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This interview originally appeared on BloggerHangout.com. It has been updated to reflect current services and pricing.
One month after my blog went live, I received my first $15,000 ghostwriting project as a direct result. That was the moment I understood what a blog could do for a service business.
The Blogging Journey
I began blogging back in 2000. Before that, I had websites where I hand-coded over 5,000 HTML pages. For more, see author interview with richard lowe jr. I had a weekly column on Suite 101, and one of those articles was published in their book “Real People, Real Stories. For more, see from tech executive to professional ghostwriter.”
I started blogging because my wife was very ill with COPD and lung disease. I had to stay home to watch over her and be her caregiver. I needed something I could do from home, so I started working on my blogs.
After I retired from Trader Joe’s, where I spent two decades as Director of Computer Operations, I relaunched my blog to focus on writing. My blog at thewritingking.com focuses on writing subjects, including my books.
The blog does not get massive traffic, but what it does get is highly qualified leads that convert into paying projects.
What I Would Do Differently
I would focus the blog more tightly from the start.
When I started writing in 2013, I wrote about everything including the kitchen sink. That does not work for attracting search engines. I have been working to reorganize the blog to focus on writing, ghostwriting, and book coaching, moving off-topic content to other blogs or deleting it entirely.
That reorganization has been working to attract traffic, get articles shared, and convert visitors into clients. But it is much more difficult doing this on a live blog than it would have been to design it that way from the beginning.
The Biggest Challenge
Learning the new rules for SEO. When I started in the 2000s, SEO was simple: pile on the keywords. That changed completely. Now the focus is on quality of content.
I have always written quality content, but Google raised the bar so the content must be exceptional to rank well. That worked out for the best because high-quality content converts to paying customers better than low-quality content ever did.
The other challenge was learning the differences between WordPress and hand-coded HTML. WordPress is more wasteful of bandwidth and space. On my hand-coded sites, I made sure everything was as light as possible.
How the Blog Generates Revenue
Clients find my blog and purchase my ghostwriting and book coaching services. I charge $1 per word for ghostwriting. A 50,000-word book costs $50,000. I have completed 54 ghostwriting projects and published 113+ books.
Most of my inbound queries come from prospects who need a book written. The blog does the work of establishing credibility before the first conversation happens. Prospects arrive having already read my content, which means they are pre-qualified and serious.
I also offer book coaching for fiction writers and brainstorming engagements at $200 per hour for prospects who are not ready for a full ghostwriting project.
The Strategy That Generates the Most Leads
Content that ranks for what my prospects are searching for. When someone searches for ghostwriting services, ghostwriting pricing, or how to hire a ghostwriter, my articles show up. The prospect reads the article, sees the expertise behind it, and contacts me through the site.
The blog is not a marketing channel. It is a sales tool. Every article either serves my ghostwriting prospects or my book coaching clients. Articles that do not serve one of those audiences get deleted.
Advice for Someone Starting a Blog
It is not an overnight process. Not even something you can do in a month or six months. Creating and promoting a blog and building a reputation with people and search engines requires time and effort.
You have to be willing to put in the work day after day, make it high quality, and ignore all the so-called shortcuts. Just do the work, learn from the experts, avoid anything that even remotely sounds like a shortcut, and you will be fine.
Make sure your blog is focused and you have a product or service that works in a blogging environment. Banner ads are not going to make you a living.
Schedule a free consultation to discuss your book project.