AskPat 2.0: A Weekly Coaching Call on Online Business, Blogging, Marketing, and Lifestyle Design

Today's question comes from John, who has a question about promoting his YouTube channel. Should he promote his YouTube channel on his website? Should he keep his website and YouTube channel separate? What are some YouTube promotion tips? In this episode, I mention AskPat Live, which you can join every Friday at 1:30 p.m. PT on my Facebook page: http://Facebook.com/smartpassiveincome. Do you have...

Today's question comes from Darcie, who has a question about building her email list. How can she bring attention to her email list? What is the value of sharing personal information as an entrepreneur? What are the pros and cons of sharing personal information with her audience? Why does sharing personal information matter? Darcie’s website is at http://ErgonomicHelp.com. Do you have a question a...

Today's question comes from Brandon, who has a question about being comfortable and natural on camera. What are some public speaking tips? How can he become more comfortable in front of a camera? Brandon is the owner of Vegetable, a farm-to-food truck business. Do you have a question about public speaking or speaking in front of a camera? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at...

Today's question comes from Brandon, who has a question about live video. What live video platforms should he experiment with? Should he use live video to answer questions from his audience? Should he use Facebook Live? Brandon’s website is http://StudentLoansGuy.com. In this episode, I mention Zoom and Go To Meeting, both of which are platforms you can use to engage with your audience live. Check...

Today's question comes from Cesar, who has a question about creating calls to action to convert podcast listeners to subscribers. How do you craft the perfect call to action? What calls to action should I use to acquire more email subscribers? In this episode, I mention Amy Porterfield’s podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy at AmyPorterfield.com/amy-porterfield-podcast. I also mention Power-Up Podc...

Today's question comes from Tammy, who has a question about answering questions from her audience. What system should she use to answer questions from her audience? What are some tips to make sure her answers are natural and genuine? How should she organize her answers and her notes as she answers her audience? Tammy’s podcast is the Local Small Business Coach Podcast. In this episode, I mention S...

Today's question comes from Jason, who has a question about submitting a podcast to iTunes. Should he submit his podcast to iTunes now? Should he wait to submit his show when he has multiple episodes? Should he launch with just one episode? Is there a minimum or maximum number of episodes he needs before submitting to iTunes? Dave’s podcast is Solomon’s Porch Podcast. In this episode, I mention As...

Today's question comes from Maverick, who has a question about business tips from The Walking Dead television show. What are five business lessons I have picked up from watching The Walking Dead? Maverick’s website is at http://HellIsFull.net. On this episode, I mention The Walking Dead Story Sync. Check it out at http://AMC.com/shows/the-walking-dead/story-sync/. I also mention my new online cour...

Today's question comes from Adam, who has a question about following up after his initial email. How should he reach out to people for potential partnerships or after he’s pitched an idea? How long should he wait to send a follow-up email? What’s the email follow-up etiquette? Are there other places where he can reach out to people, other than email? In this episode, I mention that my course, Smar...

Today's question comes from Jason, who has a question about podcast content storage. Should he store his podcast content online? What about using an external hard drive as backup storage? Is there another place to store his podcast content on his podcast host, such as SoundCloud or Libsyn? Jason’s podcast is the Solomon’s Porch Podcast. Do you have a question about podcast content storage? Record...

Today's question comes from Brad, who has a question about blog categories and blog post tagging. Should he re-categorize his blog posts? What should he do about blog post tags? How should he organize the tags on his blog? what’s the benefit of blog post reorganizing and blog post tag categorization? Brad’s website is at http://BradHobbs.com. In this episode, I mention http://TopRankBlog.com, a gr...

Today's question comes from Vegard, who has a question about annotations for YouTube videos. Why don’t I use a lot of annotations on YouTube videos for Smart Passive Income? What are some alternatives to YouTube annotations? What’s working right now for YouTube video add-ons? How does he utilize YouTube cards and end screens? In this episode, I mention that, starting in May, annotations on YouTube...

Today's question comes from Jules, who has a question about boosting ebook sales. What can she do to selling more ebooks? Should she revise the book and relaunch it? Should she reformat the ebook to improve sales? Should she add her book to Amazon’s Kindle service? What are some ebook marketing strategies she can use to get more book sales? Jules’s website is at http://HelloImHandmade.com. In this...

Today's question comes from Mike, who has a question about search engine rankings for specific keywords. Is it possible to rank high for five specific keywords? How can he be sure his website is ranking high across the country, and not just regionally? What are some strategies he can use to improve his search engine rankings for the five keywords? Should he use short-term keywords or long-term key...

Today's question comes from Glenn, who has a question about growing his email list by using his email list. He has about 30k people on his list, so how does he continue growing his list by tapping into his audience? What are some email marketing best practices to help grow his email list? What kinds of strategies can he implement to serve his audience while growing his email list? Glenn’s website...

Today's question comes from Michael, who has a question about incorporating ecommerce into a WordPress website. What ecommerce tools should he use on his WordPress website? How should he add ecommerce into his website? What are some ways he can take payment? In this episode, I mention my brand new course, Power Up Podcasting. It’s a podcasting course to help you level up your podcasting power. Joi...

Today's question comes from Adam, who has a question about the one thing I’ve done well in my business. Since I talk a lot about my failures in business, he’s curious about the one thing I’ve done well. What is that one thing? How can Adam take this one thing and apply it to his own business success? What can Adam learn about failure in business? If you’d like to comment on this episode, share the...

Today's question comes from Glenn, who has a question about growing his business. He’s doing the right things in his business and has followed my advice. What is he missing? What opportunities are there for Glenn to take advantage of for his business? Is he connecting with the right people? Glenn’s website is at http://LiveFitLean.com. Do you have a question about growing your business? Record it...

Today's question comes from Chris, who has a question about hosting his podcast on his website. Should he host his podcast on his website? What are the pros and cons of using his website for podcast hosting? In this episode I mention Libsyn (use the code “Pat” to get your first month free) and Buzzsprout, podcast hosting providers you can start with. Learn more at Libsyn.com or Buzzsprout.com. Do...

AP 0840: How Much Premium Content Should I Give Away for Free? Today's question comes from Lewis, who has a question about how much premium content he should give away on his blog. Where should he draw the line between offering free content and premium content? If he gives it all away for free, are there other opportunities to make an income from his audience? Lewis’s website is at TheFreelanceEff...

Today's question comes from Mike, who has a question about whether or not the Smart Passive Income podcast archive is still relevant. Are niche websites still relevant? What content should he focus on when he’s just starting out in online business? In this episode I mention three episodes of the Smart Podcast Income Podcast that will help you get started in your online business: SPI Session 192, S...

Today's question comes from Nara, who has a question about creating a podcast intro by herself. What should she do to create an audio intro for her podcast? What are the main components of a good podcast intro? Where can she find inspiration to apply to her own audio intro? In this episode, I mention my new podcasting course, which is in beta testing right now. It will be available later this year...

Today's question comes from Gianna, who has a question about how she should reach out to her audience. What is the best way to reach out to her audience without seeming too pushy or sleazy? Should she set up an email series to connect with her audience? What balance should she strike between asking for money and providing value to her audience? Gianna’s website is at FamilyFunTwinCities.com If you...

Today’s question comes from Jeanette, who has a question about starting a new email list to align with the change in direction of her blog. Should she create a new email list or use the existing email list? Does she start from scratch with the new vision for the website? What can she do to prepare her audience for the website change? Jeanette’s website is at http://craftwhack.com. Do you have a qu...

Today’s question comes from Justin, who has a question about creating a product or something his audience will pay for. How can he start introducing paid content or products with the free stuff he’s already giving away? What are some cost-effective ways he can start growing his online business reach and earnings? How can he solve problems for his audience and get paid for doing it? Justin’s websit...