Let’s assume you want to start a website or blog from nothing. You’re not a big name. You’re trying to build an audience from nothing. This describes most of us. That is exactly how this blog started almost (good heavens) six years ago. Since then, I have seen year over year growth, thousands of followers across my email and different social media feeds, two books with more on the way, and a bigger audience that is far more receptive to those books and anything else I have to offer. I had previously written about how to do this in early 2017, but the audience of this blog is much bigger now than it was then, and I’ve added many more tools to my arsenal since then. To thank all of you and to share this knowledge, I’ve released a new 50-page ebook: Blogging from Scratch.
You can get the book for free by becoming an email subscriber. All existing email subscribers will get it in the next message. Future subscribers will get it automatically. You can subscribe by clicking here.
The ebook is meant to cut through a lot of the confusing jargon and needless complications that litter the internet marketing space. Getting traffic and, more importantly, getting it to stick around, doesn’t need to be complicated. The complex language and “advice” often just serves to confuse and scare people away. Think analysis paralysis.
In using Blogging from Scratch, you’ll have everything you need to get started right away. I’m not promising you’re going to get a million subscribers overnight, but you’ll be able to get started with a good direction, avoiding the needless mistakes that will prevent you from getting the traction you could otherwise get in your first year.
That’s what happened to me in 2016.
Alternatively, if you’ve been around for a while, but aren’t getting the growth you think you should be getting, Blogging from Scratch will help solve that problem for you through its chapters on search engine optimization and social media.
The know-how in the book isn’t secret or arcane, it’s just that many people who are starting out don’t know what to look for or what to do. The book will show you the simplest and most effective methods to expand your presence from a low starting position. If you want to specialize beyond that, there are references at the end which will help you do so.
Simplicity and same-day action items are the glue that holds Blogging from Scratch together. The chapters are short, easy to read, and packed with information that you can act on today. That’s always the most important thing. As Louis XIV said, “time, action itself, and the aid of heaven brings forth a thousand unexpected solutions.”
What’s in the book?
Email Marketing
The average internet user spends less than 40 seconds on a website. Social media also has a low attention span. Email is the thing that still gets the most engagement. Your email list is the most important part about your blog or website. It’s also the most durable part of your brand. You might get censored or kicked off of social media, but if you’ve saved your email list, you have it forever, even if the email marketing platforms ban you.
One of the longest chapters in the book is about this subject. I’ll tell you what you should do as a newcomer to start getting email subscribers right away. I’ll also tell you how to interact with them once they’re there, and why you shouldn’t be afraid of the periodic unsubscribes that come with your email blasts.
Search Engine Optimization
The book also contains a sizable chapter on optimizing your content for Google and other search engines. I will show you the basics of how to create content that will get you ranked on search engines. If you do this in all of your posts, some of them will win.
But I also give you the warnings about why you should not rely on search engines. Google is not your friend. They will change their “algorithms” for no reason, and you can either win big or get screwed, entirely on an arbitrary basis.
This is why another chapter in the book covers…
Social Media
This blog would probably be dead if it wasn’t for my social media presence, such are some of the updates Google has done. Despite Google taking a sledgehammer to some of my hard-won web presence, I’m on track to have my best year in terms of traffic and commerce, and it’s because of my presence on social media.
This chapter in the book will talk about some of the social media platforms and the strategies you should implement today to get traffic from them. Different social media platforms will require different strategies, but most of the platforms are covered. The sections about Twitter, Facebook groups, and Pinterest should prove particularly useful if you’re just starting out with no following.
Loose Ends
There are other odds and ends in the book, such as the ways you should measure your traffic, with the appropriate tools to do so, how you should name your blog, the professional opportunities you might open up with it, and the plugins you absolutely must install on your website. Heeding all of it should set you up to steadily grow, provided you have the patience.
Once again, you can sign up for my email list and get the book here.
You can also bet that there will be future editions, as conditions on the internet change. You will get all of those by staying on the list.
Thanks for sticking by me all this time!
