For over a month, the Getting Started with Smart Passive Income page has been live on this blog, and today I’m going to share some interesting numbers about this new page with you.
This page was created to fill an apparent hole on my blog (and many other blogs), which is a clear starting point for newbies and unique visitors who may be overwhelmed or confused upon first arrival.
I was getting used to seeing emails just like the one below every single week:
To address this issue, I created a page which comprised of the following elements:
A high-quality welcome video to introduce myself and quickly explain where to start.
Quick definitions of the terms I would be using.
Links to my introductory podcast sessions.
Clear instructions on the first steps that one should take.
To keep this week’s theme of “where the Smart Passive Income Blog is lacking and what you can learn from it” (see my last post about conversion strategies), today I’m going to share some sections of an SEO audit that was performed on the SPI blog by renowned WordPress and web development expert, Joost De Valk, who runs a very successful blog at Yoast.com.
This was a paid analysis that I was happy to invest in because I’m always looking to improve my websites, and others have told me how helpful and thorough Joost’s reports were.
I learned a ton from his detailed 8-page analysis, however the one big thing I learned from this experience is that the SPI blog is not at all properly optimized for SEO. It’s doing some things right, but it’s doing a lot of things wrong too.
Now, I’m definitely not clueless when it comes to search engine optimization. I can bust out a niche site from scratch and have it optimized enough to obtain a #1 ranking in Google and generate a part-time passive income. But this blog, specifically, was created back in 2008 when I knew nothing about SEO, and as time went on and the blog grew to what it is today, the structure of the site lay stagnant in “pre-Pat knows what he’s doing now” mode. This is why I invested in this report, so I can update/fix/change things to the way it should be.
All that said, notice that even though my site wasn’t properly search engine optimized, I was still able to build a very successful following and have one of the fastest growing blogs in the world. And even though my site wasn’t properly search engine optimized, I was still able to (eventually) get to the #2 spot in Google for my primary keyword, “passive income”. I’m 2nd behind Wikipedia, who some say is nearly impossible to overtake in the rankings.
I’ve done pretty well without spending a ton of time and money on SEO, so to sum it up for you:
SEO isn’t everything.
So many people focus on SEO, SEO, SEO – and they forget about some of the other important ways to attract visitors, build a brand and establish one’s self as a leader in a niche.
Don’t get me wrong though – SEO is important, and you’d be a fool not to build an optimized website and shoot for keywords and organic search engine traffic – but all I’m saying is that it’s not everything.
And that’s the beauty of it – you don’t have to be an expert at everything in order for success to find you.
For example, in no way am I an SEO (search engine optimization) expert. When I started this blog, I hardly knew what the term meant, and even when I reached 10,000 subscribers, a detailed SEO analysis from an expert revealed that this blog and the way it was structured for SEO was…well…
Abysmal.
And that’s okay, because it’s all a learning experience – and I’m always applying what I learn to what I have so that I can see better results. No matter where you’re at, you can always improve, and although I know my online businesses and blogs have done quite well, I’m always looking for expert advice from others who can help me reach higher levels.
“Success doesn’t happen overnight – especially when it comes to Blogging, but simply going out there and ‘being consistent’ isn’t going to get you anywhere. Not if you don’t have the right focus, the right drive – and an ability to get your freq. on.”
This is a quote and guest post by my buddy, Alex Whalley, who blogs about building, ranking and profiting from niche sites on AlexWhalley.com. He’s quickly gaining ground in the blogosphere and often times I’ll have to stop myself from reading the content on his blog because it is very useful and engaging information. Today, he talks about being consistent, frequency and what really needs to happen in order to gain ground with your blogs and online businesses. In other words, getting your freq. (not freak) on.
Blogging, like any business requires consistency – that much is a given, and any semi experienced blogger will be nodding their head right about now.
But what is consistency really? And has anyone taken the time to define what aspect of it is important? Click to continue…
A month ago, I wrote about how there seems to be a missing element on most blogs online, including my own: a proper starting point, both for brand new visitors and people who just want to get the most important information – all in one spot. I finally got around to completing this task, and I’m really happy with the results.
Since this particular page may become the first page that people use to really get to know me and the SPI brand online, I decided to go the extra mile with it. I shot a couple of new videos and spent a lot of time making sure it keeps readers engaged and takes them through a journey, rather than just piling a ton of random information on them. Click to continue…
A blog or website that does not use images is like a restaurant absent of decor – uninteresting and uninviting. And as much as good food can keep people coming back to a restaurant regardless of what it may look like inside, we all know that people choose where to eat for the atmosphere and environment, as much as the actual food that will be consumed there.
The same goes for our sites.
It’s important to use images and graphics on our websites for several reasons:
To add something interesting and relevant that breaks up the sea of text in our posts.
To attract attention and pique interest even before any text is read.
To hold people’s attention while reading through our posts.
To strengthen or enhance a point, argument, fact, opinion or statement.
To help keep our posts memorable and easily distinguishable from one another.
And now, more than ever, it’s important because of things like Facebook updates and new-age RSS readers (e.g. Flipboard for the iPad) that utilize the images within our posts. Now we’re talking about actually driving traffic to our sites because of the images within our posts. Click to continue…
“Pat, if you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently, and why?”
I have three answers for you:
Start Sooner – If I had known what the possibilities were I would have gotten into online business much, much sooner. I’m very fortunate I was laid off back in 2008 because it was my lay off that took my eyes off of “the right path”, and put me on the path that was right for me. If I had known, I would have taken the bold actions necessary (bold actions that my lay off forced me to take) to make something awesome happen and get something out for the world to see, read and consume much sooner via the Internet.
Build an Email List Right From the Start – One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made since being in this business was not building an email list right from the start. I waited over a year to finally put an opt-in form on my blog and I missed out on huge opportunities to connect with my audience and engage with them in ways that no blog post, video or podcast can ever do. If you still have yet to build an email list, I’ve laid out all of the steps for you in my Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Newsletter.
Include a Starting Point – I’ve lost potential readers and life-long fans of the SPI brand simply because I don’t have a good starting point on my blog. This is what today’s post is all about – creating a starting point.
Why is a Starting Point Important?
A starting point is a page on a website that gives new readers clear direction and it’s totally underutilized in the blogosphere.
Why is this important?
Because blogs are a huge mess.
There is hardly any order to the posts that are published and although there is the occasional 2-part, 3-part or n-part series that keeps a few posts in order, they are simply a group of ordered posts in an unordered web of chaos.
Additionally, a lot of our best content – content that would be perfect for anyone new to the site (or new to the topic of our site), was probably written during the first few months of the blog’s life when there were hardly any readers. A starting point is a great place to bring those old posts back into light. Click to continue…
There is yet another Facebook change around the corner, which is forcing me to create yet another Facebook landing page tutorial.
On March 11th (that’s tomorrow!) Facebook will no longer allow users to add new FBML applications to their Facebook page, which means the old way of creating a landing page (using the Static FBML application) will be extinct.
If you have an existing landing page using any FBML type application, don’t worry. Your existing page will not be affected. This change only affects those who do not have a landing page yet and want to create one after March 11th, 2011.
That said, even if you have a landing page setup for Facebook already, I recommend you check out how it’s done in the video below just in case Facebook changes their mind and decides to get rid of FBML all together, and because this new way of creating a landing page allows you to easily add HTML, so you can get pretty slick as far as what you can do and the things you can add onto your landing page.
I’m thinkin’ videos, opt-in forms, maps, and other dynamic things that were much harder to code in FBML before.
This is a good change, and even though this means a little extra work for me, I don’t mind as long as my work helps a few of you.
As a reminder, a landing page is a page that people who visit your Facebook Page will see first, which is important because you can then direct them to click on the ‘like button’ at the top, which isn’t so obvious if you just send people to your wall. Using a landing page can drastically increase your conversions and explode your Facebook fan count.
Below you’ll see a video explaining how to create an HTML / iFrame type landing page. The new application that I recommend, Static HTML iFrame Tab (by Jason Padvorac), allows you to add 2 landing pages: 1 for non-fans, and 1 for fans. Check out the video below to learn more about how you can utilize this application to increase “like” conversion and get the most bang for your buck.
There are other HTML / iFrame type applications available now too, but I like this one in particular because it’s free, easy to use and doesn’t ask for your email or any permissions like some of the other ones do.
Note: Facebook may be slow to load these new applications as they make the change from FBML to HTML. Please be patient when installing this application. Thanks!
As mentioned in the video, I’ll also be including some resources and HTML code that you can use on your own landing pages. I will continually be adding to the list of stuff below as I learn more and as my VA codes things that I can share with you.
Showing an Image
If you don’t know HTML and/or don’t have the resources to hire or find someone to code HTML or you, you can do what I did in the video and just simply create an image file that is the size of the Page (520 px wide and however tall you want it to be) and add your own copy, calls to action or pictures, etc. to that image.
Below is the sample HTML code I used to embed the image into the application:
Of course, replace the url in the example with the url of where your image is stored.
A Basic Link with Anchor Text
Here a basic code that you can copy that will create a link within your page:
<a href="http://www.smartpassiveincome.com">The Smart Passive Income Blog</a>
Be sure to replace the url between the quotations with your destination, and replace “The Smart Passive Income Blog” with whatever anchor text you want.
The ‘Like’ Button
You may want to add an image of the Like Button that Facebook uses within the graphics of your page. Simply right click on the like button below and “save as” to copy it onto your computer for your use.
Your Facebook Fan & Twitter Follower Counts
Here is a link (thanks to @adalpo_project for the find) to some html that you can use or tweak to show how many Facebook Fans and Twitter followers you have, which updates automatically for you.
If you’re using a service like Aweber to collect email addresses, you can simply add in the script that it gives you for your web form into the fields of the Static HTML application.
As I recommend in the video, I would reserve any sort of actions you want your user to take other than clicking the LIKE button for your “Fan” landing page – the page people see after they click the ‘Like’ button. Again, the reasoning is that the primary purpose of the “Non-Fan” landing page is to get people to click on that ‘Like’ button. The more options you have the less likely that will happen. Again, it’s sort of like a squeeze page for Facebook.
More to come…
My own Facebook Page isn’t setup yet with the new HTML application, but I’m working with my VA now to code something cool and I’ll be sure to share that and anything else with you as I figure things out.
If you have something else to add, share or request please let me know and I’ll do my best to add it to the above resources.
And lastly, I’d really love it if you share this with your fans or followers today. All it takes is a simple click on the ‘like’ button below. Thanks!
Update: You can install up to 12 instances of this application so you can have more tabs than just the one for your landing page. Here is the link for that information.
Most of you are probably familiar with the food pyramid, right?
If not, it’s a graphical representation (in the shape of a pyramid) of the suggested serving sizes of different food groups, which together illustrate a healthy and balanced diet. It was adopted by the USDA (United State Department of Agriculture) in 1992 to give Americans an easy and memorable way to understand nutrition.
Here, I want to show you something called a content pyramid.
The content pyramid below is a graphical representation of the “serving sizes” of different types of blog posts thatI’ve written on this blog, which together illustrate what I believe to be my own healthy blogging diet – a diet that has proved to quickly build some authority in the blogosphere.
(click to enlarge – opens a new window)
In an older post, I had outlined a strategy I use to diversify the content that I publish on this blog. I went into detail about several different types of posts and how they each catered to a specific type of person and how they like to digest information, however I failed to illustrate exactly how often each of those posts were published.
Hence, this pyramid.
Now, in pure SPI fashion, let’s break it down from the bottom, up. Click to continue…
I’m taking a mini-vacation this weekend so I’m going to keep this kind of short, but I wanted to do a follow up post to Wednesday’s Blog Redesign Exercise.
In that post, I shared 3 different blog designs iterations that a fellow blogger, Vik Tantry, had done for a design overhaul he’s doing for his blog. The SPI community didn’t hesitate to share their opinions (yay for comments!) and I’m sure Vik and everyone else following along has learned a lot about what works, and what doesn’t.
Here are my top 10 takeaways from reading the comments. These are things to consider when designing or redesigning your own blog in the future: Click to continue…
No, I'm not a millionaire, but I am living off of passive income made online. I'm here to show you what I've learned...
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“Success doesn’t happen overnight – especially when it comes to Blogging, but simply going out there and ‘being consistent’ isn’t going to get you anywhere. Not if you don’t have the right focus, the right drive – and an ability to get your freq. on.”
No, I'm not a millionaire, but I am living off of passive income made online. I'm here to show 
Enter your name and email below to get Free Instant Access to the most comprehensive guide available on how to Publish, Market, and automate your own killer eBook.
