It's Here: Somebody Needs You to Shine!
Part 2 of Week 3 "Somebody Needs You to Shine" E-Course
It's important to see if your idea will stick.
In The First Half of this Post, I talked about the importance of taking your idea and putting it online- I used the example of my baking site.
Sean Ogle's golf site is another example of trying out to see if a hobby or passion has a sticky factor.
To test out your idea, all you need is the following 6 elements:
1. Do some research about your interest and itty biz idea if you haven't done that already. Research is key to seeing what others are doing, the potential gaps in the marketplace and where your unique person might be able to solve someone else's problems.
Listen to podcasts and follow a couple of blogs.
As someone interested in writing and self-publishing, I listen to Joanna Pen, Copyblogger and Pat Flynn's podcasts (everyone can benefit from Pat Flynn's podcasts- I encourage you to check them out). I'm on their mailing lists, receive their en-newsletters and blog posts.
1. Start a blog/website.
You have two choices when it comes to blogs/websites: free ones and paid hosting.
Think about it in terms of real estate. The free route is available but there are limitations like in a rental property. Typically, you can't do whatever you want on a rental property.
There are limits to what you can build and do on a free site. It's not really yours. It's the property of the entity who is lending out the property. Think of Facebook. Yes, you can start a group of Facebook and see if something sticks (see what Sean Ogle did when he was experimenting with his golf site and using a Facebook site. Check out his post HERE but what if Facebook starts charging $1,000 a month for businesses, authors, artists, etc to have a page there? What if Facebook goes the way of MySpace and everyone deserts ship?
It could happen.
However, if you have your own little piece of real estate via your blog on the world wide web the future is a bit brighter. You set the rules and decide what will go on pages. Advertising or no advertising. Color and pictures or black and white. Create a membership site or a book giveaway or anything else- the world is pretty much yours to rule in your little corner of the web.
You want to paint the lower part of your website red and the upper half of your website bright fuchsia pink like my sister wanted to do for her room? Go for it. (Kjj couldn't do that- she was vetoed by the parents!).
All of these decisions have consequences- I really think the pink and red room would be a bit intense- but in the end it is your decision to make.
Purchasing a domain name usually costs between $9 and $13 dollars. Once the website domain is purchased, hosting can be purchased- either monthly or per year. Either way, hosting a website (that's how the website gets uploaded and seen on the internet) for about $60 a year.
3. Start to share ideas.
This can be done in a variety of ways:
- Blog every day or once a week
- Share your books
- Give away content, infographics, video blogs
- Teach a class
- Share your art
Whatever the medium you choose to publish your ideas in, there must be an interactive way for people to see what you are doing and have the opportunity to comment and come back for more.
Gone are the days of static websites. People want to be engaged. They need a reason to return.
Keep the content focused on the people you want to serve, encourage and help. (Remember, the best websites and business are focused on helping people, solving problems).
4. Collect email addresses and create a mailing list.
This crucial step of the process allow you to have access to people who want to know more about you.
Your E-newsletter may be the best way to develop relationships with the people who have virtually raised their hand and said, "Hey, I'm interested in getting to know you a little more!"
The email list is the way to build the relationship one level deeper than on the blog or social media sites.
In the beginning, it's about developing a trust relationships and allowing people to get to know you, ask you questions. It's also a great way to get to know your audience and to give them a little more than the invisible reading audience who visits the blog but doesn't make themselves known.
To add a email subscriber list to your website you can go with a free option like MailChimp or a paid option (a few more options) such as Aweber.
5. Start a blog on the website.
It's possible to start a website without a blog. But engagement is the word of the day. People want the interaction of learning more about your site. If there is no content posted on a semi-regular basis, the website looks like a store with a "closed" sign in it!
A blog doesn't have to be a lot of writing. Pictures, videos, podcast recordings are all media used on blogs that audiences love.
WordPress is my blogging platform of choice. It is one of the easiest blogging models to use. (Interpretation: you don't have to know code and it's pretty self-explanatory).
6. Set up Google Analytics
Without a way to measure who is coming to your site, it's going to be next to impossible to see if anything is happening.
Google Analytics is a code that is embedded into your website/blog code. (It's not hard to do and there are tutorials to show you exactly where to put it). It's also free- the only condition is to have a Gmail account.
With Google Analytics in place you can see things like:
- How many people have visited the website
- Where they come from (are they coming directly from your site or did they click on a pin in Pinterest or a facebook like)
- How long they stay on the site
- The pages/posts most visited
All of this is incredibly important information. It can really help you develop content that people want to see.
For example, on my site BakePerfectCookies.com the most popular page viewed is my recipe on apple cookies. For months, it's been all about the apple cookies (and it's the middle of summer as I write this). Go figure. The second most popular post is an essay about baking titled, "Is Baking Therapy?"
Now, if I'm smart I'll catch on to something.
The readers are telling me something. Apple cookies is a popular search term. I should probably do a few things:
Develop additional apple recipes with apple in them; consider writing an eCookbook on including apples in the recipes (hmm, maybe in time for fall).
The other interesting point about the eye traffic the site gets is in regards to Pinterest. Of all the people who come to the site, close to 10% come from Pinterest. That is a significant amount of people in comparison to the variety of other places people come from.
But here is another noteworthy point: people who visit from Pinterest stay an average of 10 seconds on the site.
Which means a few things: it's not what they wanted or expected. I'm appreciative of Pinterest traffic but I'm not going to spend too, TOO much time trying to pander to Pinterest searchers. Instead I am going to put my energy into readers who spend more time on the site- those are the people I want to serve and help.
This is what we do on our own blogs and websites but that's only half of the game.
In Week 4 we'll discuss the necessary steps of building an online presence and testing ideas for stickiness- getting off the blog.
Plus, I'll share the Game Changer in my online growth.
{End note: I purposefully kept the points on creating a web presence general. Do you need help with the steps to start your blog, where to go and what elements to include? Send me an email at melissaauclair@gmail.com or hit reply to the newsletter and let me know what you need to get started!
I'm more than happy to write a blog post outlining the exact steps, websites and cost estimates to give you an idea of what to do and how to start!}
The post 6 Elements to See if an Idea will Stick Online appeared first on Launch Your Creative Life.