Blog Growth and Maintenance

Read This When You Have Setup Your Blog and Have At Least a Week's Worth of Content On It



The hardest part of your blog setup and introductory content is now behind you - researching, building, and putting all your systems in place.



Now you're in the maintenance and growth stage, which is easier in many ways - and also full of exciting opportunities since you're an established authority in your niche.





Here are some tips to help you think about growing and tracking your blog's progress...



What is "Testing and Tracking"?



A vital strategy for steadily improving your results is constant testing of one change at a time and then tracking the results. In fact, if you're not testing and tracking things in your online business all the time, you're leaving money on the table.



There's always something you can tweak in any sales page, marketing campaign, newsletter signup page, etc. that will improve your conversion or profitability at least a little - and sometimes a lot.



To grow your online business, you have to know what's working for you, and what isn't.





How to Do Your Own Testing and Tracking



Although there are some very high tech tools you can use for testing and tracking, you can also start out by doing it very simply.



And of course, doing it simply is much better for your business than not doing it at all!



1) Decide on an element of your online business you'd like to test. Examples:



* You may want to test whether posting an e-cover image of your newsletter next to your signup form increases your ezine signup rate.

* Or whether a different headline makes your sales page convert better.

* Or whether a different header on your blog increases your traffic.

* Or a different bonus with your membership site increases your sales.

* Or a different price for your ebook yields a higher net profit.



2) Keep your orginal page the same, and create a second page for the test page - which is identical to the original except for the one element you've decided to change for the test. (If you change more than one thing at a time, you won't know for sure which element caused the result.) Now you should have two versions - the original unchanged version, and the test version that has the single change made to it.



3) Give each version of the test a unique code (like "h1" and "h2" to represent "Headline 1" and "Headline 2") so you can track them.



4) Keep an accurate record of what you're testing, and which version has which unique code.



5) Run your test campaign for a set length of time (usually until you've run a pre-determined number of visitors - say 100 people - across each version).



6) After you've reached your visitor quota according to your stats, compare the results you got with each version to see which is the winner.



7) Now take whichever version got the better results, and keep it as your new "control" version. Create a second page that's identical to your new "control" version, and tweak one new element to create your new "test" version. Run a new test and track your results.



8) Repeat again and again, always changing one thing and keeping whichever version performed better as your new "control" version.



Over time this strategy helps you evolve really keenly honed sales pages, signup forms, and other elements of your online business.





Testing and Tracking is One of the Best Habits You Can Develop



All this testing and tracking may sound like a drag, but it can actually be a fun game - especially when you hit on a test that gives you a huge boost in your income or traffic.



Don't settle for "good enough" results when you could be getting spectacular results with constant testing and tracking!



Jack checks his MyBlogLog.com stats at least 2-3 times per day to see how keywords are performing, what people are using to find his blog, and who is linking to him. This insight helps him comment on blogs that link to him and find conversations going on about his content all over the web.





Outsourcing as a Maintenance and Growth Strategy



You can outsource pretty much everything in your online business.



At the very least, it's a good strategy to outsource



* the things you aren't good at

* the things you don't enjoy

* anything repetitive

* anything time consuming.



The more you outsource, the more time, energy, and creativity you can invest in growing and expanding your business in profitable new ways!



And now that you've done and understand all the parts of your business yourself, you'll do a better job of managing the people and projects you outsource.





Resources for Outsourcing All or Part of Your Authority Site Business



* http://www.elance.com

* http://www.guru.com

* http://www.scriptlance.com

* http://www.netsmartmedia.com/





The Top-Secret Formula



This plan is for ASC eyes only. It's very heavy-duty stuff, designed by Jack Humphrey to provide a new or older site with traffic and rankings like you've never seen before.



The 60-Day Marketing Plan has all the major components the ASC partners use in their full-service program at NetSmart Media, for clients who pay $24,000 to $50,000+ per year for their marketing services.



Don't take this plan lightly.



Start this powerful process as soon as you've completed the ASC Success Guide's 16 steps of developing your Authority Site.



For best results, use it fully and don't skimp on any of the instructions. The plan is located on your right at the bottom of the content navigation links.





Now You're an Authority in Your Niche!



As the publisher of an authority site, you're now considered to be an authority on your topic.



Authority site publishers are often contacted by online and offline publications to give interviews and expert advice, or to partner in a joint venture.



Although you can remain an anonymous publisher if you want to, you should strongly consider promoting yourself as an authority. It will almost certainly bring you lots of additional exposure, interesting opportunities, and more income!





Ways to Market Yourself as an Authority



The idea is to brand your name into the minds of people in your niche, so whenever they see or hear your name they'll automatically connect it with your topic.





Consider including your name:



* in the header graphic of each of your websites / blogs

* as your forum ID and signature, especially in any niche forums you frequent

* as your username at social media sites

* anywhere else you have an online or offline presence.





Helpful Resources for Marketing Yourself



* Read How to Position Yourself as The Obvious Expert, by Elsom Eldridge Jr. and Mark Eldridge. Although the book cover says this book is for "turbocharging your consulting or coaching business", it's full of a wealth of do-able strategies that will give you a huge boost in any business.



* Leverage your efforts by using a public relations service such as PR Leads.



Jack Humphrey is the CEO of BlogSuccess.com, he is a pure blogger, has been teaching people how to make money with blogging since 2005 and has helped thousands of individuals and hundreds of small businesses succeed on the Internet. Join his free blogging community over at BlogSuccess.com TODAY!