Melonie was recommended to me by Mari Smith as somebody whom we should have as a guest here on BlogcastFM. Prior to this she wasn’t on my radar, but after chatting with her, I can see exactly why she came so highly recommended from Mari.  She had some very actionable insights in this interview.

Here are some highlights from our chat:

• How the Right Coaches Can Fast Track Your Success
• Social Media Mistakes People Make that Prevent Results
• Some Absolutely KILLER LinkedIn Tips
• What You Can do to Provide Tremendous Value to Your Customers
• Finding a Balance Between Promotion and Engagement
• Why Knowing Your Ideal Client Is Really Important
• Essential Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile
• The Importance of Bringing in Expert Help
• Why Great Content is Essential to Your Business

Some people and resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Mari Smith
• Dusti Arab

Some takeaway action tips from this episode include:

• Promote one of your products/services through social media (i.e. a tweet, Google+ share, etc).
• Allocate some of your time this week to creation of a product that you will eventually sell
• Take the relationship with one of your readers, followers, or fans off-line and schedule a Skype chat
• Come up with key questions to incorporate into your copy
• Send out four personalized LinkedIn invitations
• Create a free report for somebody you want to connect with as a client

Most of you probably already subscribe to Kristi’s blog since it’s one of the most useful social media sites online. I’ve always found her content really valuable and I was really excited to have her as a guest on the show. She’s yet another one of the great people we met up with at BlogWorld LA in November.

Here are some highlights from our chat:

• How Kristi’s Blog Evolved from a Poetry Blog into a Social Media Resource 
• The Essential Keys that Resulted in the Growth of Kristi’s Site
• How to Write Comments that are of Value on the Blogs You Read
• The Impact that Your Design Has on Potential Readers
• How a Passion for Your Topic Can Make or Break Your Blog
• Some Really Great Insights on Google+
• Why Your Mailing List is So Important
• The Guest Posting Criteria for Kristi’s Blog

This was hands down one of my favorite interviews I’ve done in a while because I got so many cool new ideas for things we we could do with our iPhones.  I’ve already had a blast messing around with some of these apps.

Here are some highlights from my chat with Tom:

• Why Using New Technology is Important
• Lessons from Big Brands that You Can Utilize
• The Importance of Differentiation
• How Tom Used Social Media to Alter the Brand Perception of Mardis Gras
• A Look at Building Relationships with Influential People
• Why Multimedia Content is Going to be the Next Iteration of Social Media
• The Disconnect Between Big Brands and Bloggers

Some of the resources mentioned in this episode include:

• 28 Tips for Producing Content with the iPhone
• How to Create Content With Your iPhone (SM examiner post)
• The iTimelapse Video Tom’s 7-Year Old Son Made
• BigLens
• iTimelapse
• iPadio

Some take-way Action Tips for you:

1. Respond to a comment using a video reply
2. Find Your Most Popular Post. Ask the people who shared or commented on it why they liked it.
3. Identify the Common Elements between Your Most Popular Posts
4. Create one piece of video content by interviewing somebody.
5. Take a Post That You Would Normally Write, and create a video from it.

Tom Martin of Converse Digital is a social media, digital marketing, mobile consultant and keynote speaker. He likes stiff drinks and good debates. You can follow him on twitter @TomMartin.

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We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming

Today’s episode is a break from our usual programming. After listening to user feedback, it became obvious that there is a big need for content which focuses entirely on a particular topics.

Which brings us to Jam Sessions, a brand new product line from Srini Rao and David Crandall of BlogcastFM. In each episode we will tackle a specific topic relevant to our audience and discuss what it is and why we think it is relevant as well as best practices which you can apply specifically to your situation.

This new product line will not be replacing the regularly programming of interviewing top names in the industry. However, today we wanted to introduce you to this new resource with an 8 minute preview of the first volume…

Content Marketing with SlideShare

Many of you know what SlideShare is and how it can impact your business. But for those of you wondering “Why SlideShare?”, consider this:

In less than 3 months, David has had over 150,000 views from just his top 4 presentations while his work was featured on numerous big name sites. At the time of recording, he had received hundreds of shares through Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and LinkedIn from using this platform, again from just 4 presentations and only 147 followers on the platform. Seeing the success David had with the platform, Srini also started using it and saw fantastic results as well.

That’s a lot of commotion for just 4 pieces of content!

At just under 45 minutes, Srini and David discuss what SlideShare is, why you should be paying attention to it as a content marketer, and tips on how to use it effectively for your content.

Ok, but how much?

It’s typical for products this specific to sell for tens, if not hundreds, of dollars. While many people use this model and produce amazing content and results, we at Blogcast FM wanted to make sure that this resource would be realistically available to everyone.

So we’re selling it for 99 cents! (When we say we are dedicated to making this available to everyone, we are serious!)

So go ahead, preview the 8 minute clip of us talking about what SlideShare is and the type of impact it is making. If you like what you hear, we invite you to purchase the full episode and hear HOW we have used it and recommend others do so also.

(And yes, you read that price correct.)

Click here to purchase the full audio at 99 cents!

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Originally published March 21, 2011. Republished as a BlogcastFM Classic on January 19, 2012.

I came across Laura just a few weeks back on twitter, when I put out a question about writing copy for my speaking page. Laura actually said she had been a BlogcastFM listener and when I saw what she was up to, I  got her scheduled for an interview right away. I’ve been dying to get a skilled copywriter on as a guest since it was an area that I myself had tons of questions about. Laura packed this interview with some awesome insights:

• The Biggest Copywriting Mistakes that Bloggers Make
• The Advantages of Being “Late to the Game” in the Blogosphere
• Why Research Gets You Paralyzed
• How to Write A Killer About Page that Injects Your Personality
• The Keys to Writing Hire Me/Sales Pages  That Convert
• Where Bloggers Go Wrong with Their Content
• Why You Need to Read Blogs Outside of Your Niche to Improve Your Content
• Why You Don’t Necessarily Need a Direction When You First Start Blogging
• Looking to Your Past for Great Content Ideas

Laura Belgray is the owner of Talking Shrimp, a provider of badass copywriting, branding, creative marketing and TV promos. She’s also a restaurant-dependent New Yorker and rabid fan of mostly lowbrow TV. At Talking Shrimp, she offers 5 Free Secrets To Non-Sucky Copy, so go check it out. You can follow her on twitter @lbelgray.

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Shannon Whitehead and Kristin Glenn are two of the most ambitious entrepreneurs on the web. I’ve been following their journey since they started their blog and even had them here as guests on BlogcastFM. Part of what interested me in their story is that they took an idea for a physical product from inception to launch. In this interview I had them walk me through what’s happened since I last spoke to them.

Here are some highlights from our most recent chat:

• How One of Their Major Business Strategies Turned Out to be a Huge Bust – and How They Bounced Back
• What it Takes to Bounce Back When You’ve Lost Your Motivation
• Why Accountability Will Keep You Moving Towards Your Goals
• Key Differences Between Running an Online Business Versus Selling a Physical Product
• How to Market Your Brand with Virtually Zero Dollars
• Some Fantastic Insights Into Creating Amazing Video Content for Your Business
• The Importance of Documenting Ideas and Using Google Docs to Do It
• How 50% of Funding Was Raised Using Kickstarter
• The Importance of a Story, Message, and Mission Behind Your Product

Shannon Whitehead and Kristin Glenn are the duo behind All of Us Revolution. You can follow them on twitter @AllofUsRev.

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I’ve been familiar with the work of Mark Silver for quite some time and had been eager to get him here as a guest on BlogcastFM. He’s incredibly well-respected in the blogosphere and he shared some really great advice in this interview.

Here are some of the highlights from our chat:

• A 10-Year Healing Journey that Started Mark on a Spiritual Path
• Why You’ve Never Heard of Some of the Most Successful People Online
• The Importance of Defining the Problem You Solve
• Differentiating Between Entertainment and Business
• The Must Do’s for Growing Your Business
• Why Narrowing Down Your Target Market  Increases Your Profit
• The Journeys that Exist Within Your Marketing
• Why Getting a Coach is Essential to Growing Your Business
• The Things That You Need to Evaluate Before Hiring a Business Coach

Some resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Turning Social Media Attention to Income
• 5 Inexpensive Things You Need to do And 5 Expensive Things You Need to do For your Business
• The Myth of the Big Rescue
• The Wealthy Freelancer

Originally published on May 7, 2010. Republished as a BlogcastFM Classic on January 12, 2012.

If you haven’t heard the name Christian Lander, that might not be a surprise. But it’s highly likely you have heard of his hilarious and wildly popular blog Stuff White People Like. If you haven’t, do yourself a favor and read a few of his posts and I promise, you’ll be loving it. His posts receive upwards of 800 or more comments – so that should give you an idea of how well-known he is. Christian and I spent quite a bit of time talking about developing compelling content, which clearly he’s great at.

Here are a few of the highlights from our chat:

• The Importance of Enjoying the Subject You Are Writing About
• How He Used Email and Sent His Blog to 25 Friends – And Let It Grow Naturally
• Why You Should Never Say No to Any Interview Request
• The Importance of Shedding Your Ego – No Matter How Famous of a Blogger You Are
• The Importance of Experiencing Failed Blogs
• Dealing with Negative Comments When You Become a Big Blog
• Taking the Role of a Content Editor
• How the Blog Led to Numerous speaking Opportunities, Book Deals, and Writing a Pilot for the FOX Television Network
• The Importance of Developing a Concept/Theme – and executing it

Christian Lander is the Author of Stuff White People Like. You can follow him on Twitter at @clander.

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One of our goals for 2012 is to become a top 100 show in iTunes. We can get there with your help and it will enable us to improve the how and bring on even bigger guests. So if you can, we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. 

Carmen Sognonvi is co-owner and general manager of Urban Martial Arts, which offers karate and kickboxing classes in Brooklyn, New York. Carmen blogs at CarmenSognonvi.com about local business and local marketing. Click here to watch her 3-part video series on how to get publicity for your business or blog. You can follow her on twitter @carmensognonvi.

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One of our goals for 2012 is to become a top 100 show in iTunes. We can get there with your help and it will enable us to improve the how and bring on even bigger guests. So if you can, we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. 

When I came across Dave Asprey’s blog for the very first time, all I could think about was how to get him on BlogcastFM. He was the first guy to ever sell anything on the internet – before browsers even existed.  We talked about far more than just growing your blog. As a result, I can easily say this was one of my favorite interviews I’ve done.

Here are some highlights:

• The Importance of Becoming Great at Being Interviewed
• How to Establish Yourself As a Thought Leader
• What it Takes to End Up On the Cover of Major Magazines
• Why You Should Always Talk to Reporters at Conferences
• The Importance of Planning Your Potential Revenue Streams
• A Very Interesting Discussion on Dealing with Fear
• Why You Absolutely Need a Mentor
• How to Dramatically Enhance Creativity and Productivity Using Smart Drugs
• Why Slowing Down is Essential to Creativity

People and resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Dusti Arab
• Amy Porterfield
• The Facebook Marketing Webinar
• Think and Grow Rich
• Dave Asprey’s Anti-Aging Charity
• Bio Curious
• The Bullet Proof Diet

Originally published on August 4, 2010. Republished as a BlogcastFM Classic on January 5, 2012.

Unless you haven’t left your house or set foot in a bookstore (which would make you a really strange blogger), for the last five years, then it’s likely you have heard of or even subscribe to Ramit Sethi’s Blog. This has been one of the most eye opening interviews I’ve done and it really shifted my perspective. In this interview you’ll hear some really different perspectives on blogging.

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

• How Losing $2,000 Motivated Him to Learn About Money 
• The Unsuccessful I Will Teach You to be Rich Course He Created in College
• Telling the Right People About Your Blog and Content
• Using the First 6 Months to Find a Voice
• How to Write a Series that Generates a Sh*tloads of Traffic
• The Reality of Publishing a Book
• Why You Shouldn’t Focus Your Relationships Building Efforts on the A-list
• Why Blogs are an AWFUL Way to Make Money
• How Turning Down $100,000 in Sales Enabled him to Connect to His Audience
• The Most Important Questions to Ask to Determine Your Audience
• Segmenting Your Readers and Targeting them Accordingly
• Why He Didn’t Monetize for 3 Years
• The Advantages of Freelancing
• The Keys to Effective Email Marketing
• Dispelling the Passive Income Myth (Something You Really Need to Hear)

Ramit Sethi writes about personal finance and personal entrepreneurship at I Will Teach You to Be Rich. He has a specialty in persuasion and behavioral change. You can follow him on twitter @ramit.

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One of our goals for 2012 is to become a top 100 show in iTunes. We can get there with your help and it will enable us to improve the how and bring on even bigger guests. So if you can, we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. 

Julien is no stranger to success. It’s a given – he’s written a New York Times Best Seller with his co-author Chris Brogan.  So  when I met him at BlogWorld, I knew that I had to get him as a guest on BlogcastFM. To start the year off with such a high profile interview really excites me for what’s coming in the new year.

Here are some highlights from our chat:

• Why Julien Hops Platforms as Often as Possible and Experiments with New Platforms 
• An In-Depth Look Into the Kindle Publishing Process and the Audience it Gives You Access To
• How Being an Early Adopter Can Result in Massive Growth for Your Personal Brand
• Leveraging Your Existing Network to Build Your Audience
• Julien’s Process for Writing Content That Results in massive amounts of traffic
• How our Concern for Audience Response Holds Back our Content
• Why Publishing a Book Raises Your Credibility
• Some Key Tips to Associating Yourself With Bigger Names
• Why Small Private Invite Only Events Can Be Incredibly Useful

Some people and resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Epic Meal Time
• John Lajoie
• Monique Johnson
• Revolution Apparel
• Scott Stratten
• Trust Agents
• The Flynch
• Never Eat Alone and Keith Ferrazzi

Julien Smith is a blogger, consultant, and speaker who has been involved in online communities for over 15 years. He was one of the first Twitter users and among the first people to use podcasting in 2004. You can follow him on twitter @julien.

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One of our goals for 2012 is to become a top 100 show in iTunes. We can get there with your help and it will enable us to improve the how and bring on even bigger guests. So if you can, we’d be really grateful if you write us a review in iTunes. 

If you’ve been in the social media space for sometime, then Mari Smith is probably no stranger to you. She has been really influential in shaping the way businesses use Facebook and wrote the book Facebook Marketing in an Hour a Day.  She recently also just released another book, The New Relationship Marketing. I learned a ton speaking to Mari during our chat.

I’ve shared some of the major highlights below:

• How Being on a Beta Test Team for a Facebook App Became a Career Defining Moment 
• Why You Have Access to ANYBODY YOU WANT – Because of Social Media
• Key Things You Should Do Before Attending Any Event
• The Importance of Focus in Growing Your Business and Deciding What Problem You Solve
• The Five Circles of Building Relationships Online
• Balancing Your Social Media Efforts Between Engagement and Promotion
• Some Great Insights into Using Google+
• Why Google+ Hangouts Will be an Instrumental Way to Connect with Your  Customers
• The Marketing Plan Behind Mari’s Most Recent Book
• Why Publishing a Book Increases Your Authority
• How to Make Your Next Presentation Really Engaging

Mari Smith is a passionate social media speaker, author of ‘The New Relationship Marketing’ and’Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day’, and a bubbly Scottish-Canadian. You can follower her on twitter @MariSmith.

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Pat has been a two-time guest here on BlogcastFM. He is somebody who is always a great guest to interview because he’s always got so much valuable insight to share with people.  I’ve been fortunate enough to spend quite a bit of time hanging out with him at BlogWorld.

Here are some highlights from our nine-minute chat:

• Why Pat is Expanding Beyond Written Content 
• The Surprising #1 Source of Pat’s Traffic
• What It Takes to Stand Out in a Really Crowded Niche
• The Power of Being Completely Transparent in Your Efforts

Pat Flynn is a professional blogger, serial entrepreneur, podcast host, author, mentor, coach & most importantly – a father and a husband. You can follow him on twitter @patflynn.

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With the New Year right around the corner, we thought it would be a great opportunity to clear out our queue of video interviews. This one in particular will probably be of interest to any of you who are considering applying to be a speaker at BlogWorld in 2012.

Here are some of the highlights from my seven minutes with Deb:

• What Goes into Organizing BlogWorld
• What Deb Looks for in a BlogWorld Speaking Proposal
• The Red Flags that Kill Your Proposal
• How to Educate People with Your Content
• A Key Tip to Continuing a Conversation with People Who Attend Your Speaking Session
• and Much More…

Deb Ng is a social media enthusiast, oversharer, Conference Director for BlogWorld, and the author of Online Community Management for Dummies. You can follow her on twitter @debng.

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The New Year is right around the corner and we have a ton of new podcasts coming for you at the start of the year.

We also still have a queue of video interviews from BlogWorld LA that we haven’t shared with you yet. Today you get to here from none other than Darren Rowse himself. I snagged a few minutes with him and he had some great things to share in this interview.

• Why You Need to Create an Emotional Connection with Your Readers
• Trends in the Blogosphere
• What Makes People Stand Out in a Crowded Market Full of Noise
• A Look at the Process Behind Managing ProBlogger
• The Impact of Taking Small Actions Over Time

Darren Rowse, most famously of ProBlogger, has been blogging about Blogging and Photography (and a little Tweeting from the Trenches of a Family with 3 Boys). He is a full-time blogger making a living from the medium since 2004. You can follow him on twitter @problogger.

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Originally published October 25, 2010 and republished as a BlogcastFM Classic on December 22, 2011.

In our survey, some of you had asked us to do a segment where we follow a blog in progress, so we did. April and I spoke shortly before BlogWorld. She was the winner of the 1-hour consulting session that we gave away here at BlogcastFM.  When I spoke to April, her blog was only one month old. She took just one of the ideas from the consulting session that I did with her and got some phenomenal results.

Here are some highlights from our chat:

• Going Through the Forums in Your Niche to Identify Key Problems You Can Solve 
• How She Went from 20 People Reading Her Blog to 800 Visits in One Day by Writing a Series
• How the Series She Wrote Resulted in 11-13 Email Subscribers Per Day
• Why the Series Put Her on the Etsy Must Read for Success List (like a guest post on Problogger for her niche)
• Positioning Your Series in Such a Way that It is Incredibly Appealing to Other Bloggers (even when you are the smallest blogger)
• The Keys to Making Sure that Nobody Participating in Your Joint Series Drops the Ball
• How Even a Small Group of Writers Collaborating Can Reach a Large Audience
• The Amazing Relationships that Resulted from Writing a Joint Series
• Using the Power of Small Bloggers to Connect with Big Bloggers

Blacksburgbelle was started by April and her mother-in-law to help other creative women lead more fulfilling lives doing what they love.  Their mission is to teach people how to fill their days with creativity, inspiration, time with friends and family, and of course, money, honey.  You can follow her on twitter @blacksburgbelle.

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Republished as part of our BlogcastFM 2010 Rewind and as a BlogcastFM Classic on December 21, 2011.

To say that The Art of Manliness is a successful  blog would be putting it lightly.  In two years, Brett McKay has turned his blog into one of the most popular blogs in the blogosphere.  In this hourlong conversation with Brett, I had him walk me through all the things that have led him to where he’s at today. I’m confident you guys are going to love this interview.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

• How Cutting His Teeth on One Blog Led to the Runaway Success of The Art of Manliness
• How He Grew His First Personal Blog to Roughly 1,000 Subscribers
• How He Grew The Art of Manliness to 75,000 Subscribers and 2.6 Million Page Views a Month in Two Years
• The Earliest Connections He Made with Bloggers Who Were Just Starting Out (You’ve Heard of Every Single One of These People)
• Achieving the Same Goals it Took One Year to Hit in Two Months with a Second Blog
• The Importance of Consistent Branding and Messaging
• The Keys that Have Differentiated The Art of Manliness from Men’s Magazines
• The Brainstorming Process Behind the Launch of The Art of Manliness
• The Limited ROI of Commenting
• Why You’ve Been Underestimating Friends and Family
• How the Volume of Traffic Enables a Primarily Ad Supported Blog
• The Art of Manliness Book Deal Process
• Using an Online Forum to Create Community Around Your Blog

Founded in January 2008, The Art of Manliness is a blog focused on reviving the lost art of manliness. With over 2 million monthly page views, The Art of Manliness represents a new kind of magazine for men, one that focuses on helping men become better citizens, fathers, husbands, friends, and simply all around better men. Husband and wife team, Brett and Kate McKay head up the blog. They live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You can follow them on twitter @artofmanliness

This BlogcastFM Interview has a corresponding worksheet and mind map in BlogcastFM Premium.

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David and I go way back – to the day I reached out to him to ask if I could be the first guest on his podcast. He was kind enough to let me subject his audience to my madness. We had a natural chemistry and have been talking so much since then that it was probably only a matter of time before David joined the BlogcastFM team.

Here are some highlights from this episode:

• How We Created a Product and Put It Up for Sale in Less than 48 hours (this fuels our occasional drinking habits) 
• David’s #1 Tip for Getting Products and E-Books Done
• Why You Need to Shift Your Energy to Revenue-Generating Activities
• Sid’s Departure from BlogcastFM
• Why You Need to Implement Ideas that You Can Act on Quickly
• An In-Depth Look Into our Highly Productive Brainstorming Process
• The BlogcastFM Mastermind Group on Google+
• The Early Adopters’ Advantage
• Why You Could Have a Significant Advantage on Google+
• A Creative Exercise that You Can Do Using Slideshare to Improve Your Writing
• The New Consulting Model We’ll Be Incorporating into BlogcastFM
• A Preview of The Blogger SandBox
• A Major Change in the Editorial Calendar
• What Television Networks Can Teach You About Repurposing Content

Resources and people mentioned in this episode include:

• Interview with Dave Navarro
• Chris Ducker
• How to Grow Your Blog With Interviews
• Tim Conley, Foolish Adventure
• Derek Halpern’s Post on Plugging Subscriber Leaks
• Spreecast
• Ryan Crowe

Slideshare Presentations by David include:

• Speak Your Mind
• The Anti-Resume
• Blogworld 2011 Recap

David Crandall is the official husband and father of the Crandall family, a hero, and an adventurer. You can follow him on twitter @davidcrandall.

Republished as a BlogcastFM Classic on December 15, 2011. Originally published on May 17, 2010.

Ashley Ambirge of the Middle Finger Project is COMPLETELY INSANE and I love her for it. In this interview, you’ll get to finally here the voice behind the madness that goes on at her blog. 

Here’s just a few of the highlights from our chat:

• The Power of Being Impulsive
• How to Overcome All the Technological Knowledge Barriers Standing in Your Way
• Why a Blog is an Excellent Outlet
• The Importance of Writing Whatever You Want, However You Want
• The Power of Collaborative Projects and an Intro to Way Below Status Quo
• Avoiding the Echo Chamber in the Blogosphere
• Why You Need to Respond to Every Comment
• How to Develop Your Voice as a Blogger
• Moving Relationships from Twitter to Skype
• The Advantages of Writing a Blog Post on a Whim
• An Interesting Chat About All the Amazing People You are Automatically Connected to as a Blogger

Ashley Ambirge is the genius behind The Middle Finger Project where she is rejecting the status quo and rebelling against mediocrity. She is a sassy, foul-mouthed small biz blogger and copywriter, helping people leverage the internet to do meaningful work that makes them money. You can follow her on Twitter @tmfproject.

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A few weeks back, Emilie emailed me about the results from from her launch. Once she told me the results, I just knew that we had to have her on to share exactly how she did this. I was really blown away by what she told me, especially because so much of it was counter to conventional wisdom that you may have heard throughout the blogosphere.

Here are some highlights:

• How Emilie Turned Her Inability to Choose a Niche into Her Business Model  
• Why You Need an Overarching Theme that Enables You to Write About Many Subjects
• The Importance of Coaches and Mentors in the Process of Growing Your Business
• Insights into Identifying the Key Elements of Your Brand
• How Emilie Has Grown Rapidly Over the Course of a Year
• An Email Newsletter Strategy That Results in 60- 80% Open Rates
• How to Study Your Comments and Readers to Develop Product Offerings
• Determining Your High Value Activities

Lori previously appeared here on BlogcastFM in our post Lori Deschene On Taking Tiny Buddha from Blog to Book Deal. And now, given that her book recently came out, I decided to bring her back on to talk about the end result – the writing process and the promotional plan behind the launch of the book.

Here are some highlights from our chat:

• What Lori Looks for in Contributions to the Tiny Buddha Web Site
• An In-depth Look into the Process of Writing a Book
• How to Outline a Book and Create Structure from Your Blog Posts
• How to Involve Readers, Fans, and Followers in the Content Creation Process
• Why You Should Just Start Writing  - and Connect the Dots When It’s Finished
• The Importance that Your Platform Plays in the Publishing Process
• Supplemental Items that Lori Included as Part of Her Book Launch
• An Amazing Photo Competition on Life’s Hard Questions that Got Lori’s Readers Involved
• A Guest Post Blog Tour Lori is Using to Spread the Word About Her Book

Lori Deschene is the founder of Tiny Buddha. Her new book, Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions, is available at online retailers and independent bookstores. She is an LA transplant who loves travel, adventure, yoga, theater, and the beach. You can follow her on twitter @lori_deschene.

Lara Kulpa is a girly web geek, obsessed with WordPress, and Community Manager for BlogWorld and New Media Expo. She began her community management career back in the late 1990s. You can follow her on twitter @larakulpa.

Hopefully you’re enjoying the little change up that we’ve got going this week. You know, our running video interviews that we recorded at BlogWorld LA. In this interview, I sat down with former BlogcastFM guest Corbett Barr who always has some great insights to share.

Here are some highlights from the interview:

• How Corbett Has Been Successful in a Very Crowded Niche
• Why Differentiation and Standing Out Is Essential
• Why Content Alone Will Not Make You Stand Out
• The Importance of  Identifying Your Core Message and Having a Voice
• Insights into Million Dollar Blog Project and Corbett’s New Site Expert Enough

Corbett Barr is encouraging people who want to do meaningful work AND live a fun and adventurous life. He is also an independent writer and entrepreneur. You can follow him on twitter @CorbettBarr and @ThinkTraffic.

Hey Everybody,

I finally got a chance to catch up briefly with Chris Brogan at Blogworld LA 2011. Yes, there is a somewhat comical start to this interview, but I assure you he really did share some great insights with me on things:

• A Look Back at Chris Brogan’s Start with Blogging
• Why Helping People is Essential to Your Blog Taking Off
• What Causes an Up and Coming Blogger to Stand Out
• The Biggest Mistakes that Bloggers Make
• The Best Thing You Can Do for Your Audience to Turn Them into Community

Chris Brogan is a business communications and emerging technology guy. He consults and speaks professionally with Fortune 100 and 500 companies on the future of business communications, and social software technologies. His blog is in the Top 5 of the Advertising Age Power150. You can follow him on twitter @chrisbrogan.

From time to time we get a guest here on BlogcastFM who packs an interview with so much information that I feel like we could sell it as a product. CC Chapman has been on my radar for some time and we finally got to sit down at BlogWorld LA and chat. He’s been around the blogosphere for a really long time and it definitely shows in all of the knowledge he demonstrates.

I was thrilled that we finally got him here on BlogcastFM as a guest because he shares some amazing insights in this interview.

• The Advantage of Showing Up Early and Often at Conferences
• How Growing Your Audience Has Changed Over the Years
• Meeting in Person: One of the Most Important Things You Can Do
• Building a Social Media Campaign: A Real World Example
• Key Components to Influencer Outreach
• The Importance of Giving the Customers You’re Trying to Serve an Experience
• The Process of Co-Writing a Book
•  Why You Can’t Ignore Google+
• An In-Depth View into the Marketing and Promotion Plan for Content Rules

One of my favorite things about hosting BlogcastFM is discovering new people who are up to really amazing things. I actually came across Josh Waldman because he’d been featured on Pamela Slim’s blog right after he published his new book Job Searching With Social Media for Dummies. Josh not only shared some great tips on the using social media but I grilled him on his writing process.

There are quite a few priceless gems in this one:

• How Josh Turned 2 Layoffs into a Major Blessing in Disguise 
• One Simple Tweak to Your Newsletter that Will Get Your Traffic Up
• Why Your Content Really Needs to Cater to Your Audience
• How Josh Built a Substantial Audience in the Offline World by Speaking
• Some Great Tips on  Getting Free Speaking Gigs
• How to Figure Out Who the Customers Are in Your Business
• One ABSOLUTELY KILLER TIP to Organize Your Book
• The Importance of Video Taping Every Single Gig
• Why LinkedIn is a Really Important Tool

Some of the resources and people mentioned include:

• Pamela Slim
• Garr Reynolds and Presentation Zen
• Jenny Blake’s Life After College

 Josh Waldman is Vice President of Social Media at Corporate Warriors and a gym rat vegetarian. He blogs at CareerEnlightenment.com. You can follow him on twitter @JoshuaWaldman.

Adam Baker and Karol Gajda have both been wildly successful with their own blogs. Baker previously appeared on our How ManvsDebt grew to over 4000 Subscribers in less than a Year episode and Karol was on Building Guitars by Hand, Extraordinary Freedom, and Effective Guest Posting.

While we’re excited about this sale, I wanted to also provide you guys with something educational. What these guys did was find a way to pack an INSANE amount of value into one sales offer by combining the products of some of the most successful people in the blogosphere.

These are some highlights:

• How Karol Made $45,000 in 3 days with His First Fire Sale
• The Tremendous Role that Relationships Play in the Ability to Execute this Sale
• Useful Criteria for Having your Product Included in the Only72 Sale
• Understanding the Fine Line Between Modeling Somebody and Blatantly Copying
• Why You Shouldn’t Be Intimidated by the Bigger Bloggers
• The Two Different Packages Available in the Sale

• Robert Collier Letter Book
• Ramit
• JD Roth
• Jonathan Fields
• Leo Babauta

I hope that you guys had an amazing Thanksgiving holiday and ate lots of turkey.

If you know anything about me, you know that coding or design is not one of my skills. That’s why when I saw what was possible with Headway 3.0, I was really blown away. Imagine a framework that you can customize to your heart’s content without knowing a thing about web design!  If you think design doesn’t matter – think again. I’ve made the decision to subscribe to a blog based on the design.

Here are some highlights from this episode:

• Why Headway is Perfect for People Who Don’t Know Anything About Web Design
• The Wide Array of Features and Functionality in Headway 3.0
• An Amazing New Visual Editor
• A Special Consulting Offer for Anybody Who Purchases Headway
• How I Gave The Skool of Life a Facelift in 24 Hours Using Headway

Headway allows bloggers to take full control of their website’s design for WordPress with its intuitive drag and drop layout creator. Great blog design for everyone from beginners to pros has never been faster or more flexible.

If you’ve been keeping up with our Facebook page or what we were up to at Blogworld LA, then you know that we spent a good amount of time creating video content while there. It’s a new area and a new arena for us. Admittedly, I’ve resisted for quite some time, but the Livefyre booth at Blogworld LA was really the perfect opportunity to put this to the test.  First up in this series is our good friend Marcus Sheridan. As usual, he more than delivered on our initial expectations.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

• How to Make Your Content Useful in a Boring Industry
• Why Kindergarten Teachers Would Make the Best Content Marketers
• Creating Content that Brings People to Your Web Site
• Why Teaching Your Customers is an Important Part of Strategy

Marcus Sheridan writes The Sales Lion blog, where he passionately writes about all things inbound as well as content marketing, small business, and life success principles. He’s published three self-help books and became a full-time web coach for businesses in 2010. You can follow him on twitter @TheSalesLion.

Unless you’ve been on the moon for the last 90 days, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Danny Iny. He’s the guy behind Firepole Marketing and he literally showed up everywhere in the last couple of months. Because of that, I knew that I had to find out exactly how he did it.

Here are just a few of the highlights from our chat:

• How Danny Used Guest Posts and Showed Up Everywhere 
• Developing a Business Strategy for Your Blog
• What It Takes to Really Start Making Money from Your Blog
• Identifying the Value You Can Provide
• An Interview with Penelope Trunk that You Must Hear

Danny Iny is a business and marketing strategist, consultant, coach, serial entrepreneur, and super-friendly guy. He quit school when he was fifteen to start his first business, and has been doing it ever since. You can follow him on twitter @DannyIny.

***SPECIAL OFFER***

Srini is offering a hefty discount on Relationship Marketing for Bloggers. If you enter the promo code PODCAST, you get it for only 10 dollars.

Angela England is a blogger who lives in rural Oklahoma. However, don’t let that fool you though.  She’s been a blogging rockstar and has been at it since 2006, making her a veteran of the blogosphere. She came recommended by Heather Solos, a former BlogcastFM guest and has two other sites, Untrained Housewife and 30 Day eBook.

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

• How Angela Turned a Negative Comment into a Popular and Positive Post 
• The Residual Effect of Blogging
• How to Select E-Book Topics
• How to Recruit Killer Affiliates for Your Product

Angela England is a stay-at-home mother, freelance writer, editor, blogger, massage therapist, doula, and gardener. Founder of Untrained Housewife. You can follow her on twitter @AngEngland.

While some people sell digital products and e-books, Dave exemplifies what it really means to self-0publish a book. He didn’t just write the book and put together a PDF. Instead, he got physical copies of the book printed – and put forth a phenomenal marketing effort behind it. Here are some of the details of our conversation:

• The Importance of Understanding Your Personal Brand
• The Book-Writing Process: A Detailed Look
• How to Pitch to Literary Agents and Publishers
• The Mechanics of Marketing Your Self-Published Book
• How Dave Got His Book Integrated Into the Curriculum of a University Course

I know many of you have been waiting for us to do this. So I finally recorded a video today. Watch the video to find out who the winner is.

If you want to see some of what we captured from BWELA, check out what we were tweeting from @blogcastfm, @capsun, and @skooloflife.

Below is our recap of Day 3:

We hosted an impromptu Breakfast and Blogging session and invited anyone at BWELA to stop by. Srini, Sid, and Capsun had some engaging conversations with Lara Kulpa of BlogWorld, Ali Luke of Aliventures, Kristi Hines of Kikolani, Bob Dunn, Are Morch, and Sandra Foyt. We talked all things blogging, from building a community, to getting started, to platforms from WordPress to Blogger to TypePad, and even some cool WordPress themes and plugins.

In Jason Falls‘ session on This is All Such BS, he shared a lot of good tips on how to spot BS and what to do when you encounter it. It was insightful, interesting, and entertaining:

• BS defined: declarations of fact without knowledge, experience, or proof.
• Ask better questions. Some good ones: Where’d the data come from? Where has it been tested? How many variables has it been tested against? How does it apply to my…
• Don’t believe it just because you read it on the internet. It’s the single largest repository on the planet for BS.
• Bring some civility when you call BS on others. It’s OK to criticize and attack the ideas of others. It’s not OK to attack the people who share them.

Don’t forget, we’re tweeting from @blogcastfm, @capsun, and @skooloflife - so look there for the most timely updates.

Below is our recap of Day 2 from our lunch on:

After the Technorati keynote, we checked out the Expo Hall where we saw WordPress and Blubrry, two of the services we use to bring you BlogcastFM. Srini did more interviews, including Chris Brogan who spoke on Google+ yesterday.

We had lunch with Janice Croze, Marcus Sheridan, and Anne-Sophie of a Mind Media (whom we discovered during our conversation was a friend of our prolific guest Farnoosh Brock).

After that, we headed to what was supposed to be 8 iPhone tools and tips session with Tom Martin. Instead, he surprised us with 28 iPhone tools! That’s too many to list, but here are some of his suggestions:

• For photos: Photogene, Camera+, TiltShiftGen, AutoStitch, and Big Eyes Camera.
• For video: iMovie, Vimeo, Flare. and iTimeLapse.
• Other apps: ipadio for podcasting live right from your iPhone and Dragon Dictation to be your secretary.
  
• Accessories: Brando Mini-Directional Mic about the size of a quarter, the iRig mic, and KV Connector to use a regular 3.5mm mic with your phone.

Don’t forget, we’re tweeting from @blogcastfm, @capsun, and @skooloflife - so look there for the most timely updates.

Below is our recap of the first part of Day 2:

We got up early today, so we made the most of it by attending the networking breakfast. There, we met-up with Ali Luke and David Risley. We also met Caryn of The Midlife Guru and Doron of Best Saxophone Webite Ever.

For our first session of the day, we joined Chris Garret and Sonia Simone as they discussed, “What’s the Difference Between a Tribe and a Business?” Their advice included:

• Your tribe starts with you. Your passion and how you frame or interpret that passion will set your tribe apart.
  
• Don’t be afraid of who you are. Tell the truth.
• You are the leader. That means you’re the adult and should start acting like it. Set the rules that will support your tribe and ultimately your own goals.
  
• You can move from free to paid. You need to know what your tribe is willing to pay for. The business sweet spot is when what you’ve got is what people want or need and they want it more than they want their money.

Don’t forget, we’re tweeting from @blogcastfm, @capsun, and @skooloflife - so look there for the most timely updates.

Below is our recap of the rest of Day 1:

After breaking bread during lunch with BlogcastFM alumni Pace and Kyeli Smith, we headed over to get some tips on using virtual assistants with Chris Ducker, another BlogcastFM alum. Here are just a couple of the effective tips he shared:

• How he uses videos and screencasts to train his virtual assistant on how to do things exactly as he wants.
• Don’t forget how important the good-old interview is. You should use the same process to interview as if they were sitting right in front of you. Just because they’re virtual doesn’t mean you won’t have real issues if you don’t make a good hire to begin with.

It was then off to hear Debba Haupert talk about growing and engaging your online community. Here are some nuggets she had:

• Know your community and don’t expect them to think like you. For example, she was putting effort into engaging her community on Twitter, but her community preferred Facebook, something she found out by asking them which they preferred. Once she asked them, she was able to refocus her efforts on the one that would get results.
• Content is king, but engagement is queen. You need to have great content that people will like, but if it’s not engaging, you can only go so far. Engaging your audience will help you build them into a community.
• Don’t worry about large numbers. A lot of people want to have a large audience, but she prefers a smaller audience that is more engaged than a large audience that doesn’t

Well, we’re finally getting around to posting our first “liveblog” from BlogWorld LA. Anyone who has attended a conference knows how hectic it can be. We’ve been tweeting from @blogcastfm, @capsun, and @skooloflife for the most timely updates.

Below is our recap so far:

The morning started off with a kick-ass session of Guy Kawasaki and Chris Brogan talking about Google+ and its uses for business. Here are some of the gems they shared:

• You need to make relationships before you think about making sales, whether on Google+ or any other social media service. (Chris)
• You will find people very passionate about an infinite number of interests on Google+. (Guy)
• Third-party services are great for Google+ and social media in general. Remember that a service or platform knows how to market the platform, but not necessarily how to market using that platform. (Guy)

At some point, Srini even bumped into Cali Lewis of GeekBeat.tv, where he was able to share information about how BlogcastFM helps bloggers promote their blogs and take them to the next level.

If you’ve seen our web site in the last few weeks, you might have noticed a new guy on our About page – and wondering who exactly he is. Today we’re going to put an end to the mystery – and you can hear from Capsun himself.  We’re adding team members here at BlogcastFM as we move forward into what is going to be a very exciting phase of our journey.

Here are a few of the highlights from my chat with him:

• The Challenges of Blogging Under Somebody Else’s Brand or Name
  
• A Look at Social Media Marketing in the Political World
• What Goes into Producing an Episode of BlogcastFM
• How We’ll Bring You Guys Live Coverage from Blogworld LA
• And more…

Alright guys, I know I’ve been tweeting, and constantly telling you to stay tuned for a big announcement for almost three weeks. Well, it’s finally here. After 18 months and almost 200 interviews, we’re really proud to share a major milestone in our journey with you.

Today I’m thrilled to announce our new sponsor and strategic partner – Livefyre.  For this episode we sat down with CEO Jordan Kretchmer and community manager Jenna Langer. Jordan even did something really cool and decided to give away a free Kindle Fire as part of the announcement, but you’ll have to listen to figure out how to win.

Here are some of the highlights from our chat:

• The Power of the Livefyre Platform
• Entrepreneurship Lessons from the CEO of a Venture-Funded Startup
• A Preview of Coming Attractions and New Content Offerings
• Why You Should Join Us for Happy Hour at BlogWorld
• And much more…

Livefyre is changing conversation on the web; it turns comment sections into live conversations. Jordan Kretchmer is founder and CEO of Livefyre; he went from Designer, to Creative Director, to brand guy, to entrepreneur. Jenna Langer is Director of Community and Strategy at Livefyre; she is taking time to share her startup journey and archive her past. You can follow them on twitter: @livefyre, @jkretch, and @jennalanger.

Sid here, and I’m writing up this podcast because Srini is busy preparing for his BlogWorld presentation next week.

Before I get to what we cover in this special episode, I want to give a shout out to the BlogWorld team, including Deb, Rick, Dave, Lara, Chris, and everyone else who has been doing such a phenomenal job, as well as all the track leaders.

Scroll down for information on the details of Sid and Srini’s presentations, as well as the exact time and location we’re speaking.

In today’s episode we break down:

• Srini’s Presentation on Maximizing Engagement
  
• How Srini is Preparing – with the Help of a Presentation Expert
• What Sid Means By “Applying” Rather Than “Abusing” Influence
• How You Can Meet Us at BlogWorld

Srinivas Rao and Sid Savara are the co-founders of BlogcastFM – and they’re BOTH speaking at BlogWorld LA (use code BLOGCAST20). Srini is an avid surfer and personal development blogger while Sid is a software engineer who has set up more blogs than he can remember. You can follow them on twitter: @skooloflife and @sidsavara.

Sid’s BlogWorld Presentation

Accelerate Your Blog’s Growth Using Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence
3:45 PM to 4:45 PM – Thu., Nov. 3rd, Room 502 B (Put it on your calendar)
Track: Traffic & Distribution

Sid Savara breaks down each of Robert Cialdini’s Six Weapons of Influence, and scientifically applies them to blogging.   These 6 “weapons of influence” include Reciprocity, Commitment and Consistency, Social Proof, Authority, Liking, Scarcity.  Understanding human psychology and the way that your readers perceive you allows you to ethically position your blog in a way that will increase traffic, subscribers, and ultimately help you sell more to your customers.

Key Points

1. Learn how A-list bloggers subtly use the power of persuasion to increase sign ups to their email lists – and how you can, too.
2. Sid will demonstrate how he ethically bonds with his audience, and positions himself so they keep coming back for more.
3. If you’re looking to monetize your blog, you’ll come away with actionable tips on how to sell more of your product (if that’s what you want).

Srini’s BlogWorld Presentation

How to Maximize Engagement with Your Audience
3:30 PM to 4:30 PM – Sat., Nov. 5th, Room 502 A (Put it on your calendar)
Track: Content Creation

Over the past two years, BlogcastFM has grown to over 30,000 downloads a month and developed a listener base that tunes in for more than two hours a week. Some blogs have thriving communities, while others seem to be in a black hole. In this session, we’ll dissect the keys to maximizing engagement with your audience.

At the end of this session, bloggers will walk away armed with the knowledge that gets their audience talking not just to them, but about them.

Key Points

1. How to Create an Unforgettable User Experience
2. Why Relationships Keep Your Readers Coming Back
3. Why Quality Trumps Quantity in the Long Run

This was probably one of my favorite interviews I’ve done.

A few weeks back, I was walking through the Borders in my hometown and I stumbled upon a book called The Accidental Creative. When I picked it up and thumbed through it, I saw that it had been endorsed by a number of best-selling authors and successful bloggers. So I bought it and raced through it within about 36 hours. Fortunately, when I contacted the author Todd Henry, he agreed to be a guest on BlogcastFM.  Here are a few of the highlights from our chat:

• The Two Core Elements of Your Personal Brand
• How the Desire to Share a Message Can be Incredibly Powerful
• The Importance of Consistent Action
• Why You Have to be Original If you Want to Develop a Loyal Audience
• The One and Only Difference Between Writing a Book and Blogging
• Red Zone Activities That Are Key to Your Creative Success

We’re getting close to wrapping up this series of guests that I discovered by accident. Pamela Wilson is yet another of the star students from Jon Morrow’s guest blogging course. As I expected, she was absolutely stellar. Here are a few of the highlights from our chat:

• Understanding Your Audience’s Needs to Develop Products
• How to Make Yourself Seem Like a Big Brand with Your Blog
• The Rule of Two for Visual Branding
• Identifying Your Big Brand Promise

Chris came onto my radar because he reached out to me and mentioned that he had been a guest on another popular podcast.  Although he’s new to the world of blogging and the making money online niche, he’s actually been wildly successful in the gaming niche. Here are some highlights:

• How to Become an Expert in a Slightly Related Niche
• The Importance of Guest Posting on Blogs Outside Your Niche
• What Chris Does to Make $10,000 a Month from His Blog
• Some Keys to Selling Products on Your Blog
• Selling Products Through Audio Content
• Killer Tips for a More Effective Newsletter

Chris Antoni has been blogging on multiple websites for over three years. His current current project is The Traffic Blogger, where he focuses on showing others how to drive traffic, build relationships, and earn money. You can follow him on twitter @foldberg1.

I came across Carol Tice at Copyblogger because of a brilliant post that she wrote on 12 Ways to Turn Your Old, Dusty Blog Archive into Cold, Hard Cash. I decided to take her advice in that post – to see if it would work. When it got immediate results, I realized that we had to learn more from her. Fortunately she agreed to be a guest and shared some brilliant advice. Here are some of the highlights:

• How Carol Became One of the Top 10 Blogs For Writers
• What it Takes to Become a Stellar Writer
• Some Interesting Insights into Why A-List Bloggers are So Successful
• Why Live Events Will Gave a Huge Impact on the Future of Blogging
• The Keys to Launching a Successful Community
• And Much More…

Carol Tice is a fun-loving, experienced freelance writer, journalist, and copywriter. Her blog is recognized as one of the Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2011. She is also Den Mother of The Freelance Writers Den. You can follow her on twitter @TiceWrites.

Heather Allard has had a somewhat unconventional entry into the world of blogging. She started out by selling a physical product first, and then started a blog afterwards. She’s a true entrepreneur in every sense of the word, with all the knowledge and experience that goes with the territory. Here are some of our highlights from our chat:

• Key Lessons from Physical Products that Can Be Applied to Your Blog
• Some Major Tips on Getting Mainstream Media Attention
• Why You Should Guest Post on Blogs Outside Your Niche
• How to Develop Products for Your Online Business
• Heather’s Amazing Tips that Make Your Products Successful