step toward helping other people in the online space to remember you.
When your goal is to increase your presence online, build relationships, and increase brand awareness, you have to focus on consistency.
If you’ve been blogging for a while now and you feel discouraged, if you feel like things will never work out for you and you will never meet your goals, the first thing Neal wants you to remember is that success is often just on the other side of giving up.
Don’t stop creating content and putting it out there. Go back to your “why,” the reason you started your blog in the first place. What are you trying to accomplish by being on social media?
If you don’t know “why” you’re using social media, you aren’t going to be successful with it.
Most bloggers are very good at gaining followers. It comes naturally to us. The trick is what to do once we have those followers and how to monetize them.
The main goals of online business are:
If you want to attract people who will be interested in what you sell, you have to push out the type of content that will draw those same people in.
Focus on the platforms that give you the best returns and work on growing those. You don’t have to build every platform at the same time.
The platforms that work the best for Neal may not be the same ones that you are the most successful with. That’s okay; do what works for you.
Instagram requires a different strategy than other social media platforms. Neal posts a few times a week on IG but his goal is to be publishing daily.
While Neal has mostly used IG to keep in touch with people rather than using it for business, when he’s traveling and doing conferences, he focuses more on posting photos of what he’s doing.
Over the past year, he has focused on developing his own Instagram strategy, and that begins with the premise that IG should not be 100% dedicated to business.
When you have a broader reach and you post things your community will engage with, whatever that may look like, it helps your overall reach.
These days, Neal’s IG posts fall pretty neatly into 3 buckets of content:
His business posts get the worst engagement, but by mixing it up, he can at least keep people interested in that side of it.
Neal believes strongly that you need a lifestyle focus on IG and your posts should lean heavily in that direction. Why? Because those are the posts that allow your followers to feel like they really get to know you.
A potential client is following you and they see a post that makes them feel a connection to you. Maybe it’s a shared passion or a place they’ve also been to. You posting about your passions will connect you to those people who share your passions.
One of the cool things about Instagram is the options available. You have a main feed filled with posts but you also have the ability to share even more with your audience by using stories.
It’s important to post to stories more frequently since they do disappear after 24 hours.
Instagram now has the option of having a Creator account, which is what Neal has. This is not the same as a business account but it is public. It provides you with tools to better understand your growth and manage your IG presence.
While IG posts can be put off indefinitely, stories are more for what’s happening right now. Also, the IG audience tends to engage more with creators on stories than on posts.
Instagram is a bit different than Facebook when it comes to your followers vs who you follow.
You want to be focused on who you are following and how you are connecting with them and building relationships.
Neal is reducing his follower count because he does not want unengaged followers. He wants his content to go to the people who will engage with him.
If someone is following you and not engaging, you are wasting a follower.
Go into your app, and you will be able to sort the people you followed by the date you followed them.
Go back to your first follows, and choose 5 per day to visit their feed, send a message, and ask how they are doing. Just basically reconnect with them.
If you do these in order of when you followed them, just grab a screenshot of the last DM you sent, and the next day, pick up where you left off and keep going.
You don’t need to spend hours on social media to be able to build meaningful connections and grow your organic community.
Neal does not spend the majority of his time there. It can still be a valuable asset, but it is one that takes more work.
Facebook ads are still a great place to find your people and build community.
Neal still spends some time on the platform but it’s the bare minimum that keeps his account active. He typically posts once per day and does live streams occasionally. He also sometimes uses his Facebook lives to record his podcast.
Compared to Facebook, Instagram can have a bigger reach, simply because the sheer number of people on Facebook limits your reach.
Don’t disappear on Facebook but keep life support connected to it. Neal uses it for recording his live streams and for the ads. Otherwise, he focuses elsewhere.
Are you using LinkedIn as a blogger? Have you thought about using it? Isn’t LinkedIn just for trying to find a job or connecting with business people?
Here are a few very interesting statistics that Neal, shared with us:
Does this sound like anyone you are trying to reach or build relationships with? You want to be going after this audience.
There is one thing that never changes about social media: it never stops changing.
Algorithms change from day to day; audience engagement goes up and down based on the seasons; your content may not be applicable to every platform.
So how do you keep up with all the changes?
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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!