The Project 24 Podcast

Trouble getting traffic to new websites is probably the single biggest killer of new internet businesses.  It’s something that new internet marketers worry about, but that more experienced internet marketers have done enough times to be confident with.

In this episode, I share my very best strategies for driving traffic to new sites.  Follow the recipe, and you’ll start to see results.  But driving traffic requires your best efforts at writing shockingly helpful content and then getting the message out on the channels that give the quickest returns.

Enjoy the episode, but more importantly, implement it.

Jim

Helpful resources

This post has an example of the pins I create to get pinterest traffic to my sites.  Look half way down the post on the right side for the tall graphic that is my Pinterest bait.

You want a complete stranger to offer you $1,000.  Really, it’s true.  Every website owner hopes that he can acquire a visitor who becomes a fan who then becomes a customer who then becomes a repeat customer.  Eventually, you want the lifetime value of that customer to hit $1,000.

If you approach the stranger today and ask for the moola, chances are low that you will succeed.  The real success needs to come by degrees.

In this episode I present what I call the “Layered Engagement Plan.”  It’s a simple 5-minute exercise you can do on a scrap of paper that will save you months or years in how quickly you succeed in getting groups of strangers who visit your website to become a true audience that purchases what you offer.

Enjoy the episode, but more importantly, implement it.

Jim

One common mistake I see with newer websites is that they allow their sites to look little.  There is nothing wrong with looking like a small business that gives a personal feel and the personality of  an individual, but there is a problem with making your website look undesirable and worthless.

In this episode, I show my strategies for making a small site look valuable, but personable at the same time.

Enjoy the episode,

Jim

Helpful resources

This episode of the podcast closely follows Step 4 of my “Get Started Blogging” guide

No business tip has been more beneficial to me than a lesson I learned on a podcast 3 years ago.  The podcast was an interview on Smart Passive Income about writing helpful blog posts.  Pat Flynn wrote an article about me and the success I had following the advice from that podcast.

The suggestion that helped me so much was that the interviewee mentioned that he sometimes spent 2 or 3 days on a single blog post.  This blew my mind, because before then I had not spent more than 45 minutes on a blog post, and most of my posts were a measly 500 words long.  As soon as I implemented the “shockingly helpful content” rule in my business, it immediately took off.

In today’s podcast, my goal is to inspire you to create something shockingly helpful on your website.  It’s the best marketing you can buy.

Enjoy,

Jim

Helpful resources

Jim’s recommended setups for internet marketing and podcasting

You may think that running an online business would mean doing a lot of technical work to make your website run.

But the reality is that tools like WordPress and a quality hosting company make running a website incredibly easy.  In fact, I find that the dips and plateaus in my business are usually caused by me spending too much time tweaking the technology I use to podcast and create my website, and not enough time simply recording videos with my cell phone for youtube, opening up a word processor and typing a blog post, or firing up the mic and recording a podcast.

In this episode I want to share with you exactly how you can set up the technology in your business in a simple way so that you can focus on what will actually cause your business to grow–great content.  For my recommendations on a solid technology to run your business on, including my recommended email provider, host, free wordpress plugins, etc, click here.

Enjoy the episode,

Jim

This episode closely follows step 1 of the “Start Your Blog” series.  Definitely start here if you want to start a new business online.

Jim’s recommended WordPress Themes

Jim’s recommended Hosting Providers

Business coaches talk about “finding your niche” like they would finding your soulmate–as if there were only one “right” one out there, and you just have to find it.  It isn’t true, and it keeps thousands or millions of people each year from starting businesses that could have been successful.

The truth is that to be successful online, you simply have to ask yourself one question: “What is one way I can be helpful to others, that I could do by sharing information on a website?”  Answer that, and you have a business.

Now that you have that business, will you spend the next 6 months thinking about it, second-guessing yourself, or will you throw down all out thermo-nuclear war on that topic until you have the best resource on the web for that topic?  If you choose the second option, you’ll likely be rewarded with income.

Enjoy the episode,

Jim

This episode closely follows step 1 of the “Start Your Blog” series.  Definitely start here if you want to start a new business online.

50 Niche Site Ideas Ripe for the Taking

How we find niche site ideas that earn real money

Business advice is everywhere.  It’s in my earbuds, my RSS feeds, on my Facebook newsfeed–and constantly on glossy ads in my mailbox.

The most popular bits of business advice are those which require the least amount of work and expertise, and yet produce the quickest and most dramatic hockey-stick-graph results. I love quick fix business advice.  I’ve implemented many of those techniques and some have actually produced results. But the truth is that tricks only last a short time.

To truly succeed, there is a business lesson that must always be applied.  It’s desperation, and it’s the business lesson nobody wants.

In this episode of the Income School Podcast, I set a framework for your mind to follow in starting your online business.  I explain the mindset you have to have to win.  The mindset is one of never turning back, never second guessing, never wondering.

Just going out and throwing down all out thermo-nuclear war every day until you succeed. Once you have this mindset, it will prevent you from quitting–ever.  Because failure is not an option.  Your income controls an incredible amount of your lifestyle, and you can’t risk losing that. Now that you have your head on straight, we’re getting into the nuts and bolts of online business–starting with episode 3.

Hope you enjoy the episode, Jim

In episode 1 I invite my wife Emily to join me on the podcast and we talk about where we started the blog from, the struggles and successes we saw along the way, and where our blog has taken us today.  I thought it would be helpful to have Emily on this episode because she provides such a more personal touch than I do.  I really wanted this episode to be a bit more intimate and open than my usual tone.

Hope you enjoy the episode,

Jim