ProBlogger Podcast: Blog Tips to Help You Make Money Blogging

Today, I am traveling back in time and playing for you the audio of a video I made back in 2010. This video is called The Secrets of Making Money Blogging, and I share seven different secrets on how to make money blogging. The things I do say are important for bloggers of all stages to hear, and they should help you along your path.

Today we are talking about written content. I have one of our regular contributors Ali Luke, from Aliventures.com on the show today to talk about subheadings.

Many bloggers do an end of year review. It’s a logical time to do an audit of your blog and set goals. I also think that periodically checking in on those goals and setting new ones is a good idea. This being halfway through the year it is a logical time to do just that. I was also thinking about the best way to conduct a blog review and I came up with seven different areas to focus on. In each of these seven areas there are four questions you need to ask.

Today I am talking about when you should publish your blog post. What day of the week? What time of the day? For what timezone? I discuss some factors you should take into consideration when deciding on a time to publish.

I have done some Facebook advertising, especially when I have a product to launch. But since I’m not an expert, I brought in one of our Facebook advertising subject matter experts. Angela Ponsford from Dotti Media. Today Angela is going to share some tips on how to create our first Facebook ad.

I’ve completely fallen in love with podcasting as a medium and on this episode we celebrate the first year anniversary of the ProBlogger podcast. I'm joined by a podcasting friend of mine - Brooke McAlary from Slow Your Home. Brooke has fallen so in love with podcasting that she’s fully transitioned Slow Your Home away from being a blog to being a podcast and has gone on to start a podcasting network.

Writing That Develops a Personal Connection With Your Readers Have you ever felt a personal connection with a blogger who you’ve never met and have no real reason to feel a connection with?   You read their blog day after day and in time come to feel like you know them—as if their blog posts are almost written as private messages to you. This has happened to me numerous times over the years. I almost end up feeling that the blogger is my friend, even though I’ve never actually had personal contact with them. I’ve also been on the other side of that relationship quite a few times. I regularly meet people at conferences who come up and say that they feel like they know me even though we’ve never actually met. That personal connection can bring a blog to life! In Today’s Episode How can you foster this personal connection with readers? Listen to it here in the player above or over on iTunes here. Tell personal stories Sharing your own stories, not only shows you have knowledge, but you have experienced it too Stories make you more relatable to people Write as you speak This may not be everyone’s style, but I’m casual when I talk and I’m casual when I write How to Use Your Writing to Build Relationships and Build Your Brand Use personal language Incorporate language that makes the reader feel you are talking to them Use the word “you” when you write This moves the topic away from theory and makes it more applicable Picture a person while you’re writing A simple way to change the tone of your writing is to actually write your post with a person in mind. Chris Garrett talks about this a lot and encourages bloggers to visualize a person as they write. Similarly, I like to develop reader profiles, which I find helps me avoid writing for a nameless crowd of readers. Base posts upon REAL reader needs The more you write about real needs, the more you will connect People feel connected if they feel you understand what they are trying to overcome Get in the habit of asking your readers what their biggest challenge is Write about Your Readers Feelings, Fears and Dreams What really connects people is when you write about what they feel, think, fear, and dream. This makes your reader feel you are speaking to them on a deeper level An example of this was my last newsletter where I asked readers what their challenges were? The responses were fascinating, I analyzed them in a spreadsheet and even made a word cloud on the topics Strategies for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome was a topic I got from these responses After the show went live, I received messages from listeners that felt I was speaking directly to them This is the power of understanding your readers dreams, fears, needs, and challenges. Create that kind of content! Go Off Topic I try to keep my blogs on topic, but I do find ways to weave in other elements of my life My Instagram and Twitter accounts give glimpses into my life Occasionally, I’ll blog while on holiday or from my couch with a beer

Have you ever wondered what happens to your blog if you were to pass away? As a solo entrepreneur, I realized that much of what was needed to run this business was locked up in my head—a dangerous thing if something happened to that head! In today's episode I outline the things contained in my blogging will.

When you blog, having a bit of a thick skin might be useful because from time to time you’ll definitely get ‘feedback’ that may not be as a encouraging, helpful or constructive as it could be - and which at times may even enter into the territory of it being aggressive, attacking and personal. Today I offer tips on how to handle negative comments from readers.

Have you ever used 'we' when you really just mean 'I' in a blog post? Should you be using one over the other? Today, I answer a question I received about which to use and if it matters.

I know a lot of you are starting or relaunching blogs or starting second blogs. I want to outline a couple of different approaches that I see bloggers taking, and then give you some suggestions on how I would start to monetize my blog if I was starting again today.

Today, I am talking about whether you should use your real name when blogging or blog anonymously. Often times, bloggers introduce themselves to me and then say they blog anonymously. There are definite advantages of using your name and definite advantages of blogging anonymously. I am going to talk about some of the different options that are open to you that may be in between each choice.

Strategies for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Today I’m going to talk about an issue I see a lot of bloggers struggling with. In fact, I see a lot of blogger’s really crippled by this. I am talking about imposter syndrome. Note: this episode can be listened to in the player above or on iTunes or Stitcher This is something I have suffered with quite a bit over the years. I’m going to get a little personal today and tell you about those times when I was pretty much paralyzed by it. I’m going to get a bit honest today, and tell you that these weren’t the best times of my life. If you want to hear about it, then listen on. I think if you’ve suffered with this imposter syndrome. Hopefully, you’ll get something out of my story that will help you get through it yourself. Today I am going to present to you 7 different strategies to overcome imposter syndrome. We are going to touch on fear, self-doubt and feeling like others think you are a fraud. We are going to get really raw today. Do you ever fear that you’re about to be found out and that everyone is about to discover you’re not as smart as they think you are or that you don’t really know what you’re doing in some area of your life? Do you feel this way about your blogging? If so – you’re not alone at all, but you may be suffering from Imposter Syndrome. In Today’s Episode 7 Different Strategies for Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Understand that you’re actually suffering from this because you’re a high achiever At least be comforted out of the fact that you are not willing to settle for poor performance This may not fix it, but it’s good to know You need to work on self acceptance and realistic expectations There have been a number of times that I have been paralysed by imposter syndrome (World Domination Summit) I wrestled with it and became stuck I had unrealistic expectations about the results of this talk Perfectionism taken to the extreme can paralyse you Perfectionism also starts to creep into other extreme realities like being booed on stage or destroying my business I talked myself down to a more realistic reality and realized I didn’t need to be perfect I needed to be honest and true to myself Don’t be too hard on yourself, treat yourself kind * Focus on your audience – I realized worrying was incredibly selfish, it was all about me and not my audience I decided that every time I was worried about how I would be perceived, I had to stop thinking about myself and focus on my audience This is great advice for anyone creating something for an audience This is also why I’m trying to interact with my readers as much as possible One of the best things you can do to show that you are not a fake or fraud is to deliver value * Be Transparent – The most powerful thing you can do to smash through imposter syndrome is to blog with transparency People can only call you a fraud or fake if you are trying to be something that you are not Show people who you really are I was at SMMW a couple of months ago, and Cliff Ravenscraft talked about imposter syndrome. You are only an imposter if you are lying about who you are or what you have achieved. His suggestion was to always be honest when writing content by revealing:

On today's episode I'm talking about the characteristics and qualities of professional bloggers. Today I want to suggest to you 22 questions to ask yourself if you are considering starting a blog. These are not yes or no questions. These are 22 indicators to whether or not you might be suited to blogging.

How to Decide on a WordPress Theme for Your Blog Today I have a treat for you. Today we have a special guest, one of our new subject matter experts, Kelly Exeter from Swish Design. Kelly is one of those people who produces a heap of great content and also runs a business on the side. Kelly is one of the go to people in Australia when it comes to blog design. I received a question from Nils from Soul Thoughts who asks a question that many bloggers who are starting a blog. What is the best WordPress theme to choose for my blog (and how to make that decision). I’m not a designer, so I’m going to let our design expert Kelly share her tips on choosing the right WordPress Theme. You can either listen to the episode via the podcast player above or check it out on iTunes or Stitcher. Alternatively if you prefer to read – Kelly has written up the full show below for you to keep coming back to including all the links and resources mentiond in the episode. How to Choose the Right WordPress Theme for Your Blog Hello! I’m here today to try and answer this very big question: What are the best themes to use if you have a WordPress blog? And the very short answer to this is – there is no best theme. There are many themes out there that will work well for your needs. The hard part is narrowing down the list. If you type ‘WordPress themes’ into Google you will usually end up some place like ThemeForest where, at current count, there are over 6000 themes to choose from. Even somewhere with a slightly smaller selection like Elegant Themes has 87 on offer and Studiopress, the home of Genesis themes has over 50. So – how on earth do you choose the best theme for your needs from this wealth of choice? Well, my number one suggestion is to stop looking in those theme libraries and start instead with the blogs out there whose designs you love. Most WordPress themes these days are built on off-the-shelf templates which means that blog you love, you can access the same theme they’ve used. A quick word about this however – that blog you love – is it their header you particularly love? Or their typography? Or their imagery? If so, those are design elements that can be incorporated into any theme out there. When you’re deciding on a theme, you really need to choose one based on it having a layout you like – so you like how their logo and menu are placed, how their blog archives are laid out, how their blogs posts are laid out, and most importantly, what elements they have on their home page and where those elements are positioned. For example, if you choose the Metro Pro theme from Genesis – make sure you are choosing it because you like how it’s laid out … not because the demo has. So – let’s say you love the new Being Boss blog design at beingboss.club and you’re thinking that could work well for you.