Podcasting Experiments

For several years, I've heard about the importance of building an e-mail list. "The money's in the list," I would hear along with examples of how the person implemented it.

I started an e-mail list, but I never did a whole lot with it.

I rarely promoted it.

I didn't provide a reason or benefit for someone to join the list.

All I've done is use it to send blog post updates, an occasional special post, and a few promotional e-mails.

Well, I plan on changing things!

Since I've heard many things about building an e-mail list, I've tried to compile several of the important elements from different sources. We'll look at:

How to collect the e-mail addresses
What to offer someone to join the list
How to promote the list
Options for ways to use the list

I know that I'm not prime example of how to do all of this, but I'm trying to bring all of this together to help all of us though this process. I'll come back later to report on how things went and how I may change things up.

I also welcome you to join me in building your e-mail list. If you have already started and have some tips to add to this, please add to the conversation in the comment section.
How to collect the e-mail addresses
There are several ways you can start an e-mail list. This list isn't comprehensive, but covers the most popular methods:

WordPress / Jetpack subscribe by e-mail
Feedburner
Mail Poet
MailChimp
Aweber
Infusionsoft
Benchmark

I would highly recommend not to use WordPress or Feedburner for collecting e-mail addresses. They are basically just ways for people to be notified of new posts. As far as I know, there's no way to send other e-mails to the list.

Mail Poet is a WordPress plugin that allows you to manage the e-mail list from the WordPress dashboard. I have it installed, but I haven't used it. There is a free and a paid version. Dustin Hartzler of Your Website Engineer has spoken about using it on his podcast.

MailChimp, Aweber, and Benchmark are basically similar services. MailChimp, however, has a free option if you have less than 2,000 subscribers and send less than 12,000 e-mails a month.

Infusionsoft, from what I understand, does more than manage your e-mail list and various campaigns. It can also help with sales and customer management. This is definitely a higher end service (not for the average blogger).

MailChimp is the service I currently use, and I plan to continue with them for the foreseeable future. I have is setup to send the people on my lists blog updates, plus I can send additional e-mails. I plan to start using an auto-responder series soon, which is a premium service for them. I'll talk about this later.
What to offer someone to join the e-mail list
Even with as great of content that you and I create, most visitors are not going to sign up just for blog updates. They would like a bigger incentive.

One great thing to offer is something special that they can download or view right when they sign up. This can be a PDF (e-book, report, worksheets, etc.), audio file, graphic, video, and more.

There was a few months that I offered a PDF ebook to those that signed up for my list. I since removed it. I can't even remember why I removed it!

I plan on implementing this on my list for this site. I have a short ebook written to help people get started with their websites. I've sent an early copy to those already on the list. It's being editing and formatted now, and it will be available for official use in a week or two.
How to promote the e-mail list
There are several places that you can promote your e-mail list. Each one has it's benefits and drawbacks. Here's a quick list:

The Feature Box
Top of Sidebar
After Single Post
The Footer
The About Page

We've been looking at blogging and writing as our primary focus, but we are going to switch gears for this week.

We all have unique skills. Each one is different, and we can learn to use them in different ways. Blogging is one way, but there are many other ways we can create content using these skills.

I have Brian Hull with us, who uses his unique skills in very creative ways. He has started to use his skills on his Youtube channel and working on doing voice acting.

I first learned about Brian because of his viral rendition of "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen.

Here's a preview of what we'll look at for the rest of this semester:

Session 10 - Networking with Mark Sieverkropp
Session 11 - Marketing your blog through e-mail and social media
Session 12 - Monetizing strategies for your blogging efforts
Session 13 - SEO and Google analytics

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!

The post How to use your unique skills to create content (2-9) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

We've been looking at blogging and writing as our primary focus, but we are going to switch gears for this week.

We all have unique skills. Each one is different, and we can learn to use them in different ways. Blogging is one way, but there are many other ways we can create content using these skills.

I have Brian Hull with us, who uses his unique skills in very creative ways. He has started to use his skills on his Youtube channel and working on doing voice acting.

I first learned about Brian because of his viral rendition of "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen.

Here's a preview of what we'll look at for the rest of this semester:

Session 10 - Networking with Mark Sieverkropp
Session 11 - Marketing your blog through e-mail and social media
Session 12 - Monetizing strategies for your blogging efforts
Session 13 - SEO and Google analytics

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments!

The post How to use your unique skills to create content (2-9) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

As we have been examining several aspects of blogging, we have generally been assuming that you are blogging alone. This is probably the most common scenario that you will find yourself in. Sometimes, though, you may find yourself working with someone else. One case would be with guest posting.

Another situation may involve a multi-author project, such as was the case with Jim Woods and Erik J. Fisher. I was able to talk to them about their process of working together on a writing project (writing two books together) back in Semester 1, Session 17. They shared some great insight and things to consider when approaching a partnership like that.

Now, their project didn’t really involve blogging, although Jim did blog about several of the concepts while they were in the writing process. Many of the principles, though, can apply to a blog-based project with multiple authors.

Multi-author sites
There are many sites that utilize multiple authors. Much like an online newspaper or magazine, these authors contribute articles (blog posts) on a regular basis. There is usually some sort of schedule where each one will post a certain times.

This can be a great option for some people. You could draw from many different sources and points of view. You can also provide a higher volume of high-quality content by having daily postings (or several times a day). This can provide a great increase in website traffic and, as a result, higher chance of monetizing through the site.

Some draw backs could be that individuals get lost behind the overall brand of the site. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can see the author getting overlooked because the reader is just concentrating on the actual content itself.
Multi-author collaboration
Another format is where multiple people collaborate together to provide a single piece of content, much like Jim and Erik did with their books. There can be an even greater chance of the individual getting lost behind the brand, but there can be some great benefits, too.

I started such a project. It started back in May/June of 2013. That is when it was announced that a new season of “24” would be coming the following year. I had been podcasting for a few months at that time, so the thought of starting a podcast based on the show came to mind. I didn’t want to do the show myself, so I looked for a possible co-host.

I remember my friend, Mark Sieverkropp, mentioning once that he loved the show, so I asked him if he’d be interested in joining me. After a couple e-mail exchanges, he agreed. We spent June and July watching the news and planning how we would approach it. We decided that we would try to cover each of the previous seasons before the new season started. We launched the podcast (The 24 Podcast) in August, giving us about 9 months to cover the 8 seasons of the show.

It was an intense 9 months because we were trying to re-watch as much of the show as possible. What we couldn’t watch, we looked for summaries to jog our memories. We were also able to get two other guys to come on as guest hosts periodically.

As the new season started, we would watch the episode that Monday (or Tuesday morning online). We would then record and episode on Tuesday or Wednesday, giving our commentary on it. We got a lot of great feedback and interaction from people on Twitter.

Then, the season came to an end.

We were faced with a decision: what do we do now? We didn't know if another season would come or not and we had already recapped the entire series.

One thing we had done throughout the podcast was give our predictions and story ideas. Some of them panned out, and others flopped. But that gave me the idea to try writing our own story line. A fan-fiction project. This idea was also mentioned by Jim Woods, who had no idea I was already thinking about it.

At the time, I had no idea what it would really look like or what it...

When you are blogging, you also want to consider your website as a whole.  Not only do you need to focus on the content on the blog posts, or in the overall site design, but you also want to look at the pages you have.
9 website pages to consider
Depending on your unique situation, some of these pages may not apply. You can at least learn what they are and maybe you can adapt it your site. Some of these were covered in a previous podcast session (5 Key Components for Your Website).

1. About page

2. Contact page

3. Guest post guidelines

4. Hire me page

5. Store page

6. Resource page

7. Getting Started page

8. Archive page

9. 404 page - 404 to 301 plugin

The post The 9 website pages you may want to consider (2-7) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

Many are concerned about the design and layout of their websites. This session covers several things that you want to consider regarding your website design:

WordPress Theme
Clean layout
Minimalism
Sidebar - to have or not to have?

Your website design
As you get started, you want to put a good consideration into the theme that you choose. A great design for your website isn't a one-size-fits-all - everyone's needs are different. Take enough time to choose wisely.
Your website theme
You can choose between free and premium themes. There are also great WordPress frameworks available, such as the Genesis Framework (which this site it built on).

The post Simple web design and layout tips for your blog (2-6) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

If you are blogging, you are likely wanting to create a conversation with your readers. A great way to do this is utilizing a comment system.
Why you may not want comments
There are some cases where you may not desire to have comments. There are some thought leaders that have opted to disable comments on their blogs. Seth Godin, for example, doesn't allow comments. He chooses to give to his readers and have them share the post on social media. He wrote a post about his reasons back in 2006.

One reason you may choose not to allow comments is the potential time commitment. Especially if your readership grows, the number of comments will grow. This increases the amount you need to read and potentially respond to. This increases the amount of possible spam comments or trolls looking for a fight.
Why you might want comments
Despite the work involved, you want to cultivate a deeper relationship with your readers by creating a conversation. You start the conversation in the body of the post, then the readers respond to it, and hopefully the conversation with continue.

You may be looking for the extra perspective that your readers may provide. You probably don't know everything about your subject, and your readers may be able to provide a different perspective that you hadn't considered. Maybe you'll be able to get ideas for future blog posts based on the comments and questions in the comment section.
Managing the comments
1. Use a commenting system
WordPress comes with a built-in commenting system. Some people use it and love it. Personally, I don't care for it too much. I like using a third-party plugin. Two that I have used are Livefyre and Disqus (pronounced "discuss"). I started with Livefyre several years ago, but switched to Disqus after seeing and using it on many blogs I followed.

Both Livefyre and Disqus require you to sign up for an account, which is simply providing your e-mail address or utilizing one of your social media accounts. They both also have a feature that e-mails you future comments on that post, allowing you to keep up with the growing conversation. (note: as the blogger, you'll receive notifications of comments anyway, but your readers that comment will be notified as well.)

One important aspect is spam filtering. Both of these systems help filter spam out. It's not fool-proof, but it's pretty good.
2. Use a spam filter
One popular spam filter is Akismet, which is a plugin that comes pre-installed on WordPress. You'll need to either sign up for a Wordpress.com account or connect to it to enable Akismet. There are different price points for Akismet, both free and paid.
3. Moderation
There can be debate on moderation of comments. One suggestion is to have all comments approved before they appear on the site. This is the best way to make sure spam or hurtful comments don't make it to the public. On the flip-side, it can hinder some of the interaction that can take place on the blog.

Based on recommendations from some top bloggers, like Michael Hyatt in his book Platform, I think that you should make it easy for people to leave comments. If you use a system like Disqus along with Akismet, you won't have to worry much about spam. The occasional may still show up, but you can easily blacklist them on the admin dashboard.
4. Comment policy
It would be wise to have a comment policy on your site. Michael Hyatt has some great resources regarding this: Do you need a comments policy?
5. Interact
One of the main reasons for having comments available is so you can interact with your readers. If you write your blog post and let your readers comment, but you don't show up again, you're being rude. Imagine doing this at a dinner party: would you start a conversation with someone and then walk away while they are talking?
Other helpful plugins

We all have an inner-editor that can help us improve the quality and flow of our writing. But, there is tremendous value in having someone else take some time to edit your work.

Today, Jim Woods joins us to talk about editing, and his experience on both sides of the process. You can check out his website, connect with him on Twitter, or join his Facebook group, Writers Unite.
Resources:
Five incredibly simple ways to help writers show and not tell

Bury the "I"

Common words/phrases in Scrivener
An example of an edited blog post
Jim Woods edited a blog post I did ("What's the ideal post length"), and I show you the before and after of this process in this PDF:

Editing a Blog Post Example

Quotes from the conversation
[Tweet "It's amazing how much extra #perspective can really help. - @jimwoodswrites"]

[Tweet "Most #writers are intimidated by the process of #editing. - @jimwoodswrites"]

[Tweet "A good #editor has the best final piece in mind. - @jimwoodswrites"]

[Tweet "You have to put out your best product. - @jimwoodswrites"]

[Tweet "What's logical for you may not be logical for your ideal reader. - @jimwoodswrites #editing"]

[Tweet "Sometimes we hit the publish button too quickly. - jimwoodswrites #editing"]

The post How to utilize the power of editing your blog posts with Jim Woods (2-4) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

As we dive further into blogging, we are going to look specifically at the content itself.

Utilizing some of the ideas from the previous session (looking at search engine optimization), there are several key areas that we need to look at regarding our content. Remember that SEO covers both the front end (the visual end) and the back end of your website. We are just looking at the front end today.

1. You need a powerful headline
This is one area I need to really work on improving. Headlines are the title of your post. They are the second thing people usually see (after a relevant image) and the first thing people read. They are the doorway into the post, so you want to make it as appealing (yet truthful) as possible.

Copyblogger has some great resources regarding magnetic headlines.
2. You need an intriguing opening
If the headline can be compared to the door of a house, the first sentence and paragraph would be the entrance welcoming you to come further. Just as the entrance to a house can set the mood for the entire house, the tone is set in these first few words.

Jeff Goins suggests starting with a quote, a question, or a bold, audacious statement. A short, relevant story can help draw the readers' attention and create a desire to keep reading.
3. You need headings and sub-headings
It's an older study, but the Nielson Norman Group deduced in 1997 that 79% percent of Web users scan content rather than read it. One reason they give is that it is more difficult to read on a screen than it is to read on paper, slowing the person down. If you couple this with the fast-paced society we live in, people what to quickly find what they are looking for.

Heading and sub-heading help to make the major points stand out. A scanner of your content should get a good idea what you are talking about just from a quick look through. Hopefully, you can entice them to slow down and read more thoroughly, but you should make it easy for them.
4. You need shorter sentences and paragraphs
Longer, complex sentences make it more difficult to read. I know, I know. In English class, you were taught to write with a variety of sentence structures. But that doesn't always work well online.

Remembering that many people are just scanning your content, they will miss more if there is a large sea of text. Shorter, simple sentences make it easy to see the point. Short paragraphs make it easy to visually break things up.

White space is good.
5. You need to emphasize your text
Well, don't emphasize all of your text. Just the text that needs to stand out more. Not everything can fit as a heading, but still needs more attention that the text around it.

You can emphasize text by using bold, italics, or strike-through.
You can use lists, both numbered lists and bullet points.
Underlining is not a good method because it can look like a link.
Putting a word or single sentence on its own can help bring emphasis, too. (white space is good)

Other considerations
I plan on covering some more regarding the content itself, but here are some other things to keep in mind:

Post length - short or long?
Call to action
Images
Links
Guest posting
Republishing

Question: How can you improve your content? Is there anything you would add to this list?

The post How to improve the content you are creating (2-3) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.

In this episode, Ilya Fainstein joins us to share his tips regarding Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You can contact Ilya on his website.

SEO is basically sending out a proper signal to the search engines so they can interpret what your website is about, make a judgment about your website, and then rank your site accordingly in search results.
Submitting your site to search engines
Sometimes you may get e-mails or see advertisements for people offering services to submit your website to search engines (making you think that you won't be found if you don't).

It's not really necessary to do this because the search engines are good at finding sites. Through Google Webmaster tools, you can submit an XML sitemap to them. This may accelerate the process, but it's nothing to worry too much about.
Back-linking
It is one of the most important thing in SEO, but it has changed. There were bad practices of paying for rubbish links to your site - this will lead to negative consequences from Google.

A good example: you write a blog post and then someone authentically links to your article from a relevant site.
Get quality links!
Meta tags
Meta tags are really important, but not to SEO rankings. There is no need for stuffing the keyword meta tags - Google ignores these for ranking purposes. You have to write your meta-tags like a good ad. They won't help your ranking, but will help the click-through rate.
Keywords
Consistency is key.
It is half-art, half-science.

Have the keyword be consistent throughout the entire structure of the post:

Post title
Post url
Throughout the body of the post

Use the keyword naturally!
Use synonyms - Google is smart enough to figure out that you may use other variations throughout.
Creating content
Just creating great content isn't enough. It is vital, but it doesn't stand on its own.

Write your content for people (not computers), but you have to get out there and promote your content.

Derek Halpern talks about an 80-20 rule regarding this: 20% content creation, 80% promotion.
Extras
SEO is a very confusing topic. There's a lot of information and things change quickly, so you need to pick your sources carefully.
SEO is not dead!
As long as Google provides search results, SEO will be very much worthwhile.

The post Search Engine Optimization with Ilya Fainstein (2-2) appeared first on Creative Studio Academy.