Steve Scott

Authority Business Traffic and Income Report #2 [AIB]

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Authority Traffic and Income ReportWelcome to the second part of the Authority Internet Business Traffic and Income Report.

This is a series I started almost a year ago.

The goal?

To show what it’s like to build an authority business from the ground up. The goal of every post is to detail the specific actions I take to grow my site (DevelopGoodHabits.com) and help you learn valuable lessons along the way.

An important part of this process is doing a regular report that breaks down the traffic and income the site has generated.

Specifically, we’ll cover six major sections:

  • Successes
  • Failures
  • Traffic Results
  • Income Results
  • Total Expenditures
  • Future Strategies

Like most folks, I love it when bloggers show how much money they really make from their businesses. With the Traffic and Income Report, I hope to show what works with an Internet business and what doesn’t. Rather than just talking about different strategies, I’ll let you know if they actually help me grow my business.

A lot has happened in the last three months. Specifically, December was my best month ever for the business (we’ll get to that in a bit.)  First, I’d like to provide a quick overview of a major shift I went through during the last quarter.

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Kindle Publishing Questions Answered (Part 4)

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KDP LogoWelcome to part four of the Kindle publishing series!

A few months back, I asked readers to submit any questions they had about writing and selling books on Amazon. In this series, I’ll go through each one and provide specific action items that you can take.

Missed a previous post?

Then check out these links: Part 1, part 2 and part 3.

Today’s post will cover questions related to creating and selling your book.

As always, we’ll start with the “3 Golden Rules of Kindle Publishing.” If you’ve read this section already, then feel free to skip ahead to the good stuff. But, if this is your first time here, I recommend you check out the following because it provides a background on why I make certain business decisions.

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Kindle Publishing Questions Answered (Part 3)

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KDP LogoOnce again, I’m answering another collection of Kindle publishing question that I’ve received from readers.

If this is your first time here, then you’ll want to check out part 1 and part 2 of this series.

What started out as a long blog post has evolved into hundreds of excellent questions that I’ll answer now and throughout the New Year. (I’m even thinking about starting a YouTube channel around this concept.)

Today’s post includes a mash-up of the different questions I’ve recently received. Some relate to topics I’ve partially covered and others go into strategies that I haven’t previously discussed.

As always, we’ll start with the “3 Golden Rules of Kindle Publishing.” If you’ve read this section already, then feel free to skip ahead to the good stuff. But, if this is your first time here, I recommend you check out the following because it provides a background on why I make certain business decisions.

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Kindle Publishing Questions Answered (Part 2)

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kdp-logoWelcome to the follow-up of the series where I answer your Kindle publishing questions.

(If you missed my first 15 responses, you can check out the article here.)

I originally intended this to be a lengthy, single post, but now it’s turned into something much, much bigger.

Since I’ve received over 200 responses, I’m going to answer every single question that you have about Kindle publishing (no matter how long that takes.)

This group of questions covers a few of my favorite topics: Researching book ideas, building relationships with readers and balancing everything with a blog.

Lots to cover, so let’s dive in…

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Kindle Publishing Questions Answered (Part 1)

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kdp-logoWith the publication of my latest book (“23 Anti-Procrastination Habits”) I now have five habit-related Kindle books for my authority website DevelopGoodHabits.com (DGH).

I honestly feel that Kindle publishing is the best way to monetize a brand new blog or authority site. Unlike other income streams, you don’t need lots of web traffic. Instead, you can build your audience and sell books at the same time by leveraging Amazon’s platform.

Now, I know some readers don’t feel that Amazon is “right” for them. Others are having trouble getting started. So, I thought it would be useful to answer specific questions that you might have about the Kindle publishing process.

That’s why I recently sent this message to my email subscribers:

Kindle Publishing Question

The response back was phenomenal.

Almost two hundred people sent me their questions and comments about the Kindle publishing process. (A big thanks to everyone who took time to send your questions.)

At first, I was tempted to “cherry pick” the most common responses and reply to those. Instead, I’ve decided to turn these questions into a multi-part series of blog posts where I’ll do my best to cover every single response. Today, I’ll tackle the first 15 questions.

But first, let’s lay the groundwork with a concept that I call…

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The Process That Helps Me Manage an Authority Internet Business

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You need to track a variety of things as an Internet entrepreneur.

This is especially true if you’re building an authority Internet business that deals with a large amount of links, web accounts and content pages.

In a given week, you have to track:

  • Links to promotions and affiliate offers
  • Autoresponder and broadcast email messages
  • Published blog posts and social status updates
  • Ideas to develop into future articles and products
  • Marketing actions you’re currently testing
  • Networking contacts and related websites

Now, most people manage each of these items in a separate document or piece of software.  A simpler solution (in my opinion) is to run your entire business using a simple document.

In this post, I’ll talk about the “master document” that I use to manage my authority site, DevelopGoodHabits.com (DGH).  To start, I’ll talk about why it’s important to create this file.  After that, I’ll provide seven real-world examples of how I use it.  And then we’ll finish off with a simple action plan for implementing this strategy.

Let’s get to it.

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Authority Business Traffic and Income Report #1 [AIB]

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Welcome to the first installment of the Authority Internet Business Traffic and Income Report.

In these series of posts, I’ll show what it’s like to build an authority business from scratch.  Each update will describe the actions I take to grow DevelopGoodHabits.com and the lessons I learn along the way.

Specifically, we’ll cover six major sections:

  • Successes
  • Failures
  • Traffic Results
  • Income Results
  • Total Expenditures
  • Future Strategies

Like most folks, I love when bloggers show specific numbers from their business.  With the Traffic and Income Report, I hope to show what works with an Internet business. Rather than talk about different strategies, I’ll let you know if it actually helps grow my business.

This post is a long one, so let’s get to it.

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Amazon Associates: The Best Way to Diversify Your Online Income?

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One of the worst mistakes you can make with an Authority Internet Business is to not diversify your income.  This creates a “single point of failure” where one event can destroy everything you’ve worked hard to build.

I was reminded of this rule recently while working on DevelopGoodHabits.com after a three month break.

Even though I’m starting to make a decent income with a few habit-related Kindle books, there is a legitimate risk to putting my eggs in one basket.  So ultimately, I decided to focus on affiliate marketing through the Amazon Associates program as my second source of income.

In this post, I’ll talk about why I recommend the Associates program to anyone building an authority site.  Plus, I’ll detail seven steps to maximize your affiliate income with this program.

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9 Steps for Building an Email List from Scratch [AIB]

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We all know that list building is important, but it often becomes an afterthought when compared to other critical tasks.

The truth is email marketing isn’t just an item on your to do list—it can make or break the success of your website.  This is especially true if you’re building an Authority Internet Business.

My recommendation is this: Design your site (from day #1) with the goal to build a massive email list.

This should be done before content creation or any sort of marketing.  In fact, you can use an email list to build momentum for your authority business in a variety of ways:

  • Establish relationships with people interested in your niche
  • Generate downloads, reviews and purchases of Kindle books
  • Understand the common obstacles that readers experience
  • Create buzz and social recommendations for your high-value content
  • Promote other marketing channels like Facebook, YouTube, iPhone apps and Udemy.

Now, one of the reasons people don’t build an email list is they think it’s a difficult task.  Fortunately, you don’t need to do much to turn your website into a subscription generating machine.  In fact, when I built my authority site (DevelopGoodHabits.com), I designed it with one goal in mind—turn each visitor into an email subscriber.  And here is how I did it in nine steps:

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11 Ways to Reuse Killer Blog Posts to Generate Traffic and Income [AIB]

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Content is king.

How many times have you heard that expression?

As Internet entrepreneurs, we’re told that great content is the pathway to fame and fortune.

But what happens when you write a killer blog post and nobody seems to care?

Or more importantly, how do you feel when your articles fail to grow your business?

Usually you feel frustrated and tempted to give up.

Fortunately there’s an easy solution to this problem.  Rather than following the “one and done” publishing model for blogging, you can take ONE piece of content and use it to generate more traffic and income.

In today’s edition of the Authority Business Case Study, I’ll talk about how to take your “Most Valuable Posts” (MVPs) and leverage this content in a variety of unique ways.  Specifically, I’ll talk about a how I’m using an article from my DevelopGoodHabits.com website (27 Strategies for Breaking ANY Bad Habit) to grow my audience.

The following is a list of 11 ways to reuse one blog post to grow your audience.  Apply these strategies to your best articles and you won’t have to follow the constant cycle of creating content, hoping somebody will notice.

Let’s get to it.

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[Free] Is $.99 the New Free? The Truth About Launching and Pricing Your Kindle Books

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For all of July, I was traveling through Greece.  While I *wanted* to relax and take the month off, one day I suddenly felt inspired to write a short Kindle booklet. 

The result is called:

Is $.99 the New Free?  The Truth About Launching and Pricing Your Kindle Books

It will be free through Amazon’s KDP Select program for the next five days.

Starting today (August 12th) to the end of Friday (August 16th); you can grab a free copy directly from Amazon.

Read on to discover the details about this freebie.

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[Kindle] Outsourcing Mastery: How to Build a Thriving Internet Business with an Army of Freelancers

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The other day, I published my latest Amazon Kindle book, which is called:

Outsourcing Mastery: How to Build a Thriving Internet Business with an Army of Freelancers

For at least five days, this book is offered at the discounted rate of $.99.  And then it will go up to the $2.99 price that I charge for most of Kindle library.

If you’ve ever wanted to try outsourcing or need to free up more of your time, then read on to learn why you should pick up a copy of Outsourcing Mastery.

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