Last week I hit the 200th post mark for the Steve Scott Site. When I reach milestones like this I like to do an analysis of areas that can be improved. At first I wasn’t going to post about this process. But I figured some people out there might enjoy reading information about ‘how to improve a blog.’
You probably noticed a few changes in the last week. If you haven’t, here’s what’s going on…
Comments are Now Do-Follow
I’ve recently decided to outsource a few projects and tasks to my brother Gene. Specifically he handles aspects of my business I would only trust with a family member. Furthermore, I’m also using this as an opportunity to give ‘on-the-job’ training on basic Internet Marketing techniques. What’s surprised me is how quickly my brother is learning this business.
Now the other day Gene suggested I change the comment section and make this site a “do-follow” blog. Initially my response was a firm no. I gave my reasons including worries about comment spam, diluting outgoing links, and having people try to “game” the system. But Gene gave an eloquent response, which basically said, “You’re an idiot.” (Gotta love honesty between brothers) Oddly enough this changed my mind.
The long short of it is Steve Scott Site now offers a free backlink to your site for each comment you leave. By providing value by giving a quality comment you’ll get a nice link in return.
I do have to warn that I’ll be merciless when it comes to my comments section. So please do the right thing and leave quality comments which benefit the community.
The Blogging Series is Over
Since late May I’ve had a regular series about long-term blogging success. I felt the content was pretty valuable but it wasn’t getting much of a response from the general readership. In my opinion, I was giving away too much information. Not many people would take the time to read a 15-part series, exceeding 20,000 words. This is the almost the size of a full-blown information product.
In the future, I plan on writing more multi-part series. However, I’m not going to do another massive group of posts like this one…unless the response is overwhelming.
Focus on “Massive Value” Posts
I’m still keeping to the promise of posting each day. What’s going to change is the scope of what will be discussed. I’ve kind of gotten away from personal development and lifestyle design. Now that I’ve ditched the blogging series, I’ll be dedicating one post each week toward providing “massive value.”
These could be about anything…even Internet Marketing. The point is I’m trying to create content that offers a lot of value to readers. Unlike before, I’ll be planning out my content weeks ahead of time. That way, I’ll have plenty of time to create posts that really stand out.
What I want to do is identify certain problems people are having and do my best to create a real, working solution. These won’t be your typical “rah-rah, feel good” article. Instead you could consider them to be mini-reports that follow at problem/solution format.
41 Hot Internet Marketing Niches
Late last week, I added a new freebie to this site, “41 Hot Internet Marketing Niches.” I feel this is a vast improvement over the previous report I was offering.
This change came about because I wanted to give high-level information to anyone interested in starting (or improving) an online business. So far, the response has been all positive. People seem to really like the style and content of the report. And if you haven’t checked it out, then I urge you to do so now.
$200 Richer!
Not everything is going wrong. I made $200 last month with this blog! (Insert applause)
This isn’t a huge amount of money. What it shows is I have readers out there who are willing to pay money when I recommend something. And I earned this amount by doing what I do best… building a list, talking about a problem people are experiencing, and recommending a quality product that provides a solution. (By the way… this is the key to a six-figure affiliate marketing business)
A Little More Personality
I started this site by injecting my personality and experiences into each post. Even if a joke (or post) fell flat, I knew I was doing my best to be myself. Somewhere along the line I stopped doing this.
I’m hoping to get back to some of the content I created in the first few months. People really responded to the posts, 53 Life Lessons from Homer Simpson and 29 Ways to Make Today the Worst Day Ever. These worked because they taught an important lesson through the subtle art of humor. Even better…I had a lot of fun creating them!
Why the Changes?
The reason I’m changing things around is simple. Certain aspects of my blog aren’t working. My web traffic is around 500 visitors a day, but comments are down. People aren’t subscribing to my email list and RSS feed. The bottom line…I’m not giving readers what they want!
I don’t mind admitting that things aren’t going as expected. I think it’s deceitful to pretend this blog is doing well, when I can tell it’s not. I made a promise to be completely transparent. That way, readers can learn lessons, even from my mistakes.
In the last few years I’ve built two successful online businesses. I don’t think I’m smarter or more talented than your average bear. The difference, I feel, is adaptability. If something isn’t going right, I don’t give up. Instead, I simply try something different. And I’ll keep changing things around till I have a successful blog.
A Period of Transition
I took the title of this post from an album of my favorite music artist, Van Morrison. I figured since I’m writing this from Belfast (his hometown) it’d be cool to somehow mention him. It’s now a period of transition because things are definitely going to change around here.
At this point, I’ve created over 200 posts. Some were good, a few were great, and there were the occasional stinkers. I’ve learned a lot in these last seven months. Lessons I hope to apply for the rest of 2010 and beyond.
And here’s where I need YOUR help…
Not many bloggers take the time to ask this. In the comment section below, could you mention anything you think needs to be improved on this site. Whether it’s my writing style, content, or overall design, I’d love to hear your constructive criticism. Trust me…honest feedback would really help me create the kind of articles you’d love to see. I don’t even care if tell me you hate this site… I’m a big boy. I can take it!
Take Action. Get Results.
Hi Steve,
If I didn’t say so before, Congrats on your 200th post! Way to go! I have noticed that you have been posting a lot more frequently now (frankly, I don’t know how you do it), so you should be reaping the rewards with increased traffic and engagement.
I enjoyed your blogging series, but I think if you had spaced it out more (i.e. every Monday for 15 weeks or even twice a week) that would have engaged more readers because you could have interspersed the articles with other topics. Just something to consider for future series.
I think you are giving readers value, but they can also get similar information on more authority sites. People want to read what works for you so that we can duplicate that success 🙂
Just my $0.02
Karen
Karen,
Thanks. I won’t say it has always been easy to make sure I had a post a day ready and high quality, but it has usually been pretty enjoyable to write them. Yeah I think spacing them out even more will help. As well as not going quite so multi-part. I will also be striving to include more of the “personal touch”. I do feel that is something I have gotten away from a little bit.
Thanks
Steve
You made me stop and think. I have no idea how many posts I have done. I am not sure that it matters given the way my blog has veered and served around the topics. I am trying to focus more and I think I have enough content to repackage as a promotional ebook as an incentive for a mailing list. For my money you are still the guy to follow. How long is Gene going to be willing to stay home and take care of business while you roam the world?
An email list is a must. It is, in my mind, the difference between being serious about making some sort of money off blogging and doing it just for fun. I am only now getting serious about building a email list for SSS because I want to start making something off this site. For most of this time it has mostly been a “fun” thing for me. It is still fun, but I decided to get serious.
Since you mentioned my brother, besides doing some stuff for me in regards to this site, I have him building up his own business almost exclusively through building an email list. Before a blog. Before a website. Really before anything. For long term profit a mailing list isn’t an “important part” of success it is the “lynchpin” of success. He is doing it almost soley through article marketing and very well may have surpassed my knowledge in that area (I think he has written over 200 articles on ezine articles now, in two months).
But as for being willing to stay around and take care of business. He had better if he knows what is good for him. 🙂
I would be interested to know how you made the money? i never realized how many posts I had until you pointed it out in this blog but I am sure over the last year with the amount of blogs I have had I would have posted more. Anyhow. thanks for being who you are and let me know how you made your money. cool?
B-
Thanks for the comment.
On how I made the money. Well it was basically from the couple of affiliate offers that I promoted. I don’t often have mention any affiliate type things because I only promote things that I genuinely find useful or that I think could be useful for people. I don’t have any adsense or flashy banners all over the place, so I hope this shows people that when I promote something AT LEAST it means I believe in it. (not guaranteeing it is good, I could still be an idiot) So maybe because of this I got the money from a total of 3 product mentions in posts in a months. (2 for 1 product 1 for another). I am trying my damnedest to establish credibility and hopefully it is beginning to work.
I hope that answered your question.
On another note, I am sure you have done 200 easily. You should keep track of it. For one thing it is encouraging to hit a milestone of some point. For another it gives you something to talk about, especially for big milestones (100, 500, 1000 posts 6 mo., 1 yr, 2yr blogging) I know I love to hear about peoples success and accomplishment, and none of those things, even the 100 posts is an easy accomplishment, they all take work and dedication.
Thanks,
Steve
Steve, firstly congratulations on the milestone! Way to go my friend. I achieved that just a couple of weeks ago and I guess I too have got all thoughtful about stuff on my site.
I am absolutely convinced the real money is not from blogging but from the email list. As I was reading your post I was inspired with an idea for a giveaway report for my subscribers!
I too have noticed a shortfall in comments as has a number of other bloggers I know (but the traffic still grows…!)
Great post, tonnes of inspiration (as always) here’s to the next 200!
Matthew,
Thanks, and congratulations back at you too.
Yup for sure, this blog is still actually a money loser for me. I outsource some stuff and really have not made too many attempts to monetize it. I have previously created two pretty darn successful IM businesses and it was almost all done through the power of the email list. Having a good one and utilizing it properly (IE giving people on the list good solid content along with the occasional affiliate pitch) is absolutely essential to having long term passive income. Though I am not raking in money today I hope that I am taking important strides in setting this site up for success in the future. Mainly by providing what I hope is a lot of good solid content.