Followup on Blog course

Ok, I finally got a chance to look at Joyner’s multi-media blogging course. Kind of amusing, in a melancholy sort of way. I’ve been following several different internet marketers (as closely as I can without actually buying anything from any of them), and there are indeed a few that appear to be offering some information of value. Mark Joyner is one of those that looks like he has risen above the “send me $67 to find out how I made a killing on the internet” crowd. But I still haven’t bought anything from him, and I’m unlikely to. Just about everything that Joyner (and other lesser icons in the same genre) is currently pushing is stuff you can find out for yourself from any of several free sources. It’s just that doing the research yourself might involve more effort. I will say, however, that Joyner’s multimedia blog course was well-done, entertaining, and did a pretty good job of presenting an overall view of the general principles of getting traffic and converting it to sales. And the price is right; it only took a little effort and no money.

Ok, I guess I would like to make a lot of money on the internet. Who wouldn’t? But it’s sort of like my career-limiting decision 3 decades ago never to go into management; that’s not where my heart is. I’d really rather teach CHL courses than be sucked into chasing the Big Bucks in internet marketing. I’ve tried chasing the Big Bucks in other fields (I started a computer store once, and I tried selling insurance for a while), and I’ve pretty much established that I lack one or more important personality traits to pull it off consistently (although I did ok for a couple of years as a high-dollar software consultant). Those of you who have been following my blog (all three of you?) know that I’m also a musician, and that I teach violin lessons — something that will never make me financially rich, but is a source of great enjoyment both for me and my students (and should be an enduring source of income for my retirement).

As for promoting the CHL business, I’ve pretty much accidentally gotten almost more business than I can comfortably handle with my current website. My chl-tx.com site rates pretty high on Google, Yahoo, and even some of the minor search engines. Even higher than some nicer-looking sites done by people who have hired “SEO experts”. I’m pulling in enough hits (and conversions) to come close to filling two classes a month. Since I am disinclined to teach more than that many classes (although that could change if I lose my day job), it’s hard to see how further optimization of my website is going to help me.

I do plan to do some extensive renovation of my site over the next few days, primarily in response to suggestions from my students. I’m hoping to make the site simpler, and break it up in ways that will make it easier to find the information you are interested in. And, yes, I plan to use some of the ideas in Joyner’s videos. But since that’s not the focus of this blog, I don’t plan to write any more on that topic. I’ve read some interesting books lately, and I plan to do some more reviews — and with a little more frequency. I really need to post in this blog at least once a week, or better yet, 3 times a week. (Yes, that’s in Joyner’s course)

A multimedia blogging course

I see that I’m not exactly setting the world afire with this blog, so I thought I’d try something different. I follow a number of mailing lists on internet marketing topics, and I got an announcement today that sounded interesting.

It’s a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

Here’s the hype — It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

They are offering this blogging course for free to anybody that posts this announcement on their own blog. (That’s my disclaimer. It’s not the only reason I’m writing about it here, but it is certainly the biggest reason)

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out.