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Did you know that the entire month of November is the “National Novel Writing Month?” The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel within 30 days. The focus is not on writing a master piece. But its on completing the novel.
Here is the amazing truth most NaNoWriMo participants stumble upon:
Time constraints Brew Insane Creativity!
The less time that you have, the better work you’ll do. How come? Because you’ll only focus on the most important things. You’ll develop the main plot and give more depth to the main characters.
NaNoWriMo Adaptation for Bloggers
Let me propose an idea: Lets ride along with NaNoWriMo. But instead of writing a novel from scratch, create an info product for your blog. An information product that can be sold for anything between $3 and $20.
Why Should You Create an Info Product?
Instead of relying on making money through ads alone, you’ll have your own product that you can sell. And you can pump in the profits from the sale to further promote your blog. And become more popular. You can then parlay your popularity to earn a full time income from your blog and quit your day job and live your dream life…
Info Product Formats
You don’t necessarily have to write a 50,000 words 175 pages info product. Here are some other quicker alternatives:
1. Write a report / hotsheet / manifesto: 5,000 words.
2. Create an audio book: 9,000-12,000 words. (You’ll have to record the words to make a 60-80 minute audio book.)
3 Quickfire Ways to Create an Info Product
1. Expand on one of your posts
Pick out any one of your old posts and add more details and depth to it. Cover all the angles to convert the topic into a report. Just answer the 6 W’s relating to your topic.
i. What is the idea about?
ii. Who should read it?
iii. Why should they read it?
iv. How, When & Where should they implement the idea?
v. Frequently Asked Questions and their answers.
vi. Case studies.
vii. More case studies.
2. Compile your back posts
Popular cartoonist and blogger Scott Adams recently did this. He deleted some of his older posts so that the public could no longer read them. And converted the posts into a book “Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain!”
If you’ve been a long time blogger, then this is something you can do without spending a lot of time.
3. Interview an expert
This may be the easiest way of creating an info product. Especially an audio product. Just interview an expert. Steps?
i. Find an expert and get her permission for the interview.
ii. Create a set of 20-25 questions. Send the list of questions to the expert prior to the interview so that she can prepare the answers.
iii. Call the expert on a pre-arranged time and start interviewing.
vi. Record the phone call. Thats one audio product for you.
v. Transcribe the recorded call. (Or outsource it for around $100.)
vi. Edit the transcript for a second polished info product.
Action Summary:
Set a goal to create one info-product before November 30th.
Make a post on your blog announcing the info product. (Optional.) What this will do is make you accountable to your readers. And make sure that you meet your goal and create the info product.
Let me know in the comments if you plan to create an info-product this month.
Note: If you’re stuck and cant come up with an idea to write on, let me know and I’ll brainstorm with you so that you have a viable idea that would make a good info-product. Just post a comment or contact me privately.
Recently, an anonymous poster asks on my favourite forum:
“How can I start earning $7,500 a month”.
In response to that question, Jason Cain* made a quick 13 minute podcast. It’s simply superb advice! With Jason’s permission, you can listen to it here:
RSS subscribers: you won’t be able to listen to the podcast through your RSS feed. So click and visit the blog to listen to it.
Links:SOWPub forum (Jason’s as well as my favourite free forum online. This is the only forum I visit every time I’m online.)
Search for: CARVER matrix. (Or go read this article: How to Prioritize.)
Who Is Jason Cain?
Jason Cain is one of the old hands at blogging. He’s been making money with a blog since 1999! (Did we even have blogs then?) He’s a marketing genius in my books. And is most famous for running GoldBlogger - which unfortunately hasn’t been updated since ages now.
The reason GoldBlogger isn’t updated frequently is because Jason spends most of his time making money with blogs and websites instead of writing about it much. Now a days, he is busy creating an empire in the martial arts niche.
Jason is some one who has been there and done that. You’ll do well listening to his advice.
Many bloggers just allow their blog post summaries to be shown in their blog RSS feeds. Their reason? If they show the entire blog post in their RSS feeds, people won’t come over to their blogs. And they won’t see the ads on the blogs that help them earn extra money.
But - if you don’t show your entire blog posts in your RSS feeds, you will start losing subscribers. Many people will unsubscribe from your RSS feeds!A So what to do? Simple:
Monetize your RSS Feeds.
Show your entire blog posts in the RSS feeds.A But monetize your RSS feeds too.
Google Adsense and ads from most other ad-networks won’t work with RSS feeds because they use javascript to show the ads. And RSS feed readers don’t support javascript. So the only way to monetize your blogs is by showing HTML or text ads.
Step 1: If you use WordPress for blogging, download the Feed Footer plugin.
Step 2: Find an affiliate program that allows you to use your own text and images to promote. Two networks that you can surf to find products to promote:
Step 3: Create your short text or banner ad for the product you want to promote. And add it to the footer field of the plugin. With Feed Footer plugin, 10 different footers that promote your affiliate products can be rotated. Which means: you can promote 10 different affiliate products from the bottom of all your blog posts in the RSS feeds!
A new donation tool has hit the net. Its called ChipIn and it has some really nifty features:
1. Its Free to use.
2. It works on all blogging platforms - not just WordPress.
3. It has a cool visual interface: a scale that shows how much money has been collected.
How Buy Me a Beer plugin is better:
1. It shows up under all blog posts - even in the RSS feed. Not just in the sidebar.
2. Its free to use too. But only works in WordPress.
3. Buying you a beer is “easy” for people to do. People don’t feel like they are “donating” money when they buy you a beer.
Action Summary:
Go check ChipIn out - especially if you have fixed donation goals. Like asking for donations to pay for your hosting.
(Picture cropped from a screenshot of ChipIn homepage.)
(It’s funny how a couple of people have sent me taunting emails to let me know about ChipIn.A A new donation tool doesn’t bother me just because I have developed a donation plugin too.A I try to do what is best for you.A If something better comes along, I’ll tell you about it gladly.A Even if its a competing product.)
On this blog, I’ve placed Adsense ads in three places:
1. Just above the Title of all blog posts.
2. In the Sidebar.
3. Above Comments in the single post pages.
Because of that, one of the most common questions I get (especially from beginner bloggers) is: should they place Adsense on their blogs too?
Should You Place Adsense Ads on Your Blog?
My answer:
Yes place Adsense ads on your blogs.
But not to make money from it.
But to increase traffic to your blogs.
Adsense is not a good source to make money. The payout on average is $1 to $1.5 per 1000 page views. So if you receive 10,000 page views a month, you will earn a whooping $10! Maybe good for a pizza. Not something you can retire on.
So why use Adsense at all?
1. Adsense ads are the most “relevant” ads. I like Adsense over other ad networks or manual ad placement only because of that one reason: relevancy.
2. But the main reason to place Adsense (or any other ads) on your blog is: to increase your blog traffic.
Any money I make from Adsense, I pump back into promoting this blog.
Action Summary:
Place Adsense codes on your blog. But don’t expect to make a lot of money out of it.
Use the little money you earn from Adsense to promote your blog. (Read this blog regularly and I’ll share with you the best places to pay and promote your blog.)
I was checking my blog statistics in detail and came upon something that shocked me!
More than 13% of my blog visitors didn’t use the most amazing of all browsers:
FireFox!
So I asked my man Sherief to create a down-and-dirty script that would change that. He came up with a cool javascript code.
1. Just upload the .js file to your server, 2. place a code on your blog pages, 3. and anyone who visits your blog using a non-FireFox browser will see a float ad on the top-right corner of the page that asks them to download FireFox!
And yes, I’m using the Google Adsense FireFox code. So… for every person who clicks on the ad and downloads FireFox, I will earn $1!
I’ll actually get paid in my quest to make 100% of web surfers use FireFox! How cool is that?
I’ve been testing the javascript code since the past week. And have finally decided to make it available for free to everyone. No catch. But because of lack of time, no support will be provided for this script. Don’t worry, its fairly easy to install.
Live Demonstration:
Visit this blog through a non-FireFox browser and you will see the FireFox float ad in action at the top right corner of this page.
Action Summary:
Download the ff100.zip file and install the script on your blog / website.
Pass this script to your other blogging friends.
Oh and… This script is beer-ware. If you use it, please consider buying me a beer.
Do you remember those Kevin Trudeau infomercials on TV? Where some one interviews him and he sells his books?
Do you think that there is anyone in the world who saw those ads and thought that it was a real interview? That Kevin didn’t pay for it himself? I doubt it. Yet - did it affect Kevin’s sales? Not one bit.
Ads that look like interviews
work better than
ads that look like ads.
Even if it doesn’t fool people.
The Disguised Ads started gaining traction in the direct response marketing world. When master copywriters like Eugene Schwartz and Ben Suarez and Gary Halbert started writing sales letters and ads that read like newspaper articles. You couldn’t make out the difference between their articles and the real articles in a newspaper. Except that their articles had a call-to-action that asked people to buy something.
These disguised ads worked like gangbusters. But many readers complained. The newspapers shouldn’t deceive their readers by letting them believe that one of their ads is actually an article.
The newspapers listened to their readers. And most of them now add “Advertisement” or some such heading to any disguised sales letter that they run.
But do these “Advertisement” Headings decrease sales?
Not one bit!
The Blog Disclosure Debate
Many bloggers have embraced this disguise-ads-increase-response idea. They publish entire blog posts because some one pays them to do so.
And because of this, there is a huge uproar in the blogosphere.
1. Should bloggers publish disguisded blog posts? 2. If they do publish such paid posts, should they add a disclaimer letting people know that they’ve been paid for that post?
Quite a few bloggers and blog readers are against commercializing their blogs. And disguised-blog-posts is a BIG No-No in their books.
On the other hand, bloggers who already publish disguised blog posts don’t want to add any kind of disclaimer. Because they believe that will reduce their readership and sales.
My opinion?
It is ok to disguise your ads as posts. But don’t sell your soul to make a quick buck. Make sure the ad is relevant for your readers.
And remember this rule of thumb: you should have 4 good original posts for every 1 disguised ad. (80% authentic content for every 20% ad-content.)
And always add a disclaimer to paid posts. They will not harm your sales. But will keep a few readers happy. And prevent a back-lash.
Since the release of the “Buy Me a Beer” plugin, lots of bloggers have downloaded the plugin (unfortunately, I didn’t track the number of downloads). Overall, the plugin has been a huge hit and most people have loved the idea.
But there is one group of bloggers who isn’t happy with the plugin. Their complaint: this plugin is over-hyped and “Buy Me a Beer” donation links are just fads.
Is “Buy Me a Beer” Just a Fad?
While I do think that the novelty of it will wear off, and the plugin will lose some of its shine, I don’t think its a fad. And there are 3 very good reasons for that.
3 Reasons Why You Should Install The “Buy Me a Beer” plugin:
1. The Beer Plugin Makes Readers Loyal
Dr. Cialdini talks about the power of commitment in his excellent book “Influence”. He says that its easier to persuade people to commit to a big thing if you first get them to commit to a small but similar thing.
He tells us about a research that shows how people were persuaded to place a large “Drive Carefully” billboard on their lawns even when that billboard covered the view. When they were approached directly to install the billboard, most people answered No.
So then, the researchers switched gears. The people were approached and asked if they would be willing to put up a small 3*3 sticker that read “Be a Safe Driver”. Almost all the people agreed. Three weeks later, the researchers went back to these same people and now asked them to install the billboard on their lawns. Surprisingly, this time, 76% of them agreed to place the billboard!
Another experiment was held during a workshop.
Workshop 1: At the end of the keynote presentation, the speaker asks the attendants if they would like to attend another more advanced workshop. 27% of the attendants signed up.
Workshop 2: At the end of the presentation, the speaker asks the attendants to raise their hands if they liked the material presented. Almost all of the attendants raise their hands. The speaker than asks the same question: would the people who have raised their hands attend another more advanced workshop? 64% of the attendants signed up!
Asking your readers to buy you a beer is like asking them to raise their hands. The reader who donates $3 to you will keep on coming back to your blog again and again and will subscribe to your feed and comment on your posts. They will become more loyal to you and stick with you until and unless you screw up.
2. It Helps You Know What People Like
If a few of your readers are willing to pay you $3 or $5 for a blog post, you can be pretty sure that many others will pay $10-100 for a more comprehensive report or an e-course.
The beer plugin works as a signal - showing you which topics you should focus on more often.
3. The Plugin Generates More Money Than Adsense
I tested the plugin for one whole week before it was released to other bloggers. My test results: This blog attracted just a little over 5800 unique visitors. And 3 people out of those 5800 bought me a beer. Total money generated: $11 (Two people donated $3 while one donated $5). I made much less with Google Adsense during the same duration!
Even after the novelty wears off, I think Buy Me a Beer plugin will keep on generating $1 for every 1000 page views a blog receives on average. Which is more than what Google Adsense pays to most blogs.
(Note: I’d made a mistake in selecting the right word. Instead of writing “Un-intrusive”, I’d written “intrusive” everywhere on this post. The mistake has been corrected. Thanks.)
I tested two different display formats of Google Ads on this blog.
1. One format stood out from the body. It had a yellow background and black border.
2. Second format was more un-intrusive and had the same look and feel with the rest of the body. With white background and border.
The results:
Yellow-Black outstanding ads had a click through rate of 0.02%.
White-White un-intrusive ads had a click through rate of 0.17%.
Intrusive ads outperformed the outstanding ads by 850%!
Action Summary:
If you make your ads stand out from the body of your blog, people will start ignoring it.
So you’ve got to make your ads un-intrusive. Disguise them to merge with your posts. And your click through ratios and earnings will go through the roof.
Google Adsense pays an average of $0.70 to $1 per CPM. Which means for every 1000 page views your blog receives, you’ll be paid $1. If you manage to attract 10,000 hits to your website, you’ll earn a whoopin $10!
If you promote affiliate programs through your blog, here are the average statistics. For every 10,000 people that visit your blog, you’ll manage to send 100 people to the affiliate link through banner and text ads. Out of the 100, 1-2 people will end up buying. If you get paid $20 per sale, your earnings will be $40 on every 10,000 hits!
Not exactly numbers you can retire on - is it?
This is the reason 90% of the bloggers don’t make it big. They only focus on ad and affiliate revenue. Blog ads are good only to fill your blog up and earn some chump change. But if you really want to convert your blog into a full time income, you’ve got to:
Make your blog just the front-end. The entrance. The gate through which people can enter and come to know you.
Then develop your own products and sell them through your blog to earn the real money.
Two Types of Products You Can Create With Ease If You Can Blog
1. Reports. If you can blog, you can write a report too. Write a super article or a report - 10-12 pages long on one sub-topic. And sell it for $10. On average, 1 out of every 100 visitors will buy it. If you attract 10,000 visitors, your earnings will be $1000.
2. E-Courses. Teach people through email. If you can blog, you can write for email courses too. People will pay $100 to $500 for 4-6 week e-courses. Attract a 10,000 people and you may well earn $5,000 with your e-course (if 10 people enroll).
(If you use WordPress to blog, you can install the “Buy Me a Beer” plugin. When people buy you a beer via PayPal, you will know which post they liked. You can then create a report or an e-course on that sub-topic. If people will donate $3 after reading a blog post, they will pay $10 for a more detailed report too.)
Action Summary:
Don’t rely on ads to make you a full time income from your blog.
Instead, focus on creating back end products that you can sell on your own for a lot more money.
