I shared an excellent post for bloggers interested in making money from Kimberly Canterbury (@AskKim) recently on how to prioritize. I took the time to draw the sales funnel that Kim suggested:
Draw a funnel shape on the paper (that’s your “marketing funnel”)
The closer it is to the bottom of the funnel the more priority it gets.
Even though I’m graphics challenged I managed to create a reproduction here so that other bloggers can see the priorities I chose:
Since I already have my methods of driving traffic in place, only a couple of them (paid blog posts and non-paid guest posts) appear in my funnel. I can create a similar funnel later for ways to drive traffic.
Making sure I published all my posts/pages for services that I offer was step one for me. See Why Your Blog Should Have a Hire Me page because one of the most consistent methods a blogger can use to earn money is offering skills they already have as services.
The next step is completing a free ebook to offer as an incentive for subscribing to this blog. This is my new priority – one that has taken a long time because it involves several other people.
As soon as the final version of the ebook is formatted, I have to enlist the assistance of self-publishing expert Ivin Viljoen because what has to happen then is very complicated:
- Get it uploaded to the server
- Configure FeedBlitz or AWeber to handle subscriptions
- Integrate a subscription form into the right sidebar
- Possibly create an autoresponder series subscribers would receive which involves writing each email, determining the optimum time between emails, and getting those emails wherever they need to go to get sent out
- Probably write a thank you for subscribing email and get it uploaded wherever it has to go
- Ensure that the entire process works smoothly
Rotating ad spaces refers to a method of monetizing a blog that displays rotating ads (either paid ads or affiliate banners). My plan is to rotate 300×250 ads where the box in my right sidebar currently shows an ad for List Building for Bloggers. I have already selected many ads that should appeal to my readers because they are related to social media for bloggers and small businesses.
I have asked my WordPress Ninja Derek Semmler to add another ad box above the header for 728×90 affiliate banner rotation. I have selected ads for that rotation too and obtained the XHTML versions he recommended. These two sizes and positions are the most commonly used monetization methods on sites like Technorati and should give GrowMap a more professional look.
Paid Blog Posts refers to my writing posts for blogs that are willing to pay for my expertise, but it could also include paid Blog Outreach work.
Non-paid guest posts are the method I will be using to attract more small business readers. By choosing blogs that already have primarily small businesses reading them I can raise my visibility in that niche.
As I mentor others on Twitter Best Practices, Blogging Collaborations and Small Business Internet Marketing I document what works and what questions others ask and will take that experience and those case studies and notes and turn them into ebooks I will offer for sale as comprehensive manuals small businesses and bloggers can use.
Was any of this helpful to you creating your own priorities funnel? Would you like me to create a driving traffic priorities funnel and publish it?
