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

Today's question comes from Dennis, whose books sales in person are high, but his online sales aren't as good as he'd like. He has a lot of advertising in place—what else can he do? Dennis's site is http://www.thegreedyfish.co.uk/. In this episode I mention another author, Katie Davis (http://katiedavis.com/), as well as KDP Select promotions (https://kdp.amazon.com/select). Do you have a question...

Today's question comes from Eliska, who asks having PDF of resources versus a resources page on a website. Which is better? Should she have both? Eliska references Smart Passive Income Podcast #78 (http://smartpassiveincome.com/session78). The podcast episode I mention with Jessica is #115 (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/session115/). Do you have a question about your website? Record it at http...

Today's question comes from Glen, who asks about online courses for passive income. Which one would I recommend? I recommend several courses, which you can check out from my resources page (http://smartpassiveincome.com/resources), including Ramit Sethi's, Noah Kagan's, Fizzle.co, Youpreneur with Chris Ducker, The Foundation with Dane Maxwell. Check out my new book on validating your idea for a bu...

Today's question comes from Blanca, who asks about the valuation of websites (she specifically references http://brit.co). Are blogs of that size really worth such a high valuation? The podcast I recommend listening to is StartUp with Alex Blumberg (https://gimletmedia.com/show/startup/). Share your thoughts on this topic on Twitter using #AskPat506. Do you have a question about the business of bl...

Today's question comes from Jackie, who asks about domain privacy. Is it worth adding? Jackie's site is http://www.jackiebolen.com/. In this episode I talk about Bluehost (http://askpat.com/bluehost) and GoDaddy (https://www.godaddy.com/). Do you have a question about web domains? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at...

Today's question comes from Rick, who has some upcoming public speaking opportunities. What can he do to make his presentations successful? Rick's site is http://rickzullo.com/. In SPI TV 16, I covered 33 public speaking tips that will help (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/33-public-speaking-tips/). Do you have a question about public speaking? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Po...

Today's question comes from Leonardo, who has a question about work-life balance. Does it exist when you're starting a business? In this episode I mention Hal Elrod's Miracle Morning; for much more on that listen to my conversation with him on Smart Passive Income Episode 140 (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/early-morning-routine/). Check out my new book on validating your idea for a business, W...

Today's question comes from Stacy, who has an existing small business. With 72 free hours, what new business should she start? Learn how to productize your service business on Smart Passive Income Podcast Episode 158 (http://smartpassiveincome.com/session158). For learning how to speak to small businesses about building custom solutions, listen to Episode 46 (http://smartpassiveincome.com/session4...

Today's question comes from Kelly, who asks about my annual report. How do I keep track of the information that goes into that report? Kelly's site is http://wirededucator.com/. You can see my income reports here: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/my-income-reports. The tools I mention are the Chrome extension Speed Dial 2 (http://askpat.com/speeddial2) and 1Password (https://agilebits.com/onepass...

Today's question comes from Loris, who asks about my first year in business. Was the first year hard? I reflect on my first year in business and what helped me stick with it. This is a topic that is important to me—I want to help you start the business that is right for you. I recently wrote a new book on validating your idea for a business, Will It Fly?, at http://willitflybook.com. Do you have a...

Today's question comes from David, who asks about starting a business with funding through Kickstarter. Is this a good way to validate a business idea or will it give me a skewed sense of the market for my product? Check out my new book on validating your idea for a business, Will It Fly?, at http://willitflybook.com. Do you have a question about validation? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Se...

Today's question comes from Gianna, who asks about including affiliate links in membership sites. Is it okay? What are the best practices? Gianna's site is http://familyfuntwincities.com/. I share my thoughts on ethical monetization strategies. Share your thoughts on this topic using #AskPat498. Do you have a question about monetization strategies? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Check out my...

Today's question comes from Friede, who asks about my wife April's perspective of my career. Do you have a question about work-life balance? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Check out my new book on validating your idea for a business, Will It Fly?, at http://willitflybook.com. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sel...

Today's question comes from an anonymous caller, who asks about a video I made in 2013 about keyword research and SEO analysis. What has changed since I made that video? The 2013 video the caller mentions is available here (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/niche-site-duel-2-keyword-research-seo/). The tools I mention are SEMrush (http://www.semrush.com/) and Long Tail Pro (http://askpat.com/longt...

Today's question comes from Glen, who asks about scripting podcasts. I share my thoughts about podcasting off-the-cuff, with a script, and with an outline. Do you have a question about podcasting? 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 Prabhu, who asks what would happen if a major internet service (or the whole internet) goes away. Prabhu's site is http://www.bloggersbooks.com/. Do you have a question about your business planning? 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 Brittany, who asks about low value affiliates. Is it worth the time involved for inexpensive, low commission items? Brittany's site is http://www.bhookedcrochet.com/ Do you have a question about affiliate marketing? 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-...

Today's question comes from Alain, who asks about t-shirts. How do you get t-shirts produced and shipped? Benny Hsu has shared how he runs his t-shirt business (http://getbusylivingblog.com/how-ive-profited-100k-online-in-just-5-months-this-year/) on a platform called Tee Spring (https://teespring.com/). The platform I use for shipping AskPat t-shirts is Printfection (http://www.printfection.com/)...

Today's question comes from Sheeran, who asks about sending an RSS feed for the podcast into Facebook. In this episode I talk about Gary Vaynerchuk's book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook (http://askpat.com/jjjrh). The two tools I mentioned (but don't recommend for this purpose) are IFTTT (http://ifttt.com) and Zapier (https://zapier.com/). Do you have a question about social media? Record it at http://w...

Today's question comes from Jeremy, who is concerned that the niche he has selected may be too small: springboard diving. How can he validate the size of this market? Also, how can he feel comfortable teaching, given that he is young? For more on idea validation, check out my forthcoming book at http://willitflybook.com. Do you have a question about testing your business idea? Record it at http://...

Today's question comes from Darin, who asks about managing his multiple careers on LinkedIn. Darin's side business is http://kidsdoubledesk.com/. Share your thoughts on this topic with Darin using #AskPat489. Do you have a question about managing your social media profiles? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Today's sponsor is Braintree. Braintree will help you accept business payments for your...

Today's question comes from Jenna, who is using AWeber. She wants to share videos that only her email subscribers can access. What's the best way to do this? Jenna's site is http://fitpigs.com/. I share two different ways to achieve this. Do you have a question about sharing videos? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Today's sponsor is Freshbooks. Go to http://www. GetFreshBooks.com and enter "A...

Today's question comes from Julian, who is getting his online business started. He wants to keep costs down; what are the necessities to purchase at the beginning? Julian's site is http://www.mystartuplifestyle.com/. I share my advice for getting started, where to spend money, and most importantly, where to spend time. Do you have a question about getting your business started? Record it at http:/...

Today's question comes from Glenn, whose son is interested in starting an online business. I share my advice with him on how to get started. Do you have a question about starting a business? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Thanks to our sponsor, Lynda.com. Try out all of Lynda.com's courses for free for seven days. Go http://lynda.com/AskPat to get started. See Privacy Policy at https://art19...

Today's question comes from Meghan, who has built up an email list for her blog but isn't sure how to use it. What type of content should she send her subscribers? I offer email templates at http://emailthesmartway.com. Do you have a question about email marketing? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Today's sponsor is Freshbooks. Go to http://www. GetFreshBooks.com and enter "Ask Pat" for more i...