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

Today's question comes from Kristin and Britain, who are looking for resources for planning and developing an iOS game. How can they get organized and started with development? In this episode, I talk about Elance (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/elance). Do you have a question about app development? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Califor...

Today's question comes from Will, who asks about website startup costs. What does it take to get a new niche site up and running? Will is talking about my niche site, Security Guard Training (http://www.securityguardtraininghq.com/). For keyword research, I used LongTail Pro (http://askpat.com/longtailpro). Market Samurai is another keyword tool (http://www.marketsamurai.com/), as is the Google Ad...

Today's question comes from Ken, who wants to know how to optimize his podcast metadata. Ken’s podcast website is http://www.gregbennettsales.com/podcastm/. For keyword research, the Google Adwords Keyword Planning Tool may be useful (https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner). Other keyword tools I recommend are LongTail Pro (http://askpat.com/longtailpro) and Market Samurai is another keyword to...

Today's question comes from Phil, who asks what five things I’d recommend for new bloggers. Phil’s site is http://selfdevelopmentjourney.com/. The episode of the Smart Passive Income Podcast I recommend is episode 145 with Kimanzi Constable (http://smartpassiveincome.com/session145). Do you have a question about blogging? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com...

AP 0355: How Do I Make a Professional-Looking Info Product? Today's question comes from David, who is ready to put out his first info product. He has the content—what’s the best way to make it look professional? The payment platform I mentioned is Gumroad (http://gumroad.com). The tools I recommend are WP Wishlist (http://member.wishlistproducts.com/), Zippy Courses (https://zippycourses.com/), an...

Today's question comes from Fay, who is looking for a good, cost-effective video hosting platform. Here are my suggestions. YouTube is best for public videos and is the most cost-effective option (http://youtube.com/). Wistia is a more expensive option, but it will give you the best data and is ideal for paid communities (http://wistia.com/). Vimeo is another good option for videos in a paid cours...

Today's question comes from Art, who needs advice on educating businesses on affiliate programs. How can he educate company owners on the benefit of affiliate programs? Art’s site is http://scapefu.com/. I’ve had experience with this problem with my niche site, Green Exam Academy (http://www.greenexamacademy.com/). For phone tracking, check out Call Rail (http://www.callrail.com/). I also referenc...

Today's question comes from Danny, who asks how long he should wait (or how many subscribers he should have) before releasing a course. Danny’s site is http://thehindsightjournal.com/. Share your experiencing releasing courses using #AskPat351. Do you have a question about courses? 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 Pim, who wants to interact with people who land on his sales page. What’s a good tool for this? In this episode, I talk about the live chat feature, Olark (https://www.olark.com/), the heat map tools that can help you improve optimization, Crazy Egg (http://www.crazyegg.com/) and ClickTale (http://www.clicktale.com/). If you have any suggestions for Pim, share them usin...

Today's question comes from Nicole, who has a podcast topic and wants to know how I first made money with the show. Nicole’s site is http://www.loveradianceskincare.com/. I talk with John Lee Dumas about podcast sponsorships on Smart Passive Income Session 97 (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/facebook-webinar-conversion-adding-sponsors-podcast/). John is from Entrepreneur On Fire (http://www.entr...

Today’s question comes from Chava, who is looking for an alternative to Google Ads. What’s an alternative way to monetize her site? Chava’s site is http://www.ourkidscanthrive.com/. This is a great question. I talk about what I feel are the important things to keep in mind when monetizing your website. Do you have a question about monetization? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Poli...

Today's question comes from Bethany, who asks about editing old blog posts. Do I edit old posts? How do I keep on top of what needs editing? Do you have a question about your blog? 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 Lea, who asks about my podcasting workflow. What information do I send my guests? How do I do my research? What does the workflow during and after the podcast look like? Lea’s site is http://www.leapica.com/. In this episode, I mention Ramit Sethi (http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/). Listen to the whole episode to hear which songs my son loves. You’ll find the song...

Today's question comes from Butch, who is looking for a good support ticketing plugin. I have several suggestions for tools. We use HelpScout for the Smart Podcast Player (https://www.helpscout.net/) to track support tickets and provide a support database (http://support.smartpodcastplayer.com/). We use Rhino Support at Create a Clickable Map (https://www.rhinosupport.com/) to track support ticket...

Today's question comes from Bill, who asks about time management. How should he split his time between working on the business and learning new skills? Bill’s site is http://www.traumamonkeys.com/. Bill mentions Fizzle (http://fizzle.co). I talk about advice from Jeremy over at Internet Business Mastery (http://internetbusinessmastery.com/). Do you have a question about time management? Record it...

Today's question comes from Anne, who has a question about the writing style for her niche site. Are posts made up of bullet points okay? I share my experiences with different writing styles on Smart Passive Income (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/) and at my niche site, Green Exam Academy (http://www.greenexamacademy.com/). Share your experiences with #AskPat344. Do you have a question about wr...

Today's question comes from Curt, who asks about my work-life balance. How many hours do I work in a week? Curt’s site is http://valuesdrivenresults.com/. In this episode I mention Hal Elrod’s The Miracle Morning (http://halelrod.com/). Do you have a question about building your business around your schedule? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and...

Today's question comes from Garret, who has a successful niche site. How can he leverage that success to grow a larger business? Today’s caller mentioned Niche Pursuits (http://nichepursuits.com/), a great resource for information on making the most of your niche site. Do you have a question about niche sites? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and...

Today's question comes from DJ D’Loose, who is looking to build his following across platforms. What can he do to increase interaction on Facebook, Soundcloud, and other platforms? In this episode I take a look at DJ D’Loose’s social media feeds and share my thoughts for how to better engage his audience. Do you have a question about increasing audience engagement? Record it at http://www.askpat.c...

Today's question comes from Gary, who needs to build his on-camera confidence. What are some good resources for building up this confidence? Toastmasters is a great resource for improving your public speaking (https://www.toastmasters.org/). Caleb Wojcik has lots of advice for improving your own videos (http://diyvideoguide.com). Do you have a question about your online presence? Record it at http...

Today's question comes from Warren, who is planning to start a forum. How can he encourage users to contribute when the forum is still new and doesn’t have a lot of content? Warren’s site is http://www.thesuperblife.com/. Fizzle does a great job managing their community (http://fizzle.co/), as does Darren Rowse from Problogger (http://www.problogger.net/). Steve Kamb institutes challenges to keep...

Today's question comes from Laura, who needs help deciding if she should continue with her launch plans, given that a Google-backed venture has just launched something incredibly similar. What should she do? I need you to weigh in using #AskPat338. Would you keep going? The Google-backed project is http://digit.co/. Uber (https://www.uber.com/) and Lyft (https://www.lyft.com/) come to mind. I also...

Today's question comes from Eric, who has an app that he wants his target audience to use. The app doesn’t need to make money; he just wants it to get used. Eric’s site is http://aboutmywoods.org/. Do you have advice for Eric? Share it with #AskPat337. Do you have a question about marketing your app? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Californi...

Today's question comes from Nickeya, who has a question about using email for product validation. This is an area I’m very interested in. I mention Chris Ducker's experiences with infomercials, which is very similar to how we can validate products in the online world (http://chrisducker.com/). Do you have a question about product validation? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. See Privacy Policy...

Today's question comes from David, who is a new blogger. He asks, “How many words should I write per day?” Here are the tools I recommend: Five Minute Journal (http://www.fiveminutejournal.com/), 750 Words (http://750words.com/), and Jeff Goins’s 500 Word Challenge (http://goinswriter.com/my500words/). The sites I reference are Problogger (http://www.problogger.net/), Daily Blog Tips (http://www.d...