Kalatu – Page 4

My 2015 Strategy For Making Money Online

January 17, 2015 by Paul 1 Comment

Just before the new year started I had some time to sit down and really think about what I believe would be my best strategy for making money online in 2015 and beyond.

I looked back over the last 20 years of my life as an entrepreneur and the last 8 years as a blogger, affiliate marketer, network marketer etc., and I realized that my strategy up to this point has looked something like this:

Basically, when I started Blogging in 2006 I focused on that for a period of time and didn’t really do much else in terms of making money online as I was still very much working full time in the corporate world.

In early 2008 I got more serious about making money as a Blogger and started to build up my monthly blogging income to making several thousand dollars a month.

Then I decided to put the majority of my focus on affiliate marketing with PPC traffic, as I wanted to be able to quit the corporate world by the end of 2008.

By January 2009 I left the corporate world and focused entirely on affiliate marketing with some sporadic blogging from time to time.

As my affiliate income started to grow I started to get excited as it was growing so much faster than the income I made from blogging.

Then in November 2009 Google pulled the plug on affiliate marketing via their Pay-per click Google Adwords system and banned over 100,000 affiliates, including me.

My affiliate income basically disappeared overnight.

I went back to blogging for a short period of time, now having to re-build consistency with my blog and me readers.

Then, I decided to try doing affiliate marketing using SEO strategies.

That didn’t really work out too well, so I went back to blogging again…. once again having to re-build consistency and re-build my following.

Then I decided to try getting back into network marketing for a period of time.

When that didn’t work out with the company I was with, I decided to go back to blogging again – having to re-build consistency yet again!

Basically, over the 8 years that I’ve been a blogger I’ve started and stopped blogging on a consistent basis more times than I can count.

During certain period of time I’ve written daily blog posts for a month straight, and at other times I didn’t write a single blog post for a month.

Essentially I’ve been very inconsistent with my blogging audience and my email list.

Having said that, I still managed to build a following of over 10,000 email subscribers with my Blog, but in hindsight that list would probably be 10 – 20 times bigger if I just remained consistent!

I was still able to achieve my goal of being able to leave my corporate job behind in 2009 and to make a six-figure income from the comfort of my own home, but I probably COULD be making a 7-figure or even an 8-figure income if I did things differently.

(Income disclaimer – Results not typical. Just because I make a six-figure income from home doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed to also. See my income disclaimer below.)

Modeling Successful Online Marketers

When I sat down and documented what I have done to try to analyze what has worked for me really well and what hasn’t, I also did a careful analysis of some of the top income earners that I know who are making 7 and 8 figure incomes online.

They all made money online using different methods, however there emerged one single pattern that virtually all of them followed – with rare exception.

Pretty much all of them are doing one of two things:

#1 – Blogging daily, or at the very least 5 days a week.

#2 – Emailing their list daily, or at the very least 5 days a week.

If you look at virtually every successful marketer online, they are all doing ONE of these two things OR BOTH!

I’ve been a blogger for over 8 years, but I’ve never done ONE or BOTH of those things CONSISTENTLY for more than a month or so at a time.

That is the difference!

So, based on this, my NEW strategy for 2015 and beyond looks like this:

Basically what I’m planning on doing is to create a foundation of Blogging and/or emailing my list every single day or at the very least 5 days a week.

That is PRIMARY and mandatory for my business.

If I do nothing else, I want to stick to blogging and/or emailing my list every single day.

See, by doing that, by creating valuable content every single day, I *KNOW* that my online income will skyrocket at some point – it’s just a matter of time.

On top of that layer of daily blogging and/or emailing my list daily, the second later on top of that is embracing network marketing on a more consistent basis over a longer period of time.

I’ve kind of had a love/hate relationship with network marketing, mostly because I didn’t really understand it properly like I do now.

I didn’t know how to produce results in network marketing on a consistent basis or how to build a team long term.

Also it took me a long time to find a network marketing company with a product that I’m passionate about.

So now I also plan on being way more consistent with network marketing BUT it still comes second to Blogging which is my primary foundation.

See, once I’ve got my solid foundation of daily blogging and/or emailing my list every day, THEN I can pursue the many different income streams that show up in my life.

All those things are ON TOP of my foundation of Blogging.

Meaning, if I want to promote an affiliate offer that I’m super excited about, I can do that – AFTER I write my Blog post for the day and/or email my list.

If I learn some new Facebook traffic strategy, I can do that – AFTER I write my Blog post for the day and/or email my list.

If I want to take a paycation (vacation where you make money while vacationing!), I can do that – AND I can blog about it at the same time.

If I learn some new SEO strategy that I want to try out, I can do that – AFTER I write my Blog post for the day and/or email my list.

New exercise program? Sure, I can do that, and Blog about it.

Basically, instead of bouncing around from strategy to strategy, making money online using all these different methods and then getting frustrated if something doesn’t work out or the environment changes on me and trying to go back to blogging again, now I’m just going to Blog on a consistent basis and just do all those other things ON TOP of Blogging.

See, long term I know with 100% certainty that if I just blog daily and communicate with my followers on a regular basis, I will achieve all my financial goals – period, end of story.

Why Not Just Blog Daily and That’s It?

Some of you might then think to yourself “Well if you already know that you’ll reach all your financial goals just by blogging, then why bother with all those other things anyways?”

That’s a great question, and I actually know some people who have tried doing that.

They just said to themselves “I’m just going to blog every day, and I’m not going to get involved or even look at ANY other systems out there, or any other ways of making money online, or network marketing or anything else…I’ll just Blog every day and make money by blogging.”

Without exception, EVERY single one of those people did NOT succeed as Blogger.

Why?

BECAUSE they ran out of things to Blog about!

See, Blogging is an amazing tool for personal development and learning how to communicate and for building a long-term online income – BUT – if the ONLY thing you ever do in your life is sit in front of your computer and Blog, you’ll run out of content!

And you’ll most likely have a really hard time attracting and maintaining an audience as your Blog will be BORING and all based on theory.

See, one of the reasons that I’ve been able to build a following of over 10,000 email subscribers with my Blog is because I’m ALWAYS trying out new things, testing out new things, and then Blogging about my results or the lack of results.

When I try a new diet and I Blog about it, people are interested because they’re curious to see if the diet actually works!

Even if they’re not trying to lose weight right now in their life, they’ll follow along because they want to know if the strategy works just in case they ever want to lose weight later on in their life.

And when I try out a new income stream, they want to know how it’s working for me.

So they tune in and read my Blog posts.

This is why I believe that Blogging is an awesome foundational strategy for making money online long term, but it has to be coupled with actually LIVING LIFE and BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR.

If the ONLY thing you’re doing is sitting at home and Blogging, pretty soon all your posts are just about Blogging.

I see many people making this mistake.

They start a Blog and their Blog’s topic is “Blogging”.

They write their first 5 or 10 posts talking about “How to make money with your Blog”, where they share 5 to 10 things THEY just learned about Blogging.

Nothing wrong with that.

But then, after 5 or 10 posts, they run out of things to say as nothing else is happening!

See, I *LOVE* the fact that I’m a scanner type personality where I’m always trying out new things, looking at new income streams, going to different events, trying out new personal development strategies, taking on new hobbies, meeting new people, etc.

By doing all of those things, I have a TONNE of content for my Blog for years to come!

I NEVER run out of things to Blog about, because there’s always something new I’m learning and some area in my life that I’m growing in and it’s a lot of FUN for me to share what I learn with others.

If you’ve struggled to make money online and jumped around from system to system, from strategy to strategy, trying out blogging here and there for short periods of time like I have in the past, you may want to consider making the decision that I made to get SERIOUS about consistent blogging.

Even if you’re a TOTAL BEGINNER, if you start TODAY, one year from now you could have over 360 articles/blog posts written on your site, you could be an established authority and a recognized name online and you could have a sizable online residual income growing.

If you’re interested in doing that, I invite you to join my team at Empower Network and start blogging today!

One year from now, you’ll be VERY GLAD you did!

Is This One Mistake Keeping You Broke?

January 10, 2015 by Paul 4 Comments

There’s one very common mistake that most non-sales type personalities make in business that prevents them from achieving financial success in their business.

As a person with a non-sales type personality myself, I have also made this mistake myself and it has probably cost me many millions of dollars in income already.

Until I finally figured this out, this mistake plagued every business I ever owned, or was a part of.

TRUTH – Non-Sales Personalities Don’t Like “Sales People”

Most of the people who enjoy talking to me or hanging out with me are not “sales type” personalities.

I’m pretty laid back and introverted in real life, so I tend to attract people with similar personalities as well.

Whenever I talk to “non-sales” type people about entrepreneurship and making money online, one of the things that I will often hear them complain about is how “salesy” or “pushy” or “persistent” someone is.

I’m going to use Empower Network and David Wood as an example here to illustrate my point better, but I’ve heard people say these exact same things about ALL the top sales leaders out there.

In the past two or three weeks here are a few examples of the types of things I’ve heard people say about David Wood and Empower Network…

“Yeah, Empower Network seems really cool Paul, but I’m just not 100% sure about it yet, because that David Wood guy seems like such a sales guy.”

“Yeah, so far I’m really liking Empower Network, but that David Wood guy emails me like every day, what’s up with that?”

“Yeah, the new Kalatu Blogs look pretty good, but is there a way to disable all the banners? I don’t want people visiting my blog thinking I’m trying to sell them something.”

“Yeah, the training in Empower Network seems really cool… I’m just not 100% sure why, but just something about David Wood or the MLM side of it or the sales side of it just doesn’t resonate with me 100%”.

Now, here’s the thing…

…these are just examples about David Wood and Empower Network. But I’ve head variations of this same complaint about pretty much EVERY successful Internet Marketer or leader in industry.

In fact I’ve actually heard the same complaint coming from people with MY personality type in EVERY industry out there.

The truth is that the typical introverted non-sales type personality types like us…we don’t really LIKE people who are “salesy” or “persistent” etc.

Now, I’m not saying that we don’t like the PEOPLE themselves… but we just don’t like when those people go into “sales mode” and try to sell something to someone.

So if you’re a non-sales type personality, and you FEEL this way…trust me…I *TOTALLY* understand. You’re not the only one.

AND….

This ONE Shift in Your Thinking Will Change Everything

About 15 years ago now, I bought and took over the operations of a multimillion dollar business with a partner of mine.

I was excited and scared sh**less at the same time.

Finally for the first time in our lives we had 100% full control over the operations of a business and we could run it exactly how we wanted to.

So guess what we did?

We ran it like OUR type of business.

Since both my business partner and I have similar “techy” type personalities, we shaped the business around that.

Over a period of about a year or so, many of the people on our sales team left and we didn’t really put any emphasis on that side of the business.

Most of our emphasis went towards the development of the best technology on the planet, and we treated our programmers / developers like royalty.

We found that the majority of the marketing that the business was doing prior to our arrival was wasted on ineffective marketing pieces, brochures and catalogs that were becoming obsolete.

So we slashed our spending on marketing big time, all proud of ourselves for not throwing away money on useless marketing.

And guess what happened.

After a short period of time, our business started to suffer.

We had virtually NO marketing, and just a tiny small sales team.

The business stagnated and then finally stalled.

Luckily we reached out to our multimillionaire business mentor and asked him for help, and the advice he gave us CHANGED EVERYTHING for me.

When he looked at our budgets and how we were running our business, he immediately saw what we were doing wrong.

We had COMPLETELY pushed away one of the most important parts of running a business… having a SOLID and powerful MARKETING and SALES process.

When he saw that we slashed our marketing budget, he didn’t give us “props” for saving money, he gave us sh*t for being idiots.

He told us “If your marketing is not working, you don’t just CUT your budget. You FIND marketing that works! NEVER cut your marketing budget!”

Ooops. 🙁

He also saw that our sales team had shrunk to the point where we HAD no sales team.

See, for some stupid reason all of my life up to that point in time, I had this CRAZY idiotic belief or idea that went something like this…

“If you create something of great value, you don’t need to SELL it… people will just see the value in it automatically.”

WRONG!

That is how you go bankrupt in life and in business.

See, as non-sales type personalities, my partner and I basically groomed our business around who we were and how we thought, and what our beliefs and values were.

We didn’t really value sales that much, so we ignored that side of our business.

And we almost went out of business because of it.

I don’t care WHAT product or service you create, or how good it is… you STILL need to MARKET it and SELL it to your target market.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool. Like I was. 🙂

Luckily though, we learned our lesson, and we started to make some changes that saved our business and helped me to build and start businesses that THRIVE instead of DIE.

So what is the ONE shift that WE made that changed everything?

Change your belief to this…

New Belief – I May Not Be a Sales Type Personality Myself, but I Love, Respect and Utilize Those Who Are

If you embrace THAT belief in your life, your business will thrive.

See what I did at that moment in time in my life is I made the decision to STOP being an egotistic introverted moron who thought he was better than all those “sales” type people and I got off my high horse and actually started to try to UNDERSTAND sales and marketing and the people who are successful in that field.

I attended Tony Robbin’s premiere sales seminar called “The Power to Influence” and I started learning what it really takes to be good at sales.

Not necessarily to become good at sales myself, but just so that I could understand better what sales people have to go through to generate sales.

To say that the seminar opened my eyes would be a gross understatement.

When I actually learned what it takes to be good at sales, I was blown away at how much skill, intelligence, intuition, practice and persistence it takes to be good at sales.

It’s an art form!

Professional sales people are like professional athletes. There is a LOT of work that goes into becoming good at sales.

From that day forward I’ve been a student of sales and marketing ever since, and even though I don’t consider myself a “sales type personality”, I learn about sales and marketing because it helps me to be successful as an entrepreneur.

The reason being is because …

A Successful Business MUST Have a Professional Marketing and Sales Team Behind It

See, to be successful, EVERY business needs a professional marketing and sales team behind it.

If you don’t have that, you don’t have a business.

Look at ANY successful business out there, regardless whether it’s a giant like Apple or a single Internet Marketer working from home… if they are successful, they’re utilizing a professional marketing and sales team/system in their business.

Period.

End of story.

If you don’t have that, your business is as good as dead.

Now, since you’re most likely NOT a sales-type personality yourself, like me, what you have to do to be successful is you have to PARTNER with someone who is.

See, what you do is you take YOUR skill set, which might be creating things, writing content, writing blog posts, writing books, creating art, or building things with your hands, or perhaps providing services to people, and you COMBINE that skill set with someone who is good at marketing and selling!

That is how you succeed.

In fact, the reason why you haven’t succeed in a big way YET in your life is because you haven’t added this ultra important component into your business.

I didn’t start making a six-figure income in my life until I embraced MARKETING and SALESMANSHIP in my businesses.

In most cases, embracing and adding in a good, solid, powerful marketing and sales process in your business IS the missing piece that’s been keeping you stuck all this time.

So let’s go back to those concerns I mentioned people saying to me previously, and let me now answer then with this new perspective…

“Yeah, Empower Network seems really cool Paul, but I’m just not 100% sure about it yet, because that David Wood guy seems like such a sales guy.”

RESPONSE: “You are absolutely right! David Wood is a master sales professional. His ability to sell is amazing. And that is exactly why you want to partner up with Empower Network and David Wood, because that is exactly what your business has been missing all this time. By joining Empower Network, you get to utilize YOUR skill set, essentially being the creator of content, and you’re partnering up with one of the world’s best sales people to do what he does best – to market and sell for you, so that YOU don’t have to!”

and

“Yeah, so far I’m really liking Empower Network, but that David Wood guy emails me like every day, what’s up with that?”

RESPONSE: “You are absolutely right! David Wood is a master at email marketing as well. He has tested virtually every combination of email strategies so that you don’t have to. Him and his team have already figured out what is the best overall strategy for emailing people… whether that be daily or weekly and multiple times per day. They already know what the best strategy is and they are constantly improving it as well. By partnering up with him and his team, he will email your prospects and do the absolutely best job of converting them and generating sales for you, so that you don’t have to!”

and

“Yeah, the new Kalatu Blogs look pretty good, but is there a way to disable all the banners? I don’t want people visiting my blog thinking I’m trying to sell them something.”

RESPONSE: “I totally understand. You’re not a sales type personality, and in fact you probably don’t like sales-type personalities, and that is why you are afraid that people will not like you if you have any type of banners or monetization strategies on your Blog. However, that is exactly why your Blog isn’t making any money and why it will NEVER make you any money, until you embrace a proper monetization strategy.

The great thing about Kalatu and Empower Network is that you’re getting the world’s TOP MARKETERS who specialize in monetizing content and blogs working with you on your behalf, so that you don’t have to. They take care of making sure that the banners on your site attract the right type of client, and that those clients convert and that your blog generates sales for you. This way, you just have to focus on doing what you’re good at, which is blogging and generating free content for people to consume, and you let the geniuses at Empower Network take care of monetizing it for you, so that you don’t have to concern yourself with that.”

and

“Yeah, the training in Empower Network seems really cool… I’m just not 100% sure why, but just something about David Wood or the MLM side of it or the sales side of it just doesn’t resonate with me 100%”.

RESPONSE: “Of course it won’t resonate with you 100%!!! You’re not a sales type personality. David Wood is, and so is the Empower Network marketing department. They are the BEST at what they do, and they know how to generate sales and how to monetize your Blog. You don’t resonate with them, because they are not 100% like you. But that is EXACTLY why you MUST partner with people of that personality, so that your business succeeds. Think of it like this. If you needed your accounting done, and you’re not an accountant-type personality, would you want the person who is best at accounting working for you? Or would you want the non-accountant person just like you trying to do your accounting?

If you needed a body-guard. Would you want the best body-guard type personality who spends their entire life training and learning how to defend people and who has trained their body to be a weapon, or would you want to hire the body guard who is just like you? See my point?”

To be successful in business we MUST learn how to work with different personality types and to respect their skills and abilities and strengths and to use them to compliment our weaknesses.

In the businesses that I run, I LOVE my sales team.

I treat them like royalty.

I’m not like them, but I respect them and I love them.

Because they DO what they DO so that I don’t have to!

Flip This Switch NOW

If you take this ONE piece of advice right now… your potential for being a successful entrepreneur will skyrocket.

FLIP the switch in your head which right now is STUCK in a way of thinking where you PUSH AWAY people who are sales-type personalities or who are amazing MARKETERS just because they are not like you.

FLIP that switch and instead EMBRACE the benefits of having someone like that on your team.

DON’T look at someone like David Wood and think that his sales ability is “annoying” or “not resonating with you”, and instead realize that HIS sales ability can make you a MILLIONAIRE if you can just flip that switch in your mind that makes you think that sales people are “scammers” or “bad people” or that they are “pushy” or whatever other negative associations you’ve programmed your mind with.

PARTNER with professional marketers and sales people and you will see your income explode.

This is one of the biggest reasons I’m with Empower Network.

I’m an awesome Blogger, and I’m great at producing content… but I still SUCK at monetizing my Blogs.

And instead of trying to change who I am, I just partner up with someone like David Wood and Empower Network and I use THEIR awesome sales ability to monetize my Blog for me.

I *strongly* recommend that you do the same.

Because one way or another, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you WILL have to have a powerful marketing and sales team.

So that means that either YOU start building the skillset required to become the world’s top sales person yourself, OR you partner up with someone who is.

Personally, I’m of the opinion that it’s MUCH easier to just partner up with someone who’s already a great sales person than to spend the next 10 years of your life trying to become a “salesy” type person. 🙂

If you’re ready to partner up with me and the world’s best sales and marketing team by joining me in Empower Network, click here to get started.

This One Universal Law Will Help You Make Money Online

January 8, 2015 by Paul Leave a Comment

Many people dream about making money online as Bloggers or Internet Entrepreneurs.

They invest time and money into tools, training courses, and systems for making money online, which is a great place to start, but most people forget about one other thing that they can do to significantly increase their chances of making money online.

This one other thing that many people forget about is the process of engaging the Spiritual Law of “Giving and Receiving”.

I’ll be totally honest…

…when I first heard of this concept of “Give and You Shall Receive”, I thought it was a ‘marketing tactic’ employed by the Church to guilt people into donating 10% of their income to the Church.

I mean LOGICALLY speaking, if you want more of something, how can you GIVE it away when you don’t have it yet?

Meaning for example if I want more money, how do I give away more money, when I haven’t gotten more money yet?

This concept seemed paradoxical to me. 🙂

And to be honest, at first I kind of just dismissed it as hogwash.

But then a few of my mentors introduced me to a totally different way of looking at the concept that changed everything for me.

Give and You Shall Receive WAY MORE

The big mental shift that changed everything for me was the realization that when you GIVE something away, it doesn’t just come back to you in equal proportion.

When you GIVE something away, the Universe will flow it back to you in much greater quantities.

THAT is how the paradox is solved.

Although there’s no real way to measure it exactly (that I’ve found anyway), I usually like to think that whatever I give away will flow back to me at least TEN FOLD.

Sometimes it can be as much as one hundred fold, or one thousand fold, or even one million fold.

But thinking in terms of TEN fold is a safe and conservative way to look at it.

See, when I realized that the Universe will flow whatever you give away back to you by a factor of 10 TIMES, I started looking at this spiritual law totally differently.

And there was one other concept that fits in with this as well, which is that…

You Can Give and Receive Different Things

You don’t have to give away the same thing as you intend to receive.

Meaning, let’s say that you’re completely financially broke right now, without even a penny to your name.

And let’s say that you want to give away some money.

You can’t really “give away” any money if you don’t have it in the first place, right?

But what you CAN do is you can GIVE AWAY something else that you DO have, that is of “USE VALUE” to someone else.

Meaning for example, you could GIVE away value to someone in another form, such as helping someone with something.

The thing that you want to GET (ie. money) doesn’t have to be the same thing that you GIVE AWAY.

An awesome example of this is Blogging.

Whenever I write a Blog post, I’m essentially GIVING AWAY value to people who read my Blog posts.

Whenever I market and promote my Blog posts, I multiply the number of people my Blog posts reach and thus also multiply the amount of value I’m giving away.

So for example, let’s say that THIS Blog post provides the equivalent of $0.10 worth of value to each person who reads it.

Now, let’s say that I get 1,000 people to read this Blog post… well, that means that I’ve essentially given away the equivalent of $100 worth of value to the world by writing this post.

See what I mean?

And if we apply the TEN FOLD rule to this, that means that the Universe will “reward” me with at least $1,000 worth of “value” back in my life for doing this.

Now, does that mean that tomorrow I’m going to wake up and see $1,000 magically appear in front of me?

Well, no, probably not, but I do KNOW that if I in fact give away $100 worth of “Use Value” by writing a Blog post then I *WILL* receive $1,000 worth of value back from the Universe or more!

I’ve tested this in my life many times and it always seems to work out.

Whenever I go out there and just focus on giving away value to people, I find that the Universe showers me with ten times that value right back.

This is one of the biggest reasons I absolutely LOVE Blogging as a method of making money online, because it’s one of the least expensive ways of launching an online business and it gives people an opportunity to give away the one resource they usually have an overabundance of – WISDOM and ADVICE.

Meaning, most people who start an online business don’t have a lot of extra TIME or MONEY, but they DO have a lot of unique experience and wisdom from their lives.

By embracing Blogging as a business model for making money online, they can transform that WISDOM and ADVICE they’ve accumulated up in their minds over the years by SHARING it with others.

And by giving away this value from their life experience and their passions in life they could activate this Universal Law of GIVING and RECEIVING to get what they want – which is to make money online.

I have tested and proven to myself many times that this concept of giving and receiving tenfold in return works.

But, there is one mistake that most people make which will not activate this law in your life.

Avoid This Mistake

The one mistake that people can make here is not understanding the difference between “Actual Use Value” and “What You Think is the Use Value”.

The Universe will flow back to you ten fold or more of what you give away to the world in ACTUAL USE VALUE, not just in value you THINK you’re giving away.

Meaning, for example, if I write a garbage blog post, that I slap together without putting any real effort into it, then that blog post might only provide $0.01 in value to the world, or even less.

Also, if I don’t learn how to properly market my blog and my blog posts, so that they are seen by thousands of people, then the value doesn’t get multiplied a lot.

Meaning, there’s a big difference between a blog post with let’s say $0.50 worth of “use value” that is seen by 1,000 people, versus a crappy blog post with $0.01 of “use value” that is only seen by 5 people.

In the first case $0.50 x 1,000 people = $500 worth of actual use value, which means the Universe will flow back to you $5,000 worth of value.

In the second case $0.01 x 5 people = $0.05 worth of actual use value, which means the Universe will flow back to you $0.50 worth of value.

See the difference?

You have to create value in the world that people actually find useful…not just slap stuff together… but also, you have to learn how to MARKET and DISTRIBUTE that value to as many people as possible, because that is the multiplication factor that will change everything.

Often times I’ll see people starting a Blog, and they’ll write 5 AMAZING blog posts that could easily be worth $10 in “Use Value” to people, but then they don’t take the time to learn how to market or distribute those blog posts to people, so their audience is ZERO people.

Well, if your audience is ZERO people, then any value you provide times ZERO is still going to be ZERO.

This is why it’s important to learn both ( 1 ) How to create VALUABLE content that actually provides VALUE to people, and ( 2 ) How to properly MARKET, DISTRIBUTE and MONETIZE your Blog so that you activate and multiply the effects of the Law of Giving and Receiving.

This is why I’m so excited to be a part of Empower Network, because that is exactly what we teach people to do.

We teach people how to create valuable Blog content, we teach people how to actually market their Blogs so that they have an audience, and then finally we teach them how to monetize those Blogs.

Is It a Good Idea to Give Away Your Best Content on Your Blog?

January 5, 2015 by Paul 4 Comments

When I first started Blogging, way back in 2006, I wondered if it was a good idea to give away some of my best content for free on my Blog.

I wondered if maybe I should hold back some of my best ideas and content and put them into a book or course or some kind of info product instead of sharing it on my Blog.

Each day when I would sit down to write a Blog post, I would think to myself “Hmmm…is this something I should just give away for free, or should I charge for this information?”

I mean as a student of personal development I’ve easily spent over 6 figures on educating myself through books, audios, courses, seminars and mastermind groups, and then I also invest a lot of time in researching and testing various things I learn to see what actually works and what is crap.

So for example if I spend $1,000 – $5,000 in “education costs” and 3-6 months in “trial and error costs” to learn something new, like a new technique or something that I apply and produce personal results with, that is “intellectual property” that cost me time, energy and money to develop.

So my thinking used to be “Why should I give that away for free to someone on my Blog?”

Right?

But then, I decided to try something out…

…I decided to just start giving away some of my best content, my little “secrets” and strategies to my Blog audience for free.

Of course if what I was referring to was intellectual property that is owned by someone else who sells some kind of course or seminar, I wouldn’t give away THEIR secrets, but I would refer people to the source of the information that they could then decide to buy if they wanted to.

But if it was MY intellectual property that I created from my personal experiences and trial and error I just started sharing it with people, not worrying about someone else knowing my “secrets”.

And here’s what happened…

#1 – I Manifested More “Best Content”

The funny thing with the Universe is that it doesn’t like a vacuum.

So what started to happen was that as I started Blogging and giving away some of my “best content”, a lot more NEW “best content” started flowing into my life.

Every time I would “empty the cup” giving away my “secrets”, I would attract NEW secrets to give away.

I find that when we try to “hoard” information or “secrets” because we think they are way too valuable to give away for free, or because we think later on in life we might put together a course or something, we tend to stagnate.

If instead we just give it all away in a sense, we start to create MORE new “Best Content” to Blog about.

Try it yourself and you’ll see what mean.

#2 – People Will STILL Buy Your Coaching / Training

I have studied many top trainers in the industry who put together $10,000 – $25,000 seminars that people GLADLY pay to attend.

They pack their rooms and “sell out” pretty much every time.

But you know what I’ve heard many of them say?

Many of them say that pretty much EVERYTHING that they teach is already summarized in their books which most people can buy for $10 – $15.

Even if they write 10 different books, that means you can learn everything they teach at the seminars for $100 – $150, not $10,000 – $25,000!

So why do people pay $10,000 – $25,000 to attend their seminars if the INFORMATION is inside their books?

And why do they give away all their information in their books?

Well, it’s because first of all MOST people will NOT ever read a book. They find it too boring and time-intensive.

They would rather pay $10k to sit at a seminar and be essentially “forced” to learn the information in an entertaining way – and not just read about it in a book.

Secondly though, transformation doesn’t just happen when people are presented with new information.

A big part of transformation is HOW the information is delivered and with what energy.

For example, I guarantee that attending a Tony Robbins seminar is going to have a MUCH higher transformational effect on a person than simply reading his book. Even if his book contained ALL the information from the seminar.

It’s the transfer of ENERGY from one person to another that is important as well, not just the information.

So when I started giving away some of my best info on my Blog…essentially free of charge, it actually INCREASED the amount of people who wanted to get coaching / mentoring from me – not the other way around.

The MORE I give away for free, the more people want to PAY me to coach / mentor them!

This is still happening to this day.

So if you’re a coach, mentor or someone who puts together events. Don’t worry about giving away your best content.

Just do it. Give it all away. People will STILL want to pay you for your ENERGY, and your PRESENCE.

Finally, there’s one other reason why giving away essentially EVERYTHING on a Blog will never replace one-on-one or group coaching.

And that is the concept of information overload.

When people pay me to coach them, they don’t want to spend 100 hours reading all my blog posts… they have a very specific challenge that they want to overcome RIGHT NOW, and they are willing to pay me to coach them through it.

The time savings alone is worth the investment for them.

And for those people who are short on cash right now, and who can’t afford one-on-one coaching, they just read my Blog and get access to some awesome content which builds trust with them.

It’s a total win-win situation.

#3 – You’ll Connect with Better People

When you become a Blogger who is not afraid to give away their best content on their Blog or on Google Hangouts you host etc. not only will you start to attract a better, more loyal client base, but you’ll also start to attract better people around you in general.

Your reputation in the marketplace will begin to grow and you will be seen as a “giver” not a “taker”.

When this happens higher quality mentors and teachers will open their doors to you.

People who are giving and who want to help the world are attracted to other people who want to do the same.

If your reputation is that you are this secretive person who has some super amazing information they have discovered, but who is unwilling to share it with anyone, then people will doubt you and the value of your information.

If your reputation is that you are this giving person who just gives away amazing content and information, people will automatically start thinking “Wow, this content is amazing… what an awesome person! If this is what they’re giving away for free, imagine the quality of information they must give away at their paid programs / coaching / products?”

Warning! Do NOT Do This

There is one warning I will offer here of something you DO NOT want to do.

Do NOT give away someone else’s “best content” pretending that it’s your own.

I’ve seen some people take this concept in a totally wrong direction.

What they start doing is that they don’t want to give away any of THEIR best content or information, because they think they’ll save it for a future seminar or product that they’re putting together…

… but since they want to start building “trust” with their audience, they start giving away someone else’s “best content” as their own.

Meaning, they’ll attend a $2,000 seminar, and then they’ll come home and start giving away all of the content that they learned at the seminar, as if it was their own.

Don’t do this.

Another example of this is when people take copyrighted paid content and they “rip it” to a digital format and give it away to people for free.

When you do this, you are hurting the entire industry, including yourself, and soiling your reputation.

Don’t do it.

If there’s some amazing content you learned from someone, and you want to share it with your Blog subscribers, then POINT them in the right direction of where they can get access to this information.

But don’t just give them a stolen, pirated copy of that copyrighted data.

First of all it’s illegal, secondly it’s stupid, and thirdly it’ll ruin your reputation long term.

As a blogger for over 8 years now I’ve GIVEN AWAY so much of my best content for free.

In fact, at one point a few years ago I did a tally and I realized that I’ve written enough Blog content to fill more than 5 full-sized BOOKS.

BUT, even thought I’ve given away so much free content, when I come across a course or training that someone else put together, which they charge for, I don’t just give it away for free as it’s not MINE to give away.

Instead I recommend people go to the creator and purchase it.

Because of this, sometimes I’ve ran across people who have gotten mad at me for not giving them access to someone else’s work for free.

Meaning, they essentially ask me to break the law, and to illegally copy someone else’s best work, and rip it off and send it to them, and then when I say NO to that, they call me an asshole.

That’ll happen, but it doesn’t bother me.

Or they’ll say something like “Oh, well you’re just recommending this course and you’re sending me to your affiliate link because you want to make money when I buy the course.”

Here’s the thing…

I give away a LOT of free stuff on my Blog.

But I’m not going to give away someone else’s work, illegally, for free, without their permission.

I also don’t promote crap.

For every product, course, seminar, system or ANYTHING that I promote, I’ve filtered out and turned away probably 50 other products.

I only promote the BEST of the BEST out there.

And when I do promote a product or service as an affiliate, I believe that I deserve to get paid for my recommendation.

But I also believe that if anyone who reads my Blog doesn’t want me to make an affiliate commission on something that I promote, they are 100% FREE to buy the product through someone else’s affiliate link.

I’m 100% okay with that. If you are going to buy a product I recommend, and you don’t want me to make any affiliate commissions on it, then go find someone else’s link and buy it through their link.

This is also what I recommend you do on YOUR blog.

Give away a LOT of great value on your Blog. Give away your BEST content.

You’ll create NEW content anyways.

If you want to put together products or systems to SELL, that’s perfectly okay too, and don’t worry…people will buy from you because they like you ANYWAYS.

And when you find amazing content that is NOT your own, recommend it to others!

Don’t be shy about it either.

If whatever you’re promoting has an affiliate program – then promote it as an affiliate, so that you can get paid affiliate commissions for your well deserved recommendation.

And never let any WUSSIES make you feel bad for promoting something as an affiliate.

If they don’t want you to make the affiliate commission you deserve, they can go find a link from somewhere else.

🙂

So to summarize. Is it a good idea to give away your best content on your Blog?

YES!

You’ll get more “best content” flowing into your mind.

You’ll build more trust with your audience.

You’ll make better connections in the marketplace.

And people will STILL be happy to PAY you for any paid products or services you create in the future.

And it’s also a good idea to promote the BEST products you come across from other people as an affiliate.

How I’m Getting Top Google Rankings for My Brand New Blog

January 4, 2015 by Paul 9 Comments

You can get top rankings on Google even if you have a brand new blog with a brand new domain.

In this Blog post I’ll explain exactly how I’m doing this.

But before I do that, I want to first show some quick proof so that you know I’m speaking from experience and not from theory.

Proof #1 – My Domain is Only 5 Days Old

Here’s a screenshot of my domain registration with GoDaddy.

As you can see, I registered my domain “FreeYouNow.com” on Dec 30th, and today is Dec 4th so my domain is just 5 days old.

So you do NOT need an “aged” domain to get ranked.

Proof #2 – I’m Ranking #1 on Google for My Keyword

A few days ago I wrote a Blog post where I was targeting the keyword “Double Your Chances Weight Loss” and different variations of it.

I always try to make my titles speak to real human beings and not just focusing on keywords so the actual title of my post was “How to Double Your Chances of Sticking to a Weight Loss Plan”.

As you can see I’m ranking #1 on Google for the keyword “double your chances weight loss”.

Now, I know that this is not a super amazing highly searched keyword, but it is a long-tail keyword that people might search for and I’m trying to show how easy it can be to rank for long-tail keywords with a brand new Blog and a brand new domain.

How I Got My Blog / Domain to Rank So Fast

I think a lot of people completely overcomplicated Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and try to game the system with unnecessary tactics and strategies that will just get you banned on Google.

Personally I prefer to keep things simple and to just give Google what it wants, and it seems to work for me pretty well.

Here’s what you need to do:

#1 – You Need Your Own Domain

Get your own domain because that way you’ll be building your own brand and you’ll also need it for one of the following steps to become a “Webmaster” with Google.

You can get a domain at GoDaddy.com for $10 or less.

#2 – You Need a Solid Blogging Platform

You need a solid blogging platform built around the WordPress blogging system.

Anything that you get for free is going to be crap and isn’t going to give you the features you need.

So don’t waste your time looking for some “free” blogging platform that’s good. You won’t find it.

I’m personally using Empower Network’s Kalatu platform which is awesome. It takes the ultra powerful WordPress platform and simplifies it and adds on a whole bunch of extra powerful tools to make your Blog ultra effective right out of the gate.

Click here to learn more about Kalatu.

#3 – You Need to Sign Up as a Webmaster With Google

Once you’ve got your Blog setup and running and your own domain registered and mapped to point to your Blog, you need to head over to Google Webmaster Tools and register yourself as a webmaster with Google.

Once you create an account with Google Webmaster Tools you’ll need to add your domain/site to the list.

Google has fairly good instructions on how to go about this, but just search for it on YouTube if you don’t know how to do this.

#4 – You Need to Setup a Sitemap With Google Webmaster Tools

Next, you’ll need to setup a Sitemap with Google Webmaster Tools.

A Sitemap is basically a tool which tells Google about all of your new content / blog posts that you write and kind of “nudges” Google to come check them out and index them.

It’s kind of like your website picking up the phone, calling Google and saying “Hey Google, guess what, I now have a new Blog available at my domain…come check it out when you got a minute.”

Sending a sitemap to Google doesn’t guarantee that Google will index every post you submit, but it significantly improves your chances.

Plus, once you have it setup once, the whole process is automated so that you never have to worry about it again.

What you’ll need is you’ll need a Blogging platform that supports Google Sitemaps. Luckily for us, the Kalatu platform comes with a built-in Sitemap plugin running so you don’t have to worry about it.

Here’s a screenshot from my Google Webmaster Tools system. As you can see, as of right now I’ve submitted 8 web pages from my site to Google (automatically), and Google has gone ahead and indexed 5 of them so far. Keep in mind that my Blog and domain are ONLY 5 days old so the fact that they already indexed 5 out of 8 pages is awesome.

#5 – You Need to Get Some EXTERNAL VOTES Pointing To Your Blog Post

This next step is where most people drop the ball.

It’s a very simple thing to do, but most people won’t do it because they don’t believe it could be this simple.

Essentially what you need to do is you need to get at least a COUPLE of EXTERNAL “votes” for your Blog post.

One way to do this is to leave comments on other people’s Blogs which allow you to add in your website URL in the comment box.

This is an example of a comment I left on someone’s Blog.

When you leave USEFUL and RELEVANT comments on people’s Blogs they WILL approve them, and most Blogs allow you to include a link back to your Blog with each comment.

In the example above the word “Paul Piotrowski” is a link back to this Blog.

What you want to do is you want to go out there and leave some useful comments on people’s Blog posts and link back to your Blog post!

You only need a few of these to get on Google’s radar screen.

Another way to get some external “votes” back to your post is to post your Blog post on Facebook like I did here:

By sharing a link to my Blog post on Facebook, this gives me yet another “vote” or link to my specific Blog post from an external domain (in this case Facebook).

The trick here is to get a few links that point back to your individual POST and NOT just your main domain.

Make sure you are just going out and getting a few links here and there from REAL websites and make sure if you use Blog comments that they are real comments left on real blogs.

In other words, don’t try to cheat by going out there and buying some stupid “10,000 links for $5” package on Fiverr or some junk like that thinking that “more is better”.

What you want is NATURAL exposure for your Blog, not some kind of system for “gaming” Google.

#6 – Send Your Blog Post to Your Email List

Now here’s where I think a BIG secret lies that most people in the SEO world don’t really talk about.

What you want to do is you want to have an EMAIL list on a platform like AWeber which allows you to send out an email blast whenever you write a Blog post.

A platform like Kalatu has AWeber integration built right into it so it helps you to build an email list from scratch if you don’t have one, but even if you just have 3 people on your email list you want to start emailing them every time you write a Blog post.

Here’s why you want to do this.

When you send out an email blast to your email list, SOME of the people WILL click through to read your Blog post.

When they click through to read your Blog post, your Blog post will load up in their browser and as it loads it will also trigger the loading of the Google Analytics tracking script (covered later in this post).

This is important because statistically speaking the people who are going to sign up for your email list are going to be those people who like you the most and who trust you the most.

So when you send THOSE people to your Blog FIRST, it will give your Google Analytics stats the best chance of looking good, as opposed to the type of stats you might get from some other traffic source of “cold” traffic.

Let me explain why Google Analytics is important in the next step here…

#7 – The Importance of Google Analytics Integration

You want to make sure that you integrate Google Analytics into your Blog. If you’re using the Kalatu platform, this is super easy as it has Google Analytics Integration built right in.

All you have to do is setup a free Google Analytics account and then paste your Tracking ID into Kalatu and click “Save”.

It’s that simple. Kalatu takes care of the rest.

Now, once you have Google Analytics installed and you send out an email blast to your email list (of any size really), when people visit that Blog post they will trigger the Google Analytics Script every time they load the page.

When the Google Analytics tracking script is triggered, Google starts to track the number of visitors going to your individual blog post page as well as some very important STATS.

Do you see what I mean?

When I published my post, I sent out an email to my email list and a bunch of people came to visit my post.

As you can see, we’re not talking about ASTRONOMICAL numbers either. We’re only talking about 60-70 people visiting that post.

BUT, those 60-70 people visiting my Blog give Google some early indicators (STATS) about the content on that page, such as:

Avg. Time on Page – My stats show Google that people stayed 2 minutes and 41 seconds on my page – on average. In “Internet Time” that is an eternity. This is a GOOD sign for Google, as opposed to if they stayed like 3 seconds.
Bounce Rate – The stats also show Google that my page has an 85.11% bounce rate. This is not bad either. Basically Google just doesn’t want to see a 99% bounce rate.
Pageviews & Unique Pageviews – This tells Google how many times this page has been seen and by how many people. In my case it was seen 68 times by 59 unique people.

Once Google sees and records these types of statistics for this page, it will KNOW that this page is a real page, with real content, which seems to be valuable since people are hanging around and reading the content and not just leaving after 2 seconds.

When Google sees this, it now will give you a chance to rank for whatever keywords it deems appropriate for the post based on your Blog post title and content.

Eliminating RISK for Google

At first, what I’ve written above may seem a bit complicated but keep in mind that MOST of it can be greatly simplified simply by using Kalatu as a Blogging platform since it has a lot of the necessary features you need already built in, without the need to go looking for WordPress plugins, or worrying about modifying codes or scripts or anything of that nature.

Kalatu simplifies a LOT of this.

Secondly, remember that MOST of this is also one-time setup stuff which only needs to be done once in the beginning and then it just works automatically for all your future Blog posts.

Thirdly, understanding this process becomes MUCH simpler if you think of it from the perspective of ELIMINATING RISK for Google instead of trying to PROVE AWESOMENESS.

In other words, in order to rank well in Google, you don’t necessarily have to prove your Blog is AWESOME to them, you just have to ELIMINATE THE RISK that your Blog is SPAM / JUNK.

Does that make sense?

Google WANTS to include your content in their search engine, as long as you can prove to them that it’s not just SPAM / JUNK.

And the way we are doing this is as follows:

Domain Ownership – By spending $10 to buy a domain we’re showing Google that we are willing to invest at least $10 into our site.
Good Platform – By using a platform like Kalatu, build on WordPress, we’re showing Google that we’re running our site on a solid platform.
Claiming Ownership – By becoming a Webmaster of our domain we declare to Google “Hey Google, I own this domain and I vouch for it. This is a good site, it’s not spam or junk.”
Regular Content – By writing content on a regular basis, we show Google that this site contains timely and relevant information.
Natural Links to Content – By sharing link to your Blog post on your Facebook timeline, you’re showing Google “Hey Google, my Blog post is good, I’m proud of it and I’ll gladly share it with my friends.”
Emailing Your List – By emailing your Blog post to your list you’re showing Google “Hey Google, I’m proud enough of my Blog post to send it to my email list.”
Good Starter Stats – When your initial group of friends and email subscribers visit your site, THEY tell Google “Hey, this content is pretty good, I’ll hang out and read it.” with their stats.

Make sense?

I mean just think about how much RISK you’ve eliminated for Google with all of the above. What are the chances that your site/Blog Post is some spam or junk post if you’ve done all of the above?

Chances are that your post is NOT going to be spammy / crappy content right?

From my 8+ years of experience as a Blogger, I have bought many different SEO courses and I’ve listened to many different so called SEO Experts, and so many of them complicate everything so much to the point where you simply can’t keep up with all the daily changes in the so called Google Algorithm.

But in reality what I have found is that if you follow the simple strategies outlined above, which follow ALL of Google’s rules, you can get your content to rank very quickly and very well, even if you’re starting from complete scratch with a brand new Blog on a brand new domain.

I hope you enjoyed this article, and if you’d like to join my team of Bloggers and learn how to make money blogging about your passions, click here to get started.