How to Start an Online Business (Part 3)
There is an audio version below. NONE of the links in this series are affiliate links. I just want to give you value!
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We are in a series about how to start and grow an online business. Here are part one and part two if you missed them. An online business can be an excellent way to make some extra money on the side or something that supports a lifestyle you want to live.
It can involve travel, location independence, and freedom to spend your time on the things that are important to you. You can create it on the side and over time. It can grow into a business that brings in real money and supports your family.
I think we all know it’s not easy. Despite the challenges, I’m living proof of what’s possible. I wouldn’t be writing these words to you from Panama if it weren’t. I wouldn’t be getting ready to speak at a company here—far from my home on Maui—if the opportunities didn’t exist. Let’s continue.
5. Use exposure.
When I say “exposure,” I mean getting featured on the largest websites in the world. You can have your writing, podcast, or videos featured on websites that get millions of visitors. This is an untapped audience versus trying to reach the same audience in the online space that everyone else is trying to reach.
First, identify the websites that make sense for you message. I edit at the Good Men Project, a website that gets 10 million visitors a month. However, if your message isn’t specifically to men, it might not make sense for you to get featured on the Good Men Project.
Once you have found the sites, research what type of content they publish. Study what’s popular and why. To get the best picture, find a contributor whose work is close to yours, and look at their first article on that site. That first article is their pitch article, and you’re pitching.
This is a two-part process. First, get in and then you get a contributor account—you can then write about what you want. Write an article based off of what that site wants. For the Good Men Project, for example, it HAS to be about or for men. We don’t accept general articles that you can see anywhere else. Each site is looking for articles specific to their core message.
Next, find an editor to pitch to. For a guest blog, you pitch the blogger. For multi-author sites, such as Mind Body Green or Addicted 2 Success, you send the article to one email address. A large publication, such as the Huffington Post or Entrepreneur Magazine, has a submission portal. But, everyone will hit up that portal, so you want to pitch the editor directly to avoid the crowd. The links I gave you above will take you to the page that has the editors. You can find their email by checking their profile on the site they edit, or by googling their name.
When you pitch an editor, be brief—they won’t read a novel. The subject line should be personal to that editor—do your research. The first paragraph should continue what you said in the subject line. Tell the editor one specific way you got value. Give some writing samples—preferably not from your website. Say thank you and post the article IN THE BODY of the email. NO attachments (please read that again). To hear this step-by-step, listen to my interview on Smart Passive Income:
Once you get into some of these publications, leverage them to get into others. It’s much easier to get into more after you land that first one. It also does something for your mindset. In the next post, we’ll talk about how to leverage large publications for income.
So far we’ve talked about picking a topic. Ask yourself who you want to help and what you want to help them do. Then, create your foundation. Social media and your website should make it clear what value you offer to your audience.
Next, we talked about building your email list. Social media is a great start, but your email list is where the sales and communication will happen. And then we got into the most important part: building your audience. You need people who will see what you’re doing and spend a couple of bucks on your premium offerings.
Use exposure to build in a bigger way. There are more than enough people trying to reach the same audience. You’ve seen it: the podcast coach who’s trying to reach the audience that follows a bigger podcaster like John Lee Dumas. The book (insert editor, launcher, expert) who posts in Facebook groups about their services. They’re working hard to reach a saturated audience. Large publications offer you access to millions of people who haven’t been approached 100 times by the same people. Use that to your advantage. See you in part four.
Audio version:
How are you building your audience?
