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After Mitch’s interview hit the airwaves recounting how quickly his blog grew to 3,000 daily readers in his niche of college football, another success story emerged in the Blog Mastermind private members forum.
A Simple Change To Leigh’s Blogging Made A Big Difference
Leigh runs a blog called The Fat Loss Troubleshooter, and also joined Blog Mastermind during July 2008. Since then her blog has enjoyed huge growth, getting as many as 5,000 unique visitors per day AND – here’s the really good news – she’s making about $4,500 a month now.
This is one of the screenshots she posted into the Blog Mastermind members forum showing her biggest income source – her Clickbank account. As you can see she’s doing between $500 and $1,000 a week from Clickbank sales.
When I hear success stories like this from my students I have to find out what they are doing right and learn what techniques are working for them. I asked Leigh to join me on a case study interview call to find out how she is getting such amazing results so quickly with her blog.
In this interview you will learn…
- The change she made to her blogging style that made the big difference
- How she is now able to learn what her audience wants, rather than guessing what she thinks they want, which means more sales for her
- The techniques Leigh implemented to build her audience, in particular how she uses interviews to drive traffic to her blog
- What exactly Leigh sells to make money from her blog
- Her opinion of how a coaching program like Blog Mastermind can change your blogging and present a clear path to success
- Leigh’s plans for world domination
What I found particularly powerful about this interview was the way Leigh explained how her content writing changed.
The formula for a successful blog goes good content = more traffic = more money, so you can see how changes to Leigh’s content style made such a difference to how much money she now makes.
Do You Want To Profit From A Blog Too?
Leigh’s story shows that if you combine hard work, a passion for a topic and you follow a step-by-step process, you can succeed at blogging. If you want to see what system Leigh implemented, consider taking part in my coaching program. You can sign-up here –
Success Is Not Guaranteed, But People Do Get Results
I’m never going to tell you blogging for money is easy. Every person I speak to who’s ever made good money from blogging talks about how much work they do, especially during the early days, however they also look at the work in a different angle – it’s fun.
When a passion is driving your work and you see results coming in, all you want to do is work some more. Positive reinforcement fuels passion and passion fuels work. It’s possible to get into a wonderfully positive cycle if you are just willing to take the steps to move past the challenges and the naysayers.
Here’s to your blogging success,
Yaro
Blog Coach
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Congrats Leigh! Success stories like this are a great inspiration to millions of other bloggers trying to find success.
This just goes to show how fast someone can make their dreams a reality if they’ll work hard enough for it.
I have so much respect for Leigh and Yaro (not to mention Gideon, without whom we wouldn’t have those awesome video tutorials). It’s great to hear how someone has implemented the programme, made it work and is now moving into the next level. What makes it “real” to me is to to hear real honesty about the mistakes they’ve made in the pas and how they’ve overcome them. So much of the internet marketing material that’s out there is so aggressively sales-oriented that it really turns me off. Becomeablogger.com doesn’t feel like that at all. I’ve just signed up to the Premium Blogger programme and I couldn’t recommend it more highly. Step-by-step guidelines from the basics – getting a site up and running – to the more sophisticated and important elements – how to market it, get the SEO working etc. I really feel like I’m getting value for money and I hope one day, in the not too distant future, to be one of Yaro’s interviewees (Aim high, I always say!) Meanwhile,well done Leigh, Yaro and Gideon, and thank you for sharing your advice. Best wishes, Kimberley
I agree… thanks Leigh and Yaro – I just started my blog about a month ago and I found this interview to be motivating. It’s always great to hear when other people are doing well. Thanks!
Great interview!
Leigh has had such amazing success. I think often it just a matter of mindset. Once you switch your thinking into a different direction, you can see results very quickly.
-Andrew
Andrew,
I don’t doubt you but, could somebody enlighten me on how I go about changing how my mind works.
I think as I think – in 50+ years I’ve not been able to alter my thought patterns.
Or is the ‘mindset’ thing just a trendy Young Persons’ thing?
Mind altering drugs I understand – after all, I lived through the ’60s and ’70s even though I remember very little of them. LOL
Beachcomber
“If you want to make God laugh – tell him you’ve made plans!”
Beachcomber,
This isn’t a pitch but if you do want insight on mindset go to my wife’s blog http://www.EmbraceorErase.com we are both 50+’s and it is available when you release all the junk that pulls you back to your old thoughts. After you see what she says if you want to ask personal questions, let me know.
Hope this helps, I’m in Yaro’s mastermind so I’m happy to help those in this community.
Duke Clarke
good for her. My blog should start doing that soon
Very few people are willing to discuss what they’ve done to become successful in the blogging world. It’s nice to read and to see you are willing to share some of what you both know, much appreciated.
Leigh’s blog is awesome! I love it.
This is a nice interview, hope to get more similar interview, really helpful!
Case method is the best form of learning. I expect more case studies and less advice from you Yaro.
Deepak
That is amazing Yaro! Very inspiring…
I can’t believe how many success stories you have.
I love your blog even more now, for this reason alone! 🙂
All credit to Leigh she has obviously worked hard. so don’t get me wrong when I say this: but don’t you think that some topics are more likely to succeed? Everyone is interested in losing weight the same as sport has an enormous following – Mitch is successful because he also works hard – but again he has chosen the right topic. I think it may be less about what tactics have been employed that have worked and more about a savvy niche choice. I say this because I have already had a poll on my site asking what content my readers wanted to see more of, and it hasn’t worked. It hasn’t worked because I’m asking a virtually empty room, the room is empty because I ‘might’ have picked a topic that isn’t very popular.
I think we can all learn from this post if we look at from the successful choice of topic more than the techniques used. I love how Leigh changed her writing style to talk ‘to’ rather than ‘at’ her readers – I will adopt that, so there is plenty to gain from this interview, but as she says herself she is learning from the BMM course which means we will all be exposed to the techniques that are making her successful, but of course not all of us will follow her.
I do hope no one takes my comments the wrong way, I think Leigh is doing a great job and I wish he all the success that I want (and that’s a lot!) And as someone who could do with loosing a few lbs I might head on over and let her blog help me.
Thanks everyone for the kind words. I wish nothing but the same or greater success for all of you.
To the issue of monetization, I think it is an interesting one. Yes, that “weight loss” industry is a good market but it is also LOADED with competition, and bad information. To battle that, to break through dogma’s and try to educated AND sell a product is a tough thing. Networking can be hard when you only want to network with people you believe in and that have a moral fiber. In my business I assure you it isn’t a high rate. That being said, I think my being selective to whom I interact with has served me well, at least I can sleep at night.
I think the key is getting really creative sometimes. Sure I could sell ebooks, but I can also sell training clothes, have ad spots for local fitness clubs, it is endless.
If you right about say, chess, in my opinion you have to think outside the box a little. Isn’t that what makes a good blogger to a degree? You don’t just have to be stick to selling chess board. Do people fly to chess tournaments? Yes, so why not advertise for flight deal. Could you hold a webinar on how to increase your game tactics and charge for the ongoing service? I know nothing about chess, seriously nothing, but I can think of a few way to make some money by blogging on chess.
I do think that something may take more imagination BUT if you nail it the good news for you is this…little to no competition!
2 cents. I think it was a fantastic point though and I personally didn’t take it in a bad manner and think it is a valid issue.
Thanks for asking what to do before you have the traffic. This is often left out – and makes all the good advice useless for the beginner.
This made the interview worthwhile.
Maybe a few more details on how she did the asking would have helped.
Interesting success story about Leigh. I have visited her site and have to admit that it is clean, well structured and easy to navigate. Navigation is one thing I give particular importance when I visit a site and her site is definitely one good site to look at. Keep up the good work
This is really great! An inspiration to those of us that are just starting off…Thank you
Incredible story about Leigh. Congratulation. Sure you have to do hard work to achieve financial results with your blog. But most of all I think it has to do wiith the right mindset (as noticed above). I’m a true believer of “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne (Low of attraction). Do something that makes you feel successful in your business and use that to motivate you and empower your thoughts. If you can learn to do this your success will be just around the corner.
Way to go
Mark
Great inspiring story. Leigh’s site is everything that one could ask for.
Congratulations to Leigh. I love the topic her blog is tackling, so needed in this day and age. I also like how her blog posts are formated in a vertical and horizontal manner… unique layout.
Thanks for this post Yaro. You’re the best. I wish I would have met up with you in New York but did not know you were in my neck of the woods until two days after you were gone. DOH! Anyway, hope all is well!
Joseph
This case study idea is awesome on so many levels. She had a lot of great information that reminded us of the fundamentals. Give people what they want and the traffic will come.
Very inspiring its great to see a blog succeed
I cannot tell you how much this hit home for me, in two ways –
1) My wife is quitting her desk drone-job in December and doing 2 months of training to become a Personal Trainer. I’ve been saying to her, “start a blog now” as a value-add for future customers. She doesn’t get what this would do for the time investment, and Leigh’s experiences with what she’s done hit right home to her of what’s possible.
2) I’ve just launched my own blog. I know it’s a long slog and the first few months are a quiet journey, publishing content for an absent audience. This is just a really great motivational story go keep me in high gear.
Thanks Yaro & Leigh.
Fantastic interview Leigh and congratulations on all your success!
You are an inspiration to many entrepreneurs out there and achieved so much already…
I wish you even more success for the future!
Hi Yaro!
happy for your success. It’s a pity that…your method doesn’t work in Italy!
Here it seems impossible do money blogging.
So for us – I’m a wine blogger – blog remains only an hobby…
ciao!
Elisabeth,
I can certainly relate to your complain. It’s much harder to market to a non-English speaking population. They are just not that used to taking out their credit cards. And a lot of them are very very suspicious about any kind of marketing. So, yes it’s harder for us who try to market to a small population. I doubt I could make good money just by blogging in Hungary. If it became popular I could sell advertising space, but that would hardly be enough to quit my job. 🙂 That’s why I plan to setup a membership site (going where the money is) and back it up with a strong blog. So the money will come from the membership site while the blog will be more like a visitor attractor. That’s the dream anyway. 🙂
Good luck with your wine blog…it looks good although I can’t understand it. But I love wine, and just last night I had a bottle of Frascati along with some pasta. Good stuff! 🙂
Yaro,
Good heaven – that’s a lot of revenue from clickbank.
But then again, not a surprising figure, since the traffic is 5000/day (whoa… nice!)
The interview itself is insightful – Cheers for sharing with us!
Leigh is an inspiration, both as a person and a professional. It makes me so happy to hear that she is achieving the success that she deserves and has worked so hard for. I am positive that this is only the beginning.
Great interview.
Sheila
http://www.livewell360.com
I love to hear stories like these. I just wish I could have been in it. Those clickbank earnings looks great and it does take a lot of hard work and passion. Congrats on her success
Very nice! I will definitely take a moment to listen to this and it has inspired me to create a new blog post. Glad to hear such success from the program.
I just loved this story.
I am somewhat older and hoping to take blogging into reirement you young folks are an inspration.
Yaro I agree about your course you material is excellent well organized and presented. You will have to forgive my fumbles with passwords etc
I’m just getting into podcasts myself. I enjoy doing them but I still need to get used to hearing my voice. I want to learn how to put more expression into what I say and make it more natural.
Awesome interview–very inspiring. I need to hire you to help me take my blog to the next level, someday, Yaro. 😉
Great interview, thanks Yaro.
What I love about these audio interviews is that they are not only educational and inspirational but you can also learn some “secrets” about how to soft market your product. Notice how Yaro two or three times during the interview refered to his blogmastermind program by asking questions like, how did what you learned from the blog mastermind program help you get more traffic, etc. And then the subject of the interview does all the marketing for Yaro when explains how she benefitted from the program. And it’s honest, credible and doesn’t sound like adversizing at all. Everyone gains: the listener gets educated and inspired, the subject gets to promote his/her site to a large audience, and Yaro gets some very effective, free advertizing for his membership program.
I mean, did you feel like signing up to Yaro’s program right away while listening to the interview? I sure did. Alas I can’t afford it.
But this kind of interview method works just beautifully. 🙂
Zsolt
wow, that’s a great interview and inspirational for all of us looking to build our blog! Thanks.
I have heard her on thefitcast.com where she is a regular fitness contributor. She swears a lot more in that podcast. Great interview guys.
her alexa rating is not that sexy. so how does her website get 5000 unique visitors per day? i see that her alexa rating jumped to about 93000 for about a week by the end of october. but this interview is before that.
interesting
Great student!! I like this article! I love blogging but I prefer to hire someone to write articles for my blogs. =)
i doubt she gets 5000 visitors per month.
Thanks Yaro for putting sharing this interview. Its very encouraging and brings in more confidence inside me. Leigh story is indeed an inspiration.
Great Interview
Krish
http://www.bloggertalkz.com
Be “Energetic” and you “Energize” others. Leigh has done that and more for me. Her “key” element in success is simple – “I want to help You. How can I help! When you are genuine in that aspect, people will flood your Gate!
I like the details of Leigh’s success.
Even more, I like the fact that it’s the story of a blog going from good to great.
I think your closing point is especially important – finding the passion in what you do. Passion does fuel the fire and results build momentum.
Yaro
This is a great interview – my partner forwarded me the link – I have been running a dieting website for a while now and have been struggling to build traffic.
Leigh has had some great success and this was very useful.
Thanks – have now started to download the other interviews to get more tips!!
Amazing success Leigh. I also have a weight loss related site, but I am currently doing the things that you were doing before your success. I actually learned a lot from your Interview with Yaro.
Thank you very much.
Steve
Interesting – but not interesting enough to visit the site or download the MP3 – all audios are mind numbingly boring.
I have 2 blogs – each have 2 NEW articles (at least) a day on them. One also has videos.
They have been up for 3 months and have produced no sales or comments.
I get an average of 10 – 20 visitors a day – about the most any website can hope for, I think.
No, I’m not a newbie, I’ve been marketing over 4 years.
Admittedly, I only made $2.98 in sales in 2008 and have not made $1,000 in sales yet, but I should imagine that’s the average too.
I have, however, spent $20,000+ on courses, videos, e-Books etc that are all totally useless. Not one has ever produced one single sale.
Sorry, I can’t believe a word of this hype and obvious fiction to sell an over-expensive “course”..
Is that a provocation? For sure there are blogs that get much better results than yours and if you really spent $20k+ on your education then you either don’t act or act wrong. I am not a member of Yaro’s course but use some of his free advises and for sure those work so I don’t see the reason why paid ones would not.
No, of course it’s not a provocation. Why should it be?
These “courses” never work because, if they did, you’d never buy another one.
The aim of markers appears to be to keep you handing over multiple $47s, $97s, $497s, $1,997s and never actually reach the point where you don’t need them any more.
I lot like an ink jet printer – costs more to get repaired than buy a new one.
Planned obsolescence is the term in the real business world.
Planned failure would be appropriate in the online world.
“Viral” marketing is a classic example. I have given away over 10,000 e-Books with Clickbank links and my URLs over the last 4+ years. Affiliate sales = ZERO; optins = ZERO.
Options, join another one and upgrade – for the same result and so on,
ad infinitum.
Well Beachcomber, with an attitude like that, it’s fairly obvious why you’ve gotten the results you’ve gotten. No course is going to generate success, only your actions can generate your success. Instead of blaming the people whose courses you bought for your failure, you should look in the mirror and realize that success or failure comes from within. Instead of blaming the products you bought, maybe you should consider the possibility that what you’re offering sucks. Sorry to be blunt, but the web site your name links to hasn’t been updated in months, and is a design nightmare. That’s the reason you have no optins or affiliate sales.
beachcomber… looks like you’ve had some pretty bad experiences on the web. That’s too bad!
My experience (about 12 years online) tells me that the tips brought up in the interview are VERY valid and really do work… if you actually apply them.
My experience also tells me that 10-20 visitors a day is not “about the most any website can hope for” and that $2.98 in sales isn’t the average either.
Admittedly, anyone who’s trying to run an online business in an internet marketing niche has a tough road ahead and very stiff competition. I personally make the majority of my online income in niches and operate my marketing websites for fun because I love marketing.
Newbie-ness isn’t measured in years, it’s measured in success, knowledge, and internet savvy… at least in my opinion.
Congratulations Leigh! It’s always fantastic to hear of great things happening in a person’s life. I’m sure you will be a great inspiration to many people…again…congrats!
Great interview by the way…
Davin
“The Davinator”
This blog you mentioned has total worth of 10,000 dollars in total. Hence being a novice, I doubt that it is giving its owner 4500 dollars / month.
You can see its worth yourself by putting its URL at -> http://www.business-opportunities.biz/projects/how-much-is-your-blog-worth/
…
any comment ?
Faisal – Have a look how that tool calculates the worth of sites and you will understand the incongruency between it’s estimate and reality.
Only Leigh and her accountant really knows how much she makes.
I suggest you believe her and use that as inspiration to enjoy more success with your own sites.
Alternatively, you can call her a liar and stay bitter about the whole process and never be successful yourself.
There’s no such thing as truth, only perception. I suggest people choose a perception that is beneficial to their lives rather than detrimental, unless you like feeling bad.
“If you keep doing the same things and you’re not getting results, then it’s time to do something different.”
“There’s no such thing as truth, only perception.”
Yaro, there are certain people in life that just “get it.” Each time I read your blog you amaze me with how much you get it. Thank you for your wisdom and your inspiration. Your website provides value far beyond what most people choose to see.
Sheila
I beg to differ.
There IS truth.
Perception is almost always false.
Think about it.
Beachcomber
I am responding to Beachcomber.
I am in Yaro’s Blog Mastermind Course (for 3 months now) and I find that it is well worth the investment. I started blogging last May on a blog on International Financial Reporting Standards. It is on blogspot and I am in the process of moving the blog to its own site so I can gain better control over it. It has produced leads for me in consulting and has elevated my fame.(the AICPA links to me on one of its sites!). Eventually I shall succeed I do believe.
I also started a fun blog on hats and hat revival called Many Hatty Returns. It was formerly called Hat Nostalgia on blogspot. I am learning that just writing good articles is not enough to generate traffic. It takes a lot of work. Actually it might be better to take a day off from posting now and then and do the activities Yaro recommends in his Blueprint.
I have not made any affiliate sales at all but I have not given up trying.(Commission Junction just sent me an email for “inactivity” and “dormancy”. Some vendors declined participation because of lack of traffic – just wait until I do get traffic – guess what). I intend to go on trying. You cannot just do this for the money alone you must be devoted to your subject matter. Also the subject matter has to appeal to a wide audience as well I think.
I am starting a new blog with weekly posts called Blogger in Wonderland (it’s in beta). I will diarize my experiences with blogging and my frustrations. I do not plan on giving up and neither will I “invest”in other courses. They result in information overload and then you get “analysis paralysis”Yes I have been there and nobody gave me the T Shirt. If one thing does not work try another. Yes the stupidest things work and clever may not win – the world is not just that way!
By the way be careful who you get involved with there are a lot of people blogging about a lot of “courses”and how they make $2 million a year or so it goes some of these black hat techniques are likely to get you blacklisted. I have learned not to mess with Google.
Darla
Hat Revivalist
also The IFRS Exorcist
Hi,
I’m so glad I’m not the only one to have had his Commission Junction account closed due to ineptitude in making sales.LOL
I don’t understand what you mean about “vendors declining participation”.
I’d never dream of contacting any other marketer and asking them to “participate” in anything with me.
I have never been known for being brash and full of my own importance. LOL
After over four years I have no business contacts whatsoever online.
Online is a solo business until you are a millionaire and then the vultures swoop. LOL
I agree totally with you on subject matter that appeals to a wide audience.
I have been concentrating on Internet Marketing, I have 3 or 4 article sites, 2 e-Book and software websites and one blog – all on Internet Marketing.
I also have a couple of sites on food and nutrition, as I’m a retired chef, but they get no visitors at all.
Not one of them has made a single sale since October 2004.
The only sales I ever made were on eBay (no IM products, though – even at 99 cents).
Since eBay chucked us all out I’ve not made a sale online.
Internet Marketing is obviously a dead end niche.
Maybe basket weaving would have more people interested in it.
As for doing it for the money alone – what other reason is there? You can’t be ‘devoted’ to subject matter on Internet Marketing’. It’s totally boring.
Dogs, yes, babies, yes, patchwork quilting, yes, compost making, yes – but not IM. LOL
If I try to listen to an MP3 on IM sleep sets in about 3 minutes into the sales hype. That’s all these “interviews” are – well scripted audio sales pages for overpriced products.
The very best of luck to you in the future.
I too, won’t give up, but I have no illusions about making even $500 a year or breaking even. If you’re not “in with the gurus” it won’t happen. Monthly losses are unfortunately our lot.
It’s still fun making the web pages even though I know there will be no sales before I upload them.
Hi Darla,
I agree with you to hang in there and never give up.
I also do affiliate marketing and have gotten that email from cj
about no sales and dormancy. I’ve only been blogging for
8 months and it surely takes time for people who visit your site to
like what you write about and accept the advertisements.
Napster wants to discontinue my relationship because of no sales, too. But that is OK. I’ll write them and tell them of my plan of starting a music topic and place their links. This month, they have some great discounts on show tickets.
Before my sub-domain, I was writing about art, music, life, consumer issues, and marketing. And . . . just that alone was the problem. However, I tried to make great tags and category statements for each topic for the readers and the search engines to identify.
Everything takes time. And this blogging is not my full time job.
What I’m thinking is that I need to niche-market another site in
music; especially since I am a musician as well as a watercolor artist.
You can have unlimited sub-domains with my affiliate and Host
BlueHost. It is easy to do. You can sign for the stats for your sites, too and more.
I recently started a sub- domain web site for the marketing articles I blog about and it seems to be getting a lot of hits with this change.
Keep positive and never lose focus of your goal.
Learn all you can about marketing, give your personal touch to and the product will sell! If not, change something in what you are doing, is the best advice I can give.
Thelma Harcum
Got a ton of messages and emails today because of this, but two question in particular I thought I would answer here.
1. “I don’t think you get that many daily views.”
I said in the interview it varies and it has dropped off a lot because I have been posting less frequent. I am launching a new site with multiple contributors and I will admit my focus when there a lot. I also have other places now where I post because of the success I had with my blog. For example, you can find me now on examiner.com. There are also a lot of return visitors that don’t count towards unique.
There are a lot of stats I take and some can show 600 visits, others can show 2000. I never know what to take as gospel. I do know that the sales, emails, and happiness of others speak for themselves. I wouldn’t “fudge” numbers. I just did a relaunch and peaked at #4 in nutrition and #10 in diet for clickbank products. I am now #6 and #12. I can’t fudge that.
It is not to brag either, I just don’t want anyone to think that I would lie or that Yaro is trying to “pump” up the success. I am doing well and had even better numbers recently than the ones listed here and it was in huge part because of old (free) podcasts of Yaro’s.
2. “I don’t mean to be rude, but why you?”
I have no idea. I will say my work is not only my job, but my life. Not to say I don’t have family and a great time, but this isn’t a hobby. I research and train day in and out. I push the limits and comfort zones. Matching that with the education of how to get it out to the masses in a easy way (Yaro) and it works.
I hope that clears some things up.
How can you “launch” or “re-launch” a blog.
You press ‘publish’ and that’s it.
My work IS my life – no family, no friends, no social life – just 100+ hours a week in front of the PC for less than $10 a year in sales.
Has been for 4 years and I can’t see any alteration in the future.
I get my 10 or so visitors a day – I should be grateful for that, I suppose.
I’m afraid I cannot believe any of these outrageous claims as there is no evidence. Clickbank and Paypal screen shots are easily made in Photoshop. LOL
I am short on time but I really wanted to address this with a bit of proof.
I recorded a snagit video to show you in more detail on how I am doing. This is 100% to inspire and to show you that there are people out there that can really do it. I am not a marketer. I have 100% nothing to gain from posting this (okay maybe a little integrity).
I am so sorry about the audio cracks and pops. I did it super fast and didn’t adjust or edit a thing. Its 10 mins of audio horror but hopefully it will prove the point and help provide some information. If you still think it is fake, I don’t know what to tell you.
http://blip.tv/file/1735226
To Beachbomber: I am sorry for your frustration. A lot of what you are saying really reminds me of The Dip by Seth Godin. Its 6 bucks on Itunes, I highly recommend it.
Thanks for the recommendation but I’ve never been to iTunes and have blocked their emails.
In 16 years online I have never played a game or downloaded a video or ‘tune’.
(Except for tutorial videos).
I’m one of that rare breed that likes to concentrate on their work and has no radio on and no music playing in the house – ever!
A computer is a work tool – that’s it.
I’m not really frustrated, either. All my friends told me I was an idiot wasting my time and money trying to sell online. They were right.
At the beginnng of each month I now budget for how much I can afford to lose.
I never expected any results so I am not frustrated at getting any.
I just show the ‘average’ person’s perspective of Internet Marketing.
After all, 98% of would be marketers never make a sale.
Only the 2% born with incredibly good luck make sales.
Lucky You. LOL
this should be interesting. look forward to seeing what she did.
PS, Leigh.
I’ve just watched your video and firstly I’d like to say I’m in awe that you have the technical know-how to make one.
I know I’ll never be smart enough to even try to make a video.
I really didn’t question your personal sales as you didn’t show Clickbank or Paypal statements on a sales page.
I just take as fakes all “screen shots” on sales pages that are passed off as “proof”.
The same as testimonials from ‘gurus’ who actually do nothing more than put their picture on a testimonial that has been written by one of their office staff without even seeing the product. There is one New York ‘guru’ who would be about 327 years old if he’d used all the products he supplies testimonials for. LOL
You are very lucky to be able to sell your own product. It’s a province normally reserved for the “big boys” or people that pay them to endorse the product.
I wrote an e-Book on Energy Saving in the home that has had 9,000 unique views with no sales. It is priced at $27 which, I suppose is far too dear for ordinary people.
Good book, too. If you’d like a copy, just email me. (just you, Leigh).
I didn’t put it on Clickbank, though, as that costs $50 and there is little chance of making $50 from your own product.
Funny to see the video – I have been promoting “Fat Loss For Idiots” for over 2 years without a sale.
Not been able to access the ‘mindless fanatic’ market, obviously.
As for your pricing – well, I suppose with the fat loss and muscle building weirdos you can charge whatever you like but, today, I’d never dream of trying to charge more than $20 for something. You won’t get it. People are waking up to the fact that nothing online ever lives up to expectations.
I’m sure your product is excellent but you must admit that you’ve chosen a niche exclusively inhabited by people with far more money than brains.
I can’t seem to do that. I wish I had a tap into the gullible, but I don’t.
No more do I doubt your earnings. The more ‘money than sense niches’ always do well. The traffic – well, how you got that remains a mystery – just pure luck I guess.
I still have no idea what the “launch” and “relaunch” are all about. This seems to indicate that you had the “gang” all promoting your blogs to start with.
Otherwise there would just be a click on the ‘publish’ button, not a ‘launch’.
I also have no idea who you sent your emails to. Nobody has ever signed up on any of my websites or blogs.
Of course, not being technically smart enough to make popups or squeeze pages has a lot to do with that. Never mind.
Truly, congratulations. You’ve tapped into a market that will forever be overflowing with people that will pay anything for something they think will make them beautiful.
When one doesn’t work they happily buy another. Just like Internet Marketing ‘courses.
My very best wishes for your future, but never forget, it’s all just luck.
Keep the day job. If you’re a personal trainer there are bucket-loads of suckers out there. But only in America. Elsewhere, not much hope, I don’t think.
I’ll be off now. Nothing for me here.
Warm Regards,
Beachcomber
Beachcomber – Judging by the way you write you sound quite bitter about Internet marketing. If that’s the case, you need a mindset shift or you will never be successful.
If you keep doing the same things and you’re not getting results, then it’s time to do something different.
I was thinking that exact same thing Yaro said. I saw another big flaw in what you were writing, you said
“After over four years I have no business contacts whatsoever online.
Online is a solo business until you are a millionaire and then the vultures swoop. LOL”
Beachcomber, you have GOT TO start making some contacts online. Find a blog you like post a comment, send the owner of the blog an e-mail and say “Hi, I really like what you have going, good job.” You never know what will open doors for you. Start up a Twitter account and follow some people that you find interesting and make some contacts there. It is too easy to make contacts online, there should be no reason why you dont have a network of like minded people around you that you can at least have some chit chat with. After you do get those relationships pick a few that seem really strong and work on those particular ones and build a friendship. Sure it takes time and sure you will come across the schmucks that are only in it for themselves. Once you figure out you have a schmuck, drop them plain and simple.
If you are not networking you are not doing business, that goes for internet or brick and mortar. You cant sell what you have if you dont talk to anyone and therefore no one knows about it. The odds of a massive group of readers stumbling on your blogs is slim to none, promote the sh!t out of them by doing what I mentioned above.
I am not saying this coming from an internet marketers stand point. I have a new blog that is only three weeks old. By using my network I get traffic ranging from 50-110 page views a day, and my blog is less than three weeks old. If I was not out every day actively promoting my blog, of course no one would come.
A suggestion, and this is just me and what I would do. But, I would cut back on the content you are writing (I mean if no one comes to the blog anyway all the content in the world does not matter) and spend that open time networking.
Hi Ryan,
I have 2 twitter accounts but, to be honest, I have no idea what they are supposed to do.
I put “follow me” icons on my blogs, I have a widget that tells Twitter when I make a new post.
If I get an email saying Fred is following I go and click ‘follow’ on Fred’s page and that’s the end of my Twitter activity.
I’ve never seen any comments and really don’t have the time to waste ‘following’ people I don’t know anything about.
Anyway, I very rarely go to anyone’s blog. Only when I receive a marketer’s email with an outrageous claim. Curiosity – I’ve already decided it’s all BS.
I’ve never seen one that I would go back to for the sake of going back.
I’m afraid I could never send an email like you suggest. It’s such obvious grovelling.
Internet Marketers keep their email addresses well hidden just to stop losers writing emails like that to them to them.
I’m sorry to appear an idiot, but “networking” has always been a word full of mystery to me. I don’t have a clue what it means.
If it means anything to do with “friends” I think it’s safe to include me out. LOL
I don’t even have any friends offline. I “chit-chat” with nobody. It’s too trivial to be bothered with.
I have been on line 16 years and I have 2 contacts on MSN Messenger, and one of them’s dead. Sad, but true.
I have no mobile ‘phone and if I didn’t need broadband I’d have the ‘phone dis-connected as it’s never used.
I’m afraid fake gregariousness is not in my repertoire. I know it’s rampant and it’s how people make money online but I just can’t go to social sites and pretend that I like people there.
I don’t know them, I’ve never met them, so how can I have a relationship with them. Defies logic, it does.
I have no doubt that all you say is true. It just appears very illogical to pretend to be “friends” or to do any sort of business with people you’ll never meet or talk to.
Internet Marketing is perfectly summed up in a quote from Groucho Marx.
“It’s all about sincerity. Once you can fake sincerity, you’ve got it made.”.
Thank the gods I have a sense of humour to keep me well away from reality.
Beachcomber.
Hi Yaro,
No, not bitter at all.
I knew when I started, in 2004, that I was probably chasing ghosts.
I have just got to the point that I take pleasure in making the web pages, writing the articles and even writing my own products even though I know there is no chance of any sales.
I have my own product on Energy Saving In The Home that has received testimonials – REAL ones, not like the ones you see on Internet Marketing sales pages.
It’s even received write-ups on blogs – complete with recommendations and links.
It’s on its own website, has had over 9,000 unique visitors and no sales at all.
I’m not surprised – a friend asked me, when I wrote it, how many sales would make me happy and I answered “one”.
One would have been nice – but I’m no “big name guru” so, no sales.
As for “altering the mindset”. You see that phrase tossed around all the time.
I don’t think it means anything at all.
You think the way you think and there’s an end to it it.
You can’t alter the way your mind works or the way you think.
But certainly, I’m not bitter. Only a daydreamer would expect to succeed online.
I’m just a realist. LOL
Beachcomber
Beachcomber,
You sound pissed, as if you feel like you’ve been scammed on the programs you bought. And there are a lot of scams in the IM world so if you did, that must suck. You must be getting a lot of outside pressure to succeed, or maybe you’re giving yourself all this pressure. its frustrating to not make progress after 4 years of hard work.
It also sounds like you think alot about what your piece of the pie will be in everything you do. Like you have to ‘hang on’ to what you have or it will get taken away. That is true in some cases…
In Internet Marketing though, you gotta give value to the public before you’ll get customers willing to pay you.
Everybody’s trying to sell something on the net. So for you to stand out, you gotta be the one who gives value first, then asks for the sale later.
If you’re always worrying about how people will take advantage of you, your websites won’t be valuable to readers and people won’t visit your sites. You’ll spend a lot of time holding stuff back, which is the opposite of what your visitors want to see. Internet users nowadays will only pay people who give them something valuable before asking for the sale.
If you met someone who was hoarding valuable info bc they were afraid of being taken advantage of, you wouldn’t think twice about working with them either. And you wouldn’t buy anything from them either. So if your sites give your readers that impression, then won’t buy from you either.
You’re still visiting this site, listening to the mp3s and posting a lot of comments. You may sound cynical but you obviously still wish this success were truly possible.
It IS possible.
You just gotta open up to the idea of ‘giving first, asking later’.
It may sound like you’re getting the short end of the stick… but for every person willing to take the short end, there are a hundred people lined up to buy the long end from them.
Good luck to your endeavours.
P13
I know quite a bit about fat loss, being a bodybuilder myself and have been thinking about doing a fat loss blog for a while. This is a great article. I always find it inspiring reading case studies on what other people can achieve. Her results are amazing as i’m pretty sure that would be a super competitive niche to work in.
Beachcomber,
WOW! I’m getting depressed just reading your comments!
I STARTED my fitness blog in July 2008 and I already have 200-300 unique visitors per day. This is just following a very basic pattern of posting one new article each week day (monday through friday) and making sure I’m not targeting REALLY hard to rank for words on google — just search terms that get a decent amount of traffic but not too much.
I know other guys who started their blogs and in one year have built up readerships and unique visitors over 2,000 a day…
I don’t doubt Leigh’s results for a second — she got in, got some good advice and plugged away to make it work.
In fact, after hearing her interview I joined blog mastermind. Why? Because the couple hundred bucks it costs to get in is a drop in the bucket compared to getting results like that… masterminding with other people in my market (like Leigh)… and masterminding with someone like Yaro.
If you spend money on IM courses, but never put them to use, then they are a waste of money yes. But if you:
1. Keep plugging away AND
2. Know when to re-examine your results (like after 4 years and getting none) … THEN…
3. Figure out what you’re doing wrong then changing course…
You’ll have more success.
Heck, I’ll report back here in 3-6 months and let you know how my investment in Blog mastermind has paid off — I guarantee it’ll be huge!
Later
Caleb
Unfortunately I think Beachcomber has given up based on his/her attitude demonstrated in the comments.
To everyone else – don’t let it happen to you, stay positive and learn to change when thinks don’t work, rather than just get bitter about it.
No Way has Beachcomber given up!
Neither is he / she bitter. LOL
Just slightly peeved at losing $30k and continuing to lose about $100 a week.
A sale will be made one day. I’m sure of it.
It’s like i said, if he’d given up he wouldn’t still be on here listening to these podcasts.
He just needed to release that pent up frustration of his.
I 2nd what Caleb said though… if you’re burning $100 a week, with no results, take a step back and check out what you’re doing wrong.
Over optimism without the facts to back you up is just as bad as all encompassing pessimism. You still need to “do the math” to see if what you’re doing is gonna produce net gain.
And get yourself checked out for ADHD. I have it myself, and you sound like I used to sound like before I started medication for it…
Beachcomber,
First off, you have to get out there and make some friends. You cannot succeed on your own on the internet. Just going to your site and hitting publish is not going to make traffic come to your site. You have to go get it and bring it back. Without friends you cannot win on the internet. You have to get links and the only way someone is going to link to you is if they know you exist. Otherwise you have no chance.
There are tons of ways to do this. Leave useful comments on blogs like this, not the whiny this won’t work type comments you’ve left on this thread. I guarantee if you leave a useful comment a the top of a new post on this blog you will get more than 10 visitors. And if you’ve been working hard for 4 years like you say you have plenty of good content to send those readers to.
My blog is certainly not huge by any means, but it is 5 months old and has had 28,000 views. Just a touch more than the 10-20 you say is possible. Haven’t made huge sums of money yet, but last month I crossed the $100 mark for the first time. (That is in the really profitable niche of politics, oh wait it’s not at all.) I have to know, what in the world are you spending $100 a week on? I haven’t spent anywhere close to that in 5 months.
Anyways, I hope you continue to work at it, but you are going to have to change your strategy some. The definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior and expecting different results. Go out there, meet some new people, and have some fun.
I’ve downloaded several of the podcasts over the last few days, and this one and the ones with Alborz and the college football guy are the best so far. I love these case studies! All three of these people have shown a willingness to work hard (I love that Leigh takes her laptop with her and leverages spare bits of free time to get things done) and be realistic about results. Inspiring!
I’ve got a chunk of my next mid-month paycheck set aside for Blog MasterMind tuition. I’m already getting WordPress installed (I’ve used it for years on my own sites), installing plug-ins and themes, etc., and I’m starting to pull together content from course manuals I wrote about three years ago.
I believe that if you put the efforts in they will pay off. Consistent effort and follow through are the key.
I think beachcomber is on the verge of success, but has not followed through all the way. – Not leaving blog comments, not joining clickbank, etc etc.
You also sound like you are allocating your resources to the wrong things. You will invest in IM courses for $97 a pop, but not pay $50 to join clickbank? It doesnt make sense. You sound ADHD and you need someone to coach you with your focus and follow through.
Yaro – you have inspired me to launch a few blogs of my own and I really want to thank you for the information you give out for free. I am going to take what you have given and work them until I get stuck. Maybe I will be a future mastermind student.
B
This just goes to show how fast someone can make their dreams a reality if they’ll work hard enough for it. Congrats Leigh! Success stories like this are a great inspiration to millions of other bloggers trying to find success.
I trully want to congratulate this fine young woman for her excelent achievments , and only wish to be a good blogger as she is right now. With a little patience you can reach anything. Good job.
How inspiring! I would love to do for my membership what you did with ClickBank. What a great story! I love it!
Note especially for Beachcomber:
If I was a retired chef, I could think of all kinds of ways to make money online. I read once about a lady who’s making 6 figures a year and now all she does is post a recipe or two a week. How about little how-to-prepare videos? Find someone who will drop-ship good chef grade cutlery and have a shopping cart offering them.
Then there’s the guy who makes $3-4000 a month with his blog about coffee! It’s all in choosing the niche, something you know and other people want to know about.
I started a drop ship business selling circular saw blades in 2003 (and hey, I’m almost 60 now!) and it’s cleared a consistent $1000 a month. I’m not using PPC anymore because I get top ranking in Google for my best selling lines. I could do more business but honestly, that business is too hands-on and I still work a full time job.
My full time work is in drug and alcohol treatment and I’m just starting a blog about growth in recovery. I bet I’m going to find numerous ways to monetize that, selling self-improvement products. Think outside the box.
Sorry about the ramble, but hey, you CAN change your mindset and run with the young bucks!
Owen
Yaro, I want to THANK YOU for providing the transcript to this. I sighhhed when I saw it was audio. As I’m Deaf, I drop a lot of ‘guru’ emails that direct us to audio without any thought for others who may not be able to hear the video.
I AM disappointed to know that the e-mail I got from you today on this was over two years old, though. I can see this from the earlier posts here.
I would love to do for my membership what you did with ClickBank.
Great lessons. Tweaking our websites is a key point in making money
THANK YOU, THANK YOU! for providing the transcript of the interview. Great content, by the way, but I really wanted to say thank you for the format. I cannot stand to listen or watch all these audios and videos that everyone is posting on their sites these days. Can’t stand them. I just can’t focus my attention on them. If I want to watch something, I’ll go to a movie or switch on the TV. Online, I like to read my material. So thanks again!
Your Message
I really enjoyed Leigh. She was very honest and helpful. I took notes because I have not suceeded with my blog. I heard a few things that I need to add for any profit.
Thanks Yaro
I’ve been participating in Yaro’s course for 15 weeks. I’ve now built my blog from nothing to around 170 visitors per day. And I’ve just started to make a few affiliate sales.
It’s persistance and hard work paying off, and the awesome course content.
Thanks Yaro.
Very cool stuff!
Very encouraging!
$4500 is Very insane!
I like how you leave your posts open ended and allow for conversation to grow!
Well done!
Hi Yaro,
I really like your interviews. The text transcript is very usefull for me, because I can read it much faster than the 30 min audio. It’s great to get to know the persons behind the blogs.
At the moment I can’t reach avidityfitness.net, because it says “Error establishing a database connection”. I think Leigh Peel has chosen a new domain name. Like she said in the interview, the old one wasn’t easy to remember. Maybe you could link to leighpeele.com or fatlosstroubleshoot.com?
It would be very interesting to hear what her blogging experiences are almost two years later. Do you think it’s possible to get a (short) update about what she or other former students are doing now?
Best regards
Jan
Yaro,
Thanks so much for sharing this inspiring interview! I learned some valuable tips including find out what your readers want and give it to them. It makes sense, but to actually take the time to find out and then deliver shows your readers you really care about that which is so important.
This is great information for anyone starting out as it gives people hope that they too can have the same kind of results.
Have an awesome week,
Karen
Congratulation Leigh…
And Thank Yaro for posting this interview
Very inspiring. Leigh did well to make money in such a competitive market. I have a weight loss blog category, but I find it boring, which explains why I’ve never made a sale. 🙄
Enthusiasm and passion for the subject is the key for both enjoying your work AND succeeding at it. 8)
John
Leamington Spa, England
Congrats, Leigh. Thank you yaro, for posting the interview. I have download the mp3, will listen to it now.
Really inspiring Story. Had downloaded both the version. Will go through it for reaping more of ideas to implement. Thanks for such post.
Congrats, Leigh.
Someday I’ll follow your success… 🙂
I can’t say much about it, but just a big WOW!!!
I am really impressed with your coaching results.
Keep it rocking 🙂