List building is probably the most important part of internet marketing. Whether you have an online business or a brick and mortar one, you need to get a list of leads and a list of customers. Otherwise you’ll have no long term, sustainable business.

It helps a lot to have a blog before you start building an email list. If you missed my last 2 review posts of Blogging With John Chow which are about setting up a blog and blog content respectively, click on the links with the word blog in them in this sentence and read those posts.

Now we are ready to have a look at the fifth module of Blogging With John Chow course.

Module 5 – List Building

This module, as all the other modules so far, starts with a video with John Chow. In it John is talking about list building and the importance of starting to build your list right away. This video is over 4 minutes long.

Then, in text form, John in 5 paragraphs talks more about the importance of building a list. He cautions: “…your list needs to be built around the same principles as your blog -value, value, value.”

He also shares one of his emails sent to a fresh subscriber.

The Three Step Process

Step 1 – Bribe People to Join your List

Step 2 – Provide Valuable Information Regularly

Step 3 – Call them to Action

Note: I’d like to politely disagree with the word “bribe” John uses. I prefer to use the words  “give incentive” or “give the reason why” instead.

The word bribe is short and to the point but it’s not really what transpires. Bribe is given in illegal and under the table activities. In honest and legitimate businesses people give free samples, free information or free estimate incentives. Those are good reasons why people are willing to give their contact information.

The note above is just to clarify the intent behind the word John uses. So, please, keep it in mind. It actually becomes very obvious what he means when you read what he says later.

First, the Bribe

In nine paragraphs of text John expands on this theme. He goes on to say things like: “…when you ask someone to sign up to your email list, they must give you information – usually a name and an email address – and for that, you’d better bring the goods.” …”You over deliver. Just like you do in every blog post you write, video you record or image you share…”

What a Good Freebie Looks Like

John lists and describes 6 different options some of which are:

Video Course

Templates

Free eBook

After that John shows a screenshot of his site where his freebie and opt in box are visible.

Provide Valuable Information Regularly

In 7 paragraphs John discusses this topic and makes statements like the one below:

“…once you have someone on your list, your number one job is to make sure they stay there.”

The Content Magnet

The key here is consistency. It’s covered in 3 paragraphs.

Reprint and Enhance

John covers some strategies about what kind of information you can send to your subscribers. One of them is to reprint your blog post and send it out with some extra content.

Other Great Content

Send them other content that is not on your blog. For example webinars, free reports, videos. The idea here is to create a relationship with your subscribers.

Call them to Action

John gives a lot of information and very useful points and examples in more than two dozen paragraphs under this heading. I cannot quote everything in this review for obvious reasons. I can’t give away the store. But you can get an idea from the excerpts below:

“This is where you start making your move…When you send an email loaded with content, it should contain at least one call to action. Here’s why. You don’t know how many emails one person will read. If someone only reads one out of every five emails you send, it’s very easy for them to miss a pitch. If you include a pitch in every message, they will see it no matter which message they read.”

There is an example of the kind of email that is likely to drive people away – the hard sell and of an email that is likely to be gratefully accepted – the easy going and personalized soft sell.

Strategies to Build Your List

After four short paragraphs John continues on with

The Squeeze Page

After covering in 2 paragraphs what a squeeze page is in general John says that the traditional blog has the following capture methods:

Sidebar Opt in

Popover Opt in

The sidebar opt in is easily ignored and often is. The popover opt in is harder to ignore but people can close it right away.

The third option which John uses and gives a picture example of from his blog is a squeeze page.

He concludes the text under this heading by saying:

“You can then link to this page from any of your posts. This is effective if you are discussing something directly related to the freebie you are giving away. Don’t oversell  it…But don’t undersell it either…”

Email Suppression

Here John talks about the fact that you will not necessarily want all your emails to go to everyone on your list. Under a paragraph of text on this subject there is a near 6 minute video where John Chow is showing some of his AWeber tricks related to this. Since this is a YouTube video I decided to embed it here.

Watch John Chow’s AWeber Tricks in the video below:

How to Create a Squeeze Page in 10 Minutes

John points out that there are a lot of courses about how to create a squeeze page but if you are in a hurry it doesn’t have to be complicated.

The Headline

“Your headline is the most important part of the page…it should do three things.”

Introduce a Problem

Introduce a Solution

Define the Terms

“Remember, the goal is not to tell your readers what your page does, but to describe to them why they should care…They want to know what’s in it for them.”

The Video

To John Chow making a video seems very simple. He recognizes that to other people it may not be so, which is why he devotes 3 paragraphs to making sure that he points out what is most important to keep in mind and to do when making a video to ensure it’s effective. He also tells you what is usually the best length for this type of video.

The Opt In

After one paragraph of text there are screen shots from setting up the opt in in AWeber autoresponder.

Growing and Monetizing 

Ad Swaps and Solo Ads

A squeeze page works if you can drive traffic to that page. However, if you don’t yet have the traffic coming to your blog, consider these two methods to generate subscribers fast, says John Chow.

He explains in 7 more paragraphs what they are and how they work. While Ad Swaps are not costing money the Solo Ads have to be paid for with your hard earned cash.

Instant Monetization

John is describing a way to cover the cost of Solo Ads which has worked for him in the past in 3 steps.

Step 1 – Create Your Squeeze Page

Step 2 – Create a Thank You Page

Step 3 – Sell Something

Freebie Promotions

“…create a sales page (a bigger and badder version of your squeeze page) and send people there with active promotions.”

The Importance of a List

In different words the importance of building and having an email list is touched on again is four short paragraphs.

That concludes Module 5.

What are your thoughts and views about list building and email marketing? Do you think that it’s as important as everybody seems to be saying?

 

Comment on this blog post, like it on Facebook, tweet it, google+ it and bookmark it on your favorite bookmarking sites to enable others to find it and to join the conversation.

Update September 06, 2017: This product on blogging by John Chow reviewed above is no longer available. However, there is a suitable alternative course on blogging by a famous blogger. Check it out by clicking on the banner below.

Authored by Vance Sova

A Peek Inside Module 4

First of all, I want to say I’m sorry for the delay. I had to attend to some urgent matters offline. Life has again proved itself to be somewhat unpredictable but I’m back to continue with the review of Blogging With John Chow. If you’ve missed the Part 2 of Blogging With John Chow Review, you can find it just below this post or click on the text starting with Part 2. For Part 1 click here.

Just a word or two about what I’ve seen posted about this course. In spite of what has been written and said about Google search results improving due to all the changes, I still see the same types of reviews with headlines including “is this a scam?” etc. showing within the top pages of Google search results. Not that much has changed, really. Seriously, does anybody still get caught up in that sort of garbage?

There are some good reviews too of course but not with headlines like that. One blogger has chosen a similar in depth style of review that I’m doing here. Most reviews are of course still written for one reason only, which is to sell the product. The most glaring evidence of it is that they offer all kinds of bonuses to make you buy through their link.

If your hard drive is not yet full of unused bonuses and things that will only distract you from working with a sharp focus it will soon be, if you fall into their trap.

OK, now back to Blogging With John Chow module 4.

Content Is Duke, Prince, King…

In the video at the top of this module John Chow talks about who he writes for and who he serves. In more than 3 minutes he explains why he doesn’t write for Google but for his readers. Good content is what eventually wins.

Be Awesome

To be awesome, says John, you need to have fun doing what you do. You have to love what you are writing about.

Viral Content at a Glance

“The whole idea of viral content is that it can take on a life of its own” says John and then gives some examples of what he did and follows that by 5 points any one of which can make a content become viral. Entertaining and Jaw Dropping are two of the points.

Forget Search Engines

“If you build a blog for search engines, it’s more likely that the only readers you’ll have will be search engines.”

John devotes about 8 paragraphs to this topic.

The Content Kaleidoscope

“…written content is only one small part of the much larger picture.”

John points out that a blog is not a newspaper column and that content on a blog is a broad term that can include:

Videos

Videos tend to be viewed as complicated but to John they are the simplest to make. He devotes 4 paragraphs to explaining why.

Watch the video below from Dot Com Pho in Vancouver. It’s a regular lunch meeting which was started by John Chow and his friends. While he’s not in this video, you will likely find it entertaining:

Podcasts

John gives 6 points under which he gives some ideas about how to put podcasts together, choose a specific topic, get the equipment and record and distribute the podcasts to the public.

Photos

“You can do a lot with photos. You can create a post entirely devoted to images or you can use them to supplement your existing posts…” John also says that every sigle post you put up should have an image in it. He devotes about 6 or 7 paragraphs to this topic.

Lists

“One of the most common forms of blog posts (and also one of the most popular) is the list.” A large volume of information can be put in a list post in an easy to read format.

John gives some ideas about how to create a good list post for your blog in 6 example points.

Infographics

Infographics are hot right now says John. Then he explains what they really are.

“An infographic informes readers with graphical representations of data.” He shows an example of a good infographic and gives some ideas on how you can have one created for you.

More Content Ideas

In this section John Chow gives 9 more content ideas, some of which are Case Studies, Your Failures and Successes, Personal Stories, Pop Culture and Name Recognition Tips.

Attracting Comments

John gives some facts about commenting and dispels some myths about it in 17 or 18 paragraphs before he shares his 10 secrets to driving comments with content. Some of those secrets are: Ask for Them, Mention Other Sites, State Your Opinion Clearly, Respond to Other Content and Build Your Posts Around Comments.

Moderating All That Content

In 9 paragraphs John covers his ideas and policy for moderating comments. The main take away idea here is to make sure that you read the comments as they come to your inbox after they make it through Akismet.

Coming Up With Ideas When You Have None 

Even very creative people with a lot of ideas can and do face the problem of having a writers block once in a while. It also happens to John Chow, as he freely admits.

He gives some good ideas in 6 points among which Checking Comments, Updating Old Posts and Twitter Search are included.

This concludes module 4 of Blogging With John Chow course. I hope that you have enjoyed reading it and have found at least one point or idea in it that will be helpful to you.

If you did, I would like to ask you to reward me by commenting about it. If you found more than one good point it’s even better. I want to hear about it. So do me a favor and leave your comment and help others to find the post by liking it on Facebook, tweeting it goole+ing it and bookmarking it on your favorite bookmarking sites.

Update September 06, 2017: The course by John Chow reviewed here is no longer available. However, an excellent course on blogging by another famous blogger is available. Check it out by clicking on the banner below.

Authored by Vance Sova

A Look Inside Modules 1 to 3

Module 1 – Blogging Builds Bank Accounts

Under the headline in the course is a video over 2 minutes long where John speaks about the secret to his successful blogging which is – Always Deliver Value

Then in text format John talks about how blogging is his bread and butter, what blogging does and the need for you to plan and what it entails in 5 points.

Blogging inevitably involves writing and creating content on a regular basis. It’s not uncommon for people to pose a question sooner or later, either before they even decide to blog or days weeks or even months after they started which is:

What to Write About

That’s also the second heading and subject in the first module of Blogging with John Chow course. John gives a pretty exhaustive list of where to go to find ideas and how to research what is in demand.

The last subject in module 1 is branding.

Your Brand

“Your brand needs to be unique and fully fleshed out if you want it to stand out among your competitors…” Says John Chow and then he gives you five questions which you should ask yourself before you start writing.

Being unique and having unique, original content is essential for successful blogging.

Module 2 – Launching Your Blog

The module starts again with a video of John, this time 4 minutes long, where John talks about why you should use Word Press at dot org and not at dot com. He also gives instructions on how you can have your basic blog setup done for free by going to John Chow dot com.

Then in text form with screen shots or pictures where appropriate and necessary he talks about Word Press and its advantages before covering how to create your Word Press blog under the following big headlines:

Themes,

Plugins,

Graphics.

He explains everything you need to know in a detailed way to get your blog up and running. This module is quite long with a lot of information and steps to take but all of it is crucial.

Module 3 – Brand-o-Nomics

Like the previous modules, this model also starts with John Chow on video. In 7 minutes John talks about how to build your brand giving examples of how to do it and how he does it.

In a text format he then goes into the subject of branding more deeply.

There is an interesting headline about half down the page which says:

Who the Hell Are You?

Under it John gives examples of how he brands himself on his blog and gives tips on how you can go about your own branding.

 Seven Habits of Successful Bloggers

Under this headline is a reprint from a blog post that John wrote which is still 100% relevant today.

Point seven may make you laugh as it had me laughing:

7 – They Read John Chow dot Com

The text under this point then goes to explain why it is one hundred percent true. It’s because successful bloggers read other successful bloggers blogs.

When to Post and How Long?

When or more specifically how often to post a very common question people ask. The answer is not always the same as different people have different opinions on it.

Here’s what John has to say about that:

“How often you post is not as important as is your consistency in posting. If you fail to post consistently you will lose your audience.”

John then goes into how often he posts and how he has posts ready for at least a week to a month in reserve so he can have posts scheduled ahead of time.

The length of posts depends on your audience says John and gives the length of his average posts.

Commenting Within the Community

Networking by bloggers can and should be done. It is usually done through commenting on other peoples blogs.

If you can network live as we are doing with John Chow in the video below that’s a great bonus.

Monitoring the Blogosphere

Aside from Google Alerts John gives 8 more points with different ways that it can be done.

Claim Your Territory

“Listen, the web is the world’s premier space for sharing but it’s also a land grab.”

Direct Name Matches

“..would you prefer to market yourself as ‘dogtrainingdude535’ or as AmandaStein on Twitter or Facebook. Which is more natural?”

John gives 5 tips to ensure you get as close to a direct name match for your accounts as possible.

More on Branding

By now you can tell that John Chow is really big on branding.

He keeps on hammering this point by getting back to it again and again.

Under the headlines

What’s the Message?

Disseminating Your Message

Staying On Message

Spreading Your Message

The Last Word on Branding

he finally puts it to rest.

This concludes module 3 and my review of it.

I hope that you now have a much better idea of what is inside the Blogging with John Chow course.

Update September 06, 2017: This course by John Chow on Blogging is no longer available. However there is another Blogging course by a famous blogger that is just as good. To start with you can get a free ebook or audio which covers a lot already. Check it at the link below:

Download The Blog Profits Blueprint

Comment on this post and the insight it gives you about the course.

Tweet this post, like it on Facebook, google+ it and bookmark it on your most favorite bookmarking sites. People need to know about this. Invite your friends to read this and the next post.

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Authored by Vance Sova

What’s Inside the Blogging with

John Chow? Is It For You?

You may have heard or read about John Chow’s new product called Blogging with John Chow already. Now you’re probably wondering what is inside of it and if it’s really for you or not.

I may be able to help you in answering the first part of the question by giving you a pretty good idea about what is inside the course.

How many times have you bought a course or a product online only to find out that it was really not for you or what you expected it to be? If you’re like me and most people, I think that it has happend to you at least once.

My aim is to help you avoid that situation from repeating itself yet again.

A full multiple post product review series is not something you can readily find anywhere else. After reading the posts you will have a very good idea about Blogging with John Chow and whether it’s for you or not.

You will find absolutely no sales pitch in any of my 10 review posts. This is not a fake, you should buy this stuff, high pressure review. Please do not buy this course unless you are sure that it’s what you really want.

What you’ll read in the review posts will be my description of the product from the inside as I go through it. Each post will go deeper into the course.

Just to make a full disclosure, I want you to know that I received a free access to this product yesterday from John Chow himself at my request. I have purchased a much more expensive course from John more than a year ago, however, called Blog Profit Camp which has been closed since to new customers.

I am not getting and will not get any compensation in any form whatsoever for writing this review from John or anyone else. My only reward will be you and other readers being informed about what this course is like. Only if and when you conclude that you would like to purchase this course through the links on this blog will I earn a percentage of the price of it.

What You Should Know About John Chow and the Reviewer:

I have known John for a couple of years and have met with him many times at his Dot Com Pho meetings. I admire what he does and his excellent business sense. He’s very easy going, approachable and will help anybody he can. He takes criticism and other opinions very well and even encourages them.

(Watch the video below which shows John Chow having fun play acting as he eats at 3:07 min. into the video and then see him and hear him again at 4:00 min to 5:20 min. into it. This is the latest video with John at Dot Com Pho in Vancouver).

Because of that and because of my personal principles the review posts won’t be a whitewash of the course.

In fact, I will point out what I think is lacking in it and what could be improved. Not because I’m a bigger expert than John, of course not, but because I’m closer than he is to those who are still learning and thus can see things from their angle.

First Introductory Look Inside Blogging with John Chow

So let’s have a look inside the course. Update September 06, 2017: This course about blogging by John Chow is no longer available. There is however a course from another top blogger which is just as good. You can check it out at the following link below:

Download The Blog Profits Blueprint

 

Tweet this post, like it on Facebook, google+ it and bookmark it on your favorite bookmarking site. Look for the next post and encourage your friends to read it as well.

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Authored by Vance Sova