The products I’ve created have earned me an average over $4,000 per month in profit. I’m currently working on creating more info products in even more diverse markets and I’m sharing what I’ve learned from my past experience so that you can make a profitable info product as well. If you’re read the previous parts to this series then you’ll already know what niche your product will be in and how to actually make the product, but now let’s discuss how to sell your information product.

How To Sell An Information Product

One of the first things you’ll need to decide is where you plan to sell your product. There are several different options you can choose from such as an online marketplace like Clickbank or e-Junkie, your own shopping cart system like Infusionsoft or simply Paypal.

Where To Sell Your Information Product

Why I chose Clickbank: Plethora Of Affiliates and Ease Of Use

Affiliate Support:

One of the main reasons why I use Clickbank is because of the massive affiliate support. If you have a great product (or even just something that’s unique) it’s not uncommon for an affiliate come along and promote your product without even having met you before. In fact, I have one affiliate that’s helping me earn a few hundred dollars every month from one of my products that just found it through the Clickbank marketplace when he was looking for a product to promote on his website. I rarely run into someone that doesn’t have a Clickbank account either so this makes the barriers to getting an affiliate to promote your product much lower. If you use your own in house affiliate software solution it can turn some people off because they don’t want to put the effort into signing up for your affiliate program, entering tax information, address etc. etc.

Ease Of Use:

It only costs $50 to get your first product approved in Clickbank and every product after that costs just $29. So it’s a very low fee to get your first product into the marketplace. The hassle of dealing with sales is also handled by Clickbank for you, so they will charge tax where applicable, deal with the merchant fees for various credit cards etc. and every few weeks I just get money direct deposited into my account. They take roughly 10% of the sale price which is admittedly a large chunk but for the advantages I think it’s worth it especially when you’re doing you first product.

How To Sell Your Information Product:

I’m going to cover the two main ways I make money selling my information products and I want to start with the easiest way first.

The Easiest Way To Sell An Information Product:

Selling to your own email list of interested prospects is the easiest way I’ve found to make money with an information product. (I use Aweber for my newsletters). When I first released Niche Profit Course in mid 2010 well before my blog had over 5,000+ RSS readers I did a small internal launch to my list of less than 1,000 people and about 30 people bought my course in 24 hours which was around $2,500 in profit. Most that bought that day did so because they were the same people prodding me to create a course in the first place after reading how I made $42k with Amazon’s affiliate program back in 2009. It was much easier for me to sell the course to my email list because I had already developed a relationship with them over the course of providing dozens of free articles and content via my blog. It also didn’t hurt that I could provide credibility by showing that I actually made that much money with Amazon too with income screenshots / videos.

You can apply this principal of selling from an email list to any other niche and frankly it’s much easier to sell via email in niches outside the internet marketing / online business space because there are so many bad products in the space. This is why I’ve had so much success building email lists in other niches because people aren’t as jaded and skeptical when it comes to signing up for an email list.

Affiliates Can Also Help You Sell Your Information Product:

I did a test late last year launching an information product in a niche about how to get better at Halo since that’s technically how I got started making money online in the first place as a professional Halo player. I had already sold several thousand dollars worth of Halo lessons. So I literally just created a product using the steps I outlined in part 2 of this series and put together video content based on the common mistakes most players make and then put it up on Clickbank.

I started getting sales immediately from people that were promoting my course via Facebook and my PPC readers out there that want to make some money by promoting my Halo course check out this page

So that product is an example where if there is a market demand and not a lot of competition affiliates can literally provide all of the sales for you; however, whenever possible try to avoid relying on affiliate support alone to dictate your success.

How To Support Affiliates:

One of the easiest ways to support affiliates is to provide resources for them to help sell your product such as banners, email swipe files and anything else that will help them sell your product.

Banner Advertising: Here are some of the banners I had created for Niche Profit Course back when I first launched the product:

I hired BannersMall.com to help me out and would recommend you try them out as well. Very quick turnaround and quality work.

Building Affiliate Relationships: Some affiliates can help you generate thousands of dollars in sales and it’s important to build relationships with your affiliates. I try to send personal emails to affiliates I see pushing a lot of sales and see if there is anything I can do for them.

Affiliates can help you drive a ton of sales, but it’s a lot of work to find valuable affiliates to help promote your product that’s why I try to focus on selling information products via my own marketing first and foremost.

The Importance Of A Good Landing Page:

A landing page is designed to convince people to buy the product or service that you’re pitching. If you can improve your landing page by even an extra percentage point it can mean thousands of dollars in additional sales and that’s why good copywriters can cost thousands of dollars.

I frankly still suck at landing pages and it’s something I’ve decided in 2011 that I’m either going to really learn how to do right or just continue paying others to do it for me. In fact, I don’t even want to try and pretend like I’m an expert so I’m just going to link to a book that covers it all much better than I could. It’s called Landing Page Optimization and it’s written by Tim Ash. So if you’re interested in saving some money by doing your own landing pages then read his book for some advice on how to get started.

About the only thing I’d like to add is that my video based landing pages have consistently outperformed the old text style format that I’ve split tested them against. So if you’re looking to do your first product consider doing a sales video instead of writing out long copy.

Closing Thoughts

Selling information products is a huge business and frankly it’s an even bigger business outside of the internet marketing / online business that you probably see most frequently. I’m in the process of doing several more information products in these less talked about niches because there is a ton of easy money to be made with them. As always, I’ll be sharing real life advice and income figures based on my experiences selling information products in the future so stick around to see more income updates.

What else would you like to learn about selling information products? I’ll be hanging out in the comments below…

The products I’ve created have earned about $25k in profit in the past six months which is an average of over $4,000 per month. I’m currently working on creating more info products in a variety of markets and I’m sharing what I’ve learned from my past experience so that you too can make a profitable info product. Now that you’ve figured out which niche to create your product in let’s discuss how to actually create the product.

How To Actually Create The Product

If you’re struggling to come up with what content to create for your product then you might want to go back and read part 1. It’s much easier to create a product in an area where you have expert subject knowledge. If you can come up with some rough ideas on what you want to include in your content then what I’ve found works well for me is to start with an outline.

Create An Outline

It may remind you of a 4th grade writing assignment but I’ve found creating an outline was one of the easiest ways for me to get a rough idea of the content I wanted to create for my product and actually get started working. It’s difficult to look at an idea like a course to teach people how to make money with Amazon Associates and just start creating content. So this is the exact outline I created for Niche Profit Course and it’s very close to how the final product turned out:

Niche Profit Course First Outline:

Basic Knowledge
How To Find A Good Niche
How to Set Up An Income Generating Blog
How To Write Content For Your Blog
How To Make Money
How to Build Links And Get Traffic
Live Mini Site Case Studies
Live Authority Site Case Studies

After completing that outline I ended up including a few other videos on outsourcing site creation and how to buy domain names aftermarket because those were things I was doing more of and that I thought would help out others so I included them in a separate section of Niche Profit Course. Then by using this outline I was able to have each section of the product separate and clearly defined, so it became a lot less daunting to create the content as opposed to just trying to create a product based on the core purpose of the site – how to make money with Amazon’s affiliate program.

What Format Is Best For Your Customer? Video, Text, Audio, Combination?

With two of my info products I choose to display my information through a combination of video and text. I did this because in both cases I believed it would be easier for customers to learn from someone that literally walked them through the steps of a specific process I was trying to teach.

For example, with Niche Profit Course I showcase a few of my live income generating mini websites and authority websites. Rather than simply telling customers the URL’s I wanted to do a video walkthrough of each website and explain how much money they make, why they make the money that they make and some tips that people could apply to building their own niche sites.

Likewise, with Become A Pro Gamer, it would have been impossible for me to teach someone how to get better at Halo without me providing live examples of games I’ve played highlighting specific game play tactics. So in both products the choice of using a combination of video and text was obvious; however, the product you develop may not need to use video depending on the complexity of the information being shared.

Pick a format that is best for your customer not what is easiest for you to create.

I’ve already written a guide on how to set up a membership site so you can look at that to determine how to manage payment methods and protect the content in a members only area; however, there are some programs you may need to actually create your own content.

Recommended Content Creation Programs:

Video Creation: Camtasia Studio

Camtasia Studio allows you to record your voice and computer screen while you walk through a Powerpoint presentation or show off features of a website. Simply put it’s one of the best programs for recording and editing on screen video and audio.

Free Trial Option Available (Full price is $299)

Alternative: Jing Pro $14.95 Yearly – This program is made by the same company that does Camtasia Studio; however, there is one drawback in that it only allows you to record up to 5 minutes of video.

PDF Creation: Adobe Acrobat

I also generally include readable PDF’s in my info products in addition to the video because people learn in different ways and it’s an easy step to write a document in MS Word and convert it into an Acrobat PDF document.

Full price is $299 for Acrobat Standard

Alternative: CutePDF or Open Office PDF Export (Thanks Shaun and Jason)

Closing Thoughts:

If you’ve been able to get someone to pay for your product you don’t want them to ask for a refund because your product doesn’t live up to it’s marketing, so be absolutely certain to create quality content that lives up to your marketing message. Now as much as I’d love to say that creating the best content will guarantee your success and turn your product into a profitable venture – it’s not that easy. In the next part of this on going series I’m going to discuss the toughest part of creating a profitable info product – how to sell it.

Be sure to subscribe to my blog if you want to read the next update in this ongoing series teaching you how to make a profitable info product.

How To Get Started: Niche Selection

The most important thing you need to decide is what will your product be about. What need is there in the market that you can help solve?

Example 1: I created a product that teaches people how I build websites that make money with Amazon’s affiliate program: Niche Profit Course. I created this product as a response to the hundreds of comments and emails I received after writing this article outlining a few of the tips I used to make $42k with Amazon Associates in 2009. It became pretty clear that the readers of my blog wanted more details so I set out to create an in depth step by step course to show people how I make money with Amazon’s affiliate program.

Example 2: I was a professional Halo player for several years and in fact that’s largely how I got started making money online. I used to sell Halo lessons for $30 an hour and eventually $50 an hour. So when a new version of Halo came out in September 2010 I saw an opportunity to stop trading hours for dollars and instead to create an online training course designed to teach people how to get better at Halo. I knew from giving countless lessons that beginner and intermediate players make many of the same mistakes throughout every new version of Halo. So I simply created a course going through the wide range of things I’d discuss in a typical lesson and started selling it.

Example 3: I discovered that I was losing out on commissions when I was posting links to coupons for products that were on sale because people were simply copying the coupon codes and directly navigating to the online retailers website to use them. I also noticed that the click thru rates to my coupon codes were very low and I saw an opportunity to draw more attention to great coupon deals on my product blogs if I could have something display a stylized version of the coupon code. So I contacted one of my good WordPress guru friends and partnered with him to create Coupon Code Plugin to solve the problems I was having and that I knew others were having as well.

How To Find A Niche:

In all three of the examples I shared above, you probably noticed a few common themes: Expert Subject Knowledge and Solves A Common Problem

Expert Subject Knowledge:

If you know a lot about a particular subject it’s very easy to bundle that knowledge into an easily digestible package and sell it, particularly if that knowledge is in a high value area that people are willing to pay for like with my Niche Profit Course. However, as you saw with Example 2 you aren’t limited to typical “high value area’s” and in fact people are willing to pay for a lot more than you’d think. I bet you’d be surprised by how many people pay me to get better at Halo.

In both cases I used my expert knowledge to create and sell a product to a market I knew existed because of the comments and emails I got asking for more information about Amazon’s Affiliate Program and I knew people were willing to pay for Halo lessons based on past experience so why not a training course?

Bottom Line: If you know a lot about a subject consider developing a product to serve that niche. When possible avoid highly saturated niches particularly those found in the make money online space that so many people foolishly flock to – especially if you don’t know anything groundbreaking.

Solves A Common Problem:

The best products in the world were created with the explicit purpose to solve a common problem. The more common the problem the larger your market; however, there is also an opportunity to make a substantial amount of money in smaller niche markets too. Coupon Code Plugin has done very well and it focuses on solving a problem that helps you make more money. Whenever the problem you set out to solve can directly make people more money it helps out.

Bottom Line: There are countless problems in thousands of niche markets and if you can solve the problem with an affordable product you can make some money.

Wrap Up:

Next week I’ll cover how to actually create a product and after that I’ll tell you how to sell the product. One of the things I’m going to continue doing in 2011 is creating, marketing and selling more information products both in niches related to this blog and in niches outside this blog like my Halo Training Course. There is a ton of money to be made in the information marketing space and the places I’m looking at most in 2011 are for obscure niches with problems that need solving.

Be sure to catch Part 2 of my info product series by subscribing to my blog.

Behind The Scenes Membership Site Walk-through:

Update: I use Optimize Press now for every membership site like this

As you just saw in the video I was going over my latest information product – Become A Pro Gamer. If you’re been reading my blog for any amount of time now, you’ll know I’m a huge gamer and even used Halo to kick start my business online and set me towards the path of a six figure income. This product is a training course designed to improve your skills in Halo, but since this blog post isn’t about teaching you how to pick a topic let’s move onto the software and why I’m using it.

Software Mentioned In The Video:

WordPress
I love WordPress, there is a ton of support and a whole slew of 3rd party plugins and software to enhance the functionality of the content management system. Using WordPress as my free base instead of some costly monthly subscription platform *cough – Kajabi* I can control my customer information and content (instead of losing it forever if I ever stopped paying) and any problems that come up generally easy to solve with the help of others.

Squeeze Theme $97
I use the Squeeze Theme because it has a lot of pre built options to create sales pages with a good layout etc. You could probably get by with a free theme and customizing it heavily, but I’m a big fan of focusing on what I do best and paying for anything else so that’s why I went with the Squeeze Theme.

See more about Squeeze Theme here

Wishlist Member $97 for one site – $297 for unlimited sites
This software works with WordPress and handles the users that pay for your product or course. It works with WordPress to handle the protection of your content; however, this is only one way to protect content. If you want a second layer of protection you should consider S3 Flow Sheild

See more about Wishlist Member here

S3 Flow Shield $97 unlimited sites
This is the software that helps prevent people from easily downloading content hosted on Amazon S3. My products so far have all used video so I knew that I needed some way to make piracy a little more difficult. This plugin makes it impossible for an existing member to share the links to your videos for others to download.

See more about S3 Flow Shield here

Clickbank $49 vendor account activation fee ($29 for your next product)
You’ll need a way to accept payment, and although Wishlist member supports Paypal, 1ShoppingCart and some others I wanted something that helped to get more affiliates which is why I’d also recommend this other piece of software…

Set up a Vendor Account at Clickbank here

Easy Click Mate $67
This is a 3rd party affiliate tracking software for use with Clickbank. Basically you can set up an affiliate page like this one and then when the affiliates sign up they’re added to your affiliate email list. People always say the money is in the list and the same can be said about your list of affiliates. Without this software it’s basically impossible to communicate with affiliates.

See more about Easy Click Mate here

JW Player
Whenever you’re selling a product that uses a flash player you’re supposed to pay for a license and so I did that here. There are probably some other flash players that would work, but I liked the analytic options this one offered.

Why This Solution Is Awesome: One Time Cost

The entire software solution I use cost me a little over $500 for everything (including the $297 multi site license for Wishlist member) but it’s important to point out that this is a ONE TIME FEE for UNLIMITED USE and I’ll never need to buy another piece of software again. People underestimate just how important it is to own the data on your platform and the content your product uses outright (*cough Kajabi*). Niche Profit Course was the first product I created and Become A Pro Gamer was the second. My second product cost me only $29 because everything was already paid for. Call it “duct tape marketing”, but it works very well for me and it’s relatively inexpensive.

I plan to do more products in the future outside the internet marketing niche (I love the lack of competition) and if I continue to use Clickbank I’ll only have to pay $29 for each new vendor account I activate.

Questions about my setup? Ask below I’d be happy to help!

Note: If you want to do a similar solution like I have above but are on a tight budget, just look at the functionality I’ve posted above and perhaps you may not need it (i.e. S3 Flow Player isn’t really necessary unless you’re using video).

Recently I discussed how I got to my first 1,000 RSS subscribers and one area I covered in that post was the marketing strategies I used to reach that mile stone. Blog commenting is one strategy that I have used in the past for a wide variety of reasons beyond just a small spike in traffic and today I will outline everything you should know about blog commenting in this second installment of ultimate guides.

Why I comment on related blogs

I comment on blogs as an opportunity to connect with the blog owner, drive traffic to my blog from the people reading the comments and as a way to build free easy links. I’ll explain why each of these benefits are important later on in the guide, but first I want to cover where you can find various blogs to comment on in your niche.

How to Find Blogs to Comment On

Much like I said before in my ultimate guide on guest posting it’s important to know your niche. I know at least 30 other bloggers both large and small that I connect with on a regular basis. If you don’t know the other blogs in your niche one of the easiest ways to find them is with a simple search.

Google Search: Search Google for related blogs using the keywords you’re targeting on your own blog and look at the blogs that come up in the search results. Visit these blogs and subscribe to their RSS feeds. The goal being that if you’re the first to comment on an article, more people will see it and if your comment is good you’ll reap the rewards.
Follow the People Who Comment: Once I find the blogs to comment on then I go through and click through the people that commented on the blog to find more blogs to comment on. This is something you can repeat multiple times and is how I’ve found brand new blogs to comment on that I never would have found by doing a Google search.

These are the two main ways I find new blogs to comment on, but finding the blog is only the first step. The most important component is what you should write about in your blog comment.

How to Comment Effectively

This section may be reminder for you, but I still see people that fail to comment effectively and this component is crucial. First, always comment using your name and not a keyword (unless they have Keyword Luv WordPress plugin installed). Now as you write comments the key to remember is that to get the best results you must truly add something extra to the conversation. Read the other comments on an article first and if you find something that you don’t agree with start there with a response and tell them why they are wrong. Likewise, if someone shares a good comment or writes a powerful blog post try to reply with a comment that builds on the foundation they set out by adding in your own unique point of view or an additional useful piece of information. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself this question, “Does what I’m about to share actually contribute anything to the conversation or does it just add to the noise?” As I’ve said before many people do share great comments, but I still see numerous useless comments on blogs I read every day. In any case, now that we’ve got the fundamentals out of the way I want to dive into the deeper stuff with specific examples of why I comment on blogs and how I’ve done so effectively.

Connect with the Blogger

First and foremost I comment on blogs because I like to get my name in front of the blog owner. I know that if I contribute real value there is a chance they’ll stop by and visit my blog as well. From that point they may start reading my blog regularly and maybe even link to an article I’ve written from time to time or retweet something I’ve posted. I also use this as the first stage of my future guest posting proposal. If I provide great value in the comments I share on another blog there is a better chance they’ll publish my guest post as well. At the very least if you comment enough eventually they will learn your name which is incredibly important for future contact related to (guest post inquiries, interviews, joint venture opps and anything else that may benefit each person’s business). This is why it’s so important that you don’t look like an idiot when you comment on someones blog.

Driving traffic back to your blog

Generally speaking you should not include a link (other than for your name) in your comment on another person’s blog. You have to feel this out on a blog by blog basis as certain bloggers have different opinions. I believe that if the article you link to truly adds value and fits within the context of the conversation that it can work (see this example). If you look at the other comments in that article the author actually referred people to the article I included in my comment because she recognized my knowledge on the topic and the value it brought to her readers. I believe if you ever do include a link to one of your own articles in a comment you should never use keyword based anchor text for the article because that really shows you don’t have the best intentions in mind when commenting on a blog and instead are just trying to rank some article (it’s already a tough sell to include an extra link in your comment anyway).

Even if you don’t link to another article on your blog within a comment there is an opportunity to drive traffic back to your blog as long as you provide value with your comment. Readers will see what you have to say and if it’s intelligent they’ll probably investigate for more information. Another strategy to drive traffic via blog comments is to be among the first few people to comment on a popular blog. This has been said before, but if you combine all of the elements I’ve listed above when posting your comments it can drive substantial traffic when you’re among the first to comment. Subscribe to numerous blog RSS feeds and you’ll have opportunities throughout the day to be the first commenter on many different articles (watch for patterns on when they publish their articles i.e. I publish most often at 6:00 AM PST).

Commenting for Links

If you’re looking to build links from commenting than make sure the blog is using some type of do follow plugin (blogs that remove the rel=”no follow” attribute from comment links). I’ve seen numerous blogs that display do follow badges but if you look at their code they aren’t actually removing the no follow attribute from comment links (I use Firebug to determine this). From an SEO standpoint I don’t think Google provides much weight to the links in comments anyway (especially if you’re not among the first) so although I think that link building with comments can help a little I believe you should focus on more effective strategies for link building instead.

What not to do

You should not spam via comments unless you recently invented a miracle tooth whitening product. Because if you invented a new miracle tooth whitening product you should find a way to let everyone know about it. Beyond that, if you’ve been paying attention to any of the advice I shared above it’s safe to assume that doing the opposite of what I suggest would be unwise. Here’s an example on how to do everything wrong:

This is obviously a pre written comment as it doesn’t address the topic of the article (the new Amazon Wireless affiliate program), it doesn’t add anything new to the conversation and he tried linking to his blog with his target keyword anchor text within the comment itself. If he hadn’t used an a keyword based anchor text to link back to his blog I probably would have just published it despite the fact that it added little to no value. The worst part is that the offending party is actually trying to run a legitimate blog (if it wasn’t a legit blog I wouldn’t have cared that much because I would have just assumed it was a bot). I didn’t bother including any comments that were just straight spamming porn, San Diego divorce lawyers etc. because they are obviously bots.

Note: I was going to show the blogger in the comment but I am pretty sure he reads this blog and there is no need to embarrass him, so I removed the elements that would identify him.

Closing Thoughts

Taken by itself blog commenting isn’t my preferred strategy for traffic growth. It does help if you’re the first to comment on a blog, but if you had to break up the time you have available to grow your blog I’d focus less than 10% of that time on blog commenting (unless you’re launching a brand new blog). I prefer to use blog commenting first and foremost as a means to get on the radar of a blogger by providing a good first impression and to showcase my knowledge on a particular topic. I then have a better shot at going to the blogger at a later date asking to get my guest post published or to get their involvement in a future joint venture deal.

What do you think of my outlook on blog commenting and the way I like to use it? I’m looking forward to seeing your comments below.

Why you should guest post:

Guest posting is one of the best free ways to drive traffic, get new subscribers and free links. In fact this is one strategy I’ve used on this blog a lot and I’ve shown my traffic graphs below, but before we get to that I want to cover the basics and essential knowledge you should know to make the most from guest posting. By guest posting you can get the following for free:

Traffic: Without traffic you can’t get visitors to your blog and in turn make money. It doesn’t matter how much time you spend setting up your blog because at the end of the day if you don’t have traffic you have nothing.
Subscribers: When new visitors come to your blog you have the opportunity to turn these visitors into subscribers. These subscribers are the people that will comment on your blog, become your true fans and help spread your message to their friends.
Links: The links you get from guest posting are used to help improve your search engine rankings. You often get a choice of a free link back to your own blog with your desired anchor text within the content of the blog post.

Bloggers like guest posts because it’s free content for them from a fresh perspective. The readers get to see something in a style not usually offered by the primary blogger and used correctly guest posts can help breathe new life into an established blog. The guest blogger in return gets free traffic, free subscribers and a free link. Win Win!

How to find blogs to guest post for:

Know Your Niche: If you haven’t reached out to other bloggers in your niche start doing it now. I probably know 30 other bloggers in my niche both large and small. I make it a habit to follow their blogs so that I can see their style of writing and adjust my writing style to better fit their audience when I submit a guest post. But first, I contacted them via email to get to know them (without being annoying) or I start commenting on their blog. I never lead out with a request to guest post without having gotten to know the person behind the blog first.
Google Search: Another source is to simply search in Google for related blogs using the keywords you’re targeting and look at the blogs that come up in the search results. Visit these blogs and then look for a phrase like “Write for us” or “Become an Author” and start interacting with them via an intro email and/or blog commenting (more on why and how I do this later).

How to write posts that get published:

Spending a lot of time writing a guest post only to have it denied is the last thing you want to do so in order to avoid that I’ve outlined some general principles you should keep in mind while writing a guest post.

Tips for Success:

Write unique high value content that hasn’t been shared on the target blog before
Follow the same format the target blog uses for their posts (i.e. Do they use an h1 tag, h2 tag or no tag, bullets and/or numbered lists, bold text and/or italics, certain number of images etc.)
Send the post via email in a .txt file that is pre-formatted so the author can simply copy and publish
Use a closing byline that gets people to click through to your blog – Pitch yourself! i.e.

If you have interacted with the author before sending in your guest post they are more likely to remember you and less likely to turn you down. Even if you have spoken to the author before it’s crucial that you keep your email pitch to the point. Some authors will get back to you within a couple hours and others can take weeks. I usually wait at least 10 days before sending a follow up request for an answer.

Real example guest post pitch email:

This is the exact email I sent to Darren Rowse and he in turn agreed to publish the guest post on Problogger.net June 7th. This specific guest post pitch email was longer than most that I send because it was on a topic that was time specific as Amazon was running deals on Father’s day starting June 7th. (Usually my emails are about half that length)

How to get the most from your guest post:

There are some key elements that are crucial to provide the best results from your guest post:

Write Amazing Content: I’ve said this before but it needs to be said again. If you want to get more traffic and subscribers you must write unique amazing content that almost forces the reader to want to find out more about you. For many of the readers this will be the first time they’ve heard of you so be sure to make a good impression.
Link To Your Own Content (Only When Applicable!!!): Most bloggers don’t like to publish guest posts that include self promotion, so if you do try and promote yourself within the guest post only do so when it helps to better tell the story (i.e. see the links in the first paragraph of the Problogger.net guest post).
Write A Strong Byline: I’ve also said this before but it’s important enough to repeat. The byline is your last chance to get the reader to come through and visit your blog. Even if your article was amazing people still need to be convinced that it’s worth the time to check out your blog. If you don’t write a strong byline you’ll get significantly lower results.
Respond to Comments: If you don’t respond to the comments on your guest post than you miss out on an opportunity to connect personally with the readers that took the time out to comment on your post. I make it a habit to reply to any comment where a question is asked or if I need to help clarify some point to the reader (i.e. see my comments in this post as an example)
Welcome New Visitors To Your Blog: I use the WordPress plugin What Would Seth Godin Do to provide a welcome message to new visitors. It only displays once but I link to some of my best content and briefly tell my background and why they should subscribe to my blog. For guest posts that go live on huge blogs I’ve also done a “best of my blog” post to do an even better job of getting brand new visitors to subscribe.

My Guest Posting Results:

Now after reading my guide you may be wondering how well guest posting has been working out for me. Well, I’ve taken a sampling of some of the bigger blogs and smaller blogs I’ve written guest posts for and shared them below along with the traffic they sent. I also calculated the “Engagement Ratio” (as I like to call it) which is the total number of visitors divided by the total number of RSS subscribers over a 2 week period. Some of the big blogs didn’t send as much traffic as I thought they would but this could be because the guest post I shared wasn’t as good as the one I shared on another blog or any other reason. It’s impossible to draw the conclusion that one blog is better than the other because there are too many variables to factor in, but regardless it’s still interesting data worth sharing:

Traffic Graphs:

5 Symptoms of Blog Failure published on FamousBloggers.net March 29th when the blog had 838 RSS readers

Engagement Ratio: 5.72%

Why I won’t follow everyone on Twitter published on BlogGoDown.com March 26th when the blog had 1951 RSS readers

Engagement Ratio: 3.02%

Is your bounce rate killing your blog? published on JohnChow.com April 14th when the blog had 77,102 RSS readers

Engagement Ratio: .07% Yikes! In all fairness though the article should have been better and I didn’t link to myself very well (I also think a ton of these RSS readers are actually newsletter subscribers)

You’re a full time blogger, now what? published on DavidRisley.com April 29th when the blog had 12,239 RSS readers

Engagement Ratio: .4% Like JohnChow I believe many of his RSS subscribers are actually newsletter subscribers and perhaps my article just didn’t resonate well with his audience?

The Simplest Way to Create Unique Content published on SmartPassiveIncome.com June 2nd when the blog has 6,755 RSS readers

Engagement Ratio: 5.79% Very nice, thanks Pat!

Why you need a blogging business plan published on MaxBlogPress.com/maxblogger/ June 5th when I was told the blog had 70,000 email subscribers (no counter on the website)

Engagement Ratio: .67% Fairly low ratio, but the sheer numbers make it a worthy guest post

How to Make Money on Every Holiday published on Problogger.net June 7th when the blog had 130,000 RSS readers

Engagement Ratio: .3% These results were also lower than I expected, perhaps the primary audience doesn’t care to make money via Amazon’s affiliate network? I think they should reconsider. I do know again in this situation many of the RSS reader numbers are newsletter subscribers. Still worth it though of course.

Closing Thoughts:

The traffic, new subscribers and brand exposure brought about by guest posting can be huge if performed correctly. What I shared above is just a small sampling of the results from guest posts I’ve published so far this year and I still plan to do more in the future. I also think it could make for an interesting case study follow up to guest post on the same blogs again and see how the engagement ratio changes. In either case, I hope this helps you in your guest posting efforts and if you did find this interesting I’d love for you to take the time to retweet this article, link to it from your blog or share it with your friends. Lastly, you should subscribe to my blog – but only if you want more awesome tips not shared on my blog.

Oh, and did I forget you should follow me on Twitter too? Well, you should.

Want To Learn More About Guest Posting?

My friend Erica from Erica.biz put together a product that goes into much more detail about guest posting. I met her at Blog World this year and after going through everything I think it’s worth you checking out.

Check out Guest Post Secrets Here