In Episode 76, we begin our series on Growing Your Online Sales. To kick it off we could think of no one better than Pat Flynn.

If you are thinking of diving into this space, or already are doing online courses, this is a must-listen-to-show. Pat blogs at The Smart Passive Income Blog and hosts a podcast by the same name. Besides running one of the fastest growing blogs in the online marketing and blogging industry, he also has several other businesses,  including  niche sites. In today’s show we are exploring the big picture of how choose to grow your sales, whether through email, social or advertising, or a mix of them all. Learn how to get the most of of your strategies with some very helpful tips and insights from Pat.

We chatted about:

* If someone has the resources to use only a single channel for outreach, Pat gives his suggestions

* How to get started with your list building

* Finding that right incentive to get your readers and customers to opt-in

* Pat’s top tips for building your list through email, social and advertising

* If a channel is working for you well, should you stick with it or level out and work on some other channels

Thanks to Our Podcast Sponsor: Bluehost

Transcript

You can also download a pdf of the full transcript here: WordPress eCommerce Show Episode 76 May 15 2017

Bob Dunn: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the WP eCommerce Show. Bob Dunn here, also known as BobWP on the web. Today, we are kicking off our series on Growing Your Online Sales. And what better way to kick it off than to bring Pat Flynn on to talk about growing your list, which in turn grows your sales. Welcome to the show, Pat.

Pat Flynn: Hey, thanks for having me, Bob. I’m really excited to be here.

Bob: Yeah, this is so cool, Pat. I know odds are that many of my listeners already know you— or of you— but can you give us a rundown of everything you do? Because I know you have several different websites. Just a little bit for the person who says, “Who is Pat Flynn?”.

Meet Pat Fynn, Founder of SmartPassiveIncome.com

Pat: It’s funny because sometimes my wife and even my parents don’t know how to answer that question because there are so many things that I’m involved with. But my quick story is I got laid off in 2008 from the world of architecture and I took some knowledge I had about an exam that I had taken called The Lead Exam and I packaged that into a web site with practice exams and study guides and that sort of thing. That was my first foray into sort of doing my own business. And it really took off. I mean I had made over $200,000 a year after I started selling those things and a lot of people were asking me, “How did you do that? Tell me more. I want to learn— tell me everything.”

So I built a Web site called SmartPassiveIncome.com. It was October of 2008, just to give you timeframe. My goal was just to share everything I had done, everything that I wish I’d done differently and things that I’m learning along the way. And even down to the penny how much I’m earning and where it’s all coming from, what my sales are like and that sort of thing. So this was 2008. Now I have many other web properties, I have a software company. I have written books, I do public speaking and I go around the world and do keynotes and get paid for that, which is crazy because I never thought I would do that.

I’m working on my second book now and I have a podcast called The Smart Passive Income Podcast,