Today, I learned an important lesson from Staples customer service manager who could have saved the embarrassment by taking one extra step. So I needed to buy a PC to run the accounting software and utilize all modules. Knowing myself, I went for the CHEAPEST yet functional desktop deal I could find. I launched Slickdeals [...]
You guys have probably seen tons of marketers having a newsletter or a mailing list. Many asked me if Balkhis will ever have a newsletter, and I simply said NO. The reason was “Balkhis is my personal blog”. People tend to get an idea that this is a Make Money Online site, but it really is not. This is a blog where I share what I know with my readers and myself. There are valuable articles on Balkhis that I use as a reference for myself. In this post, I actually want to talk about the Good Ol’ Newsletter technique. I will focus on what services you should use, how you can create a huge list, and how to interact with your newsletter audience.
Newsletter creates a love bond between you and your readers. It allows you to really connect with your audience. No matter how often a reader visits your site, there will be times when they miss something crucial. That is when the newsletter comes in handy. People check their emails REGULARLY, so newsletters are a more reliable source of communication. Second, the newsletter allows you to distinguish between the average reader to your loyal and valuable readers. Your loyal readers are the ones who really care about your site, and they want to support you. I think they deserve something better than everyone else.
For you as a blogger, you can expect a better turn around for any product that you promote through a newsletter. If you are launching a new product, the best place to get started with the promotion is through your newsletter. Your newsletter subscriber actually opted-in to see what you are offering. They want to hear what you say. You can’t get a better connection with your reader than this. They trust you!
There are tons of newsletter delivery services. Heck you can even use the combination of WordPress and Feedburner to create a Free Email Newsletter. But if you are thinking about this more seriously, then I would recommend:
Don’t even consider any other companies. I have used both of them and I am more than satisfied. MailChimp has better email designs, so for a design blog, I recommend them. Aweber is very efficient and easy to follow.
The reason why you want to go with these paid services is because they are more Reliable then feedburner. The statistics you receive from them is no where comparable to the free newsletter tactic.
This is the biggest question that everyone asks. The answer is simple. Simply create something that other people would find useful. Then you want to give it away for free in an exchange for their email address. If they really want your product, then they will enter the email. The more often you do it, the bigger your list will be. There will be times when one of your product will do very very good and others it won’t. So its a matter of feeding the hunger. Give people what they want, and they will give you what you want.
Lastly, I want to apologize to you guys if you think that I am ignoring you here on Balkhis. I have a huge project going on at WPBeginner which is taking a lot of my time. Also Uzzz Productions is doing great. So I am having a really hard time keeping up with Balkhis. I want to say to you guys if you want my tips on marketing, blogging, and WordPress in general then consider subscribing to WPBeginner’s Newsletter. I send out weekly emails with resourceful articles that I am certain that you guys will find useful.
Don’t worry, I hate SPAM just as much as you guys. So this newsletter will not be spammy. I will NOT be using it as spamming tool like a lot of other marketers do it. These newsletter will have useful tips that are exclusive just for my A-List users. P.S. I will treat your emails like my own email so I won’t sell, share, or lease it to anyone.
Oh by the way if you sign up, you get the powerful Smart Sharing Plugin for WordPress that my team at WPBeginner developed. This plugin uses Skinner’s positive reinforcement theory and it is proven to work. It will add a floating share box that you can see on anyone of WPBeginner’s post. (Example)
If you have created a newsletter and want to share your experience then feel free to do so.
In blogging one of the worst moment you can have is a writer’s block. A condition in which you cannot think of anything to write about thus you cannot produce quality content. A tip that many give is stop what you are writing about and take a break. You can get up and go for a walk and come back to this specific subject a few hours later. You can take a break from your blog entirely for a few days or a week and then come back to it. Some authors even QUIT because of this writer’s block. No matter which option you select from the above list, you will not be able to stay productive.
Did you ever wonder, how do people run more than one blog. They have 5 or 6 blogs and they are all active. Some have a few guest authors, but others are just maintained by this one person. Producing content is a gift, but there is a lot of techniques that goes into it. I will share a technique that I learned from an expert blogger Merlin Mann of 43folders. This technique has worked really well for me.
What you need to do is have more than one topic to write about. So for example if you only have one blog like Balkhis. I would write a post in Advertising Category, For Starters Category, Web Design Resources category and so on. They will all be started with an intro and some ideas, but not finished. So if I start getting frustrated with the Advertising article and I cannot come up with anything, I would simply move onto the Web Design Resources showcase and work on that.
The whole idea about you going outside is taking your mind of a subject, but you can also do that by moving to another subject like I just mentioned. You can also alternate days to write posts on your two blogs. So for example Balkhis and WPBeginner. I would work on a post on Balkhis and WPBeginner at the same time. If I get stuck at a Balkhis post, I will move onto a small plugin review at WPBeginner. Then come back to the Balkhis article later, but the time I was taking a break, I actually wrote another article.
Try this technique and let me know how it works out.
You guys are probably wondering where I have been lately. I received many emails with concerns from readers whether I was ok or not. I am perfectly fine. I was just launching another site successfully. The results I see after two months are great therefore I would like to share my first hand experience with you. In here I will reveal some of the simple steps that you can take when you are launching a new site or blog.
If you did not know which site I was working on it is called WPBeginner – Beginner’s Guide for WordPress. It was launched on July 4th, 2009, Yes the Independence day of USA. Since then the site has collectively received:
175,533 Visitors
490,644 Pageviews
7.18 Million Hits
Current Alexa Stats Rank at: 35,847
Technorati Rank: 18,583
These stats above are decent for a site that is just two months old. In this article, I will share some of the steps that I took in order to achieve this. One thing I will tell you is that the monetary investment on this project was $0 in terms of advertising. The cost of running this site is our normal hosting bills, the domain cost and such. This is probably the most affordable way to launch and promote a blog.
Read the full post….
When I was just starting out in internet marketing I had big… HUGE plans for the future. I believed that in two month time I was going to be insanely rich and famous internet marketer.
Needless to say that two month passed by without me making a single sale. I had no idea what I got myself into. Just like the majority of internet marketers I was mostly shooting blind, creating MySpace profiles, surfing the Traffic Exchanges a lot and spending my time mostly on the low dollar activities.
Now, year and a half later, I realize how childish it was of me to believe that success would come instantly. Mark Twain said: “Success Comes Before Work Only in Dictionary.” And it is indeed so. However, it is not because God hates you and wants you to work hard, but because in order to experience success you need to be ready for it Mentally, Physically and Spiritually.
Great Success comes with Great Responsibility, which means that in order to experience success one must understand what it means to succeed, first.
Every success story always starts with a dream. For the most part, success means money, but what the majority of internet marketers don’t realize is that if your sole motivation is money, then sooner or later you will face an obstacle which is bigger, harder and more terrifying then anything you’ve seen before, which will lead you to a realization:
1. Money Isn’t Worth The Hard Work
2. I’ll Find Another Way To Get Money
To me, success is more than money. To me, success is the ability to spend 5 hours a day on my business and utilize the rest of my spare time on Fun, Growth, Mind Expansion, Quality Time with my family and just about anything that makes me enjoy life even more than I do now.
To me, Success=Freedom. Freedom is a much stronger motivator then Money. I haven’t yet met a person (online and off) that can be motivated solely by money ALL THE TIME. Humans are deeply emotional beings. We crave satisfaction, understanding and fulfillment – money alone simply cannot provide that.
Another common mistake I see Internet Marketers make is after spending two weeks trying to setup a website, autoresponder and a newsletter – the intrepreneurs seem to believe that they did everything in their power to make it work. They believe that they have done A LOT. The majority of online business owners tend to think that placing a Pay Per Click ad immediately makes them the next Frank Kern.
Sorry to disappoint, guys, but it doesn’t. Success stories, for the most part, are years in the making. Anik Singal, one of the world’s top affiliate marketers, had to spend a year in his parents’ basement, working on his affiliate business before he could claim the “Super Affiliate” status.
Until you’re ready – it won’t happen. How do you get ready for internet marketing success? By working harder than everyone else does. When it happens – you’ll know you’re ready.
It is often believed that Success changes people. But relying on my personal experience, I must say that the change occurs long before success does.
Success often demands a mindset shift. And the moment I shifted mine – my life shifted as well. I even lost most of my close friends.
Before I became an internet marketer, I was a student at Israeli Air Force Technological University where I spend most of my days from 8am-16pm. After I have decided to go against the stream of commonality by pursuing an internet marketing career – my “friends” turned their backs on me and have never spoken to me since.
At first it was painful, but later I realized that it was necessary. I needed to change, and in order for change to happen – I had to find new friends. I had to find successful friends, friends that could contribute to my life experience and make it better – something my classmates simply couldn’t do.
“Failure Is A Stepping Stone On The Way To Success”
Are you ready to fail? Are you ready to fail hard? Are you ready to fail so miserably, it will be a heart breaking scene to watch? If not, get used to the thought that you are going to fail. The sooner you do, the sooner you fail and learn the most valuable success lesson of all.
In his book “Think and Grow Rich,” Napoleon Hill says: “Every Failure Has An Equivalent Seed Of Success In It.” It is important to remember that failure is a lesson. Learn your lessons well. Better yet, try to learn someone else’s lessons first.
Failure is to success as thick lips are to Angelina Jolie – it’s an essential part of the whole thing. Failure is essential in preparation to success. Only the ones that never truly tried – have never failed.
Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before he invented the light bulb. When he was asked whether he wasn’t discouraged by failure, he said: “I didn’t fail 10,000 times – I found 10,000 ways how not to build a light bulb.”
I encourage you to find 10,000 ways how not to run a successful internet marketing business. Because as soon as you do, the one way that is correct will have no other choice but to present itself to you.
Author byline: Igor Kheifets is 21 year old Internet Marketing Expert and the author and creator of Mastermind Internet Marketing. Get More From Igor On Twitter.
Hey, I am Syed Balkhi, The guy who is behind Balkhis Inc. I entered the industry back in 2002 not knowing a single thing. I barely spoke English at that time. In the past six years, my language barrier has been eliminated. Aside from English, now I also speak html, and php. Along with the languages I have also managed to master a few arts. Art of web-designing started when I first entered. Messing around with photoshop, I learned how to create my first web design. Now I founded a web designing firm Uzzz Productions. After running numerous amount of websites in various niche, I have mastered the art of web-development. Now I am compiling a resource of what I already know, and what I am learning on this blog. This resource is to help me if I ever need a guide to look back to, and it is help my fellow webmasters.
