How to Grow a Successful Blog from Scratch

AGENDA
§ About me
§ My blog growth phases
§ How to…
– Create content
– Promote
– Achieve balance
– Make money
§ Monetization case studies
§ Power of side effects

QUICK SURVEY
§ Who is not blogging yet?
§ Who has been blogging for over a year?
§ Which topic is most interesting to you?
– How to write epic content
– How to make money blogging
– How to self promote
– How to be productive and keep a proper
mindset

Michał Szafrański
§ Gabi’s husband and father of two
§ Already over 40
§ Blogging about personal finance
and money saving at
http://JakOszczedzacPieniadze.pl
§ Former journalist and Business
Development Director in IT

Why
am I
here?
§ 120 000 UU / month
§ 17 004 fans on Facebook
§ 15 695 e-mail subscribers
§ 1052 RSS readers
§ 185 blog posts
§ 15 145 comments (average 80)
§ Over 470 comments on the
most popular post
§ 27 podcast episodes

HOW TO START A BLOG?
§ Pat Flynn – SmartPassiveIncome.com
§ Corbett Barr - Thinktraffic.net
§ Derek Halpern – SocialTriggers.com
§ Michael Hyatt
§ Chris Guillebeau
§ Tom Ewer – LeavingWorkBehind.com
§ Cliff Ravenscraft –
PodcastAnswerMan.com
§ Ramit Sethi
§ Marie Forleo

LET’S START!
questions and objectives
§ Can I blog?
§ Can I be consistent?
– 2 posts weekly, 8 posts monthly
§ Will my posts be useful to people?
§ Will I and my blogging style be accepted by readers?
§ Will I have fun with it? Will I feel fulfilled?
§ Can I grow my blog to 10 000 UU / month by the end of 2012?

PHASE 1: BLOG LAUNCH!
KEY FACTS
§ July-September 2012
– 151 UU in July
– 1697 UU in August
– 2977 UU in September
§ Crowded niche ~20 blogs
§ Just writing useful, high
quality, data-driven posts
§ Excel calculators
§ Newsletter + Facebook
WHAT HAVE I DONE?
§ Full financial transparency
§ Begging for comments,
newsletter signups, FB likes
§ Making my blog a safe
place for commenters
§ Belief that good content
brings good discussions
§ Marathon complete!

2009… 2012
§ Link do historii na
blogu – z wózka do
maratonu
September 2012

@PatFlynn
http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/my-monthly-income-report-october-2012/
http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/my-monthly-income-report-october-2012/

PHASE 2: GROWTH LEARNING
KEY FACTS WHAT HAVE I DONE?
§ October – December 2012
– 9776 UU in October
– 12 068 UU in November
– 12 147 UU in December
§ I’m starting to get noticed
§ I feel the importance of my
message
§ First affiliate earnings
§ „Proof of concept” complete!
§ Lots of email discussions
– Who are my readers?
– What do they need?
– Why they are reading me?
§ Experimenting with topics
– Real estate investing
§ Monetization planning
§ Difficult choice: grow or
quit?

PHASE 3: HATERS & CRISIS
§ January – March 2013
– 19 999 UU in January
– 20 119 UU in February
– 21 202 UU in March
§ Hot discussion – haters
§ 400 comments
§ Only 4 posts in January
§ Broke 20k UU / month
§ Case study of flat flip
– Series of 3 articles
§ „Podcasting A to Z” course
§ March:
– Podcast launch!
– My company launch!
§ Made crazy goal: 100k UU /
month by the end of 2013

PHASE 4: MENTAL ROLLERCOASTER
§ April– June 2013
– 22 352 UU in April
– 24 717 UU in May
– 35 703 UU in June
§ Podcast grows!
– Irregular episode publishing
§ 1st anniversary
§ Blog redesign
§ „Am I crazy?”
– „You won’t succeed!”
– Toxic people
– Nightmares
§ Loneliness, no support!
§ First TV & press appearance
§ First meetings with bloggers
§ „I quit my job for
blogging!” PR-stunt
§ First money and customers!

FIRST TV APPEARANCE
§ 5 minutes on TV =
1 day prep
§ No quick conversions
§ Position you as the expert
§ Confidence boost!
§ Tip: always exceed
expectations

PHASE 5: RESSURECTION
§ July– September 2013
– 34 652 in July
– 36 773 in August
– 50 123 in September
§ I’m on my own
§ 5-weeks job detox
– Traffic still grows!
§ New „lead magnet” for
my newsletter
– 23 Excel calculators pack
§ Podcast with Pat Flynn
§ Topics surveys for readers
§ Trainings and workshops
§ Earnings are better than
expected and gain
attention

NEWSLETTER STATS
May 2013:
1192
subscribers
July 2013:
2660
subscribers

FACEBOOK FANPAGE STATS
May 2013:
1375 likes
May 2014:
17 004 likes

My story is ALIVE
§ Paweł Krzos
– Reader of my blog!
§ He started running on the
20th of July 2013 and
listened to my podcast!
§ At the end of September he
completed the marathon
in 4:11:56
§ „Michal, I was able to do it
thanks to your inspiration…”

PHASE 6: „THE EXPERT”
§ October – December 2013
– 73 802 in October
– 77 224 in November
– 63 967 in December
§ Missed my yearly goal of
100k UU!
§ Newsletter grows by 700
signups / month
§ I have found my own voice
and self-confidence!
§ My October earnings report
made me famous within the
blogosphere
§ 8 TV, radio and press
appearances in October!
§ Attended „Blog Forum” –
biggest, yearly bloggers-only
conference

BLOGGER EARNINGS
§ Salary in Poland:
– Minimum = 560 USD / month
– Average = 1325 USD / month
§ My monthly income report =
6400 USD in October 2013
§ First blogger in Poland
disclosing earnings
§ „I’m just starting…”

PHASE 7: BLOGGING STAR
§ January – March 2014
– 100 809 UU in January!
– 123 931 UU in February
– 120 661 UU in March
§ Establishment of PSBV
§ Top 30 Most Influential
Bloggers in Poland
§ „Blog of the Year”
domination! 3 awards
§ 2 readers meetups -
#JOPlive
§ Challenges:
– E-mail = 300-400 daily!
– Comments
– Cooperation opportunities
§ First product development
§ Giving back to the blogging
community…

PHASE 8: CONFERENCES
§ April– June 2014
– 111 117 UU in April
– 122 741 UU in May *
§ Conferences:
– „Blog Experts”
– „Mieszkanicznik” – real
estate investors congress
– BIK Scoring conference
– ALIVE!
– „Smart Investing”
conference with Partner
§ #JOPlive in Sopot

Do you have to be expressive?
§ You have to have your own opinions and make them
visible but it’s not about you - it’s about your reader!
§ You have to balance!
– People are interested in us, however they are not coming to
read about us (unless we are a celebrity).
– A “little bit of us” is required for personal touch and person
to person relation building
§ We write for readers – not for ourselves
– Surveys about topics that readers would like to read
– Posts that help readers make progress toward their goals

BE PREDICTABLE
§ Fixed schedule
– Blog posts twice a week, ie. Monday and Thursday
– Weekend is low-traffic time
§ Publishing calendar
– Compensate “light” and “heavy” topics
– Let the reader know about blogging break!
§ If you have a podcast, make it predictable too
– ie. twice a month

§ Be specific but
don’t tell everything
§ Let reader’s
imagination work!
Mystery

BE HUMAN
§ Empathy
§ Personal contact
§ Help others
§ Be the leader you would like to have
§ Be natural - share both your successes and failures
§ Inspire others, but go easy on the self promotion…

§ Male or female?
Student? Married?
Children? Earnings?
Lifestyle? Hobbies?
§ What motivates him/
her?
§ Create your reader
persona / avatar
§ Write for someone
specific
Who is your reader?

DIFFERENT FORMS
§ Standard blog post
§ Discussion with other blogger
§ Q&A – answering reader question
§ Book review
§ Best links selection
§ Posts series
§ Monthly reports
§ Interview
§ Guest posts on your blog
§ Contests

40% CONTENT CREATION
60% MARKETING

§ Most media doesn’t
belong to us
– Google
– Facebook, Twitter, G+
– RSS
§ Mailing list!
§ Reply to emails
§ Comment on other blogs
§ Guest posting
40% CONTENT
60% MARKETING

TRAFFIC SOURCES: 6 MONTHS
42%
21%
13%
14%
8% 2% Organic search
Direct
Email
Referral
Social
Other

TIPS & TRICKS
§ Custom-written newsletter
with a personal touch
§ Several social media
messages
§ E-mail autoresponder with
„best articles” links
§ „A year ago on my blog…”
§ Reddit.com (Wykop.pl)

TRACK & ENGAGE!
§ Check who is linking to you
– Trackbacks
– Google Analytics
– Clicky.com
– Google Alerts
§ Check who is talking about you
– SentiOne.pl
– SoTrender.pl
§ Engage
§ Give back! Promote other good
content

BE EVERYWHERE!
§ Blog – your home base
§ YouTube
§ Podcast
§ Social Media
– Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Google+
§ Traditional Media
§ Conferences

HOW TO WORK WITH MEDIA?
§ Great content first!
§ Be accessible
§ Reach out to journalists
§ Document templates
– Bio, logo, blog description
– Script the talk – Q&A
§ Over deliver!
– Prepare info graphic

HOW TO BUILD / GAIN TRUST?
§ Full financial transparency
– Spending reports
– Income reports
– My net worth
§ “Write Epic Shit!” - Corbett Barr J
§ Be human – showing not only “ups” but also “downs”!
§ Direct and open communication
§ Every email is important!

SOCIAL PROOF
§ „Chicken and the egg” problem
– First comments
– People read… when they see
others are reading
§ Trust is built thanks to:
– Your face
– User comments and opinions
– Other bloggers linking to you
– Media
– Contracts and references

SOCIAL PROOF
§ Ask for opinions and use them
– Show surveys results
– Show your human face and gently disagree
§ Promote your commenters and thank
them for feedback
§ Make shareable content
– They share when it makes them smarter
looking and better
– Ask them to share
– Make it easy! – ready to use tweets

MINDSET
§ Self-confidence and fear of failure
– Am I good enough?
– Am I making a difference?
§ Imagine the worst case
§ Overloading and burn-out
– Superhero syndrome
§ Making connections
§ Making ends meet…

Most people look at your results
and they say you have a great lifestyle
What they don’t see is the amount of work, sacrifices,
difficult choices and uncertainty that are required
to be able to live such a lifestyle
Passion is a trap!

BLOGGER’ PRODUCTS
§ Affiliation
§ Paid advertisement
§ Sponsored posts
§ Partnerships / Sponsorship
§ Books
§ Trainings (offline)
§ 1:1 Consulting
§ Group coaching
§ Mentoring
§ Brand licensing
§ Your own online products
§ Marketing support for others
§ Public speaking
§ Freelancing – selling your skills:
– Writing
– Publishing in WordPress
– Photo research
– Social Media communication
– Analytics, data mining
– SEO

WHERE IS THE MONEY?
§ http://jakoszczedzacpieniadze.pl/reklama
§ First commercial cooperations:
– PC Format article = 400 USD (self marketing)
– PAYBACK workshop + post = 1650 USD
§ Today:
– Sidebar Banner = 380-800 USD / month
– Podcast episode sponsorship = 330 USD
– Sponsored post = 2350 USD
– Trainings = 1000 – 3500 USD
– Affiliation = varies… 100-2000 USD / month
– Non-standard cooperation
– Own online courses = in the development

BETTER TOGETHER
§ Join forces with other bloggers
§ 1+1 = 3 or more…
– We show that we can cooperate
– We create better content
– We make our traffic grow

ELEMENTARZ INWESTORA
§ 1 year-long educational project
§ Series of posts about „Investing
Basics” – step by step
§ Two bloggers and two blogs
– Amateur = Michał
– Professional = Zbyszek
§ 4 posts / month + podcast
§ We were looking for one Partner
for 80 000 USD / year… and
failed!

SUCCESS!
§ We pivoted in March
§ First Partner in April
– 6900 USD
§ Second Partner May-July
– 30 000 USD
– Conference on National
Stadium built for EURO
2012
§ We have other Partners
waiting…

AUDIOBOOKS!
§ Perfect target group
– Audioteka.pl sells
audiobooks
– I have a podcast
§ Branded collection of
books for JOP readers
and listeners
§ Special deal
– 50% or 25% discount
§ Win-win-win

We all have the power
to change other’s lives

Summary
§ Content is king! – your content
determines how you will be perceived. You
have 100% control over it! But…
§ Marketing is queen! – even the best
content can be unnoticed if you won’t let the
world know about it
§ Be yourself and follow your heart –
that’s your key differentiator
§ Connect with inspiring people
§ Catch the wave and open up
for side effects!
„Passion
makes
hard work
meaningful”
Michał Szafrański

NEXT STEPS…
§ „Platform: Get Noticed in the
Noisy World”, Michael Hyatt
§ „Smart Passive Income”, Pat Flynn
§ „Social Triggers”, Derek Halpern

Michał Szafrański
michal@szafranscy.pl
http://jakoszczedzacpieniadze.pl

How to Grow a Successful Blog from Scratch

How to Grow a Successful Blog from Scratch

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