Firstly the title and the content to follow may seem like I have a full on bro-mance with David, fact is I don’t and we still clash heads every now and again, but David is the real deal and anyone wanting to make money online whether it be from a blog or not, this guy is the one to follow, now is this post because he makes 6 figures? No other wise this post could quite easily be about John Chow or Darren Rowse.
David and I have been talking for a few months now and email a fair bit, usually me asking for advice and David laying it out and how I should be doing it, which is annoyingly usually right, but this post is really inspired by David’s latest content, How To Remain Broke As A Blogger.
So why did this post of his spark this sudden love fest of a post? Simple, it’s the truth. Like David I have heard people almost scared of asking for money for their hard work, if they produce a ebook, a service or another produce they worry about people frowning at them for wanting to get paid for their work.
- Transition
I think virtually every blog type site goes through the transition of blog to business, this site is in the early stages of the business end and it’s a steep learning curve, but you have to start thinking like a marketer, now David actually talks about pricing your products so low is virtually begging for business and I kind of agree, I mean my tutorial the 20/7 Rule is priced at $7 which is pocket change, price of a coffee and a cake. Should I have charged more for it?
Well yes and no, for me this was the testing bed really, I have a new tutorial/work book coming out soon that will be priced closer towards the $97 mark with affiliate, so yes my first product is cheap but it’s my test bed to see how the whole process works, how people and the visitors of this site react etc etc.
The point I’m making about transition is do it and do it in a way that you feel comfortable with, BUT do it in a way that actually turns you into a business and not a begging pot for loose change. Like I say I have a list of services and products all coming very soon so I’m propelling forward, you should too.
- Reality
The one thing that makes David Risley stand out more than some of the other probloggers I know, well in fact there are two things;
1 – He replies to emails, questions and general shout outs, he isn’t sat in an Ivory tower only tweeting other probloggers or celebrities, he’s a real guy, not massively into his looks (no offence David!) doesn’t take himself too seriously and is more than open about his work life balance.
2 – He tells it straight, yeah he’s clever and will be thinking about working people into the funnel, but isn’t that’s what a business is about, making money? He could quite easily make as much money as he does without giving the amount of free advice he does privately, the amount of advice he has given me via email is massive, I’m dreading the day he decides to start charging me for it.
Turning into a business can be a strange transition for some, personally it’s been a painless process for me, on the broadcast of the 20/7 Rule going out, only one person removed them self from the mailing list out of nearly 400 people that are actually on my list.
- Friends
David has a lot of friends, he’s a popular guy and as such gets a massive amount of contacts (emails, tweets etc etc) as I said earlier he does reply, but the thing I took from him the other day was I sent him an email the other day and wanted to make sure he got it, this was his reply;
Now I know he was busy working on The Inner Circle and that really hit home that you can still have friends, but your business comes first and that’s how you become a business. You can’t eat your friends, but your business can put food on the table.
- If It’s A Business
The main thing I took from David’s recent post was that you can’t have a business unless you treat it like such, so yeah offer the free gift or service to build your mailing list, but make sure you do something with that mailing list. It doesn’t mean bombarding them with sales pitches, you have to have a relationship with them, but don’t be afraid of closing that sale, after all you put the work in!
Now again this may almost seem like a sponsored post to Mr Risley, but it’s a serious look at how to approach things if you at the transition stage or thinking about it, friends are great and they will build your site, but don’t be afraid to start treating your site as a business, you can still keep your friends!
What does everyone think?
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I would love to meet him in person. Out of all the A-listers, seems that he responds the most.
He is also very real, like you say, doesn’t sit on his high horse looking down at us pleb bloggers.
The other reason why I like him so much, is that his daughter looks exactly like my 3yr old daughter. But then that’s just me being biassed.
Man would I love a guest post by him. But then that’s just hoping.
.-= Robert Bravery´s last blog ..$100 000’s Worth of Free software from Microsoft – BizSpark =-.
Nah man he guest posted here My Typical Day, All I did was ask David and he sent one in. I have came across some really bad probloggers who have spoken to me extremely badly, David is the real deal though.
I’m not following his path and copying it, I’m watching how he does it and learning to adapt it for my own goals
I think that with most bloggers, myself admittedly included, it’s not easy going from a blogger to doing business with it. There’s a huge difference in the two mindsets and the differences is what actually makes all the differences.
Your readers and such are what make your blog and build it up and they should always be treated with the ultimate most respect however the buyers are the ones who keep you in business and they should always come first.
Never, never, ever forget about those who are just visiting and contacting you and commenting but it’s those who keep food on your table who ultimately throw your blog over the line into a business and money always makes people’s minds react and think in a different way so honestly, it’s probably not an easy transition from blogger to business but one that must be done if you want to work full time without going to your day job.
Great article, Seriously… You gave me some great ideas here on this post alone.
.-= Eric´s last blog ..Five Reasons Why I Don’t JUST Tweet Newer Blog Articles =-.
There is probably only one thing I disagree with on this post and that is that you state “He could quite easily make as much money as he does without giving the amount of free advice he does privately”.
I feel like he has made because of this method, not in spite of it. It is one of the points in Beyond Blogging (just reviewed the ebook) where they discuss how so many of the big names gave away the farm to make it big…
I agree that Risley is more approachable than most, and it is why I also enjoy reading his site more than Rowse or some others.
.-= Keith´s last blog ..Beyond Blogging: Review =-.
Hey Keith,
When you put it that way I kind of agree, although look at John Chow, never answers emails but make a pure fortune. I could name quite a few more like that. I do think you’re right though about it’s David methods how he got here, good point man.
You know what’s gonna be really interesting is to see where 2010 takes him
I don’t really follow Chow, but I read his story in Beyond Blogging and I can say he had to give a lot away to get where he could charge for everything, the same goes for the rest of us in information type niches. Plan on giving away more than you sell, but make what you sell so good it is worth a pretty penny!
.-= Keith´s last blog ..Beyond Blogging: Review =-.
Yeah man agreed. I’ve got a awesome plan ahead!
That’s really true, it’s the most perverse business model ever! Give stuff away to make money, but it does work.
.-= matthew needham´s last blog ..How a tomato can help you get things done =-.
You’re exactly right, you’ve got to decide if your blog is a hobby or a business and then treat it that way. Most people aren’t sure.
They’d like it to be a business if that means they’re making a ton of money but there’s no money coming in at first so it feels like a hobby. They end up somewhere in the middle, never quite sure what to do with it.
In the end, if you’re going to treat it like anything less than a legitimate business, just call it a hobby and don’t worry about all the business aspects of it.
.-= Siddhartha´s last blog ..People I’m Following on Twitter =-.
That’s a great way of looking at it, no point being caught in the middle, get it the way you want to do it or get out of the way!
Bro-mance? Never heard that one before…. will have to use it and take credit.
Thanks for the complements, man.
.-= David Risley´s last blog ..How To Remain Broke As A Blogger – Guaranteed! =-.
You gotta get out more David!
.-= Keith´s last blog ..Negative Attitude: Negative Bank Account =-.
He can’t, he’s too busy reading awesome bro-manced posts like this!
Yeah brother a bro-mance is the sort of thing us macho blokes have with other blokes we think are cool, a bit like when you watch any of the Bourne films, blokes want to be Matt Damon, same thing. You don’t want to marry him, but you wanna buy him a cigar and drink some vodka with him.
No offence but you’re easily the ugliest guy I have a bro-mance with lol, just kidding
Bromance must be something you learn in the British military forces.
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..60’s Nostalgia – Color TV =-.
ha ha we’re tough but more than comfortable to acknowledge other MEN
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..You Need To Take Action – Video Post =-.
DaviD Risley sounds like the type of role model we all need in our businesses. This post is motivational and inspires me to keep working hard at all accounts. Somethings have to take priority over others but we all have to do what we have to do to keep food on the table. Thanks for sharing, James!!
Hey Jarrod, yeah man he’s a top guy.
Hey James, I like this post man, very nice and informal.
David is such cool guy, I was fortunate to meet him at Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Seminar last month and interviewed him. He is very honest and down to earth. Very smart guy in general!
I absolutely agree that you have to treat your blog like a business – its essential. Its still your passion but its just that you take it more serious which is a good thing. Its definitely not work though – I love blogging!
@ Jarrod absolutely David is a great role model of what’s possible. Cool to see you on here man.
@ David I will message you on facebook!
Nice to meet you too James!
.-= Aaron Darko´s last blog ..Interview with David Risley on How To Get Started Online =-.
Hey Aaron, just checked out your site, top work man. RT’d the post for you
I think most of us start out wanting to make money via our blogs, but then get too shy or timid to say “Show me the money” which is why I think we see so many post in the blogosphere putting down bloggers that are making money online.
I hope you do well with your book, you’ve put a lot of work into and have priced it at a reasonable price point.
.-= Ms. Freeman@Baby Steps of an Internet Entrepreneur´s last blog ..3 Blog Image Sources; free isn’t always better =-.
Yeah that’s exactly the problem I think, it comes down to what you want more, working for someone else doing what you’re doing or working for yourslef creating your own path, I know which I want
Hi James,
I think that it’s perfectly fine to price your first product so low as you are just learning how the process works and all the inner workings of an online business. Better to provide added value now at an inexpensive price and make mistakes than turn off your customers with a shoddy first product that was more expensive. You risk losing them for sure that way.
Customers are more likely to buy from you the 2nd time, if they are happy with what they bought from you in the first place.
David seems to be giving you excellent business advice so far. So glad that it’s working out for you.
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..The Number One Shortcut To Be Successful In Life =-.
Hey Karen,
Yeah I think we all need people to give us the advice we need when we’re starting out, they have made the mistakes you’re about to make so may as well learn from them
Read his post and must say I wasn’t all impressed. Perhaps it’s because I don’t have anything to sell. The thing is if I did I still wouldn’t stoop to starting up a list or any other marketing ploy to get numbers so that I can spam them.
Honestly if I have a product it should sell on it’s own merit, and if I’d rather send them to a legitimate sales page than to a squeeze page.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..People Agree Commenting Does Not Harm Blogging Success =-.
yeah dude, but they don’t sell on their own merit. It just doesn’t work that way.
Marketing isn’t spam…I get tired of hearing that.
.-= Nathan´s last blog ..Do You Follow the Rules? =-.
True, you have to market a product, but the way I look at it, I’d rather send people to a sales page than to a squeeze page that is merely designed to get a persons email address so that people can market a whole sleuth of products that they’re probably not interested in.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Tips On Having A Photo Blog And How Photos Can Inspire A New Post =-.
I can agree with that. It’s tough to find balance as a marketer…I think many people struggle with that part of it.
.-= Nathan Hangen´s last blog ..Do You Follow the Rules? =-.
I agree with this in part, I hate landing pages or squeeze pages just as you, it’s why on my sales page is a brief bit of text and a video explaining a bit about it.
A different angle to this would be those who buy ads or services from you are likely to buy from you again I presume? So if they want to buy something from you again if you offered it to them would you offer them it or not?
After all, no one is hacking into their paypal account hitting send, it’s down to the buyer, just like ads on TV or sponsorship of football teams, no one is forcing anyone to buy the sports drink or switch cable companies.
It’s a tight rope for sure, one I’m just in the intial stages of learning
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..Meet TheInfoPreneur Team =-.
I don’t see why anybody would “hate” a landing page. All it is is a page you send somebody to in order to convince them to do something. What makes that evil?
Sire, you can say you hate it all you want, but the fact that your blog is littered with conflicting ad messages is a testament to the fact that landing pages work. With a landing page, you have a sole focus. With the blog, it is Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, look at all the pretty lights.
Blogging isn’t the same as retail. The rules are very different.
.-= David Risley´s last blog ..Project Update: Prep Work, Being Real =-.
You might hate landing pages, but the fact is that they serve a purpose. The trick is to make your landing page less “interruption” and to lower people’s guard when they arrive.
If you want to make a living as a blogger, you’ll have to get used to that part
.-= Nathan Hangen´s last blog ..Utopia is within Reach =-.
Hey Sire,
Marketing isn’t spam brother, but lets construct my point of view properly if I can;
Taking your website for example, you say you don’t have anything to sell, yet you do sell on your site. Your ads bring you revenue, you must want them to produce because the amount of ads you have, not that I’m disagreeing with the amount of ads you have, it’s how you bring in your cash.
I think I’ve heard you say you do paid reviews or paid content writing (if this isn’t right feel free to shoot me down for it) so you’re selling a service their, the fact you don’t need an email list to do those things is cool, but you could think of your content and traffic as your mailing list, like we need lists to increase sales, you need your content to be read to boost your ads revenue and ability to have the want to people wanting you to write content for them.
I’m on David’s mailing list, as well as Mike’s Nathan’s and about 3 others, I can honestly say David’s (as well as the others) emails aren’t spam, their not trying to get me to buy half price 70% of viagra or anything like that, when he does broadcast working for the sale, the products are related.
I’ve signed up to find out more about the inner circle too, not saying I’m going to join but want to know more.
Ultimately it’s cool you disagree, but I know without people like David to watch and learn from I wouldn’t have much focus to what I’m doing.
Finally I think it’s cool Sire you have built what you have and still continue to watch how you do things, but for me this is a business to put food on my families table, not something I’m pretending to be a business but really breaking my back not to piss anyone off. Not saying you are though brother.
Feel free to reply or bang me an email dude
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..You Need To Take Action – Video Post =-.
OK, I never said that marketing itself was spam. Basically it’s been my experience that when you sign up for these lists more often than not you get bombarded with a whole lot of stuff that can be considered spam because it wasn’t what you signed up for originally.
In regards to not having anything to sell I mean as in a product of my own. Those ads on my are other peoples products. The reason for the amount of ads is probably because of my retail background. I believe in impulse sales and you can’t achieve that unless you present people with something to buy.
Yes I do paid reviews and although I am technically promoting a product or service I am getting paid for the post itself. I don’t make anything by directing people to their sites. I don’t consider my traffic as my mailing list because these people, unless they’ve been sent by a search engine, come to me to read my content. I do not sent them stuff in their email box to try and coerce them into visiting my blog.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t turn this into a business at all, all I’m saying is that you could be better than the rest. If you have a product to sell, promote that product. If you want to start a mailing list, that’s fine but let people know what they are signing up for. If once you’ve done that then at least you know those people want to be subscribed and that being the case they are more likely to trust and buy your products.
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Taking The Time To Think Before Clicking Submit =-.
You make a good point and I have un-subscribed from mailing lists before and just yesterday because of the way they bombared you with stuff like that.
David’s list isn’t like that, nor is mine. I’m actually about to start sending exclusively written content to my mailing list that won’t get publish anywhere except to the people on the list.
I agree it’s an opportunity to step things up and do it my own way which is what I’m doing.
I think we’re saying the same thing here, just from different sides of the fence, after all your background shows your impulse buy strategy which is good as it’s working for you.
Thanks for replying brother, you’re still my number 1 aussie!
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..You Need To Take Action – Video Post =-.
I suppose it all depends on how much mail one can tolerate. I was subscribed to David’s list but after a week or to I unsubscribed. Nothing against David, it’s just the stuff I was getting didn’t interest me.
I really get tired of this negative attitude about email marketing, you don’t want emails, don’t sign up! Once you are signed up you can stop them at anytime. The simple fact is, it works, and people don’t buy stuff they don’t want. That would be like saying a display in one of your retail stores is spam because maybe the person came in to buy one thing but ended up buying several other things because of well placed displays and ads, why is that different? Really it isn’t.
Also, there are pushy marketers and there are marketers that “nudge”. Not everyone has the same methods to earn income online, and people that say one way is somehow better than another are usually the ones not making money….
The negative stigma that this type of propaganda puts on marketers is nonsense.
.-= Keith´s last blog ..Negative Attitude: Negative Bank Account =-.
Agreed.
I find this ironic. Sire blasts spam, yet when I see his blog, I feel like my eyeballs are being spammed the entire time. Complete with a “top sexual aids” ad. Classic.
.-= David Risley´s last blog ..Project Update: Prep Work, Being Real =-.
BTW, Sire, really nothing personal, dude. At all. You’re actually a pretty good blogger and I’ve been subscribed to your stuff for awhile, but I haven’t seen anybody more stubborn about blog monetization than you in a very long time.
See David, this is why I love interacting in the comments on blogs (when I have time, and hey, it is Sunday) I just got an idea for at least 3-4 posts. I could spread that over a month and have 1/3 of my posts!
.-= Keith´s last blog ..Negative Attitude: Negative Bank Account =-.
Actually that Top Sexual Aids is actually one of my blogs David. As to ‘landing pages’ its not the landing page that I dislike it the fact that they are used to gather lists that are then used to sell a lot of stuff that people never signed up for in the first place that I dislike.
I’m not sure I understand what you mean by conflicting ad messages.
As to blog monetization, where did I ever say I was against that? If I was why would I have ads on my blogs?
.-= Sire´s last blog ..Taking The Time To Think Before Clicking Submit =-.
I don’t know…last time I met with David all he did was talk about his great looks. Have you seen him posting pictures of himself all over this blog?
.-= Nathan´s last blog ..Do You Follow the Rules? =-.
ha ha yeah at least military blokes like us two are mega good looking, he can’t have it all though dude ! lol
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..You Need To Take Action – Video Post =-.
Here’s a question for you, James: How much should I be charging?
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..On Literary Pranks & Other Forms of Gentle Mischief =-.
Hey Dave, yeah man that’s a question I ask myself every day, when the new tutorial/work book comes out it will be a question that gets asked a lot.
Have you dropped the hammer yet?
.-= theinfopreneur´s last blog ..Meet TheInfoPreneur Team =-.
As much as you can get! I always say your are worth what people will pay you.
.-= Keith´s last blog ..Blog Tip: Free E-Book Released =-.
It’s coming down hard.
I’ll still be giving away an enormous amount of material, but it’s time to pay the rent.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Web Site Infrastructure — Required posts and pages for your WordPress blog =-.
Yeah brother, awesome attitude I’m going to be watching very carefully. If you can say are you affiliating any of it out?
Blog Post Engineering will ship at ~$20 with 50% commission on affiliates.
I’m pre-releasing 15 or so more out the door before launch, with a 50% discount using the code “Easter.”
I’ll have badges, banners all that junk. Truthfully, once I figure something out, I tend to lose interest, so all this sales stuff is kind of annoying. I’m sure you could sell a pile of these things, a large pile. Lifetime upgrades, money back guarantee, whole nine yards.
Website is on the way, just started redoing the sales page on the website, not quite ready for prime time.
I agree with you Karen. Good to learn with something small, then work up to somehting bigger and you’ll be building a fan base which is always useful!!!
.-= Matthew Needham´s last blog ..How a tomato can help you get things done =-.
Yeah the 20/7 rule was my testing ground for the one coming soon
David’s blog was the first blog I ever read, and still do (he reminds me of Piers Morgan) Since opening Bloggers Den, I have had two people saying that £1 ($2) was a bit extreme. Considering that there will be a load of FREE products, along with blogging tips I just couldn’t believe what I was reading. So if there are people who are unwilling to pay £1 for unlimited products, what chance is there of getting them to pay more?
.-= Maria´s last blog ..WooRank – Website Analysis Tool =-.
Maria, anyone saying a buck (or a quid or a peso) is too much for anything is NOT a customer. Get rid of people like that. They will drag you down.
I sell a few little Whitepapers at $2, but I’ve never had a complaint about the price. If I did get a complaint, I would simply return their money and raise the price a buck.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Web Site Infrastructure — Required posts and pages for your WordPress blog =-.
Hi Dave, I didn’t accept their membership. Its more of a donation really, which will be going up after a short time (so get your membership now)
(sorry James) a £1 doesn’t have much value in other currencies so I thought it was a fair request.
.-= Maria´s last blog ..WooRank – Website Analysis Tool =-.
I agree with Dave, people who complain at price are the same who will complain at free! Go for it, charge what it’s worth