Today (March 11, 2010), I gave a talk at a local Meetup group here in Denver. I talked for an hour about how to build your business by building your blog.

Overall, I think it went pretty well. Especially since it’s the first time I’ve spoken in public in more than 6 years. It’s been so long, I can’t even remember the year I last talked.

One thing that quickly became apparent is that it’s difficult to explain how to set up a Wordpress blog on your own domain. And it’s hard to explain the concepts of themes, plugins, etc. to somebody who is not familiar with blogging.

If you’re just getting started, you’re certainly free to take the time to learn how Wordpress works on your own. That’s what I did. There’s lots of free information at Wordpress.org.

But if you’re short on time, and you’d rather have somebody else set up your blog for you, then you should hire my friend and business partner Ken Gary.

He can set up a new Wordpress blog for you, install a theme, and even install a handful of plugins for you — all for just $200.

If you’re interested, here’s what to do.

Step #1: Go to Ken’s consulting page.

Step #2: Check the third box down, which is the one for two hours of consulting.

Step #3: Complete the order form and click Continue.

Once you complete this process, you’ll want to let Ken know your hosting account login details so he can login and install Wordpress.

Ken will also need to know what theme you want installed, as well as the plugins you want installed. You can probably do that by email or a phone call, whichever you prefer. I’ll leave it to you to work out the details with Ken.

Anyway, I’d hate to see you put off starting your blog because of a lack of time or a lack of technical know-how. So if one of these things is holding you back, hire Ken to help you.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. I just got off the phone with Ken, and he told me that you will also get access to his private Wordpress training videos if you hire him to install your Wordpress blog.

These videos show you how to use Wordpress as a publishing platform, and are very helpful if you’re just starting out.

When I first communicated with Lynn Terry in January, it was to apologize.

Fortunately, she was gracious. :-)

Lynn runs a great blog over at ClickNewz.com — and we decided to exchange interviews. Keep reading to get Lynn’s take on picking a niche, affiliate marketing, traffic generation, and more.

You’ve been online for 13 years, which I think must be at least a century in Internet years. Why were you drawn to the Internet? How did you first try to make money… and did that project fail or succeed?

LOL – True! I was drawn to the internet back in the 90’s because it was just hitting the scene. I was in my start-up year with an offline brick ‘n mortar business and initially got online to find parts and suppliers.

I immediately took an interest in creating something online. I made my first personal web page on angelfire, then geocities (which I won an award for). A friend of mine introduced me to an email discussion list where women all over the world were talking about online business ideas, and the rest is history as they say! ;)

My first official venture was a web development company, ultimately employing an international web team. I worked with local businesses and nationwide companies to establish a presence on the internet, and to create online marketing plans.

It was a very successful business, and a model that is once again brimming with opportunity and profit potential…

Obviously, 13 years of experience has made you a lot wiser. Give us the short version of how you now pick a niche to start a new online business. Do you pick something you love, something that is commercially viable, or a combination of the two?

A combination of the two is ideal, passion and profit combined. Obviously you can’t monetize a passion that doesn’t have a buying market.

That said, given a choice between two profitable niches, I would go with the one based on my personal interests – even if the other had slightly higher profit potential. Regardless of the numbers, you’ll always do better in a market where you are personally invested.

There are 3 ways to choose a niche like this. It can be based on your professional experience or expertise, a hobby or skill, or it can be something you are interested in learning more about yourself. Perhaps you’re just taking up snowboarding, or starting to collect something, etc.

A new personal interest is always a great niche, as you’re in the research phase yourself. You can really connect with your target market, share resources, conduct case studies, share video and photos, etc.

Do you recommend selling digital products only or physical products too? Why?

I’m a big fan of promoting physical products as an affiliate. While digital products offer a higher commission, physical products see a higher conversion rate. Buyers are less skeptical, often pre-sold, and online product sales are just continuing to rise dramatically every year.

A combination of product types and offers is ideal, depending on your market. If you’re promoting physical products, you can often do that with low-cost (or even free) info products that help your market with the buying decision…

Once you’ve proven a new business idea, do you rely on organic search traffic, paid traffic, or both? How does Adwords figure into the equation?

I am currently using organic search (free traffic from high search engine rankings) as my primary source of visitors. SEO is easy, and it’s free.

I started out using Google Adwords to get targeted traffic, but quickly got annoyed with all of the updates and “slaps” – entirely too high maintenance for me. Especially compared to SEO. PPC requires too much constant attention for my taste.

The model I use is taught by Dan Thies free in his guide at http://www.SEOfaststart.com

I understand you have an Internet marketing blog and a forum. Who are they for, and where can my readers go to check them out?

I have been blogging for about 6 years now, running a discussion forum for online business owners for right at 8 years. Both offer a variety of content & resources for anyone that wants to learn more about marketing their business online, or starting an online business.

You’ll find the forum at http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/members/ and my blog is http://www.ClickNewz.com. There is active cross-over between the two, and it’s a great community. If you stop by, be sure to leave a comment on the blog or post an intro at the forum – I’d love to meet you!

If you enjoyed this interview, make sure you check out my interview over on ClickNewz: 3 Simple Ways to Improve Your Online Business

Ever see a picture of a performer spinning plates on sticks? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done in person, but I’ve seen pictures of it similar to this one:

As an entrepreneur and service provider, I feel like plate spinning is a good metaphor for my life.

There are always lots of plates in the air. And I have to keep them all spinning — or risk one of them falling and breaking.

Sometimes I finish a project and I get to stop spinning a plate. Yet, inevitably, I have a new plate that needs to be spun.

I tell ya — it ain’t easy. And it requires a lot of work.

But it’s fun.

Secret #1 is that being successful in business requires work.

Secret #2 is that work is meant for pleasure. It’s one of the few things God has provided on this green earth to give us meaningful satisfaction.

So what are you waiting for? Go spin some plates!

-Ryan M. Healy

It’s not how much you write, but how much your writing matters.

Sometimes I get jealous when I see that somebody’s written 5,000 words in a day (or whatever the case may be). I think: “Man, I wish I could write that much in a day!”

And yet: Of the writing of books there is no end. (Ecc. 12:12)

The real question is not: How much are you writing?

It’s: Does your writing matter?

Wayne Buckhanan tweets:

Personally, I believe that writing more frequently — rather than writing more words — leads you to the writing that matters.

As in so many things, consistency is key.

-Ryan M. Healy

Do you know Drayton Bird?

In direct response marketing, he’s a living legend.

After all, not many can say they worked with David Ogilvy. And not many can claim being the top trainer for the biggest direct marketing agency in the world (Ogilvy & Mather).

Plus, Drayton’s experience runs the gamut.

He’s helped small businesses, of course, but much of his work has been with big companies… companies like Airbus and American Express.

The breadth and depth of Drayton’s experience cannot be overstated.

To put it in perspective, think about this:

He had mastered the fundamentals of direct response marketing long before most of us were even born!

Anyway, the reason I bring all this up is because both Drayton Bird and Bob Bly were recently interviewed by Ken McCarthy.

This interview is direct response gold. Yet Ken is giving away the interview for free.

Why is he doing this?

Because Drayton, Bob, and Ken will be doing a special copywriting Master Class on the Monday following Ken’s System Seminar in April.

And the free interview is a taste of what will be presented during the Master Class.

Obviously, if you like the interview, maybe you’ll consider attending The System as well as the Master Class.

But even if you don’t, you’ll still get a lot of value from listening to Drayton Bird and Bob Bly share stories and insights culled from decades of hard-won experience.

Here’s the link to download the interview (opt-in required):

http://www.thesystemseminar.com/319-34.html

Just so we’re clear, this is my affiliate link. If after downloading the interview you decide to attend The System or the Master Class, I will get a commission.

But potential commissions aside, I still think this interview is worth your time. With that in mind, here’s the direct link you can use if you’d rather not use my affiliate link:

http://www.thesystemseminar.com/masterclass/

Enjoy!

-Ryan M. Healy

Creativity is vital for any idea worker. But it’s easy to let creativity die.

We get stuck reading the same things, thinking the same things, doing the same things in the same ways we’ve always done them.

Doesn’t matter where you live. A guy in New York can watch the same TV programming in San Francisco. A guy in Fargo, North Dakota can eat the same exact fast food as a guy in Houston, Texas.

Franchise businesses have painted the commercial landscape with a uniform color.

And take a look at the suburbs these days. It’s not much different. Nearly every house blends in in a sea of sameness.

It’s no wonder we have such a hard time being creative.

Copying Instead of Innovating

Here’s another problem:

Creativity often leads to valuable breakthroughs — then idea pirates copy those breakthroughs within days, weeks, or months. This can be very discouraging for the pioneer of ideas.

Not only that, when copying is rampant, it discourages creativity and only encourages more copying. Next thing you know, you’ve got copies of copies of copies.

A flaw in the first copy gets amplified in every successive generation. It’s devolution. For some reason, this process seems to happen faster than normal on the Internet.

Pioneers vs. Pirates

As an entrepreneur, business owner, or service provider, you have a choice. You can be a pioneer or you can be a pirate.

And although Hollywood has romanticized the idea of being a pirate (thank you Johnny Depp!), I believe the better choice is to be a pioneer.

Yes, I know: The pioneer is the guy with the arrows in his back. But making creative mistakes is not lethal. Just because one new idea fails doesn’t mean the next one will fail too.

Creativity takes work. It takes effort. It takes time.

How to Be Creative

Creativity (and its byproduct, originality) can only flourish when you are reading, thinking, and acting differently than you and other people normally do.

Creative action leads to creative thought.

This why it helps to get out of your routine every now and then.

Drive a different way. Do things in reverse. Read books outside of what you’d normally read.

Investigate a new hobby. Go somewhere you’ve never gone. Do something you’ve never done.

By breaking your routine and doing things that may even be uncomfortable for you, you’ll cause your brain to think in new ways. You’ll have new thoughts.

And perhaps you can incorporate some of those new thoughts and ideas into your own business. Perhaps you’ll have a breakthrough.

-Ryan M. Healy

Ever wanted to monetize your blog with Adsense? Then you’ll definitely want to grab the free Adsense blogging interview I’ve linked to at the bottom of this post.

I’ve tested Adsense a few times throughout the years with a modicum of success. But lately my interest has been rekindled because of some new plugins that make it super easy to put Adsense on Wordpress blogs.

(This is in contrast to the old days when I had to cut and paste the Adsense code on every page of my site. Ugh!)

A couple weeks ago, Mark Allen stumbled on my blog and called me up to talk. During our second conversation, he offered to do an Adsense makeover on my blog.

Since I’ve been wanting to switch things up on my blog anyway, and my previous experiments with Adsense on RyanHealy.com have generated very little income, I agreed to the interview.

At the very least, I figured it would be a good challenge for Mark. :-)

Turns out, Mark’s advice is really good. And while the jury is still out on whether Adsense will work on this blog or not, Mark’s advice is already producing good results on another blog I write.

With that in mind, here’s the link to go download the Adsense makeover interview from Mark’s blog. I hope you get as much out of the interview as I did. Enjoy!

-Ryan M. Healy

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Since my wife and kids are sick today — bad coughs because of some respiratory bug — there won’t be a lot of romance going on here today.

But I’m not going to let that stop me from cuddling up by the fire with another sales letter… maybe yours!

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I’m looking for a hot date with an ugly sales letter! Can
you help? >>> http://www.ryanhealy.com/copy-critique
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As you may recall, I’m currently offering 8 copy critiques at 40% off the regular price. You pay only $300 for your copy critique.

Just yesterday I finished the first critique. He ordered it on Feb 8 and I finished it on Feb 13, well under my 14-day turn-around guarantee.

Here are some relevant stats:

• I inserted 18 comments right into his sales letter pointing out trouble spots and areas for improvement.

• I wrote 2 new headlines for potential testing.

• Plus, I wrote 1,397 words — 5 pages! — of feedback that was sent in a separate document. (The sales letter was 2,512 words, including testimonials. I wrote more than HALF that in feedback.)

Of course, I can’t guarantee a certain number of comments or headlines or pages when I do your critique.

But I can guarantee I will give you my best suggestions to strengthen your copy so you get more sales.

So what do you say?

For only $300 I’ll get all cozy with your sales letter and show you exactly what changes to make so you can romance more sales out of it.

Click here to order your copy critique.

-Ryan M. Healy

Direct mail advertising is very different than online advertising.

With direct mail, you have to find or compile a list of people who will be a good fit for your offer. The people you mail may or may not be interested in your product or service. They’ve never asked for you to contact them.

Plus, to complicate matters, the cost of printing and postage can be significant, especially if you’re mailing a large list.

Online, you get a few clear advantages. You either market to people who’ve already given you permission to be marketed to; or you market to people who are searching for exactly what you have to offer.

And, as an added benefit, the cost to advertise online is usually lower than advertising with direct mail.

Before I ever start writing a word of sales copy, I want to know how the message I’m writing is going to be distributed.

Is it going to be sent via direct mail? Is it going to be published in a magazine or newspaper? Is it going to be posted on the Internet and advertised via Adwords? Is it going to be advertised via banner ads on targeted web sites? Etc.

The answers to these questions have a HUGE effect on how you should write your copy and how you should design your conversion process.

Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to help with both online and off-line direct mail advertising campaigns. Every experience teaches me something new: sometimes the lesson is obvious, other times it’s subtle.

There is one thing that all forms of advertising have in common. That is you must make sure that you are going after a market that 1) can be reached affordably and 2) has money to spend on your product or service.

If either of these two pieces is missing, you’re headed for swift and possibly devastating failure. (It always depends on how much money you’re spending up front, before you have any results.)

It seems this year I will be doing more work in the direct mail advertising field. I’m actually really looking forward to it because it seems that there’s something more “real” and gratifying about physical forms of advertising.

Certainly, every piece of mail a client pays to send is that much more accountable to results — a true test of skill and dedication.

-Ryan M. Healy

If you’re an entrepreneur, chances are you’re a control freak like me. One of those guys who wants to do everything himself.

Say it with me: “I’m a control freak.”

There. Feel better?

I do.

While I can appreciate the desire to do everything yourself… the desire to make sure everything is “just right”… I’ve also learned the value of paying for expert help.

Not every outsourcing experience has been perfect (they rarely are), but I can definitely say that outsourcing and paying for outside advice can be worth far more than you pay for it.

For instance, this past fall I hired a business coach to dig into my business and tell me what needed fixing. He called up my past clients to get objective feedback about my performance and the value of working with me.

When he was done, he compiled his discoveries and spent a good amount of time going over them with me.

Some of the things I learned I had only suspected — and the research confirmed my suspicions. Other things I didn’t expect at all — and the research uncovered new information.

Fortunately, all of it was valuable to me. Now I have much greater clarity about what I need to do to improve my business. And it’s clarity that I could not have achieved on my own, apart from the help of an expert.

That’s one of the problems of being a solopreneur. It can often be difficult to be objective about your own business because you’re so close to it. It can be even harder to find time to work on your business instead of working in it.

Copywriting Myopia

If you’re writing and editing your own copy, you can run into the same problems as a solopreneur does.

After looking at your copy for days, weeks, or even months, you can develop a form of copywriting myopia that prevents you from seeing the big picture — from correctly diagnosing what’s wrong with your copy and how to improve it.

Let’s face it. It’s next to impossible to be objective about our own work once we’ve invested so much of ourselves into it. And even though I’m a professional copywriter, I still get other copywriters to critique my work.

Sometimes all it takes is a new headline, or a subtle tweak, to make your sales copy really “pop.” And usually it’s the guy who’s not emotionally invested in the copy who can come up with the big insight that makes the difference.

Right now, I’m offering copy critiques at a discounted rate for the next 8 clients only. One spot was claimed yesterday. I expect more spots to be claimed before the end of the week — maybe all of them.

If you have some sales copy that needs a second set of eyes, then click here to claim one of the remaining copy critiques now.

-Ryan M. Healy