Want to get blogging tips from the most successful bloggers in the world? Blogging Success Stories is an interview series to help you learn from the best, stay motivated to keep improving and send you away with actionable blogging tips.
I’m honored to be interviewing one of the most respected business and social media experts in the world here. Chris Brogan is the author of the best-selling books The Impact Equation
and Trust Agents. He’s been working with online communities and social media for 12 years, blogging for eight years and set up Human Business Works to help other business professionals achieve the success they’re dreaming of.
There are a zillion business and social media experts online but I call Chris “Big Boy Brogan” because this industry is dominated by men I call the Big Boys and Chris is the biggest there is. Plus I do love a little alliteration. But whatever you call him Chris does earn the most respect, talk the most sense and have the most followers in the blogging world.
Chris has been on my radar since I started blogging four years ago but it’s only over the last 12 months or so that I’ve started to fully appreciate his wisdom, advice and writing.
Some bloggers you fall in love with immediately then lose interest in but I think my experience shows why Chris is so well respected and has achieved such longevity in this fast-moving world of social media and blogging. Not only does he have the goods but he delivers them again and again and again. If you’re not convinced just sign up for his weekly newsletter and see for yourself.
In one of those newsletters Chris mentioned that people shouldn’t reply asking him for an interview. So I spotted an opportunity and did just that.
I promised to ask only five questions which I intended to do but then of course there were more questions I wanted to ask him so I did. Basically I disgusted myself with a bait and switch which is probably mentioned in Chris’s Book Trust Agents under what not to do.
So that’s how I captured Chris Brogan’s thoughts on blogging and blog advertising along with a few of his hottest blogging tips.
At the moment some bloggers, in particular fashion and lifestyle bloggers, are making a decent living from writing sponsored blog posts. Just to be clear that’s where they are paid by a brand to write about a specific product with a disclaimer explaining that in their post.
What’s the future of blog advertising? Have blog advertising rates reached their peak as some people say? Is this phenomenon a flash in the pan or do you think earning a living from blog advertising is sustainable long-term?
I think that we’re trending more and more away from banners and more and more into sponsored content marketing. I think that there will be a few ways to do it. A “magazine” of useful content with links scattered through it seems like the most likely approach. Blog posts and blogger outreach will be the other.
Okay so it doesn’t sound like you think sponsored blog posts are endangered then.
My primary focus is business blogging – helping small business owners use blogging to promote their business services or products. Do you think it’s possible to do that and earn an additional income from advertising and writing sponsored blog posts on the side or do you think small business owners who blog should keep the focus entirely on their own offerings?
I think advertising is a tough row to hoe. I’m getting over 200,000 monthly unique views and I can pay the mortgage with that. If you’re not getting a huge volume of traffic, or you’re not advertising larger ticket cost products, then no, I don’t think you can self-sustain on that.
If you work hard to be a media company and not just a blog, you have a shot. But it won’t just come because you write about hats.
Can you tell us roughly how many unique visitors you have on your blog each month versus how many people subscribe to your email newsletter (which is quite different content) and how much overlap there is between those two groups?
My stats are 235,ooo Twitter followers, 200,ooo unique visitors to my blog each month, 25,ooo newsletter subscriptions, and 35,ooo monthly downloads of my podcast.
If you could only have one of those outlets which would you choose and what would you say to convince a lazy bones like me to write an email newsletter which only subscribers will ever see as well as updating my blogs regularly?
Newsletter sells more than ANY of these other outlets. By far. And buyers surveyed by Citi back in 2009 or so said that 4% of people will buy from twitter, 11% from Facebook, but 91% from email.
Well, that’s pretty convincing and another reminder that we need to build those email lists.
In your newsletters you write a lot about the importance of not being too selly selly. I’m the opposite and rarely push anything. Is there some kind of ratio you can recommend? I once heard that give-give-take (or suggest!) is a good rule of thumb. As a business owner do you have some kind of formula or schedule for that or is it more based on noticing a drop in income and making an offer to offset that?
Oh I love to sell. I just make sure that people don’t ONLY sell. No one buys a magazine full of ads. I sell gently on non-sell days and I sell hard about every 4 weeks.
That sounds like a good plan. I’ve been blogging for almost four years over on my travel blog Get In the Hot Spot and I’ve made every mistake in the book. I’m still making them. But my blog traffic seems to have stabilized and I’m not seeing much growth. What would you say to all those intermediate bloggers like me who’ve reached a plateau?
Most people hit a plateau because they’re not hunting for new markets. If you just build it, they won’t come. You have to do that.
So what’s the best way for bloggers to hunt for and capture interest from a new market? I guess it can’t be great content because that’s part of the building it process. So what do you recommend as the best way for bloggers to find new readers?
Comment on like-minded posts WITHOUT pushing people back to yours. Give your best thoughts in comments and you’ll capture other people’s thoughts.
Participate in social platforms where people are talking about what you’re into, again, without pushing too hard to get people back to your site.
Offer to write guest posts on other rising (but not the top) sites in your space. This is what earns you traffic via social platforms.
Even though I asked you more questions than I planned to I still have plenty more I’d like to ask Chris. But I think I’ve been cheeky enough already so I’ll end here.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions and share your blogging tips with the Successful Blogging team. We really appreciate that.
Then, if you’d like to thank Mr. Brogan personally for his time helping us, here’s a readymade tweet you might like to share:
THANK YOU I @ChrisBrogan for sharing your blogging tips in the interview with @BloggingMentor
I’d love that too because you can never thank people enough can you? Thank you for that!
I’m honored to be interviewing one of the most respected business and social media experts in the world here. Chris Brogan is the author of the best-selling books The Impact Equation
and Trust Agents. He’s been working with online communities and social media for 12 years, blogging for eight years and set up Human Business Works to help other business professionals achieve the success they’re dreaming of.There are a zillion business and social media experts online but I call Chris “Big Boy Brogan” because this industry is dominated by men I call the Big Boys and Chris is the biggest there is. Plus I do love a little alliteration. But whatever you call him Chris does earn the most respect, talk the most sense and have the most followers in the blogging world.
Chris has been on my radar since I started blogging four years ago but it’s only over the last 12 months or so that I’ve started to fully appreciate his wisdom, advice and writing.
Some bloggers you fall in love with immediately then lose interest in but I think my experience shows why Chris is so well respected and has achieved such longevity in this fast-moving world of social media and blogging. Not only does he have the goods but he delivers them again and again and again. If you’re not convinced just sign up for his weekly newsletter and see for yourself.
In one of those newsletters Chris mentioned that people shouldn’t reply asking him for an interview. So I spotted an opportunity and did just that.
I promised to ask only five questions which I intended to do but then of course there were more questions I wanted to ask him so I did. Basically I disgusted myself with a bait and switch which is probably mentioned in Chris’s Book Trust Agents under what not to do.
So that’s how I captured Chris Brogan’s thoughts on blogging and blog advertising along with a few of his hottest blogging tips.
At the moment some bloggers, in particular fashion and lifestyle bloggers, are making a decent living from writing sponsored blog posts. Just to be clear that’s where they are paid by a brand to write about a specific product with a disclaimer explaining that in their post.
What’s the future of blog advertising? Have blog advertising rates reached their peak as some people say? Is this phenomenon a flash in the pan or do you think earning a living from blog advertising is sustainable long-term?
I think that we’re trending more and more away from banners and more and more into sponsored content marketing. I think that there will be a few ways to do it. A “magazine” of useful content with links scattered through it seems like the most likely approach. Blog posts and blogger outreach will be the other.
Okay so it doesn’t sound like you think sponsored blog posts are endangered then.
My primary focus is business blogging – helping small business owners use blogging to promote their business services or products. Do you think it’s possible to do that and earn an additional income from advertising and writing sponsored blog posts on the side or do you think small business owners who blog should keep the focus entirely on their own offerings?
I think advertising is a tough row to hoe. I’m getting over 200,000 monthly unique views and I can pay the mortgage with that. If you’re not getting a huge volume of traffic, or you’re not advertising larger ticket cost products, then no, I don’t think you can self-sustain on that.
If you work hard to be a media company and not just a blog, you have a shot. But it won’t just come because you write about hats.
Can you tell us roughly how many unique visitors you have on your blog each month versus how many people subscribe to your email newsletter (which is quite different content) and how much overlap there is between those two groups?
My stats are 235,ooo Twitter followers, 200,ooo unique visitors to my blog each month, 25,ooo newsletter subscriptions, and 35,ooo monthly downloads of my podcast.
If you could only have one of those outlets which would you choose and what would you say to convince a lazy bones like me to write an email newsletter which only subscribers will ever see as well as updating my blogs regularly?
Newsletter sells more than ANY of these other outlets. By far. And buyers surveyed by Citi back in 2009 or so said that 4% of people will buy from twitter, 11% from Facebook, but 91% from email.
Well, that’s pretty convincing and another reminder that we need to build those email lists.
In your newsletters you write a lot about the importance of not being too selly selly. I’m the opposite and rarely push anything. Is there some kind of ratio you can recommend? I once heard that give-give-take (or suggest!) is a good rule of thumb. As a business owner do you have some kind of formula or schedule for that or is it more based on noticing a drop in income and making an offer to offset that?
Oh I love to sell. I just make sure that people don’t ONLY sell. No one buys a magazine full of ads. I sell gently on non-sell days and I sell hard about every 4 weeks.
That sounds like a good plan. I’ve been blogging for almost four years over on my travel blog Get In the Hot Spot and I’ve made every mistake in the book. I’m still making them. But my blog traffic seems to have stabilized and I’m not seeing much growth. What would you say to all those intermediate bloggers like me who’ve reached a plateau?
Most people hit a plateau because they’re not hunting for new markets. If you just build it, they won’t come. You have to do that.
So what’s the best way for bloggers to hunt for and capture interest from a new market? I guess it can’t be great content because that’s part of the building it process. So what do you recommend as the best way for bloggers to find new readers?
Comment on like-minded posts WITHOUT pushing people back to yours. Give your best thoughts in comments and you’ll capture other people’s thoughts.
Participate in social platforms where people are talking about what you’re into, again, without pushing too hard to get people back to your site.
Offer to write guest posts on other rising (but not the top) sites in your space. This is what earns you traffic via social platforms.
Even though I asked you more questions than I planned to I still have plenty more I’d like to ask Chris. But I think I’ve been cheeky enough already so I’ll end here.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions and share your blogging tips with the Successful Blogging team. We really appreciate that.
Get More Business and Blogging Tips From Chris Brogan
Do pop over to Chris’s blog to see why he’s so popular. Thank you. I know he’ll love that. And I recommend you sign up for his weekly newsletter too if you’re the slightest bit interested in growing your business or blog.Then, if you’d like to thank Mr. Brogan personally for his time helping us, here’s a readymade tweet you might like to share:
THANK YOU I @ChrisBrogan for sharing your blogging tips in the interview with @BloggingMentor
I’d love that too because you can never thank people enough can you? Thank you for that!
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