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How To Know If You Have Online Brand Recognition

Published on June 10, 2013 by

Online Brand RecognitionOne of the toughest things to identify online is whether you have brand recognition, or if people are simply finding you though search.  For some bloggers, this doesn’t matter – traffic is traffic.  But for others, they are looking to build a brand identity.  But since so many people simply “Google” a topic, it can be hard to know if you have online brand recognition or not.

So here are some simple ways to tell if you have online brand recognition, and why you should care.

 

Why Care About Online Brand Recognition?

Brand recognition is really important, especially in the online space.  The question about brand recognition is really a question about why your reader should care about what you have to offer.

In business science, there are five key tiers of brand recognition:

  • Brand Rejection - Where a customer has a negative association with your brand
  • Brand Non-Awareness - When a customer simply doesn’t know you exist
  • Brand Awareness - When a customer knows you exist, but doesn’t necessarily know or care about why you’re difference
  • Brand Preference - When a customer knows you exist, and will prefer to chose you over a competitor
  • Brand Loyalty - When a customer will choose your brand, and promote it

For many bloggers, they are trapped at brand non-awareness.  People will simply search for a topic online, stumble across a blog post, and not care anymore about it.

If you’re a lucky blogger, you may have some brand awareness – this typically occurs if you have a specific style or writing or posting.  However, at the end of the day, readers have so many choices they may or may not come to your site.

Moving to brand preference, you really start to gain some clout as a blogger and business owner.  This is where readers prefer your take on content versus other.  These are the bloggers that become more “well-known”:

None of them really share anything revolutionary or break new ideas.  Rather, they have their own unique take on ideas, or explore other people’s ideas with their audience.  However, as a result of the way they present information, they really gain a preference.

Finally, over time, preference becomes loyalty.  This comes from readers relying on their preference, being amazed every time they read, and in turn, being will to continually share the content and stand by their “blogger”.

So, do you see why you should care?  The bottom line is that online brand recognition can breed reader loyalty over time, as long as you continue to surprise and amaze your readers.

 

Metric Based Online Brand Recognition

So, how do you know whether you have online brand recognition?  Here are a few things that you can check that are “metric-based” to check on your online brand recognition.

Search Metrics

The first thing you can check is search metrics.  An easy way to see if people are coming to your site based on your brand is to see if people are even searching for your brand.  Here’s a good example from Pat Flynn:

Pat Flynn Search Terms

 

As you can see, people are searching for his brand name of “smart passive income”.  Not only are they searching for it, they are searching for it more than other organic search terms for his site.  So, how much brand traffic equals a strong brand recognition?  It really depends, but I would say that if you’re getting daily “good” traffic, and 50% or more of your traffic is branded, then you have strong brand recognition.

Direct Traffic

Direct traffic is basically a catch-all for all traffic that can’t be sourced.  But, for the most part, it’s traffic from people who typed your webpage directly into the search bar.  Also, it could be from people who’ve bookmarked your site. Either way, a large amount of direct traffic can mean that you’ve built a strong following that regularly checks in and sees what’s new on your site.  You don’t want direct traffic to be all of your traffic, but if you have strong overall traffic, I like to see 33% direct traffic – it means you have a large following and a loyal brand.

Subscribers

I had to put subscribers at the bottom because of all the changes happening in the feed reader world, but in general, people who subscribe to your blog are at least at the “Brand Awareness” level.  They took the time to put your blog in their reader, and they probably look at it from time to time.  I only put it in the “Awareness” level because, most likely, the readers also have many other similar sites in their reader.  But a large number of subscribers means that you do have a strong brand recognition.

 

Personal Brand Recognition

There’s more to brand recognition than just the metrics.  You can also have brand recognition by making a personal impact on your readers – something that makes them act in a personal way.

The Thank You

One of the biggest personal ways that you can know you have online brand recognition is with the thank you email.  The fact that someone is willing to take the time to send you an email means that you’ve made a personal connection with that person.  That’s awesome, and it probably means you’ve got at least one loyal follower.  The more of these you receive, the more you know that you’re building a strong online brand recognition.

Social Media

Social media is another way to see if you’re building a personal brand recognition.  I want to put an immediate stop to what you’re initially thinking – it’s not about social shares.  Rather, it’s about the thoughts and additions that go along with the social shares.  For example, someone could just tweet your post.  That’s good, but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything above “awareness”.  The key is what are they saying about your post?

If they add on “Best Article on XYZ -> “, that’s a big sign on brand awareness.  Not only did they take the time to share, but they share your article with a positive prologue.  So, while social media is great for getting your brand out there, the key to developing a strong online brand recognition is to have others adding a positive piece to the puzzle.

 

Leverage Your Differentiator

The bottom line to building a strong online brand recognition is that you need to leverage your differentiator.  Just think about the people I mentioned above – J.D. Roth, Mr. Money Mustache, Pat Flynn – they all have a strong brand differentiator.  They don’t just blog about personal finance or affiliate marketing.  They have a unique viewpoint on the space in which they operate, and they leverage that to their advantage.

It starts with the basics: a unique logo, a unique theme, a fun bio/personal story, and their writing/blogging showcases their unique style.

So, when thinking about whether you just have a blog, or whether you’re building an online brand, think about these key aspects of brand recognition.

What other ways can you tell if you have strong online brand recognition?

 
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My Monthly Income Stream Report – May 2013

Published on June 1, 2013 by

multiple income streamsWelcome to June!  I can’t believe we’re almost half was through the year.  I’m really excited about some of the big changes that have been happening in my online life.  It should really bode well for the second half of the year.  I also have some other new initiatives in place that may also result in some awesome results.

 

Important Happenings

First, I’ve really ramped up my online publishing.  I’m currently publishing 7 days a week on The College Investor, and 5 days a week on Entrepreneurship Life.  Both of these choices have been great from a traffic and content perspective.  I’m really excited for these changes to pay dividends in the coming months.

Second, I’ve been putting the final touches on my Investing 101 Course at The College Investor.  This will be my first paid product launch, and I’m hoping for it to be a success.  The course is designed for very beginner investors – people who’ve never invested before but want to learn.  It’s a combination of step-by-step articles and is accompanied by video tutorials.  I’m currently beta testing it with some trusted parters, and driving some paid traffic to the course to see what the reactions are.  So far, so good.  Some changes are coming and new videos will be added, but otherwise I’m very excited for the potential.

Finally, in a disappointment, I’m totally not on track for my goals this year.  Remember, back in January, I set goals for myself to get 1,000,000 visitors to my sites this year and make $100,000.  While it’s still early, this is where I stand visitor-wise: 252,209.  I should be closer to the 400,000 mark to make my goal, but it’s still early in the year.  As for income, you can see below and check out my Income Report page to see the trend – but I need to be about $9,000 per month, and I’m not close to that yet either.

I’m not really changing course, but I’m going to drive these new initiatives hard to make my goals.

 

Income Report

Alright, onto the multiple income stream report!  By now, you should know how this works, but I like to break down my multiple income streams into categories so you can see how I make my income.  You can read more about my investing income stream here.

I don’t include my salary or my wife’s, although I do consider those part of my multiple income steam strategy.

  • Investments
    • Dividends: $1,334.95
  • Websites
    • The College Investor
      • Private Advertising: $2,715.00
      • Affiliate Advertising: $131
      • CPC Ads: $28.33
      • Amazon: $0
      • Sponsored Tweets: $0
    • My Multiple Incomes
      • Private Advertising: $150
      • Affiliate Adverting: $0
      • CPC Ads: $4.56
    • Entrepreneurship Life
      • Private Advertising:  $120
      • Affiliate Advertising: $269.94
      • CPC Ads: $13.05
    • Kids Ain’t Cheap
      • Private Advertising: $0
      • Amazon: $0
      • Affiliate Advertising: $0

Gross Total: $4,766.83

Difference from Last Month: -$501.29

 

What I Learned

First, I had another nil month on one of my sites – Kids Ain’t Cheap.  It’s pretty disappointing, but I know that the income will come back in other months.  Based on creating my course on The College Investor, it’s given me the inspiration to create a course or something sellable for each site.  There is something nice about selling your own product versus selling advertising.  It gives you a sense of control.

Second, I’ve discovered some great ideas that I’ll probably share in the future, if they pan out. Like anything, I don’t want to always share while things are in process, but rather provide a recap if they worked or didn’t work.

 

What To Expect This Month

This month, I hope to share more about my class, how I did it, and put it together.  Hopefully there will be some revenue to share from the class as well, which would be great.  Let’s get this thing going.

I’m also going to be a mentor for another blogger.  You can see the Bloggers Helping Bloggers programs on my sidebar, and I think it’s a great opportunity to give back to the community.

How was May for you?

 
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Saving to Start a Business

Published on May 28, 2013 by

Saving to Start a BusinessStarting a business is one of those landmark life events that people tend to reflect on in the years to come. For many, it is the best decision they will ever make, creating new opportunities and a new lifestyle that they find more enjoyable. For others, it can be a financially disastrous decision, often as a result of poor planning and a lack of sufficient capital.

In the instant, on-demand age of email, social media and the web, inexperienced entrepreneurs tend to feel they can start businesses with only modest amounts of money. In reality, businesses demand more and more money as they establish and grow. In some cases it can take months or even years to get to a profitable stage. As a result, those who want to give their business the best start need to plan the financials and save their money prior to establishing their business.

 

Make a Plan

The best businesses are those that are planned in most detail. Anything that is left to chance is a problem waiting to happen, and it is up to you as the entrepreneur to foresee, account for and solve problems before they become a reality.

Prior to starting any venture, realistic financial planning is essential to calculating whether the opportunity is viable. In business, you need to know where your rent money is going to come from, and where your wages are going to come from. This is an unrelenting obligation, and having a solid capital buffer before you start can make absorbing this in the short-term much less problematic.

Unless you think you are sitting on an idea you have to execute as quickly as possible to be successful, it is worth taking the time to save before getting started. The more time you allow for saving and gathering the resources to start your business, the bigger the runway you will have for getting your enterprise up and running.

 

Key Strategies

Janet Attard of Business Know-How recommends cutting out all unnecessary costs in your life to build up funds for starting your business.

“Live frugally and invest the savings in your business. You don’t have to live like a pauper or waste hours searching for 50 cent-off coupons to live frugally. A few simple changes may save you $200 a month or more. Depending how much coffee you drink, for instance, making it at home or in the office instead of buying it at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts could save you $10 or $15 a week. If you’re determined to save money, you can probably find a lot of other ways to cut back on your spending.”

For those that find themselves encountering cash flow problems when their business is up and running, there are a number of alternative routes to capital. The Advance Funds Network, for example, affords businesses a different option for raising capital, other than loan funding.

With small businesses in particular, lenders now want personal guarantees and often personal security, in the form of your family home. Most people regard these risks as uncomfortable, particularly for businesses that have yet to fully establish. Fortunately, there are alternatives that can be explored

What other simple tips do you have to save to start a business?

 
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How To Get Private Advertisers for Your Website – Advanced Strategies

Published on May 16, 2013 by

website advertisingI’ve talked about the 6 Easy Ways to Get Advertisers to Your Blog or Website before, but one of the biggest questions I get is, now what? Well, if you’ve followed the actions in that article, but you’re looking for more advanced strategies on how to get advertisers for your website, here’s a great resource for you.

Some of these explicitly require you to to have made it easy for advertisers to find you, while others will take a bit of sleuthing around to find the right contacts.

 

The Money is in the List

In my first article I mentioned setting up your website with an “Advertising” page to attract advertisers to your site.  After you’ve done that, I encouraged you to treat all emails as potential leads.  But that’s only the first part of what you should be doing.

Every lead and every deal, regardless if completed or not, should be added to your “list”.  I keep my list in Google Docs, but you can use something that is conducive to you.  On this list, include the following:

  • Name
  • Company
  • Contact (email, Skype, social media, etc.)
  • Terms of Advertising
  • Other

No matter what, I add my contacts to this list.  Now, here’s where the money is – ping your list every 3 months.

I send out a generic email as follows:

Hi Advertiser,

We recently did business together and I was reaching out to see if you had any other advertising needs.  If there is anything I can help you with, please get in touch.

I value our continued relationship.

Thanks!

Quick, simple, and too the point – but the great thing is that you’re trying to help your advertiser.  Typically these guys run lots of campaigns and are dealing with hundreds, if not thousands, of sites.  You never know what new campaign they are working on now, and if it could be relevant to your sites.   Sending them a friendly reminder you exist is a great way to get more advertising.

On average, I would say I get a 10% conversion on these emails.

 

Keep Diligent Records on Timing

One rule of thumb for advertising – never accept permanent advertising on your website.  Some companies only want permanent advertising, but that just doesn’t make sense.  Could you imagine permanent advertising in the real world?  You’d never see this:

permanent advertising

 

If you wouldn’t see it in real life, don’t put it on your website.  Plus, having a permanent ad could have negative SEO and search implications as well.

Instead, I always setup timelines on my ads – typically one year, but I’ve done anywhere from monthly to 3 years.  The great thing is that this opens up another way to get more advertising – renewals.  Keep a diligent list of your advertisers and when they expire.  About 30 days before the ad expires, reach out and ask for renewal.

I would say about 20% of the time they renew, and another 20% of the time they don’t renew, but instead place a new, different ad.

 

Get an Affiliate Manager

Another important part of advertising is affiliate advertising.  I’ve talked before about how I’m developing my affiliate income, but one of my biggest learnings is to get an affiliate manager to help you when needed.  Every affiliate company has affiliate managers that help you with your account – it’s beneficial for them and you.  When you make more money, they make more money.

As such, an affiliate manager can help you:

  • Get into specific advertising programs
  • Get bonus commission rates
  • Get special incentives for your readers (i.e. discounted pricing)
  • Get customized banners or other advertising

You may not think you could get an affiliate manager, but I promise you that you can.  At most companies, someone will naturally reach out to you.  If they don’t, use the contact form and ask to be put in touch with an affiliate manager.  When it comes to sales, nobody is going to turn you down if you want help selling more of their products!

 

Connect on Social Media

This is a new one, but I’ve had three successful advertising deals close this year directly from social media.  I’ve done one deal each on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  The trick is to follow a brand and people related to the brand.  You also need to include your website details on your profile.

Then, when you talk about a brand (in a positive way), be sure to tag them or tweet them.  No doubt they’ll be checking out what you have to say, and it could lead to a meaningful relationship.

The second approach is to contact them directly through social media.  I used this strategy on Facebook and LinkedIn, with some success.  Typically, brands outsource their social media endeavors to PR companies.  Well, these same companies are typically responsible for advertising as well.  In both cases, the social media manager gave me the contact information for the advertising manager, and we were able to connect and put together a deal.

 

Ask Around

Finally, it never hurts to ask around.  If you want to work with a specific brand, search for people that may have advertising already with them, and see if they can put you in contact with the specific people.  Or, contact the brand directly and see what happens.

Another option is to ask your affiliate manager for info on the brand.  If they don’t offer an affiliate program, the manager may still have contact info you can use.  In fact, this worked for me once, and I was able to connect with one of the most elusive personal finance brands on the Internet.  I haven’t solidified a deal, but at least I’m talking to the right people now!

 

The Overall Theme of Online Advertising

Are you seeing a pattern here?  The key to online advertising is building relationships.  And it takes time.  And it requires give and take.  You don’t want to undersell your advertising space, but would you offer a discount in exchange for volume?

Remember, advertisers have a clear goal – increase exposure for their products and services to make more money.  Advertising is an expense to them.  You need to align your goals with your advertiser and make it mutually beneficial for both of you.  Become a partner and help them.  That will in turn send more business your way.

One advertiser of mine consistently accounts for 10% of my advertising revenue.  Why?  Because we’ve built a solid relationship and fully understand what we both need.  You can do that too!

What other strategies have you used to get more private advertisers for your website or blog?

 
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Do’s and Don’ts of Applying for a Staff Writing Job

Published on May 8, 2013 by

staff writerOver the last two weeks, I’ve been looking to hire some staff writers for my sites, as I talked about in my April Income Report.  Since I’m transitioning to having a fuller publishing schedule on two of my sites, I really wanted to have some talented writers help me and provide awesome content to compliment the site and continue to improve the brand.

As such, I put out a call for staff writers.  When my close contacts were exhausted and I still needed some writers, I went to the ProBlogger Job Board.  Needless to say, that was a great source of talent, but also a great source of resume spam.  Posting on a major job board really has made me appreciate the talented individuals that are out there, and I’m so happy for the couple that I’ve found so far.

With that, I thought it would be great to highlight some of the Do’s and Don’ts that I’ve seen in staff writers, coming from someone who has now screened over 100 applicants for the jobs I have listed.

 

What I’m Looking for in a Staff Writer

First, you should know what I was looking for in a staff writer.  Here is what I put in the listing:

Entrepreneurship Life is actively looking for bloggers and writers from around the world who share a passion for business and entrepreneurship, as well all the bells and whistles that go with it.

  1. We are seeking writers to contribute a weekly article at least 800 words long.
  2. Is able to focus on entrepreneurship topics, including money, technology, insight, leadership, and lifestyle (including dress, food, etc.)
  3. Is active on social media and willing to promote their articles to their own following

We want the writers to think about this as their own column, and all topics will be the writer’s choice, as well as the writer’s own research.

Beyond the listing, I had a few personal criteria that I was looking for.  First, spelling and grammar are huge!  Second, I wanted to hear how the writer/blogger could contribute their own unique perspective.

Unlike being a journalist, bloggers have it a different – we are encouraged to share our perspective and not just report the news.  This was key.

Finally, I had to meet certain budget criteria.

 

The Do’s and Don’ts of Applying for a Staff Writing Job

Now that you know what I was looking for, let me highlight some things that you shouldn’t do when applying for a staff writing job (or any job really).

Do: Have Spelling and Grammar

This is a huge pet peeve of mine.  You’re applying for a writing job!  You should have perfect spelling and grammer.  However, I deleted 70+ applications simply on the grounds of poorly written emails!

For example:

bad spelling

 

First, let’s talk about proper capitalization.  You don’t even capitalize the “I” are the start of your sentence?  Then, do you even know what a blog is?  What about this “…………” and your name.  Come on!  Whether you write online or offline, basic grammar rules apply!

 

Don’t: Used Generic/Not Relevant Resumes

I can’t believe how many generic emails I received, or resumes from staff writers who weren’t even in the business space.  I received countless emails from “foodies”, “mom bloggers”, and more, all who wanted to write about entrepreneurship.  Not to put them down – they may be excellent writers – but in a short email sales pitch, that doesn’t convey how you’re going to help me and my site.

Second, too many people simply copied and pasted their responses.  Here’s a classic example:

generic resume

 

Notice the change in font?  Yea, I did.  I could go on and highlight how all of the examples they provided in the email were to non-relevant InfoBarrel articles.  If you’re applying for a staff writing job, and least be relevant.

Don’t: Apply Multiple Times

Given I work full time, I wouldn’t normally respond to emails until late at night.  As such, people would apply all day, and I’d have a big queue when I got home.  Since I use Google Apps for my business, Gmail automatically groups together the same emails.

And every night, I’d come home to this:

duplicate submissions

 

Beyond the grammar, you could tell this person was basically spamming all the job applications on the job board.  Everyone who applied more than once got automatically deleted without even looking at it.

Do: Include Nice Touches

Finally, one of the biggest things that set apart the resumes that at least avoided the big don’ts above was to include some nice touches.

Some great examples of nice touches included:

  • Using My Name (not just “sir” or “to whom it may concern”)
  • Doing Research (look at my site and show you care)
  • Genuine (really highlight how your story fits my site)

 

Lessons for Applying for a Staff Writing Job

Realize that, on big job boards, there will be hundreds of applications for each job.  As such, you have to stand out.

But, what most people don’t realize is that the easiest way to stand out is to be proper and correct.  Out of over 100+ applications, I only really looked at about 10 – the 10 people who used correct grammar and spelling, and put in the personal touches mentioned above.

So, if you want to be a staff writer, follow these do’s and don’ts and start landing jobs today!

 
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