I have a confession to make, and it’s by far the biggest online marketing mistake I ever made.

I had an email list with thousands of people on it. My email marketing was pretty good: I enjoyed above-average open rates (between 13% and 40%) and click-through rates (up to 26%).

But then I had a little issue during which I wasn’t doing any email marketing at all, I just let it slide. And during this time, the credit card that was paying for this list expired and I never bothered to enter new card information.

The Unthinkable

So the unthinkable happened, and I was oblivious to it.

I lost my list.

After 30 days of an account being deactivated, Aweber purges your list. That’s it, end of story. I don’t think that’s a bad policy nor do I have any animosity about Aweber. This was all completely my fault.

You could say it was my biggest online marketing mistake ever. And it’s one that will never happen again. It’s painful to even think about it, and it’s not easy to confess, but when we share our problems and how we dealt with them, it helps others, and that’s what I’m here for. I’m not here to pretend like I’m perfect and I fart rainbows (although, admittedly, that would be kinda cool).

Rebuilding

So what am I doing, now? Well, I’ve created a new account with Aweber (I absolutely recommend them, by the way—they have fantastic training that eliminates all the scariness of getting started with email marketing).

And I’m simply rebuilding my list, one subscriber at a time.

I have a sweet offer to entice sign-ups, a free $49-value ebook on how to start a business blog (which I’m rewriting and subscribers will get the new version before anybody else). The Hello Bar at the top of the screen helps, too (as soon as I put that thing on there, my sign-up rate increased).

Welcome Aboard (Again)

If you’re not currently on my list, you should be (even if you’re already subscribed via RSS).

For all the channels I market through, I provide unique and useful content for each, with little duplication. This is especially true for email. For example, email subscribers get more links than are in the Link Journeys post on the blog: these are the extra-special links, too, not just more of them.

And since my job is to teach blog marketing and email is an important aspect of that, you should subscribe so you can see how I do it and learn from it (lesson number one: don’t lose your list!).

Seriously?

Should you seriously take email lessons from a guy who lost his freakin’ list? Go back and read what I said above about my open rates and click-through rates. It wasn’t bad email marketing that lost my list, it was bad life management. The very last email I sent (to my new and still small list) had an open rate of 54.7% and a click-through rate of 32.1%. As my list grows these numbers will go down. But not by much if I have anything to say about it.

You can sign up right here, if you like. It should work OK in an email or a reader, but in case it doesn’t, just head here.

Free Ebook:
How to Start a Business Blog 
($49 value)

Whether you need to create a blog or you already have one and want to improve it, you’ll learn a lot of proven, profitable tips you can put to use right away in this ebook:

• What a blog is (in plain English)
• How business blogs are different (and why it matters)
• What blog software I recommend
• How to come up with a neverending river of blog topics
• How to handle blog comments to win over readers 
• How to get readers to take action
• Search Engine Optimization for business blogging 
• How to get more traffic to your blog

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Thank you!

I told you my story, now I want to hear yours. What was your biggest online marketing mistake, and what did you do about it?

• If you weren’t sure how to go about choosing, starting or creating a charitable or altruistic project, exactly…
• If you weren’t sure how to make it fit naturally with your business…
• If you weren’t sure how you’d find the time to set it up and manage it…
• If you weren’t sure how you could do it without taking a bite out of your own profits…
• If you weren’t sure how you could do it without it looking like a blatantly calculated “heartstring” marketing ploy and having it completely backfire on you…

Any or maybe all of the above have prevented you from moving forward with working some kind of charitable or altruistic program into your business. And yet you’ve probably seen how others give back and make it work so that their business is even more profitable. As with anything, there are better and worse ways to do this.

If you want to weave your social ideals into your business in a way that actually helps you make more money instead of less (a triple win), a guiding hand through the process is very much worth having.

Here’s a conversation I had with Johnny B. Truant, who co-created the Profitable Idealism program with Pace Smith. If you can’t see the video below in your email or reader, head on over to the blog to watch it there.

Have you ever wanted to find a way to “give back” or do good in the world beyond simply making money? Why aren’t you doing it? What’s preventing you? Can you do it without losing too much money or time? Or looking like a “whitewasher”? Let’s discuss!

P.S. – I’ll be paying for and taking the Profitable Idealism course myself, because, as I say in my interview with Johnny, this is definitely an idea whose time has come. That’s also why I’m an affiliate for the program: It’s something I believe in personally and it’s the perfect complimentary product to share with you.

Personally, I see no need to mention religion or politics on my blog. Sure, it would be more personal and it would cause some people to feel closer to me, which would be cool. It would also drive people away (probably more the latter than the former, LOL). I don’t hide this about myself (atheist, liberal capitalist), it’s just that I don’t see how bringing it up in the blog is going to help anyone market their business successfully through blogging.

I don’t want to get into pointless circular arguments with people about whether or not gods exist or tit-for-tat exchanges about which political party representative displays the greatest hypocrisy. Now, you could also argue that swearing or a bit of sexy raciness also doesn’t help anyone, and you’d have a point.

We all like to do business with people we know, like and trust. We all have to decide how to balance what we reveal about ourselves and what  subjects we’re willing to entertain on our business blogs. There’s a line for each of us, and on one side of that line, we feel like we’re still being our authentic selves. On the other side of that line, we feel too restricted, like we’re shutting ourselves down just to please someone else. We each have to decide where we draw that line for ourselves.

I can think of of cases where getting political or religious would be the best possible thing for a business blog. Cause marketing, for example, is nearly always political. And if you decide your target market is people who follow a certain religion, then of course you’re going to mention religion on your business blog.

Bottom line, you could argue that as long as your audience and profits are growing, and you can sleep with a clear conscious, then you’re “doing it right.”

What say you?

Image attribution: ssoosay

If you suddenly found a magic lamp and out popped a genie who grants you 3 wishes about your blog or your skills as a blogger, what would you wish for?

Tell us in the comments! Let’s have some fun.

• Traffic
• Search rankings
• Subject matter
• Increasing reader engagement
• Capturing leads
• Getting sales
• Finding the time

Any of these sound like you? Have an issue not on my little “(s)hit list?” Get it off your chest in the comments and let’s TALK.

Image credit: Traj-

If you had a report card on your blog suddenly delivered to your inbox, what would it say? What grades would you get? A C+ in Headline Writing? An A- in posting consistency? A D+ in traffic? A C- in SEO?

Of course, asking you a question like that is asking you to grade yourself, and most of us happen to kind of suck at that. We’re too hard on ourselves about some things, and hold ourselves in too high a regard in other areas. On top of that, we have outright blind spots where we don’t even know what questions to ask ourselves in the first place.

I think there might be significant value in providing some sort of blog assessment service for entrepreneurs marketing their businesses via blogging. A blogging “report card.” Think about the following:

• Would you even know how to grade yourself on SEO?
• How do you know your About page is any good?
• Do you know what criteria by which your offer should be judged?
• How do you know you’re reaching the right people with your blog?
• How do you know whether or not you could be getting more sign-ups/subscribers?

So… do you think some kind of “report card” service would be valuable? What kind of information should such a service provide, and at what price? I’m curious what you guys think.

Image credit: v.h.d.

Frank Kern (love him or hate him, the dude is smart and the top internet marketing dawg around) has made a “state of the internet marketing” video you may want to check out. This isn’t any kind of affiliate thing and he says this isn’t part of a launch or anything. I don’t think you have to opt in to see it.

In this video he makes some really thought-provoking points that I feel are worth considering. The whole transactional nature of business revolves around the exchange of money for value. That means we as the seller have to have something valuable to sell and the buyer has to have the money and gladly part with it in exchange for that value.

So unless you’re attracting people with money who feel your offer is a no-brainer value, you’re gonna have a rough road in 2011.

There’s a difference between “truly” broke and being unwilling to part with money. There are tons of people who don’t have a lot of money at all, but they come online to eBay and spend ridiculous amounts on porcelain figurines or what have you. That’s an example of someone who has money for what they want. Those people could be your customers.

I know I sound like a broken record on this but it really comes back to the idea of deciding who our ideal customer is, then creating insane value for that person so that they gladly part with their money in order to receive the benefits of our offer.

Thoughts? Questions? Discuss…

• There is a gap between what we intended to do and what we did.
• There is a gap between who we are now and who we wish we were.
• There is a gap between what we tell others to do and what we do.
• There is a gap between what we say and what we mean.
• There is a gap between how we see ourselves and how others see us.

It seems natural to want to close those gaps, because we silly humans love closure. But we can’t close these gaps. Not completely. You may be able to cut down on your own hypocrisy, for example, but you will never eliminate the gap between how you see yourself and how others see you.

Dwelling on these gaps creates stress, but it seems we’d rather experience the stress because without it we don’t feel normal. Like we’re addicted to our stress. Like that stress has become part of our self identity and if we lose it we lose who we are. Trying to be something better than we are creates another gap to cross…

When you learn to ride a bicycle or ski (or snowboard) a good teacher will tell you: don’t look at the trees, or you’ll run right into them. Look at where you want to be. And that works like magic… for riding a bike or a snowboard. But what about online business?

How do we narrow these gaps? Should we try to narrow them? How do we not beat ourselves up over our own perceived failures? I’ve noticed people tend to assume that everyone else has their shit together (but when surveyed, the majority believe they are above average).

I don’t mind saying these are things I struggle with. What about you, and how do you deal with it? Maybe we can all help each other. I look forward to your comments.

This person wanted my help in making more money for his site. The site’s content was clearly in the “get an unfair advantage over others” camp. That’s where all the snake oil money gets made in this field. Even though hypnosis may have beneficial applications for people, that’s not what this site was about.

There was no way I was going to work with this guy. When I replied to his query, I considered saying something like, “Thanks, but I’m already too busy as it is.” That’s a true statement, but it wasn’t the reason why I chose to not work with him. I figured, Eh, what the hell, and told him the truth why I wasn’t going to help him.

As expected, I received a defensive reply suggesting I didn’t know enough about hypnosis and that I was under misconceptions about it like much of the general public. He didn’t know that I already knew enough about hypnosis to make an informed decision. I could have replied back to him that his site wasn’t exactly helping to overturn public perception (just the opposite), but the last thing I needed was a useless argument with a stranger. I’m not saying he’s a bad person, I’m saying I’d be selling out my own principles if I took his money.

Is it about the money? Or something greater?

Working with clients you don’t personally like or who are doing things which go against your values NEVER works out. I love to work with people who are forging their own way of living in this new economy by helping others, and doing it in a way I find inspiring if not at least agreeable. Certainly not by peddling snake oil and taking money from suckers.

Online business success is about much more than just selling any old thing and taking people’s money. Actually, let me rephrase that, success in life and living life in a vibrant, meaningful way is about much more than that.  Online business success is simply a side effect of that drive. Even it isn’t a goal unto itself (otherwise you could just start a scummy dieting blog and be done with it).

By any means necessary? Really?

What it really distills down to for me is the idea of ends vs. means. We’re all familiar with the idea that the ends justify the means. We almost never hear anyone support the opposite idea: it is the means which justify the ends. The first is the path of ruthlessness (even cheating). The second is the path of wisdom and insight.

If you sell out to achieve something, you didn’t truly achieve anything. I’d say you failed, bigtime. Think about who you help with your business, and why, and what you’re really making for yourself in this life. I mean, if you really believed the ends justified the means, then if you wanted money you’d simply rob a bank.

What’s your story?

Have you ever taken work “just for the money” only to regret it? Have you ever felt the proud thrill of working with clients whose values and perspective mesh with your own? Have you ever worked with someone “just for the money” and it came out just fine, thank-you-very-much? Share your stories in the comments!

Greatness is within us all, if we’re brave enough to let it loose, to be controlled by it. Possessed by it.

We have these ideas of things being “greater” or “lesser.” We admire the greater and disparage the lesser. And yet, most of us settle for less. I think it’s because we don’t want to pay the perceived price of greatness. We fear greatness will demand sacrifice and all manner of mysterious hardships, while our current state of “just settling’ is familiar and comfortable enough for us to stay as we are.

Are the rewards of greatness worth its demands? It seems we should know what the demands and the rewards of greatness are, or we can’t answer the question.

What does greatness demand of us? What are its rewards?