That’s been the question on my mind as I’ve done my April blog review.
As regular readers know, I have a process for reviewing my blog that is now becoming pretty well established. I share the results of it because, not only am I passionate about helping others navigate career and life change for themselves, but also I’m in the process of reinventing my own already reinvented work life and believe there’s value in being transparent about my own process here.
This month’s headlines:
- Most statistics are heading in the right direction
- Notably, the blog has had 41% more traffic this month versus last; which, although it’s down on the stonking 93% month on month increase in March, is still heading in the right direction.
- I achieved my ambition of writing and posting two posts per week.
- The number and quality of comments being left on posts continues to be strong.
- However, I’ve had no new paying clients via the blog for the second successive month, and
- My RSS subscriber numbers have stayed more or less steady month on month.
What’s helping?
Guest posts
The blog broke into the realms of guest posting this month, thanks to my lovely friend Jen Smith who shared her article, Paving Your Own Path.
Life Skills Magazine is an innovative online publication, now in its third month. Its founder, Ayo Olaniyan invited me to give them an article which I happily did.
Traffic spikes
I had fabulous traffic spikes around four articles during the month, all different. First, thank you Jen, your article drew terrific traffic. Then, my honest and perhaps a little controversial article Split Work-Life Personality? Join The Club! got good numbers. Next, my tongue in cheek post Here’s How Not To Differentiate Yourself As A Coach did well. As did Five Things That Help New Work Pioneers Make Real Change.
What’s curious about the posts that did better than those that did not is that they’re all a bit quirky and different in their own way. And, although blog business guru Michael Martine might disagree, I think their headlines are pretty good in blogging terms. All things that seem to be important to grabbing the reader’s attention.
Recognition
I’m super excited to share a number of things here. First, Scot Herrick, perhaps better know for his Cube Rules site, has just written a book which hits the shelves this May and asked me if I’d read an advanced copy and endorse it. It’s called I’ve Landed My Dream Job — Now What??. I think it’s going to be a great resource for New Work Pioneers who are choosing to work in a corporate context.
Second, A Different Kind of Work was named one of the Top 50 Human Resource Blogs by Business Resource Master.
Awesome!
What’s curious?
It’s interesting, four months into seriously running it, that the blog still isn’t bringing in more income. A telling analytic is the stationary numbers for my RSS subscriptions. I think if I want to be able to make more direct contact with people, that’s an interesting sign. Still, it’s too early in the blog’s life to get worried about this and all my instincts tell me that I’m putting good foundations down and I should just moving.
And that’s really where the question, am I Building A Blog Or Building A Business comes in. If it’s the former, I need to be doing more of what I’m currently doing and continue to watch my Google Analytics figures grow.
But, if it’s the latter, I need to listen to some of the cautionary signs I’m seeing and act accordingly.
I am, of course, choosing the latter. Listening is taking me back and having me ask myself some vital questions:
- For whom am I writing and working? In other words, who is my market?
- What problem is it that I am uniquely positioned to help them solve?
- What are my business’s goals in bringing my offering to my market?
- What strategies am I using to try to achieve my goals? Are they the right ones for my market?
Future growth directions
My early answers to the questions I’ve just posed above suggest a tweaking of what I’m doing here as opposed to any major overhaul.
I believe that, after months of waiting, I’m about to switch over to my new site design and Headway: important considerations in the whole marketing and SEO capability of my site.
In addition to RSS, I’m planning to add Aweber, or a similar email marketing tool to the site, so I can build further beyond what I’m doing here.
I’m also going to host more guest posts from people talking about their own experience of A Different Kind of Work, and was pleased to welcome Linda Wolf to the site this Monday with her beautifully written piece, Deviation From The Norm – My Different Kind Of Work. Next starring attraction, Ben Lumley from 6aliens is lined up for next week.
Part of my challenge, I believe, is that whilst there are a number of people in my target market who have switched on to reading and writing blogs and taking part in social media, there are others who have not. I need to find non online ways to reach them. I currently playing with ideas around how I can write for relevant newspapers and other publications. And wondering whether a book idea that I had relegated to next year needs to come higher up my agenda.
I’m also keen to do some stuff that bridges social media and in person work. With that in mind, I’m delighted that Nick Williams, of The Inspired Entrepreneur Club, and I are going to be interviewing at the end of this month with the intention of having reciprocal You Tube videos on our sites.
And I’m spending this week crafting the webinars and seminars I’ve spoken of before so that I can get hard products on my site for people to engage with.
Well, that’s it for this month, folks. If you have any thoughts, observations or reflections as you read this, I’d love to hear them!
Photo credit: Skye to the West Coast: Steven Durbin Photography
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Twitter: ali_davies
Christine, like you I am a relatively new to blogging as part of my business (started Jan). One of the things I have realised is it is important to manage expectations. I think many people start blogging and expect miracles in the short term. However, the reality is that it is part of a strategy that requires time investment and a consistent input over the longer term to build real sustainable results. I think that you comment that 4 months is just the start of laying the foundation is spot on. If you look at the bigger more established blogging players they didn’t start yesterday. Some of them have been at it for years.
Good luck with the next phase of your blogging and business journey. Thank you for sharing your progress as it is always helpful to hear others experiences.
Ali Davies´s last blog ..3 Tips to Manage Impact of Business on Family Life
Your words here are spot on, Ali: “it is part of a strategy that requires time investment and a consistent input over the long term to build real sustainable results”.
It’s a real risk to put out exactly how you’re doing – there’s so much rah-rah and smoke and mirrors pseudo success in the blogging world – but since being real is core to who I am and what I do I’m sharing it warts and all. Glad that doing so is of value to you!
Twitter: barneyausten
Hi Christine
Thanks for sharing your results with us. You and I have been blogging for roughly the same length of time and, truth be told, the results are almost identical!
However, our respective businesses are very different. I have an e-commerce product that can be purchased without boundaries. Your operational model is very different (I am assuming you meet clients face to face?) and as such the blog is only likely to attract new business from people who are closer to you logistically. (supposition here – by no means an expert!).
So for our blogs, I am getting click through into the product because it can be found on-line and requires no interaction with my business directly. Perhaps for you, as you are to an extent geographically constrained, this is where the challenge is from a “business generation” perspective.
Having said that though, you never know where a lead can come from. That person in New Zealand may know someone just up the road who needs exactly your kind of help. So keep the faith I’d say!
Thanks for sharing.
Barney
Barney Austen´s last blog ..Value proposition, the vital challenge
Hi Barry,
How fascinating that we have both been blogging for the same amount of time and are having similar results! That’s pretty reassuring in itself.
It’s interesting that your perception is that my work is 100% person to person and therefore geographically depend. It’s not. Yes, right now I do offer a limited number of face-to-face coaching sessions in London. However, I also work by phone and Skype with clients from different geographies. And my long term ambition is to build products and services that don’t require me to be physically present for people to get value from them. That you have a different perception of me in this regard is enormously useful as it causes me to think about how I’m portraying my work. So thanks for that. I really appreciate it!
Glad to know things are building for you too and look forward to hearing how things progress!
Twitter: reetaluthra
Hi Christine
My site is also quite new, I used to be positioned under my company URL and rebranded in Nov 09 under my name. Looking through my records, the number of enquiries I get is actually quite high and more than I would have expected considering the young age of the site.
I’m wondering if that is because I have a “website” part as well as a “blog” part.
I deliberately went for this dual nature because with the type of service I offer, I think it’s important for people to have easily accessible static core information as well as the “icing” of regularly updated blog content which is geared to providing information that hopefully inspires thought, challenges perspectives and acts as doorways into the site. That’s the idea anyway!!
Thanks for posting this – it’s given me quite a bit to think about!
Stay focused on what you want to achieve from every post you write and carry on doing what you are doing! And congrats on your BRM recognition! Your blog stands out for me and stays in my mind for revisits.
Reeta Luthra | Stress and Health´s last blog ..The Double Edged Sword of Help
Thanks for the terrific comment here, Reeta.
What I think the static bit of your blog does is talk to the core of your offering. As I’m learning both on and offline today through the process of having put this stuff out there is that it needs to be clear what I’m selling before people will really engage and buy.
Still, I’m finding the whole process of learning and building a different kind of business fascinating. It’s tough having come from one model to learn new rules. But the internet is so much part of the game now that I really want to learn them!
As I have shared before Christine, I really enjoy these posts. It helps me put my own site into the spotlight and know that I am not alone in my challenges and endeavours. I have a new Twitter app on my phone and you can see when people started their Twitter account on it. Looking at some of the big names around the blogosphere and seeing most of them have been around for at least 3 years made me feel much better about where I am on my own journey.
Your site is definately resonating with me and many others. Keep up the good work!
Jen
Thanks, Jen. Glad you enjoy these posts! As I said in another comment, there’s so much hype about the magic of the blogging existence and I just want to be real about my experience. This kind of way of doing and/or marketing our business is only going to grow in the future. It’s so easy to get psyched out by the big boys, but as you rightly say, many of them didn’t start yesterday, and, I might add, that the conditions for successful blogging is a shifting picture!
Twitter: KateBacon
Hi Christine
May I make a suggestion? There is quite a big jump from someone building a relationship via reading/commenting on your blog and one-to-one coaching (even though you offer this both by phone and Skype so it’s not location dependent).
In the (I’m sure you’ve heard this before) idea of the marketing funnel, it’s advised that you have different levels of offering for your clients. So your blog or tweets could be the first level, then a free report the second, a paid for e-Book or e-Course the third, e-Coaching the fourth and one-to-one work with you at the top.
Doesn’t mean that everyone has to go through this process, I’ve had clients jump to one-to-one coaching with me from just finding my website, whereas others buy the e-Course (interestingly, only one person so far has come back and asked me to mark her work – i.e. finished the course!)
Then again, people are in contact with me through Twitter, blogging and my newsletter and never buy a thing…
I bet you see a difference when you have some products on your site!
Kate x
Kate Bacon´s last blog ..Crazy Heart
Hello, Kate
That’s an awesome comment. You could write a post on this itself if you haven’t already!
I’m delighted to hear that the funnel idea is working so well for you. There are lessons from your approach I can definitely learn and thanks for being so up for sharing them.
Take care
x
Twitter: JulieWalraven
Ah, Christine, the ebb and flow of being self-employed vexes us all. Despite being in business for 25+ years, my web presence is relatively new. The former site went up in January and the present one launched in March. Like you, though I do face-to-face meetings, my business is positioned to work virtually with clients from throughout the United States and beyond.
I didn’t expect instantaneous results but did expect as I reinvented myself in multiple ways this year that the consistency of the numbers of resume / career marketing clients would either remain the same or grow. Being in the career industry with 10% unemployment throughout the majority of the US, you would think I would be continually swamped but the whole positioning of content to the right market is challenging.
Like you, I have additional strategies to put in place. Communication with my current client base and e-mail newsletter communication available to both the current base and prospective clients. I do find as I continue to have my pulse on economic developments that the level of trust and faith in the economy is still not there and may take a long time to build.
Again though, part of the key is the ebb and flow aspect of business. Last week, though I had some client contact, it was too slow for my comfort but this week has been new clients and multiple phone inquiries. When you are in the famine stage of your business, self-doubt rapidly creeps in and no matter how much positive motivation you feel yourself, depression tries to follow if you are not careful.
So hang in there, the quality of your writing and the honesty portrayed will result in clients in the future when you keep communicating the value you bring to them.
Julie Walraven | Resume Services´s last blog ..Keep on when life gets tough
Julie, my friend, it is so heartening to know that I am not alone in my moments of self-doubt!
Having put up that post today and been engaging with both on and offline comments about it, I have paused to reflect on whether I am being impatient about seeing results. As @ Ali Davies said, it’s important to set the right expectations. I always knew that switching my way of doing business, and launching an online presence would be a slow burn and I must be careful not to either get ahead of myself in expecting things before it’s really appropriate of a business of my type, nor to throw the baby out with the bath water.
I think too that your comment on the economy is well-made. People are being cautious with spending money still. Not only that, I think there’s a bit of a stagnancy around: people waiting out the recession before engaging in one thing or another. Whilst I always believe that good people can still thrive, no matter the economy, it’s a factor nevertheless.
The major takeaway from your comment is about being a getting real….
Thanks as always!
Blogging as a business is definitely a long game. Most bloggers come in, tinker with SEO and keywords, add some google ad sense and expect to make 6 figures. This never happens of course and most then stop blogging.
I great way I’ve found to build RSS subscribers and add people to my newsletter is to guest post. The more often I write for other people the more my numbers go up and the more interactions I have.
You might want to add a coaching link to your main page Christine in your sidebar maybe. Currently the only to find out that you offer skype to skype is through your coaching tab. Placing at ad (so to speak) in your sidebar will make it more obvious that you are offering that service. I’d be happy to host an ad for you on my site if you wanted
Ben´s last blog ..A call to arms! Be Courageous
Awesome comment, Ben.
I’m percolating on these thoughts and meantime just want you to know how much I appreciate it that you shared them.
Twitter: taradactyl
Hi Christine!
I came over from Michaels blog today and I hope this helps since I am seeing your site with fresh eyes.
I have to say that since I put buttons with products and services on my blog instead of “coaching” or “work with tara” my sales have gone up. Still most of them come from an initial interaction with a human through speaking or teaching or networking.
I have to say that on your “sales” blog, having one tiny button at the top that I have to figure out is your sales page may be limiting the number of sales you make.
Additionally, it does read like you have to be in London (there is a huge map) and that I can only email you (no phone number at the bottom of the page).
Hope this helps! Tara
PS – I added your blog to my feed reader…:)
Tara Jacobsen´s last blog ..Unintended Marketing Consequences Beware Beware
Tara,
I truly appreciate that you both came across from Michael’s blog and that you were prepared to share so candidly what you saw with fresh eyes.
I suspect that one gets so involved in one’s blog that it’s hard to see the wood for the trees sometimes. But I’m stunned that so many people have been up for just telling me what they see: there’s nothing quite like that input and feedback to help shape things.
Thanks for adding the blog to your feed reader. You’re welcome here anytime!
hello christine,
how are you?
thanks for sharing this article and also for contributing to The Life Skills Magazine. I’m always humbled by your kind getsures.
It’s also great to have an overview of your blog and this is the 6th blog I’ve come across today reviewing how much impact their blogs have made or received. I sense it’s in the air!!!
It’s also instructional to read kates and taras comments which have certainly given me food for thought and it would be great to see how all your plans, ideas, strategies all come together producing what you’ve desired or aimed for.
Here’s to NWP (new work pioneers)
Enjoy the rest of the day.
ayo´s last blog ..How To Create A Truly Life Changing Day
Thanks, Ayo. It has been my pleasure to contribute and I really hope The Life Skills Magazine continues to do its stuff for you.
How interesting that this is the 6th review article you’ve read! Spring, perhaps?!?!
I’ve been so amazed by the response I’ve had to this post both on and offline, have an action list a mile long, and have indeed begun to action it. Watch this space!!
This is frustrating. I know exactly how you feel. You crank out such good content, especially when compared to some of the other blogs I read.
Keep plugging away and doing your thing. Eventually you’ll find your people.
Nathan Hangen – Digital Emperor´s last blog ..How to JV Your Way to Success
It is frustrating, Nathan. Strangely, since sharing it, it has felt more like a piece of data; a challenge to be surmounted, rather than a killer concern.
I’m confident that, now I’ve got my Headway theme humming and am starting to work on different products and income streams that the business will soon start flying. A key lesson learned for me and for anyone else is around the importance of building good foundations in rock solid content and awesome followers from which to develop.