Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

Download the MP3 [ 41 Minutes - 9 MB]

It’s time for podcast episode #40. It’s hard to believe I started podcasting more than two years ago now!

This episode features myself and Darren Rowse and our topic of discussion is blog design. Darren talked about his recent Problogger redesign and how he worked with his designer, Ben Bleikamp. Then we talked about the different professional blog designers currently available (listed below) and how you should work with a designer to minimize the risk of problems.

We went on to discuss how bloggers who have limited financial budgets can go about sourcing a unique blog look, including modifying free themes and why you would want to have a custom design for your blog. We also talked about what a new design can do for you in terms of blog traffic, demonstrating your professionalism and infusing yourself with new energy if you are feeling blogger burn out.

Here’s a list of the resources mentioned in the podcast.

Blog Designers

• The Blog Studio
• Chris Pearson [ pearsonified ]
• Ben Bleikamp
• Nate Whitehill [ Unique Blog Designs ]
• Michael Pollock [ Solostream ]
• Phil Hartle

Freelance Sites

• DesignOutpost.com
• Elance.com
• Guru.com
• Scriptlance.com
• Rentacoder.com

Darren’s Logo Designer

• Mike Rohde [ Makalumedia.com ]

Free WordPress Themes

• http://themes.wordpress.net/

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I’d like to thank Simon Grabowski and his company Implix (the parent company behind the Get Response email autoresponder), who have been a long term sponsor of Entrepreneurs-Journey and have just renewed for another six month campaign.

Get Reponse has supported this blog since it was less than half the size it is now and without help from sponsors like them I doubt I would still be working as hard as I do at my blogging.

Get Response is an industry leading email autoresponder service and worth investigating as one of your top choices if you are looking to start email marketing.

Talkstream Video and Audio Streaming Service Launches

Implix’s latest offering, Talkstream, launched last week and on first inspection looks pretty good. Simon and his team are really following the trends, this time offering a video and audio subscription service designed to make multimedia production accessible to everyone, even absolute amateurs.

TalkStream offers -

Audio & Video Tools - All you need is a microphone for audio and a webcam for video. No special software, no expensive hardware, no programming skills are needed.

Podcast Tools - Communicate with your visitors more effectively. Syndicate, distribute and promote your content on iTunes and other podcast networks, automatically.

Phone Tools - Client testimonials recording.

It’s worth visiting the Talkstream website just to see the wonderful talking lady who gets very excited about all that Talkstream has to offer . You can’t offer a video service without using some kind of video to promote right? - Although I would have preferred to see Simon there talking to me because I like the personal touch, but maybe that’s because I’m a blogger.

If you have been thinking about podcasting and/or video blogging, perhaps Talkstream is the answer to break down the technical barriers so you can get started.

Check it out here -

www.talkstream.com/

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This is a guest article by Corinne Edwards, who is following the training she has received in Blog Mastermind by submitting guest articles to help build her traffic.

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I had a TV show for eleven years and did more than 400 interviews for a major cable station. I was fortunate to have a great interviewing coach so I thought I would share some of the techniques and advice I was given. Take what you need here to put together a great interview.

1. This is probably the most important point. Your guest is the star of the show. Not you. Do not give your opinion on anything. Do not tell stories about your experiences. People are listening because you have an important guest and they want to hear what that person has to say. What you have to say is on your blog. You can write a follow up later if you like.

2. Your podcast is on your blog so the listener already knows where they are. Do not spend more than one minute introducing yourself. Just a warm welcome and thanks for being with us today and your name.

3. Your introduction should obviously be longer when introducing your guest. Give their credentials. Also, ask for a bio in advance so you know what they like to stress about themselves. Ask them. Do not mention why you asked them to be on your show. That’s about you. This interview is about them. Thank them warmly for coming on.

Read the rest of this entry >>

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Darren Rowse and I did a special one hour podcast discussing advanced blogging strategies to generate more traffic and make more money from blogging.

The podcast has just gone live at Problogger.net and you can get it now from here -

Free Blogging Tips Podcast with Darren and Yaro

Here is the timeline of what we discussed in the podcast, which goes for just over an hour:

• Yaro on the convergence between the Internet marketing and blogging world
• How to build buzz and traffic by releasing a viral PDF report
• Tips on how to build relationships with other bloggers
• Darren talks about techniques to capture more repeat readers using your blog archives
• Customizing pages based on where your traffic comes from
• Why adding an email list newsletter to your blog is critical
• Tips to monetize your blog or newsletter using direct sponsorship
• Testing how your ads convert on your site to increase your income from sponsors
• Using split testing software (openads) to improve the performance of ads on your blog
• Testing different elements of your blog using crazy egg
• Buying sites with the profit you make from blogging

Surprise Offer

At the end of the recording Darren and I talk about a special offer I’m making just for his readers who are interested in joining Blog Mastermind. It’s a limited time offer, ending this Friday and the link for the special offer page is only available in the podcast and at Darren’s blog.

I explain why I made the offer in the podcast too, so if you are curious you will have to listen to the conversation right to the end.

You can get the podcast direct from Problogger.net in this link -

Free Blogging Tips Podcast with Darren and Yaro

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Download the MP3 [ 63 Minutes - 15 MB]

I sat down with Mike about a month ago and recorded this interview. I wanted to focus more on Mike’s history and how he went from car salesman working 70 hours a week to an Internet marketer in charge of a 7 million dollar business. Mike has some great stories from his years working at car dealerships and we learn a lot about how he managed to transition from working as an employee to being in charge of an Internet business.

Mike also spends some time in the interview talking about one of his core skills - building buzz using viral marketing - and you will learn about what it takes to create a viral marketing event online.

I hope you enjoy the interview and as always, if you haven’t already done so, please check out my podcast archives for more interviews like this, all free.

Show Notes

1. Mike background growing up in Long Island NY
2. Mike’s time in the car sales business
3. How a SPAM email led Mike to the Internet Marketing world
4. How Mike was “caught” running an Internet business which led to him being forced to quit the car sales business
5. Mike discusses viral marketing with some examples
6. How to build buzz online
7. Tips for starting your own Internet business and a discussion of the three key ingredients for success
8. Wrap-up

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