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

Today's question comes from Brent, who is selling a product on his website, but it is also available on Amazon. Should he let people know they can buy the product on Amazon, rather than directly from him? Should he share the affiliate link? Brent's website is http://margaritatexas.com/. To see my book club landing page strategy with Amazon affiliate links, go to http://patsbookclub.com/. Do you ha...

Today's question comes from Ciaran, who asks about business idea validation using Facebook ads. If you're testing three different ideas with Facebook, do you need three separate landing pages? Do the landing pages need to be on different domains, or can they use the same domain? Ciaran discusses some of the methods I share for validating your ideas in my book Will It Fly? (http://willitflybook.com...

Today's question comes from Denise, who asks about redesigning a website. What steps should she take during the redesign to maintain her site's search ranking? Will redesigning the navigation negatively impact the SEO? In this episode I talk about permanent 301 redirects. Do you have a question about website redesigns? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pr...

Today's question comes from James, who is building his business on the side while he continues to work his day job. How does he prepare himself to become a full-time entrepreneur, looking specifically at day-job benefits like health insurance? I talk about COBRA, which is a method for continuing health insurance from a previous employer. Check out https://www.healthcare.gov/ to find out how to get...

Today's question comes from Nathan, who validated a business idea, but the customers didn't last. Is that a sign that the business idea isn't good? Nathan's site is http://honeybunnybaking.com/. Nathan talks about my book Will It Fly? (http://willitflybook.com) and my talk with Noah Kagan about SumoJerky (https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/tv/validating-a-product-and-the-story-of-sumojerky-with-no...

Today's question comes from Brian, who has a question about niching down. How does he niche down his website and his course? Should he target a specific niche, or a broader market? How specific should his target market be? Brian's website is at http://www.saasjunkie.com/. In this episode I mention Internet Business Mastery, a resource that was key for me early on in my business journey. Learn more...

Today's question comes from Steve, who has a number of essential online business questions. Would Pat be as successful if he wasn't let go? How do you define success in online business? Should he post his editorial calendar online or will Google penalize him? Does iTunes categories matter, and what happens if there isn't a specific category for his podcast? How do you transfer your domain from one...

Today's question comes from Bobby, who has a question about marketing his online course. If he has already built his online course, how does he collect students? What should be his focus: research or promo video? What can he do to validate the course idea? How does he know what's working and what's not working? In this episode, I mention my book on validating your idea for a business, Will It Fly?...

Today's question comes from Cynthia, who has a question about creating a membership site. How does she set up a membership site? Should she create a pilot group first? What are some steps she should take before launching a membership site? Cynthia's website is at http://www.signbabysign.org/. In this episode, I mention Rainmaker from Copyblogger. You can learn more about Rainmaker at http://www.ra...

Today's question comes from Jeanette, who has a question about instilling an entrepreneurial mindset in her kids. How does she get her kids interested in entrepreneurship? What is a good age to start showing her kids the tools of the trade? What kinds of business-related things and lessons should she teach her children? Jeanette's website is at http://www.craftwhack.com/. Do you have a question ab...

Today's question comes from Tom, who has a question about staying motivated and productive when you reach a comfortable level of success in your business. What can he do to motivate himself to keep going? How does he keep moving forward and creating goals in his business? In this episode, I mention Pencils of Promise, the organization that inspires me to keep moving forward. You can learn more abo...

Today's question comes from Gabriel, who has a question about starting a niche website with a supplemental online course for his audience. How does he create a niche website? What can he do to create a unique mark in his market? How does he determine what exam he can help his customers with? In this episode, I mention my niche website, http://www.greenexamacademy.com/, a site that continues to ear...

Today's question comes from Rachel, who has a question about the ideal length for emails. What is the best word count for her emails? Should she try to target a specific length for her emails? What should she focus on in her emails? In this episode, I mention SPI Podcast Episode 115 on managing emails (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/session115/). Do you have a question about finding the right l...

Today's question comes from Sarah, who has a question about earnings per click numbers for online ads. What is a good earnings per click number? How much money can she make with online paid advertising? When is it not worth her time to spend money on earnings per click advertising? Sarah's website is at http://www.probaseballinsider.com/. In this episode, I mention SEM Rush as a great tool for key...

Today's question comes from Andrew, who has a question about balancing his side business with his full-time job. How does he balance his side business with his full-time job? If you love your day job but also want to grow your side gig, how do you commit to both without negatively affecting either of them? What can he do to invest more time in his side business? Andrew's website is at http://www.i...

Today's question comes from Jeremy, who wants to set himself up for success. What are the steps he can take now to structure his blog properly and to make sure the content he creates is worth keeping in the future? Jeremy references Smart Passive Income Podcast Episode 200 (http://smartpassiveincome.com/session200). Do you have a question about blogging? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Pr...

Today's question comes from Joey, who would like to redesign his website. How can he redesign his Amazon Affiliate site without killing its current earnings? Do you have a question about your website design? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Today's question comes from Stephen, who asks about local promotion. How do you increase your in-person and web traffic from a local audience? Stephen's site is http://mountainfreshmedia.com/. The sites I discuss are Yelp (https://www.yelp.com/minneapolis) and Angie's List (https://www.angieslist.com/). Do you have a question about web traffic for your brick and mortar business? Record it at http:...

Today's question comes from Jan, who is looking to upgrade her website. What is a 301 redirect? Can she use other template websites and still maintain her Google ranking? Jan's site is http://www.coloradolash.com/. Jan's first website was built by Vistaprint (http://www.vistaprint.com/). Do you have a question about web development? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https:...

Today's question comes from DJ D'Loose, who asks about how to get people signed up to his email list. Traditional incentives like ebooks don't apply for this type of business. Share your advice and ideas on Twitter using #AskPat765. Do you have a question about email marketing? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at htt...

Today's question comes from Jon, who asks about using the site Medium (http://medium.com) like guest posting. Should he put in links back to his main site in his posts on Medium.com? Jon's site is http://www.moneysmartguides.com/. Do you have a question about writing on Medium? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at htt...

Today's question comes from Jason, who asks about interviewing. How should he determine which questions to ask his guests when interviewing? Jason's site is http://www.digitaltoolsofthetrade.com/. Do you have a question about interviewing? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-i...

Today's question comes from Jason, who is looking to start a new niche site, but needs some advice on long-tail keyword searches. How can he find an under-used market? Jason's site is http://www.canonblogger.com/. For advice on market research, check out my book, Will It Fly?, at http://willitflybook.com. For advice on starting an email list, try my email challenge at http://100emails.com. The con...

Today's question comes from VK, who asks about selling seasonal items on Amazon. Does he need to set up a website to go along with his Amazon listings, or is it okay just to use Amazon and his email list? If you are just getting started, learn how to grow your email list at http://www.100emails.com. A good platform for setting up online stores is Shopify (https://www.shopify.com/). Do you have a q...

Today's question comes from Brandi, who is feeling overwhelmed by the existing competition in her market. Is it even worth getting started? How can she get access to big name media properties for exposure? Also, how does she add the ability to ask audio questions, like I have for the AskPat Podcast? The tool that records questions is called Speakpipe, which allows you to embed an audio recorder on...