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

Today's question comes from David, who has a question about dealing with one-star iTunes ratings and reviews for his podcast. How do you handle poor reviews? What happens if those one-star ratings come from spam or online trolls? How do you deal with that negativity against your podcast? David's website is at http://www.daviddifran.co/. Do you have a question about dealing with spammy one-star rev...

Today's question comes from Jonathan, who has a question about podcast sponsors. Do you sign a contract with podcast sponsors, or is it a hand shake deal? What details should you consider when you sign on new sponsors for your podcast? What do you look for in a podcast sponsorship relationship? What should you include in the contract? Jonathan's website is at http://www.salespurpose.com/. Do you h...

Today's question comes from Michelle, who has a question about follow links and no-follow links. What is the difference between follow links and no-follow links? When do you use follow links, and when do you use no-follow links? What is the their purpose? Michelle's website is at http://www.custardandbear.com/. Do you have a question about follow and no-follow links? Record it at http://www.askpat...

Today's question comes from Jules, who has a question about helping her audience learn how to promote and sell their art online. Should you create an ebook for your audience? What about creating an online course, even if it is takes more time? What should come first? What are some other ways to create highly valuable and engaging content for your audience? Jules's website is at http://www.unlimite...

Today's question comes from Gordon, who has a question about the volume of blog content he should be creating. How often do you need to create new content for your audience? Is there a sweet spot for specific platforms, such as a podcast, website, and video? Does the amount of content depend on the audience? In this episode, we mention my book, Will It Fly?, which is about validating your business...

Today's question comes from Chris, who has a podcast and wants to find new subscribers. What's the best way to bring in new listeners? Is Facebook advertising recommended? Chris's site is http://www.parentnormal.com/. If you're thinking about starting a podcast, check out my free podcasting tutorial at http://www.podcastingtutorial.com. The episodes of the Smart Passive Income Podcast I discuss ar...

Today's question comes from Kris and Kit, who ask about recording audiobooks. What advice do you have for recording? Should you do it yourself or hire someone? Kris and Kit's site is http://gomousescouts.com/. I have used Upwork for finding a voiceover artist (http://askpat.com/upwork). I recorded Let Go (http://askpat.com/let-go) and Will It Fly? (http://www.askpat.com/willitfly) myself. For audi...

Today's question comes from Mohamed, who is interested in starting an online business. English is not the primary language where he lives. Is there anything he should do differently? Do you have a question about starting a business? 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 Karyn, who is planning a podcast. How much writing does she need to do to support her podcast? Karyn's site is http://melbourneseast.com.au/. If you're starting a podcast, check out my free podcasting tutorial (http://www.podcastingtutorial.com). Do you have a question about getting your podcast started? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https:/...

Today's question comes from Jeff, who is planning to start a blog. Should he launch right away, or should he wait until he has a backlog of posts banked up? What is the right order, between writing, setting up email, and launching? Do you have a question about launching your website? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice...

Today's question comes from Joshua, who has a small budget. What can he do with $100 to start seeing some immediate returns? Joshua's site is http://creatingcomfortable.com/. Check out Ramit Sethi's course Earn $1K (http://askpat.com/earn1k). Do you have a question about getting started? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Not...

Today's question comes from Sean, who has watched the bounce rate on his emails steadily increase. Should he be concerned about this? Sean's site is http://www.worldsfastesthypnotist.com/. In this episode, I talk about the book, The Power of Habit (https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/power-of-habit). Do you have a question about email marketing? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Poli...

Today's question comes from Ryan, who has a website and YouTube channel that focuses on DIY projects. How can he add value to his YouTube video's project posts? Ryan's site is http://doingwhatever.com/. You can find Corbett Barr's website at https://fizzle.co/. Check out the 30 day challenge over at Simple Green Smoothies (http://simplegreensmoothies.com/). Do you have a question about making your...

Today's question comes from Amine, who asks about building websites around specific date-based events, like the Olympics or holidays and monetizing them with affiliate offers and advertising. Is this a good niche site strategy? Benny Hsu's website is http://getbusylivingblog.com/. Do you have a question about building niche sites? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://...

Today's question comes from Chris, who asks about selling through email automation. How does he properly tag subscribers so that they are offered increasing prices over time? Do you have a question about email automation? 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 Amanda, who is planning to have a book club as part of her website. Is it okay to ask her readers to use her affiliate link when they buy the recommended books? Check out my book club at http://www.patsbookclub.com. Do you have a question about book clubs? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice...

Today's question comes from Matt, whose website is growing. He appreciates the 1:1 interaction he has with his readers right now, but that won't scale. How can he keep the connection with his readers when he can't have as deep of an interaction with each one? Matt's website is http://www.timezillionaire.com/. My assistant Jessica talks about how she approaches my email in Smart Passive Income Podc...

Today's question comes from Andy, who is planning to launch a forum on his site. How can he launch it with a big enough pool of users from day one? Andy's site is http://iporada.com/. Andy mentions my post on how to keep a forum active: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/how-to-keep-a-forum-active. Do you have a question about community forums? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Polic...

AP 0741: Should I Sell to My Whole Email List or Just to a Segment? Today's question comes from Tracy, who asks about selling to her email list. Should she pitch her product to her entire list or just to a targeted segment? Tracy's site is http://mumswithhustle.com/. I'm an advisor for and big fan of the email service provider ConvertKit: http://askpat.com/convertkit. Do you have a question about...

Today's question comes from Huw, who is planning ahead for a launch in four months. How early is too early to start the marketing for this launch? Huw's YouTube channel is at https://www.youtube.com/user/HuwsNursery. For more on launches, check out Smart Passive Income Podcast Session 137 with Amy Porterfield (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/session137). Do you have a question about launches? Re...

Today's question comes from Mary, who is a college professor and is planning to create both an ebook and a video series based on a topic she teaches. Which should she focus on first? For more on creating an ebook, check out my guide Ebooks the Smart Way (http://ebooksthesmartway.com). Teachable is a great platform for setting up a paid or free video course. Do you have a question about creating co...

Today's question comes from Brad, who asks a great question about his website. What makes a good homepage? What content should he have and how does he make it useful to his readers? Brad's site is http://growmilkweedplants.com/. We talk about the design on my website Smart Passive Income (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com), as well as my SPI Pro Theme from StudioPress (http://askpat.com/spitheme)....

Today's question comes from Leslie, who has a question about building email lists. What email marketing plugins works best for a WordPress.com (not self-hosted) site? How do you grow your email list without a self-hosted website platform? Leslie's website is at http://www.pureenergylifestyle.com/. In this episode, I mention Mail Chimp's subscriber pop-up feature, which you can find in the Mail Chi...

Today's question comes from Frank, who has a question about writing blog posts while traveling. What do you do while you're offline? Do you recommend any offline writing tips and tools so you can maintain productivity? Frank's website is at http://www.frankcjones.com/. In this episode, I mention Michael Hyatt's blog post, 5 Reasons Why I Switched to Scrivener (http://www.michaelhyatt.com/switched-...

Today's question comes from Pascal, who has a question about conversion rates for Amazon Associates. How do you increase your conversion rates? Are there other products you can promote to increase your affiliate income? What are some specific ways you can promote your affiliate products and earn better commissions? Pascal's website is at http://www.cuisinealaplancha.com/. In this episode, I mentio...