website advice Tag

November Blog Traffic And Income Report: $92.44

  |   Blog Income Report   |   36 Comments

The inaugural Olyvia blog income report for November 2014: $92.44. Watch and learn how to monetize your blog from the beginning!

Be honest. How many times have you asked yourself, "How in the world do I make money with this here blog?!"

All. the. time., right?

In my early years of blogging I was head-over-high-heels enamored with the concept of making money online. The concept seemed so alluring. Just write about whatever and watch the cash pour in?

Sign me UP!

Yet, while there seemed to be a lot of talk of "blog monetization," not many people were openly sharing how they made that money (or how much they actually made).

The only advice people tended to give out was to install Google Adsense ads. Somehow it would bring in hundreds, even thousands, of dollars!

So, I tried it on this little -- and I mean teeny -- personal hobby blog I had.

I made a pitiful 15 cents.

Not surprisingly, I quickly came to the conclusion that making decent money with a blog was outright ridiculous.

But as the blogging community grew and a few more people began to open up their monetization successes and failures, I began to understand the fuller picture of what making an income off a blog really entailed.

I learned that:

1.  nobody begins by making $1,000, $2,000, or $10,000 dollars

2. you need people coming to your blog in order to make any money

3. just relying on one thing usually won't pay the bills (+ daddy said not to put all your eggs in one basket)

4. while it may become easy, passive income eventually, it does take A LOT of work up front



When I started Olyvia, I decided that once I got to the point where I could begin monetizing, I would share the process openly with my readers.

Because A) I want you to learn how to do it for yourself, B) I want you to see a blog income report that starts at the very beginning, not after it's already bringing in thousands of dollars, and C) because I know the accountability will make me work harder. :)

So with that, here is my very...

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7 Minutes To An Irresistible Opt-In Box

  |   Business Tips, Email Marketing, Olyvia TV, Website Design   |   39 Comments

How to get more email subscribers in 7 minutes or less (a smart video tutorial for bloggers + entrepreneurs)

Today I have one simple question for you.

Do you have an email opt-in box in your sidebar that nobody seems to notice?

Trying to encourage people to subscribe to your newsletter can feel a lot like trying to herd cats, even if you have an excellent free opt-in gift (aka: "lead magnet") that you've spent weeks carefully crafting and designing.

(You hear me, right? I mean, let's be really, completely, 100% honest here. At times growing our email lists can be excrrrrruciating.)

But WHY? What's going on that makes sidebar opt-in forms so notorious for blah performance?

1. First of all, everybody has those little boxes in the sidebar of their website. They’re easy to ignore because they're nearly all the same. Common layout elements condition people to be "opt-in blind."



2. In an effort to be pretty, too many people try to blend the opt-in box into the rest of their theme by choosing neutral colors and making it diminutive. As a result, the opt-in area doesn't compete for anybody's attention. Rather than saying, "Look over here!" it says, "Oh, don't mind me...

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27 Ways To Earn People’s Trust And Look Credible Online

  |   Branding, Business Tips, PR, Reputation, Social Media Marketing   |   28 Comments

27 ways to earn people's trust and look credible online as a business owner or blogger + a free worksheet!

It seems that everywhere I go online there are women business owners, entrepreneurs, and business-minded bloggers that are asking the same three questions about their web presence:

"How do I become an influencer?"

"How do I get people to buy from or hire me?"

and

"How do I look like an expert and not an amateur?"

There are a million and one ways to answer these questions, but what they all boil down to is this: to succeed online you must first earn people's trust.

Without trust you will never be viewed as a legitimate business or a credible authority in your field. You need that impression of legitimacy in order to attract clients and customers, look professional, and earn a reputation as a respectable thought-leader.

But how can you earn trust merely by using the web? If you're anything like me, you're crazy busy and forget half of what you need to do right after you read it. You need something that's not a major undertaking and can be done relatively fast, so let's start with the small changes that make a sizable impact.

Here are 27 (fairly) effortless things you can do right now to earn more credibility online. Pick at least one and get the ball rolling after you read this post!
...

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