Authority Internet Business

12 Thoughts on Kindle Unlimited

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Amazon recently launched Kindle Unlimited. Does it help authors? Or will it kill your sales? Check out these 12 thoughts to learn about the long-term results of this program.

It’s been over a month since Amazon launched their Kindle Unlimited (KU) program, which gives readers unlimited access to 600,000 titles and audiobooks for the price of $9.99 per month.

During this time, there has been varied opinions on what this program means to both authors and readers.

On one extreme, there are people with the “Chicken-Little-the-sky-is-falling” mindset who feel this is yet another example of how Amazon is destroying books.

And on the other end, there are the people who praise every change that Amazon makes to their publishing platform.

Also during this time, I’ve had a number of people email me, asking my opinion on Kindle Unlimited. Did I see an increase in downloads for my habit books? Or am I seeing a negative impact on sales?

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about KU. While I love the idea, I do think there are some negatives to this program that might hurt authors in the long term.

So in today’s post, I’ll go over 12 thoughts I have about KU—both the good and the bad. Plus, I’ll cover a few strategies you can use to get the most out of this program.

Let’s get to it.

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Kindle Relationship Building: What’s Your Origin Story?

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Origin StoryWe all understand the importance of building an email list.

As a Kindle book author, this list can be the #1 generator of sales during a book launch.

The problem?

Many authors struggle with “what” to send email subscribers. They ask questions like: Can I promote my old books? How often should I send email? Should I focus on free content or ask subscribers to spend money?

Honestly, there’s a lot you can do with email, but your primary goal is to build relationships with subscribers.

When subscribers see you as someone real, they’re more likely to check out your books and potentially leave a positive review.

In today’s post, we’ll talk about a simply strategy for strengthening an email relationship. Specifically I’ll talk about why every author should add an “origin story” to their autoresponder sequence.

Let’s get to it.

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Authority Business “Traffic and Income” Report #3 [Jan. to Mar. 2014]

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Authority Traffic and Income ReportWelcome to the third update of the Authority Internet Business Traffic and Income Report.

It’s been about 15 months since I started this case study. The idea behind it is to show how to build an authority business from the ground up with a brand new site (DevelopGoodHabits.com).

With each post, I talk about the techniques that actually work for creating reliable, long-term Internet income.

To illustrate what’s possible, I provide a quarterly breakdown of the traffic and income the business has generated. If you haven’t read the last two updates, here they are:

Today’s post will cover six primary topics:

  • Successes of Develop Good Habits
  • Failures of Develop Good Habits
  • Traffic Results
  • Income Results
  • Total Expenditures
  • Future Strategies

Like you, I’m a big fan of the sites that detail the results of their businesses—warts and all. It’s my hope that you’ll take the lessons from each of these updates and use them to grow your business and learn where to focus your attention.

Similar to the last update, a lot has happened in the first quarter of 2014. The income has been fairly consistent in this time, and I’ve reinvested it into a few strategies that I hope will grow the business. So let’s get started by talking about went right.

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Traffic Hacking: How to Find (and Focus on) Your Top Sources of Web Traffic

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Traffic Hacking - How to Find Your Best Source of Web TrafficWe all understand the importance of traffic generation.

The problem?

There are so many different sources of traffic that it’s hard to know what’s worth your time and what isn’t.

Fortunately, there is a quick fix to this problem.

All you have to do is use a few tools and apply a specific mindset to your traffic generation efforts. Then you can easily identify the most effective promotional tools for your authority site and/or Kindle books.

It’s been over a year since I started the Authority Internet Business Case Study.  During this time, I’ve experimented with a variety of traffic sources to the site DevelopGoodHabits.com (DGH).  What have I learned?  There are only a handful of tactics that actually work (for me.)

In this post, I’m going to reveal a seven-step plan for finding your top sources of traffic and explain what to do when you identify them.

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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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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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7 Simple Steps to Identifying a Profitable Authority Niche

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The biggest hurdle for anyone starting a new Internet business is picking a niche.

We all have various interests.  So it’s hard to determine if a topic will work or if it’s a waste of time.

This problem becomes more pronounced when building an authority business.  It’s hard to pick a topic when you know it’s a multi-year commitment.

More importantly, determining the profitability of an idea is the key to long-term success.  So while an idea might look good on paper, it’s important to find out if it will actually make money.

In this edition of the Authority Internet Business case study, I’ll go over my seven-step strategy for identifying the profit potential for any niche idea.

Not only will I provide a detailed blueprint, I’ll also give specific examples from the research of DevelopGoodHabits.com.

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Join My Facebook Group: “Authority Internet Business Entrepreneurs”

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Lots of things are happening with the Authority Internet Business case study.

I’m working hard on my website and getting helpful feedback from readers.

I’ve also received email from people who need assitance with their authority websites.  Even though I love answering email, I also think it’s important to create a more interactive learning environment.

What I envision is a central location where authority Internet business entrepreneurs can meet and share ideas with one another.

So I just put together a special Facebook group that serves this purpose…

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