Featured Posts, ProBlogger Site News 36 comments
As this post goes live the doors at the BlogMastermind blog mentoring program are opening again for the first time in many months.
Signup for the six month package and I’ll give you a bonus one hour consulting/coaching session with me. Read on below for more details.
When he first launched BlogMastermind I was really impressed by what Yaro had put together. He didn’t just rely upon the fact that he earns a six figure income from blogging to draw numbers into his site - he put so much work into developing a teaching site that delivered students amazing value.
This has been confirmed to me many times over from the feedback that I regularly hear from students that enrolled last time around. It was so popular last time that Yaro closed the doors on the program so as to be able to give students the attention that they deserved and to stop it being overrun.
Please don’t be put off by the sales page (that has to be the longest one I’ve seen for quite some time - the video at the top is probably the best part) - Yaro’s training content is first rate.
You can get a great feel for the the type of content that Yaro offers students with some of the free videos and reports that he’s already released:
Those five links alone give bloggers some great insights into profitable blogging and will give you a taste for what BlogMastermind is all about and how Yaro teaches.
You’ll notice as you listen to Yaro teach that he’s not into hype, he declares on his sales page that this isn’t about getting rich quick, his lessons are clear and that he gives concrete strategies. I know from the numerous times that Yaro and I have met in person that he’s a genuine guy and just loves to help people learn how to blog.
As a result I’d highly recommend the program and hope that you enjoy the experience as much as I have in the time I’ve spent in BlogMastermind. You can sign up either on month by month basis (getting a taste in the first month) or get the full access to the program all at once for six months at a discounted rate.
Yaro is offering the first 100 students to invest BlogMastermind 3 free bonuses. The bonuses are live teleconferences on three aspects of blogging (using video, website conversion and conversion blogging).
However Yaro has generously just told me that ALL ProBlogger readers will receive these three bonuses - whether you’re in the first 100. You will need to signup using one of the links in this post (like this one) to qualify for this.
Anyone signing up for the six month package of BlogMastermind through the links on this site (like this one) will get a free one hour consulting package from me. You can use this hour either to get a Q&A session with me on skype/phone, for me to write a report of how I think you could improve your blog or even for me to write a post for your blog or do an interview with you on your blog (subject to the topic of your blog being something I feel I can write about). Really we can negotiate on how you use this hour in any number of ways.
I generally charge $150-$250 for this type of session. I would recommend that you use it after you’ve been in BlogMastermind for a few months and have had a chance to digest the teaching there - then we can use the session to build upon Yaro’s teaching and tailor it for your situation.
To qualify for this bonus you need to sign up for the six month package of Yaro’s course before the end of August and stay as a signed up member for at least 31 days (Yaro has a 30 day money back guarantee so it wouldn’t be fair for you to get your money back AND get the consulting).
Sign up for BlogMastermind here.
Blog Design, Miscellaneous Blog Tips, Writing Content 27 comments
Do you want to learn how to SNAP readers out of their zombie like surfing and HOOK them into your blog?
If so - read on….
Image by Essjay in NZ
Before I was a blogger I did a lot of public speaking. I did a number of courses in public speaking and used to spend a lot of time with my head in books on the topic.
One of the techniques that I was taught that I found to be very helpful was to include something at the start of every presentation that was there unashamedly to grab attention and create interest.
The theory was that in most presentations (whether it be in a work context, conference, church, school or even in a social context where a speech was given) the majority of your audience quickly will slip into a zombie like trance even as you’re getting up to speak. The act of sitting down and listening to someone speak in a monologue is not really something most of us are wired to do.
So to snap your audience out of this state where they’re incapable of comprehending your 16 point presentation the theory is that you do something, say something, show something or claim something that grabs their attention.
Whether it be a joke, question, controversial statement or claim, powerful story, funny title slide or intriguing and surprising opening line - the primary aim in the first moments of your presentation is to grab attention and create interest in what you’re about to present.
This same principle applies to blogging in two ways.
Let me start with the more obvious place that you can (and should) be thinking about grabbing the attention of your readers - within each post.
Every time a reader see’s one of your posts in their RSS feed, stumbles upon it in search engine results, spots it linked to on another site or even sees it on your blog - they make a snap judgement whether they’ll read it or not. This is based upon a number of factors:
We could probably add a lot more to this list - but I guess the point I’m wanting to make is that ‘grabbing attention’ is something a blogger needs to think about in the writing of each post.
While grabbing attention on a post by post level is important there’s another one that is worth thinking about also - on a bigger picture level as you think about your whole blog.
What hooks a first time reader into your blog?
Not just into the post that they’ve arrived on - but to your whole blog?
I’m not just talking about how to make your blog sticky (although many ’sticky’ techniques will help a lot) but I’m talking particularly about getting ‘attention’ of readers.
Many of the points on a post level (point #1 above) come into play on this as they will be the first thing that a new reader sees - however there are other factors too - particularly:
What attention grabbing techniques have you tried on either a post by post level or a bigger picture blog level?
PS: As I’m hitting publish on this post I’m reminded of a great little book - Hot Button Marketing: Push the Emotional Buttons That Get People to Buy.
This book looks at a variety of buttons (or hooks) that marketers use to make customers buy. While this might not seem that relevant for blogging - I found that as I read the book that a lot of the buttons described were similar to what I’d seen work at engaging readers on my blogs. Marketers.
