BML - Edition 30

How I built my audience

Last week, you read how I started my first online business—a website for beer brewing enthusiasts. 

It's the business that allowed me to leave the job I got after college.

2008 was an exciting time to be on the internet. We were entering the era known as Web 2.0 and seeing the rise of social media, YouTube, and internet-based businesses.

After a year of trying to build a social network for beer enthusiasts, I hit a wall and decided to change direction. While building that social network, I'd been reading more about a topic called content marketing.

With content marketing, you build your business by creating content. You publish blogs, videos, and eBooks, and monetize around that content.

It was the new direction I needed. So, I switched my online business from software to content. From coding to writing.

Writing felt way more aligned with me than creating a Facebook-style website. Much easier, too.

But there was a surprise benefit . . .

In my 9-5 job, I wrote, but that writing was bland. Our clients were energy companies and government agencies. You can't exactly send them reports bursting with your personality.

Don't take those formal writing habits into creating content online. I'm not saying be a jokester or unprofessional. But be yourself. And most people do not sound like themselves when they write online.

When I began writing for my beer website, it was freeing.

I started with three blog posts each week. Not a torrid pace, but I wrote in-depth articles and was super consistent.

One time, I was visiting my buddy in Colorado for a snowboarding trip, and I failed to finish my blog post before flying there.

Snow is dropping in buckets, we're dressed in our gear, and he's yelling at me to get into the car so we can drive to the mountain.

I wouldn't budge until I hit publish.

I made my beer website fun. Early on, I wrote an article series based on a popular TV show at the time called 24. The show's hero is a secret government agent who goes on missions to save the world.

I had my readers go on "beer missions" to "save the world from crappy beer." They'd hunt down a specific type of beer, write a beer review, or visit a homebrewing store.

My readers loved it.

I didn't only write creative articles like the beer missions, but also wrote old knowledge in a new way. 

This was important . . .

Can you imagine how many times someone has written about beer brewing? Countless times. Yet, I chose to write articles about it. Why? 

Nobody had written about beer brewing exactly how I did. And if you write about your topic, you'll do the same. 

Nobody has your personal experience with your topic. Nobody will use your stories, metaphors, and ways of explaining.

And those are the articles people want to read. Not a regurgitation of Wikipedia. They want to read about your experience with your topic.

At the time, I was following Brian Clark's website, Copyblogger, and he called these articles "pillar content." Pillar content is evergreen content that introduces your reader to your topic, and it's opposed to blog content, which is constantly updating. 

Writing this evergreen content accomplished two goals. One, my readers learned the topic. And two, because they learned the topic from me, and I wrote it from my authentic point of view, they got to know me. 

That started a relationship between us, and in business, relationships are everything. 

Your buyer is a person—not a number.

That pillar content proved pivotal because it drove most of my website visitors over the years. Random strangers typed a term into Google, saw my pillar content, and clicked over to my website.

In addition to writing evergreen articles and blog posts, I wrote longer pieces of content. One of the first kickstarted my email list's growth.

It was an eBook called The Beer Bucket List: 50 Beers to Try Before You Die.

Each page had the beer's name, a photo, and tasting notes. I contacted "beer influencers" (beer columnists and book authors) and had them contribute half the selections. They were happy to.

Those partner contributions improved my eBook, but it also grew my audience. How? The contributors shared the eBook with their audience, and because the eBook linked back to my website, I gained their readers.

I made the eBook into a lead magnet and offered it for free if you joined my email list. Adding the eBook as an incentive turned many of the Google Search visitors into loyal email subscribers.

During this eBook's journey, I learned an important lesson: There's a big difference in who shares your content.

When those beer columnists shared my eBook, I gained my ideal email subscribers—beer enthusiasts and home brewers.

But another time, an ESPN talk show host shared my Beer Bucket List on Twitter. Being a sportscaster, he had many followers who loved to drink beer. 

I got a ton of website visitors, but they were a different crowd than the craft beer lovers and home brewers. These ESPN subscribers never opened emails or bought anything.

On the surface, the ESPN host's tweet about my website looked like a windfall for me. But when the dust settled, it amounted to little.

When wishing somebody shares your stuff, make sure you're hoping for the the right person. And it's rarely the person with the largest audience.

It also taught me the importance of repelling people with your content. I realized that my Beer Bucket List eBook had too much mainstream appeal. 

In the future, I niched down my content to appeal only to beer geeks and repel the mainstream beer drinkers.

All this publishing kickstarted my content business, and I saw my audience grow. I got many visitors from Google searches, social media, and articles I wrote for other websites.

Before I knew it, my beer website hit 30,000 monthly visitors and 5,000 email subscribers. I was having success and saw I might actually be able to leave my job.  I couldn't believe it.

Now, as you read this story, don't obsess over the tactics I used. Don't get caught up in the pillar content, eBook, Twitter, and all that. You might use those tactics, but you might use other tactics.

Here's the real reason why the website succeeded: I spoke.

I put my voice out there. It was mainly through writing, but the medium didn't matter. You can write, do videos, or record a podcast.

Too many business owners today are silent. You've got to speak because through speaking, you find your unique voice, allow people to find you, and build assets that support your business for years.

I can't imagine building a business without writing. Heck, I now teach a messaging framework as my main job, so this "just write" lesson clearly impacted me.

Okay, so I had this growing audience. But how did I monetize it? Cracking the code on turning website visitors into revenue wasn't easy, but I figured it out.

Next week, I'll share the first of my two revenue streams.

Rooting for you,

Billy