Coffee Break Blogging

Do you really need to be everywhere? In this episode, I take a good hard look at "be everywhere" and whether it is necessary - or even smart - for a blogger looking to grow their web traffic. Is this the real secret... or a recipe for burnout? I'm a HUGE believer in leverage as we grow our business. Truth is, trying to be everywhere is just inviting you to spend time on very LOW LEVERAGE activities. I'll explain in full in this episode of CBB.

No doubt that YouTube is the big kahuna when it comes to video marketing. IT is the biggest video site in the world, also the world's second biggest search engine. You will no doubt be publishing any video you produce to YouTube. But, where else should you put it? Is YouTube the only place to bother with? In this episode, we look at the relative importance of some of the other video sites out there, such as Vimeo, Viddler, Veoh, DailyMotion, etc. And where exactly does Facebook fall into the mix? Surprisingly well, actually. If you've wondered if you should be bothering to post your videos anywhere besides YouTube, this episode will answer that for you.   Today is our last episode where we are going to be talking about YouTube here on our little traffic series. Okay? But today, we are actually going to mention it in the course of leaving it. We are going to actually talk about the world beyond YouTube. Should we post our videos anywhere else besides YouTube?

If you're going to use YouTube marketing to its fullest, then you're going to need to take the extra time to set up certain things for each YouTube video. One of those things is annotations. What are YouTube annotations and how do you use them? That's the topic of this episode of CBB. Also in this episode, I'll give you 5 specific tactics you can use annotations for in order to grow your list and increase engagement. I'll also share how this lazy guy (that's me) deals with annotations. ;-) And that's what we're going to talk about in this episode of Coffee Break Blogging.

Welcome to Episode 101 of Coffee Break Blogging! Today we are going to continue talking about videos; specifically on how to make good looking videos. If we're going to use video marketing to grow our traffic, we want to make sure those videos look as "pro" as we can. It doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't need to be Hollywood. But, it does need to look somewhat pro so that people enjoy watching it. In this episode, we'll discuss: Microphones to use to make your videos Cameras to use to make your videos How to record audio and video separately and match them together How to script a video and not have it look robotic The hardware and software that I am using personally

We've just spent the last 4 episodes talking about using podcasting to grow your traffic and your business. Now, we move into the topic of video. And we'll start with Youtube. How exactly do you build up your Youtube channel? How do you get more video views? More subscribers? Like anything, if you're going to do it right, it takes some time. So, let's do it with some foundation in mind. In this episode, we'll talk about what I see as the two main approaches to YouTube: Being Helpful, and Being a Personality. For each, I'll share some of the things which go into it. Then I share 8 best practices to build into your habits so that you can effectively build up your YouTube channel. How you can control the "related videos" at the end of your video A little "trick" for dominating the related videos in the sidebar on YouTube.com, next to your own video. How to use your video stillshot to get more views. How to use Youtube as a social network to build your profile. How to look for good topics to make videos about.

We're talking about podcasting in these few episodes because it can definitely help you increase your traffic - and that's the stage of our business that we're currently talking about on Coffee Break. But, surely... and ultimately, you want to build your list and sales. We start podcasts to grow our business. But, how? In this installment, I discuss a few specific strategies to help you monetize your podcast. How to deliver calls to action on your show Specific tactics to build your email list from your podcast The 3 ways to promote your own products on your podcast A more advanced tactic which will allow you to specifically track the ROI of your podcast How to learn how to build your email followup engine, so that your podcast will then result in residual sales down the road from your email list.  

Now that you've decided to start and launch your own podcast, it is time to start thinking about the long road to growing your audience. Podcasting is indeed a long-term content marketing play. Results are not immediate. This episode will show you some of the tactics you need to build into your podcasting for the long haul.   In this episode, you'll learn: Why your show's USP is so important How to cross-promote your podcasts on your blog Why you should have an official landing page for your podcast How you can use Facebook ads to promote your podcast How to use other podcasts to promote your own Much more ;-) If you're going to bother podcasting, you might as well do it for keeps. :-)

If you listened to the last podcast and decided YES to launching your own podcast, then let me help you get started. In this episode, I'll share with you how to get started with your show and how to go about launching it.   You'll learn: How to come up with a show title and description What to look for in good podcast cover art Why you should pre-record several instances in advance Equipment to get started podcasting How to "power" the podcast off your blog How to maximize your opportunity after iTunes publishes your show, and how to build real inertia from being in "New and Noteworthy"

You've possibly heard about the big surge in podcasting lately. And since we're talking about growing our traffic during this phase of the podcast, a natural question is.... "Should YOU Start A Podcast?" This episode starts with some basic stats on the growth and popularity of podcasting from the likes of Edison Research and Libsyn. Numerically speaking, it seems like podcasting makes a lot of sense. And for many, it does. But, there's some questions you need to ask before diving in so that you don't run into the wall quickly and sputter. I share 4 specific questions you need to ask yourself before starting a podcast. Also, I give you 3 things you need to think about before getting started. No doubt - podcasting can be a powerful extension of your blog and your brand. This very podcast is even beginning to catch up to my blog. When you compare my weekly downloads to my weekly blog visits, the podcast is now doing about 43% of the traffic of my main blog. Really cool! But, don't dive in without asking yourself

A lot of bloggers spend a fair amount of time trying to grow vanity metrics like their Facebook fans and Twitter followers. But, we must ask the basic question... "Does it matter anymore?" In this episode, we'll discuss some basic statistics. Just what is the average organic reach of a post on Facebook? What is the average click-through rate on a tweet? And given these metrics, is this really where our time is best spent? How should you deal with the issue of your fanbase on social media? Need you worry much about the size? So let's talk about Facebook Page Likes and Twitter Followers and basically any of these vanity metrics that many people think about, here today at Coffee Break Blogging.

SEO has long been a thorn in the side of all blog owners. And a lot of sweating has been done over getting backlinks, proper keywords, keyword density, meta tags... yada yada. But, things have evolved. Today, the new SEO is User Experience Optimization or UXO for short. Do they click it? Do they read it? And do they ENGAGE with it? This episode talks about 5 key factors of UXO and immediate actions you can take to improve the quality of your content, but also optimize the user experience. Which will in turn help your rankings in the new world of search as it stands today.

In early 2014, Matt Cutts (from Google) all but declared guest posting to be dead. But, is it really? In past episodes of this podcast, I've even bad-mouthed guest posting to a degree. So, in this episode, it is time to clarify things. Does guest posting still work? IS it still worth your time? When is the right (and very WRONG) time to use guest posting as a traffic strategy?

Using social media can definitely be a big tool in your arsenal when it comes to growing your blog traffic. Thing is, it can also be a HUGE time suck. In order for it not to take over your life, you need to use tools to help you get the benefits of social media without sacrificing all your time. In this episode, I discuss 4 specific tools I have used in order to automate my social media (to a degree) and make it take less time. Social media purists might take issue with this. However, if you want to grow your blog and your revenue, you have to spend your time on the more effective things. And, playing around with social media all day isn't going to get you there. So today we are going to talk a little bit more about it, and specifically some of the tools that you can use to make it a more convenient thing to do.

The answer to getting blog traffic is to ensure your content is out there where your prospects and future readers are hanging out. In other words, you need to be found OUT THERE. The answer to doing that is called syndication. The "secret" to effective syndication is found in two words: leverage and repurposing. In this episode, I go over multiple syndication tactics you can use in order to get your blog content out there and into other formats. That's the key... to reach people where they're at rather than cross your fingers and hope they find your blog on their own.   Today, here at Coffee Break,  we are going to talk about blog post syndication... That’s how to get your blog post out there and make as much headway as we can with them, get as much traffic as we can with them.  

For many bloggers, promoting their new posts on social media is pretty much the only way they try to gain new traffic. Well, at least if you're going to do it, do it right. :-) In this episode, we talk about how to promote your posts on social media - primarily for free. We talk about Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google Plus. I share some tools you can use to automate it, and I also share a strategy you can use on Facebook to give each new post a jumpstart in the very beginning.

All blogs have an inherent inefficiency in how they deal with traffic, and we see it show up in the form of our bounce rate. A certain percentage of people - often upwards of 80% - will visit a single page on your blog and then simply leave. And no matter what things you do to decrease that bounce rate, you can only fight it so much. Enter the world of retargeting... Retargeting is the absolute easiest way to get started in paid traffic. It is also very cheap and very easy to get a VERY good ROI with it. It also just so happens to short-circuit the entire problem of bounce rate. By "pixeling" every single person who comes to your blog, you are building what I call your "second list". It is a real asset almost as important as your email list. And in this episode of Coffee Break Blogging, I'll show you exactly how it radically improves the efficiency of your blog as a marketing platform. You need to act on this information right away. As ad rates increase, it could become cost prohibitive to advertise at all, U

Paid traffic. Those two words usually scare the crap out of bloggers because... well... it costs money. However, it is really important that we understand the real differences between free traffic and paid traffic. In this episode, we directly pit free traffic methods up against paid traffic. I outline several different free traffic methods and how they work, then we compare up against how things work when you use paid traffic. If you really want to get more traffic to your blog and grow your online business, this will be a VERY important episode for you. So, welcome back to Coffee Break Blogging! And today we are going to get deeper into the topic of Traffic. Specifically what we are going to talk about today is free traffic versus paid traffic. And we are going to do a comparison between the two. We are going to call it the "smackdown". Because here is the thing, there are definitely differences between the ways the two types of traffic work. And it is not just because one costs money. So we really do need

The first key to growing your blog traffic is understanding what the world of traffic looks like today. Bloggers have been using the same techniques to grow their traffic for years now. Things like SEO, social media shares, guest posting, etc. But, does it work? Yes and no. They can work, but it is VERY slow. And for some people it just doesn't work because they have a hard time standing out in a sea of high quality content. Thing is, blog traffic is actually a lot like rice. You need to understand this. So, in this episode... You'll learn: How blog traffic has evolved over the last several years How monetization has everything to do with your blog traffic Why stating your blog and growing traffic is similar to driving a manual transmission car

This episode is a "pit stop" episode, as we end off on stage 3 of our business-building roadmap and move into Stage 4. In this episode: An overview of the 7 stages to building an online business. A review of Stage 3 (Email Marketing) A look at what's coming up with Coffee Break Blogging A few awesome iTunes reviews. :-) In the next episode, we'll get started on Stage 4 which is TRAFFIC BUILDING. Like I said, we're going to do a pit stop today. So let's get going! ;-)

Hello there! Welcome to another episode of Coffee Break Blogging. We use a lot of funny words in online marketing - some of them a bit demeaning, actually. And one of them is the phrase "email blast". Not only do none of your subscribers sign up in order to be "blasted", but it doesn't even work that well anymore as a strategy. Sending the same message to every single person on your list regardless of who they are just doesn't work that well. In this episode, we'll talk about: Funny words marketers use Why the size of your email list doesn't matter The two metrics which are FAR more important than the size of your list How to adjust your email marketing strategy to this new world (or face extinction) How the world just isn't linear, and how your marketing has to adapt to this.