Authority Case Study

Authority Business “Traffic and Income” Report #5 [Jul. to Sep. 2014]

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

We’re almost at the two year mark from the start of this case study. During this time, I took a brand new site (DevelopGoodHabits.com or DGH for short) and built a successful self-publishing business around it.

To give you an idea of what’s actually working for my business, I break down the financials and traffic on a quarterly basis.

If you haven’t read the last four updates before, then I recommend you start here:

Like the last two updates, there were a number of breakthroughs (and setbacks) in the last quarter. My Kindle-specific income decreased for each of the three months, but I’ve also discovered a few new streams of revenue. So let’s dive in with the financial stuff.

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Authority Business “Traffic and Income” Report #4 [Apr. to Jun. 2014]

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

This case study was started over year and a half ago, with a goal to show how to build an authority business for a brand new site called DevelopGoodHabits.com (or DGH for short).

In each post, I detail the techniques I use to create reliable, long-term Internet income from a single brand.

At first, I thought the site would make money from a variety of sources, but so far I’ve stuck with Kindle publishing because it’s working really well.

To illustrate what’s possible, I provide a quarterly breakdown of the traffic and income that the business has generated.

If you haven’t read the last three updates, here they are:

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

Just like in the last couple of updates, there have been a number of breakthroughs (and setbacks) in the last quarter. The income has skyrocketed, yet I made some mistakes that helped me learn a few valuable lessons about what it takes to build a lasting brand. So let’s start by talking about them…  

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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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Analysis: 16 Kindle Book Marketing Strategies (Dissected and Graded)

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Book Marketing Strategies AnalyzedBy now you’ve probably heard about the 80/20 Rule.

You know, the theory that states 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your efforts.

When it comes to Kindle Publishing, I feel this rule has many applications.

Sadly, one of them is that 80 percent of book sales are completely out of your hands. If Amazon “likes” your book, they’ll work hard to promote in places like their search engine results, the “Customers Also Bought” section, top category lists and targeted email campaigns.

It’s awesome to know that Amazon does a lot to market your books. The problem? This means that you as an author can only do so much to increase sales. In my experience, only 20 percent of my unit sales are directly affected by specific marketing strategies I’ve implemented. Everything else is driven by the Kindle marketplace.

The good news?

While your efforts only have a minimal impact on book sales, there are a handful of strategies that can have a significant impact on your bottom line. The trick is to know what actually works and what doesn’t.

Today’s post is a special one. Instead of talking about what works, I will show real-world data on the different marketing techniques I’ve tested over the past year. Each strategy will be analyzed, dissected and given an overall grade. Then, at the end, I’ll provide a couple of recommendations based 100 percent on the techniques I’m personally using in my Kindle business.

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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