Marketing & Traffic

5 Simple Ways to Start Building Your Platform Today

December 21, 2011 31 Comments

In my recent series, Why I Turned Down a Book Deal (And the Lessons I Learned), I talked about the importance of starting your own blog or website now, particularly for aspiring authors. Why? Because publishers are looking for authors who have established platforms (helps with marketing). And starting a blog now will give you time to {Continue reading…}

How to Stand Out as a Blogger

December 17, 2011 14 Comments

There are gazillions of sites on the internet. It's getting increasingly difficult to not get lost in the crowd. If traffic is something you want to build, standing out is key. On Problogger, Tom Treanor recently wrote Charles Darwin’s 12 Rules of Blogging Survival. He offers several ideas that might help you narrow in on a {Continue reading…}

What Could Be Better Than SEO? This.

December 13, 2011 44 Comments

I hear from a lot of bloggers who worry about SEO. Many times they ask me what they should do to improve their SEO and what I do to improve mine. Here's the deal: I hardly spend any time on SEO. It's true. Sure, I try to do the basics (click here to see my SEO {Continue reading…}

6 Tips for Creating a Good Call To Action

November 29, 2011 7 Comments

What is a call to action? Simply put, a call to action is telling a reader, visitor, or potential customer exactly what you want them to do. For example, "Buy my ebook!" is a good call to action on your ebook sales page. An unclear call to action ("Here's my ebook…") or a non-call to {Continue reading…}

What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

November 11, 2011 5 Comments

SEO. Search Engine Optimization. What is it? This is a question I get a lot. I found this video by Common Craft and Search Engine Land that breaks it down pretty well. I hope it helps: Can't see the video? Watch it here. I've written more posts about SEO (and traffic) too, so check 'em {Continue reading…}

Quite Possibly the Most Common Misconception About Blogging for Income

November 7, 2011 83 Comments

This post will not win any awards for profundity. And it runs the risk of being deflating (I don't mean it to, so read to the end). Still, I think it's worth saying because it is such a common misconception among new bloggers. We gotta be real here. Photo by Demi-Brooke. Here's the thing. If {Continue reading…}