UPDATE: Because our free March Content Sprint was so popular we are now running a series of paid 7-Day Content Sprints running Live:

* 13-19 July 2020
* 17-23 August 2020
* 14-20 September

More information and sign-up here: https://problogger.com/contentsprint/



A Free 7-Day Course to Create New Content
Does your blog need a momentum boost? We've decided to run a LIVE 7-day Content Sprint to help support you create a plan and 6 new pieces of content for your blog in just 7 days.

Starting next week (Monday 23rd March at 5pm PDT/8pm EDT / Tuesday 24th March at 11AM AEDT) Darren will be teaching live daily on FB in our ProBlogger Community Facebook Group (join here). Each day for 7 days we'll roll out supporting resources here in the course and add the video in case you can't make it live.

Join us here: https://problogger.com/freecontentsprint/





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Hi there, friends. It’s Darren here from ProBlogger. Welcome to episode 281 of the ProBlogger Podcast. I've also got a live audience watching us today. They've been chiming in and saying good day. We've got people watching from Singapore, California, Adelaide, and all around Australia. It seems to be quite a few Aussies on due to the time of day that we're going at the moment. I will explain to you I have my son playing trumpet in the background today and this is not to give you ambient music but because he's got an online trumpet lesson today as part of his schooling.

Today, I want to give you a fun little opportunity. We have been hearing from a lot of ProBlogger readers, podcast listeners about their current situation and how they're feeling about the Coronavirus, what's been going on in their world, and how that's impacting their blogging. We talked a little bit about that in the last episode, episode 280. I gave some suggestions on moving through it and blogging through this crisis. We also wanted to do something for you, and this is something that we want to offer to you for free, which will hopefully keep some momentum going in on your blog, and I hope this will help you. 

As I just said on the live video, we have created this on-the-fly, so it's not polished by any means, but we think there's some value in it. I'm going to share my screen for the live video viewers and I'll pop this same graphic up in the show notes for those of you who will be listening to this on the ProBlogger Podcast.

This all comes out of us observing one of the big problems that a lot of our listeners have at the moment. That problem is that many people are really struggling right now with motivation for their blog, particularly with content at the moment. They have this big problem, that they're feeling a lack of motivation, they're feeling distracted by all the information that's coming out at the moment about Coronavirus, and many are feeling fear and uncertainty about their businesses. 

Someone just in the live stream said that they've lost their job out of this and that has brought fear and uncertainty for many of our readers. We're certainly hearing that increasingly, or at least people feeling like their work, their employment might be coming to an end. They're looking to their blog for some income but not really knowing how to do that and feeling paralyzed by it. 

One of the results of this is a lack of content on many of our reader’s blogs or at least some blockages when it comes to creating content. If that's you,

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Hey there friends, it’s Darren Rowse from ProBlogger here. Welcome to episode 280 of the ProBlogger podcast. 

It’s been a while since we chatted and I do apologize for that, I needed a little time to get my headspace right and work on a couple of other projects, but I’m glad to be back. I’m particularly glad to be back at this time that we find ourselves in. We currently find ourselves in a bit of a crazy time with COVID-19, CoronaVirus, and all that it is meaning for us in the world we’re living in. We’re seeing so many people impacted, the economy impacted, and we’re seeing lots of new things, or at least they’re new to some people. We’re seeing a lot of people now having to work at home, something that many of us, as bloggers, have been doing for a while.

Today, what I want to talk a little bit about is how we navigate this time as bloggers. How do we, as bloggers, not only keep our businesses going, but how do we actually do something to serve our world where there’s so much need at the moment. I jumped on to Facebook Live earlier today and shared my thoughts on that. 

What I want to share with you today is a recording of that Facebook Live. I did a bit of teaching in the middle of that. I talked a little bit about what the world doesn’t need right now, what the world does need right now, and why we, as bloggers, are actually ideally positioned to make a difference. I want to give you some practical thoughts on how to go about that. Some things to keep in mind, some things to avoid, also just tackling that tricky question of how do we actually make it a win-win for our audience and for us without seeming selfish in the midst of that as well, and actually about how not to be selfish in the midst of that as well.

There are some of the things I cover in the recording I’m about to play for you. I just want to say though right up front, I hope you’re doing well. I’m doing well, I’ve had a bit of a scare and I’ll talk about that in the recording today, over the last week or so, but I hope you’re doing well. I really do want to emphasize the point that I make numerous times in this recording that I hope you look after yourself in this time. 

We need you to look after yourself. If you are going to make a difference, if you’re going to use your blogging, your online profile to make the world a better place, right now we need you to look after yourself as well. I hope you’re doing well and I hope you do take seriously the question I pose of you in this recording: what can we do at ProBlogger to serve you better through this time? Is there something that you are facing right now in your blogging that you’d like some content to be produced to help you to navigate that challenge.

If you would like to drop me a line, my team a line, you can send an email to help@problogger.com and that will go to our support team. We’ll put it in front of the person who is best able to help if we can, and hopefully that will inform some content going forward. If you do want to stay in touch with this, head over to our Facebook Page, facebook.com/problogger, and you will get any future Facebook Lives and updates from there. We’ve got our email newsletter which is still going out every week over in ProBlogger that you can sign up for. If you want the show notes today, head over to problogger.com/podcast/280. I’ll come back at the end of this recording and wrap things up. Thanks for listening!

Hi there everyone, it’s Darren from ProBlogger here. Welcome to the ProBlogger Podcast, also welcome to those of you who are watching this live. I am going live onto Facebook today while I’m recording.

Today on the podcast, we have a special guest, Jeff Goins. I’ve been wanting to bring Jeff Goins to the podcast for a while now. Many of you know of Jeff, he has a fantastic blog that I do encourage you to check out. I wanted to get Jeff on the show today to talk a little bit about how his business or his blogging business has evolved over the years, because he started a number of years ago now. What he’s doing today is very different to the way he started. He really started in a personal record keeping kind of way with his blogging and he’s grown his brand, and his business around that.

Today, I've got a special treat, a keynote that I gave a couple of years ago at our ProBlogger event in Melbourne. It's titled Evolve Don't Revolve. It's all about how as bloggers and online entrepreneurs. It is really easy to revolve in our blogging, to just go around in circles. The call of this keynote is to look at seven different areas where you can evolve your blog and online business. I also want to tell you about a new event coming up in August of this year on the 10th and 11th of August, again, in Melbourne. There's two options for those of you who want to come to our event in Melbourne.

In today’s episode we’re going to talk a little bit of our secret of growing your blog. I think it’s the number one way to grow a blog and this ties into a promotion that we’ve got on at the moment on our 31 Days To Build A Better Blog course. I know many of you have gone through our Start A Blog course over the last couple of months and to continue the good work that you’ve done, we’ve decided to make 31 Days To Build A Better Blog 50% off for the next week or so until the end of February.

Do you already have a blog and are thinking about expanding into another medium? Why not consider starting a podcast. Our Facegroup members have shared several questions about starting a podcast, especially about gear, content, engagement, hosting, launching, and monetization. I went to an expert for answers to all your questions. Today’s guest is Craig Hewitt, founder of Podcast Motor and Castos.

Today we’re finishing up our series of podcasts from stories who did our free Start A Blog course. We’re going to hear today from Jackie Baker from Pretty Things, Yummy Food. It’s a lifestyle blog and it’s only been going for six months. Jackie started her blog as a result of going through our course and you’re going to hear her talk a little bit about that in today’s story. She recommends a great tool for those of you who are starting out and want to create some cool social graphics and gives you a few good tips as well.

Today’s story comes from Stefano Caioni from stefanocaioni.com. He is a web developer, who is a photographer as well, and his blog is about photography. Stefano actually came to blogging with a bit of a tech background, which is different to many people. We’ve had others in this series who came with no technology kind of background whatsoever. Stefano has created a beautiful-looking blog with that background but he has some interesting reflections upon that journey.

Today's story comes from Melissa who writes the Blog Living in the Wait. Her blog serves as a resource for those waiting for something in their lives, whether it’s a job, spouse, home, or otherwise. Melissa discovered that you can still live life during that time of waiting for something that your heart desperately desires. By showing her vulnerability Melissa has created a blog that many will be able to relate to.

Today's story comes from Penny Wilson, an Aussie who writes about about language learning and language travel on lingomama.com. Penny has connected with bloggers that she respects in her niche. Also, she created an interview series that lets her connect with other language learners. I love the idea of interviewing people. Even if those people that you're interviewing aren't the high-profile ones, they each have their own network. They each have their own story. They each have their own value to add to your blog but also, as Penny shared, they can send people to read your blog as well.

Today's story comes from Jacob West, and he shares a short story that he submitted via video this week. He has a blog called Live Life Liberated, which you can find at livelifeliberated.com. Jacob shares some tips on how to prepare, if you want to start a blog. he main reason I wanted to share Jacob's story today is that it is a little bit different to some of the others that you hear about in these series. Most of the other bloggers that we're featuring in these series are solo bloggers. I love the fact that Jacob actually involved others in that journey.

Today, we are launching another round of our bloggers’ stories. It’s a series that’s going to go for the next couple of weeks. Today's story is from Denise Bumby from a blog called Does Size Matter? Denise took part in a course last year and as you hear, she worked though it at her own pace. It’s a short story and it goes for about five or so minutes, but I hope it is one that will warm your heart as much as it warmed mine.

Today is the final episode in our blogger breakthrough series. We may do this again in the future because I’ve had a lot of really great feedback on the stories that we’ve been featuring. I want to share with you a story from Rowan Sims. He took his blog from fairly inconsistent blogging, he switched his focus, and he shares two strategies that he used to help grow his traffic particularly Pinterest. He gives some good tips on driving traffic with Pinterest as well.

We're continuing our series of blogger breakthrough stories and we've got Anita Joyce from cedarhillfarmhouse.com. Anita talks about how she realized that her blog was very dependent upon page views and shares a story of what she did about that to diversify her income streams and to engage with her readers in a new way.

Today, we're continuing our blogger breakthrough series with a story from Krista who comes to us from Canada. Krista O'Reilly-Davi-Digui has a blog called A Life in Progress, it's alifeinprogress.ca. She's going to tell us a story of her first experience of a viral post. It's actually a post that went viral a number of times and the impact that it had upon her blog. I love this story because it talks about how Krista went from procrastination fear to showing up regularly and pushing through that. It is a beautiful story and I encourage you to listen to the end.

Rachel Miller is on today's episode to share various breakthroughs that helped her generate a blogging income that paid for her groceries and mortgage to building a 6-figure business. How’d she do it? Harnessing the power of her audience and going viral. Virals aren’t just about people seeing your content, but to help grow your bank account.

Today you’re going to hear from Todd Tresidder who has a remarkable story to share with you. He grew his traffic tenfold without producing hardly any new content on his blog. In fact, he deleted content on his blog and he’s going to talk to you about how he did that. I think you’re going to love today’s episode, particularly if you’ve been blogging for a couple of years. This is one that is particularly relevant for anyone who’s got an archive of content already. This is something that you can do.

We’re continuing our series of blogger breakthrough stories with a story of Trixi Symond. She has a great blog called Coloured Buttons. She’s also got another really interesting project which she’s going to tell us about in today’s story called Sew A Softie. I wanted to feature this today because it’s not directly a way to monetize your blog, although you could possibly monetize this type of thing, but it is something that makes a difference in the lives of your readers. It’s something that I think people will grab ahold of. It’s also the type of thing that could build engagement with your readers as well.

We're continuing our series on blogger breakthroughs where we've got listeners of the podcast pitching their stories to us to share with you. Today, we've got Mim Jenkinson who has a blog called Love from Mim. She started out blogging for one reason and ended up blogging for another. She's got a story that I'm sure many of you will relate to but also find quite inspiring as well.

Today’s story is from bloggers Carolyn Edlund. She has a great blog called Artsy Shark. You can find it at arstyshark.com. Her blog is about the business of art, and she’s going to tell us a story today that I think will be interesting to many of you. It’s a way of drawing readers into your blog that’s going to stop you from having to chase your readers, but hopefully attract them to your blog, and this has revolutionized her blog and has helped her to build a really successful business around the blog that she has.