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

Today's question comes from Nicole, who asks about setting up a good design competition on 99Designs. What are best practices for getting the best designers to participate? Do you have a question about logo design? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Thanks to our sponsor, Design Crowd. To learn more about working with their designers, go to http://designcrowd.com/askpat. See Privacy Policy at ht...

Today's question comes from James, who asks about my strategy around websites and product URLs. Why (and how) do I set up new URLs like http://ebooksthesmartway.com/ that redirect to a page on the Smart Passive Income website? Do you have a question about your website setup? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Thanks to our sponsor, Design Crowd. To learn more about working with their designers,...

Today's question comes from Jason, who has a call-in show. His listeners are comfortable emailing questions; how does he get them to record their questions using Speakpipe? Jason's site is http://cameraquestion.com/. To enter to win the t-shirt from this episode, use #AskPat657 on Twitter. The tool that Jason references (and the one that I use for AskPat) is Speakpipe (http://www.askpat.com/speakp...

Today's question comes from Serena, who has a blog that offers advice that involves the use of potentially dangerous tools and chemicals. How does she protect herself legally? Serena's site is http://thriftdiving.com/. Do you have a question about the legal side of your business? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Thanks to our sponsor, Design Crowd. To learn more about working with their design...

Today's question comes from Taj, who asks about using Skype for interviews. What are the best practices for using video? Here's the Mixergy Ugly Webcam infographic: https://mixergy.com/infographic-webcam-settings/. Do you have a question about interviewing? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Today's sponsor is Freshbooks. Go to http://www. GetFreshBooks.com and enter "Ask Pat" for more informati...

Today's question comes from Andrea, who wants to run a weekly question-and-answer session for her audience. What's the software for this? Andrea's site is http://godiaperfree.com/. For a recurring Q&A, I recommend GoToWebinar (http://www.askpat.com/gotowebinar). The other tools I recommend are WebinarNinja (https://webinarninja.co/; use discount code "patflynn") and Huzza (https://huzza.io/). The...

Today's question comes from James, who asks about how to best share his videos with his email subscribers. Should he send them to YouTube or should he send them to his website? James's site is http://jamesshipwayguitar.com/. Do you have a question about sharing your content with your audience? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Thanks to our sponsor, Design Crowd. To learn more about working wit...

Today's question comes from Chris, who asks about managing Facebook when you have a business. How can he separate what he shows to a business audience versus what he would like to share with friends and family? Do you have a question about managing social media? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Thanks to our sponsor, Design Crowd. To learn more about working with their designers, go to http://...

Today's question comes from Mike, who asks about his email list. Now that he is getting subscribers, what type of content should he send to them? Mike's site is http://www.travelnursingclassroom.com/. Mike mentions my podcasting tutorial (http://www.podcastingtutorial.com). Learn about Teachable's "Crazy Eight Email Strategy" (http://blog.teachable.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-launching-your-online-c...

Today's question comes from Katie, who asks about guest posting. How does she know what makes for a fair exchange? Here's the Viperchill article on guest blogging: http://www.viperchill.com/guest-blogging/. Do you have a question about guest blogging? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Thanks to Zip Recruiter for sponsoring today's episode. Go to http://www.ziprecruiter.com/pat to get started po...

Today's question comes from Adam, who asks a question about something he read in my book, Will It Fly? I'm an advisor for several companies, and Adam asks what my goal is in acting as an advisor for these companies. What is it that I get out of this relationship? Adam's site is http://morningroar.com/. Do you have a question about your business? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Today's sponsor...

Today's question comes from Michael, who asks about podcasting. Will the fact that English is his second language hurt his podcast? The Polish podcaster I mention is Michal Szafranski (http://jakoszczedzacpieniadze.pl/). The podcast microphone I recommend is the AudioTechnica ATR 2100. For more on starting a podcast, check out my podcasting tutorial (http://www.podcastingtutorial.com). Do you have...

Today's question comes from Tim, who asks about job boards. Are they a good way to monetize a career website? Tim references my niche site, Green Exam Academy (http://www.greenexamacademy.com/). The job site I reference is Indeed (http://indeed.com) and the Indeed Publisher Program (http://www.indeed.com/publisher). Do you have a question about monetizing your niche site? Record it at http://www.a...

Today's question comes from John, who asks about conducting a content audit with podcasts. Should he delete older episodes of his show that are no longer relevant? John's site is http://thewiredhomeschool.com/. In this episode, John references Smart Passive Income Podcast #200 with Todd Tresidder (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/podcasts/how-to-do-a-content-audit-with-todd-tresidder/). Do you ha...

Today's question comes from Winnie, who asks about WordPress category pages. How do you set up a separate blog and podcast page? Winnie's site is http://theletstalktechshow.com/. In this episode, I mention hiring developers at Upwork (http://askpat.com/upwork). Do you have a question about setting up your website? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Thanks to our sponsor, Design Crowd. To learn m...

Today's question comes from Jen, who asks about Infusionsoft. Have I heard of it? What do I think about it? Here is the post I mentioned about my switch to, and then from, Infusionsoft: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/why-i-switched-from-aweber-to-infusionsoft-to-convertkit/. My affiliate link for ConvertKit is http://askpat.com/convertkit. Do you have a question about email marketing? Record it...

Today's question comes from Cathy, who is organizing her goals. How can she schedule the tasks that she wants to accomplish? The books I mention in this episode are Essentialism by Greg McKeown (askpat.com/essentialism) and The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan (http://www.the1thing.com/). Do you have a question about productivity? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Today's sponsor is Fre...

Today's question comes from Matt, who is in the process of starting a new podcast. Getting started is expensive; which are the parts that he must spend money on? I recommend the following tools and services: Bluehost (http://askpat.com/bluehost); Buzzsprout (http://buzzsprout.com) or Libsyn (http://libsyn.com); My podcasting tutorial (http://www.podcastingtutorial.com); AudioTechnica ATR 2100 micr...

Today's question comes from Jane, who has a course and is thinking about how to manage comments. Should she keep them within the course platform, or should she start a Facebook Group specifically for comments and questions? Do you have a question about courses? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Thanks to Zip Recruiter for sponsoring today's episode. Go to http://www.ziprecruiter.com/pat to get...

Today's question comes from Joel, who has a service business. He's starting a podcast that will reach an audience beyond his brick-and-mortar business. Should he create a separate website for the podcast, or can he host it on his existing business website? Joel's site is http://lifestylechirocenter.com/. Do you have a question about promoting your podcast? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See...

Today's question comes from a caller who wishes to remain anonymous—and asks about starting a business anonymously. Is this possible? In this episode, I discuss a lot of different content creators who don't use their own names, including Stampylongnose (https://www.youtube.com/user/stampylonghead), Ballistic Squid (https://www.youtube.com/user/iBallisticSquid), and The Blog Tyrant (http://www.blog...

Today's question comes from Jillian, who is looking for live events to attend. Which events would I recommend? The events I recommend in this episode are: Everything Food Conference: http://www.foodbloggingconference.com/ Social Media Marketing World: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/smmworld/ Podcast Movement: http://podcastmovement.com/ FinCon: https://finconexpo.com/ Smart Success Summit: htt...

Today's question comes from Anita, who has a question about podcast hosts. How does she host her files on Libsyn but get them to show up on her website? Anita's question is http://www.simplyspeakinggenealogy.com/. If you are starting a podcast, check out my free podcasting tutorial (http://www.podcastingtutorial.com). Your podcast host (like Libsyn), will offer you a podcast player to use. The oth...

Today's question comes from Jon, who is new to affiliate marketing. It is still possible for someone to make the high affiliate income that I currently have? Jon references my income reports: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/income-reports/. Do you have a question about passive income? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Noti...

Today's question comes from Shawn, who asks about promoting a self-published book. He has a quality product but a small fan base; where should he put his time? In this episode, I talk about Facebook ads experts Amy Porterfield (http://www.amyporterfield.com/) and Rick Mulready (http://rickmulready.com/). Do you have a question about promoting your products? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See...