A drum I’ve been beating for a while is you don’t need sponsors to make money podcasting. In fact, it might not even be the best way to make money. What if you had a product so perfectly aligned with the audience of your podcast, that you could get your listeners to buy it? That’s exactly what Sam Munoz does, and her approach to free content is admirable. If you have ANY business where you’re creating content, you need to hear this conversation. Plus, in Build Something More, Sam and I exchange stories about the time we wrote code for robots. Top Takeaways: It’s OK to get paid for your thoughts. Whenever Sam thinks about free content, she tries to connect it back to her paid offerings. After all, if you’re doing something for your business, what you’re doing should be in the service of making your business succeed.You need to spend your time wisely. When you don’t have the margin to think about how your content, which is a lot of work, serves your business or your paid offerings. This hurts you, and your audience, who should benefit from your services.Sam’s podcast serves as the top of the funnel for her mentorship. The audiences align perfectly, and her consistent call to action provides enough repetition for people to turn into students. This works perfectly for her because everything aligns so well! Show Notes: Sam MunozSam on TwitterMighty NetworksHow Making Helpful Content is the Right Way to Sell Products with James LawsThe Intentional BookshelfJoin the Creator CrewSponsored by: Nexcess | LearnDash
Creating a course isn't just about making a series of videos. It's about doing it in a way that gives the students skills or knowledge they can use at the end of the course. Troy Dean calls that taking a student from "zero to win." Listen to the entire episode at https://howibuilt.it/027 Be sure to subscribe at https://howibuilt.it/subscribe This clip is brought to you by Sensei
I’m going, to be honest with you: I’m squarely anti-hustle culture. I think it’s unnecessary and puts too much pressure on people to make “Gary Vee money.” So when I saw Dickie Bush’s Ship 30 project, I thought we had more of that narrative. Well let me tell you, I could not have been more wrong. Dickie’s approach to writing and his frameworks can help anyone become a better writer, and Ship 30 helps brand new creators go through the roller coaster that is content creation faster, and with a better support system. There are TONS of gems in this episode, so you won’t want to miss it. Plus, in Build Something More, Dickie and I talk about competitive gaming. Top Takeaways: Twitter is a “home run-based” platform that allows you to go viral with the right stuff. Generally, that’s content Dickie called “Reach” content; these are tweets or threads that everyone can relate to.Dickie says creating content isn’t coming up with 1000 different ideas. It’s coming up with 1000 different ways to use the same idea across different platforms, so it resonates with different people.If you’re struggling to come up with content, do the 2-year review: look at everything you learned over the last 2 years, and then write content for you, two years ago. Show Notes: Dickie Bush 1 Dickie Bush 2Dickie on TwitterDickie on LinkedinOtter.aiTypeshareJoin the Creator CrewSponsored by: Nexcess | LearnDash
Coming up with content can be a tough task, especially across multiple channels. But Nathan Ellering of CoSchedule gave us the perfect advice in episode 20: answer customer questions. Listen to the entire episode at https://howibuilt.it/020 Be sure to subscribe at https://howibuilt.it/subscribe This clip is brought to you by TextExpander
“All of the worlds is experienced through code.” This is a statement Marcus Merrell makes on today’s podcast...and it’s absolutely true. See, even if you sell the most niche handmade thing, you probably sell it online, which means someone’s code is powering your business. And your buyers are experiencing your business through code. So the worst thing for your business is bad code because that makes for a bad experience. And I know what you’re thinking: “What if I don’t write code?” Well, if you’re listening to this show, you probably create user experiences. And today, Marcus tells us how we can do it better; we should all listen. Our businesses depend on it. Top Takeaways: Even if you sell physical products it needs to interface with some code. The exciting thing about the no-code movement is that you as a creator or business owner can focus less on testing that code, and more on business-related activities...as well as honing the experience.Products are good and improving, but not as fast as people’s expectations. People say they won’t wait at all if something is broken. They will leave and find an alternative.You don’t need to deeply test everything, but you do need to make sure the experience for the vast majority of your users is rock solid. Are people mostly signing up for your membership? Make sure that it is a perfect experience. Show Notes: Marcus MerrellMarcus on LinkedinMarcus on TwitterSauce Labs on LinkedinSauce Labs on TwitterSauce Labs WhitepaperMaking Your Website Accessible with Amber HindsA Book ApartJoin the Creator CrewSponsored by: Nexcess | LearnDash
“Creator” is a word that has really come into focus in an industry in the last few years. But content creation is nearly as old as the internet itself. And building businesses from your content…that’s not new either. Just ask Chris Coyier, the founder who recently sold his hugely popular blog, CSS Tricks, to Digital Ocean. We talk about his journey, how he made money, and answer the question: are we seeing an uptick in content acquisitions as more companies realize it’s a great way to establish trust. Top Takeaways: Kickstarting the CSS Tricks redesign generated a lot of revenue, but ended up resulting in a loss. Still, it did its job: it gave Chris capital to build the business.CSS Tricks has always been about ads as a way to make money. It started off as handshake deals at conferences, but the process became more formalized.The best thing you can do for advertisers and offer packages. Get them in front of all of the eyeballs you have access to. You can charge more and deliver better results. Show Notes: Chris CoyierChris on TwitterWP JukeboxKickstarter CSS TricksJoin the Creator CrewSponsored by: Nexcess | TextExpander | LearnDash
When you write content, who are you writing for? It’s an important question to consider— you need to have someone in mind when you write. But there’s another audience you should have the robots. Specifically, search engines. If you’re not writing for both, you could be missing out on traffic, signups, and sales. Luckily, Maddy Osman and her new book, Writing for Humans and Robots, is here to help. Top Takeaways: When writing for humans, you need to appeal to the people you’re writing for. This is where stories, empathy, and consistency come on.When you write for robots, you need to consider what your content is optimized for: keywords, good headlines, and spoiler alert: What humans what to know.The right headline can satisfy both humans and robots. Write something that gets people to click and search engines will recommend your content to more people. Show Notes: Order Writing for Humans and RobotsMaddy on LinkedinMaddy on TwitterMaddy on YouTubeNaNoWriMoAnywordKeywords Everywh...
Jeff Sheldon does what he does extremely well. But he's also expanded his business from clothes to coffee and paper products. How does he do it without burning out? Listen to today's bit to find out. Listen to the entire episode at https://howibuilt.it/013 Be sure to subscribe at https://howibuilt.it/subscribe This clip is brought to you by WP Wallet
Over the last few weeks, I have been interviewing experts on communities, newsletters, referral programs, and more. As a result, I've taken some of my favorite advice and I've started implementing it. So today is going to be a solo episode where I'm going to tell you everything I've been doing to grow my audience. We'll take a look at some tools I've been using, some techniques I've been implementing, and perhaps the most important thing that I can do to grow my audience. In Build Something More, I tell you my next short-form podcast and what I liked from WWDC. Top Takeaways: Niching down to podcasting only has allowed me to focus my messaging and all of my energy and resources.I’ve been promoting my newsletter, which I’ve also focused on podcasting. All of my opt-ins now point to Podcast Tips, an evergreen newsletter that helps people grow and monetize.I’ve been using Tweet Hunter to plan and schedule useful tweets for folks. Using Dickie Bush’s advice, I put out helpful podcas...
Chris Lema knows a lot about a lot. But did you know he was doing no-code well before it became the movement it is today? In this bit, he tells us a little about how to successfully build a web app without code. Listen to the entire episode at https://howibuilt.it/012 Be sure to subscribe at https://howibuilt.it/subscribe This clip is brought to you by WP Wallet