Dana Cassell
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And here is the AWS page explaining it in more detail
It would be free the first year for the average site owner
https://aws.amazon.com/polly/pricing/
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Very helpful, Julia, especially because you offer a specific getting-started (or starting-over) plan. Also appreciate your reminder about the “social” aspects of Facebook – so easy to get caught up in the marketing and lead-generating that it’s easy to forget the importance of socializing – even more important with FB’s upcoming changes.
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I’ve used a small Windows program – Quick To-Do Pro – for years. Was going to post the URL, but it is “not reachable,” so suspect it is no longer available. But there are probably newer, even better apps today. The reason I’ve stuck with this is because I can put in a recurring task, note its priority level and which project it’s assigned to, give it a due date, then note how often it needs to show again – for example, weekly, monthly, annually – and it will show up as assigned. So last thing each Sunday evening, I look over the coming week to see if any changes are needed, add in any new or one-time tasks, then print out my tasks to do for the week in deadline order. (Yes; I like to have an old-school sheet of paper on my desk to cross off or add notes to.)
I’m sorry I cannot offer the program’s page, but if you Google “Quick to-do Pro” Google shows screenshots of it, plus after those it lists possible tools that may do the same thing.
My takeaway is that if you find some small app like this to automate the scheduling of your recurring tasks (am becoming familiar with Todoist, which appears to be able to do this similarly), you don’t waste any time writing out a new list every week – or, worse, forgetting about some periodic task (such as tax or maintenance related).
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Such a great question/topic, Donna! And such useful responses. A variation I find is how do I know which of the many options do I follow. It seems as if decision-making gets more difficult as the years and experience roll by – not easier. Too many options keep piling up.
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Sometimes I think the expectation that “I can do this” even after years of trying and it not happening is in one’s DNA. Decades ago, back when freelancing to magazines was a lot different, it still took the average writer, with no publishing contacts, a long, long while to “make it.” And there might be periods during those dry spells when a time-out had to be called for real money to be made, but somehow the feeling that “I can do this” would return when another issue of Writer’s Digest arrived. And eventually the magic was found. Perhaps today the speed of internet information has caused us to expect success to happen quicker, and when it doesn’t, it’s harder to believe it can be done.
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I’ve never leaned toward targeting a single gender, possibly because I tend to ignore women-specific sites, products and services – thinking I want to learn about it all, not just what someone thinks I should learn because I’m female. Some things are obviously for males or females; I’m referring to the “of some interest to all.” One exception might be if my product or service “usually” is seen as either a male or female interest, but has some value/interest to the other gender, then I might explore: is anyone else targeting that side? If not, it might be a viable market segmentation. I’ve seen a few websites do that with a special site section, so the other gender feels welcome even while the main site concentrates on the owner’s preferred market.
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I’ve been using MemberSonic Pro with membership sales via JVZoo and payments via PayPal or Stripe for several years now. All were as easy to set up as technology allows; no major issues. MS Pro is reasonably priced and well-supported with an active FB group for added user support. Other than purchasing MS Pro and ongoing hosting, the JVZoo, PayPal, and Stripe fees only occur with a sale, and they are all integrated through MS Pro. I added Stripe because a number of my members simply refuse to use PayPal – even though they can use their credit cards without joining PayPal.
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Bruce, I’m really late to this party and there are so many excellent points already shared that what I have may have been covered. But keep in mind that ghostwriters are a dime a dozen. So simply saying you offer ghostwriting services or even that you save people time will not necessarily make them stop skimming – they’ve seen that, read that on dozens of websites, blogs, etc. What people skimming through your info really are looking for is, “Has he ever done what I want done?” So listing, showing, pointing out as many different types of work you’ve ghostwritten (white papers, ebooks, blog posts, professional articles, speeches, whatever) and as many subjects you’ve written about (medical, technical, business, autobiography, self-help, and even more specifically, whatever) as you can – somewhere on your site and pointed to in your posts, emails, articles, sigs, etc. – the more likely the prospect will see that you have done what he or she needs done and stop skimming to read more closely.
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AuthorityHacker posted a detailed comparison of various email marketing services today. It might be useful to anyone starting out or considering changing: https://www.authorityhacker.com/best-email-marketing-software/
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After a wild week with too many unanticipated deadlines (but good for the $$$), newsletter late to the printer, family medical emergency requiring time away from the mayhem, and so on – resulting in a “pile” of ignored tasks now needing attention, that simply taking a deep breath, relaxing a few minutes, then numbering the most critical items to attack for most effective order, then attacking that elephant one bite at a time, has reduced the stress levels that were building up. I humbly offer this advice to others, as the upcoming holiday month plus end-of-year tasks are bound to bring some degree of stress into everyone’s business and personal life. Just attack it one small step at a time.
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My list is small so Aweber fees are not yet prohibitive. I have considered others that promise “lifetime” fees or lower fees for larger lists, but then I’ll need support, which reminds me why I really like Aweber. This past week I needed to do something for my Black Friday mailing that I hadn’t done since last year, so naturally forgot how to do it. One phone call and the friendly, helpful support guy not even told me how to do it, but went to my account area while I did the same on my computer and walked me through it. Hard to find that kind of support today. Then a week or so ago, they did a short teaching webinar on a new service available to everyone (no need to upgrade or anything), and I asked a question about my list during the session. The presenter addressed my question. I was surprised several days later when he emailed me with further information he had tracked down after the webinar. They are also adding new features right along to keep pace with the more expensive providers. I won’t say I’d never leave them if cost became a game-changer, but I feel I do get my money’s worth.
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For sure, as the week progresses, the number of hours per day seems to lessen. Or the clock hands/digits move faster. Better to do more earlier when time appears more normal.
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In addition to the usual family and friends, I’m thankful for so many opportunities to meet people from around the world and learn new things and build a business in this crazy web world – which, I guess, makes me thankful for the overwhelm I sometimes grouse about 🙂
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Picked up a PLR course with videos that I can add to my members area – plus it has info worth my own learning, and it was quite reasonable. I also plan on keeping the buy buttons below the fold this year! So far, deleting lots of emails 🙂
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What I like best is that everything appears to be accessible from the one page – but that gives it almost a hodge-podge feel. Skimming works fine for now, but I wonder if it will become too time-consuming or frustrating when all 1,000 trainings plus other assets get added. That said, the drop-down helps immensely. Perhaps drop-downs for other sections as it builds out? You probably already have something like that planned. I have a similar situation on my own membership site, where I link to pages by subject, noting which resources are on each linked page, and have been wondering how I can make it better as it gets lengthier – so will watch your buildout with special interest, Sean.
Almost forgot to mention – I especially like the Direct Link to Ask Anything Forum – and use it first every visit.
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I haven’t used it, Sean, but the description on YouTube sounds like it might: “Create checklists for your visitors or team members right from your WordPress dashboard to track progress as they complete a program or process.” The YT video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdWjYY3_Dqs – and one of the sales pages is at https://lisarwells.com/shop/able-checklist-wordpress-plugin/ (There are several, as it was sold as PLR)
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WP Able Checklist was developed by Lynette Chandler of PluginMill.com – I believe she sold PLR rights to it, as it’s available through a number of sites now.
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This may no longer be true, but awhile back I read that the free version of MailChimp does not allow affiliate offers. You can get away with it for awhile, but eventually they will stop you from mailing out free – would be worth checking to see if it still applies.
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Thanks for confirming that it’s OK not to work on all parts of my business every day, Sean 🙂 – I’ve tried to at times, only to get behind in all parts! Lately, I’ve been putting Mon Tue etc on each item to do each week, and when one doesn’t get checked off on Tues, e.g., I make sure to do that one on Wed and if time runs out, skip one of the ones that did get done on Tues. Obviously, hard deadlines have to be met, but at least I’m moving forward in every area to some degree. It’s so easy to be overly optimistic, time-wise, on daily schedules.
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Thanks, Tina, and here’s one to add to your collection –
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Bruce, for me, it’s mostly a matter of the technology and support being taken care of. Even using WordPress plugins, costs can mount up for several courses, individual lessons, student ability to track, awards, next level choices and monitoring, shopping cart, and so on. Easier, for me, to pay a lower, reasonable fee and have the back-end tech issues taken care of, and so on. There are tons of options out there – here’s just a sampler comparison: https://www.onlinecoursehow.com/online-course-platforms/best-online-course-platform-comparison/
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Not any single thing – sometimes emails or notifications, but when focusing those are not a problem; sometimes simply my mind wandering to another “must get to that” to another idea for something I’m also working on. I’d say not focusing hard enough on what I’m doing is what I need to concentrate on. When I do focus, I ignore the other stuff and don’t want to stop. Just got to do that more often or in a more planned way.
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Looks good, Richard. Thanks!
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Looks good, Donna. Thanks!
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Diana, what if you researched what questions your target audiences are asking (as Sean has taught), then as you go about answering a question – either via a text blog post or a video or infographic etc – skim through your PLR resources to see what you can use from them to make your answer more complete than your people could find in one place elsewhere?
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I am flummoxed. I saw the field for adding a sig the first day it was announced, but was in the middle of something, so decided to come back to it. Have tried to find it several times since, but no luck. Did I do something to make it disappear, I wonder?
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And here's an e-book on how to prosper as a freelance writer:
http://danasuggests.info/survival
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Can’t say it’s steady as in every day, but over the years, I’ve found our contest to be the most consistent, as my many of my target audience (writers) are always seeking new writing contests. So when a contest promoter sends me the info (and it meets our criteria), I post the basics on the page, then use Buffer to send a notice of a new contest being posted to Twitter, our Facebook page, and LinkedIn. I also have a separate Contest Alert list (Aweber) sign-up form on that page, so I also send out an “alert” that a new contest has been posted. On those alerts, I can add a link to our member sign-up page, affiliate offer, etc. Contests are aq natural for a writers website, but other niches might be able to come up with some other type of regular “news” that would be of interest to the target audience – and not available in one place elsewhere. (I can add the URL for this, if any interest in seeing it – just don’t want to appear to be promoting 🙂
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Sort of since Sept 1998 – but at first my website was simply a place to promote my members (freelance writers) by providing profiles and a way for editors/clients to submit what skills or specialties they needed. Then gradually I added a password-protected membership area in order to post job listings, the PDF edition of our monthly print newsletter, and other info. Because we sponsored an annual writing contest, I added a page listing contests (naturally, including our own and our guidelines/entry form) in order to bring interested visitors to our site. That was it until a couple years ago when I added a membership site to help make the adding of members a bit less hands-on. The idea is to take the original site back to its original intent of promoting our members – with a more robust membership site for the members. So it never stops, does it?
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Well, major thanks to you and to Sean for the suggestion. It goes right along with many of Sean’s teachings, making it doubly useful to anyone following his coaching.
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Excellent strategy to repurpose your blog content, Jan. Not only to be sure it sticks up there somewhere no matter what the platform owners decide, but also to “run into” more and different people
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Good point, Steve. Thanks.
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Good points, Bruce, and I tend to agree with you – especially regarding the loss of control over one’s social media content – it’s definitely “renting” space (and to ever-mind-changing landlords) rather than owning it. But I think there may be something to the general vs specific content mentioned. Perhaps discussing specific angles to topics – rather than generalizing the topic – might improve relevant traffic and engagement, and thus enhance one’s platform.
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Steve, it should work if you click on “Buy now with 1-click” – of course, you may have to have a credit card on file with them, but as it’s free, no charge will occur
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Agree re similar to forum format – even with simpler one-pagers, sometimes questions arise about the content or why did you choose to do such-and-such. So the best way to have a conversation about the item could be useful.
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Thanks, Bruce – I like that; it’s similar to processes I’ve used in the past and makes sense to me. I’ll try it on several decisions I need to make this month.
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Probably regular sales, Sean, even if small, rather than the single one that set it off in the beginning when everything – even the internet – was new. So we’re back to the daily tasks to make that happen.
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I’ll be happy to post the page URL, Sean – https://www.writers-editors.com/Writers/Contests/contests.htm – all the contests listed (other than my own, of course) came to me with a request to be listed. Just checked my November stats and this was my most visited page. Hope this “news of interest” page to a targeted audience will spark ideas for others.
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Excellent point, Sean. It reminds me of a consumer example I heard years ago – If you buy a shirt for $25 and wear it once, it is more costly than the $100 shirt you wore 10 times. When you don’t use it or get poor results, it is a costly item/service. Only comparing usage and results will allow you to make useful buying or retention decisions – which will be different for everyone.
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Hadn’t noticed that, Bruce, but perhaps you’ve a point.
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I agree with you both – sometimes I can find a prior comment to continue following, but other times it takes awhile, and I am finding it difficult to always make the time. As I’m sure others find, certain parts of the month have deadlines that make participating in any group difficult, so when one can get back to the forum, newer threads or those most recently added tend to get the attention.
I had planned to make 3 comments or replies per day, but have fallen down due to deadlines. Once past this month’s newsletter deadline, will try to embed it more into my routine so next month’s newsletter doesn’t wipe it out entirely.
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You are so right, Norma – took the words right out of my mouth!
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Good suggestion to simply make notes when those mind intrusions occur. Thinking about what you said, I realized I do that when in the middle of (timed) fact-checking work for a client, or on newsletter deadline – because I have no other choice! Will have to make more of an effort to do that on important but non-deadline project time.
Last vacation? Let’s see – probably May 2010 when I visited my grandfather’s birthplace in Belgium when my daughter and son-in-law were stationed nearby. But I did have my laptop and checked in for any membership needs each evening. It’s my stubborn Dutch work ethic DNA 🙂
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Yes, it’s still going, Bruce. It’s an old HTML site, which I will be updating to WordPress and using it to promote our members and their services to editors and clients. That was its original intent, but after I added a Members area, it became a dual-purpose site so not as easy to promote. Am gradually moving features and members to the new “Members” site at http://writerseditorsnetwork.com/blog/
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Tina, I own both – got in on early pricing, knowing I would be using one of them eventually. Have been following both from a distance and my actually putting up a few courses is moving closer to top of my to-do list. But I do not need both – and as they have recurring costs (Invanto relatively low monthly) and Everlesson upcoming annual for Pro edition), and seem to offer similar features/capabilities, I see no reason to continue with both. But hate to cancel the wrong one, as current costs are much higher. They each have active and very helpful FB groups, so I can ask specific questions in there as I get closer to setting something up – just figured if anyone in our Community had tried either they might have specific likes, dislikes, watch-outs, or “this” is really great for …
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Thanks for the info, Bruce and Norma – but my problem is not in inserting the link – I no longer appear to have the signature box in which to insert it. I did see it the other day – but no longer. Even did a ctl-F to search the page for signature. I have the other profile fields, just not that one.
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That’s also on my to-do list, Norma – trying to post regular blog posts; just keep running out of hours at the end of the day 🙂
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I appreciate your comments, Tina – and a total redo of the landing page and opt-in offer is on my lengthy to-do list. Just trying to get to everything 🙂
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Bruce, did you reach the download page? Because you are on the list, so it appears you may have made it there. If you do not have the ebook, I can send the download link – or email it to you. Redoing that whole landing page is on my to-do list.
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https://www.writers-editors.com/ is the original one
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