Site School: Smarten Up Your Blog

Welcome back, site scholars! It's time for another episode in our series of newsletter ideas to help you get consistent in emailing your community this year.

In this episode, we're focused on ideas for June 2023 – though many of them work for other months and future years. You'll hear about 20 different ideas, which is quite enough to be getting on with, eh?

You can also read the written format of this episode here, which includes ...

Welcome back, Site Scholars! This week's episode is another case study update – why did I start so many sites in the first half of the year?!

In this episode, I'm digging into the details of my Jordan Traveler site (jordantraveler.com) as it has passed the two-year mark. This is an important milestone since it is when I make strategic decisions about the future of my site. If you're curious about this site's performance and what I ...

Welcome back, scholars! Today we're talking about something a little different: social media... dun dun DUN!

While this isn't a normal topic I cover on the Site School blog, I wanted to share the results of an experiment I've been running on my Facebook Page for the past six months.

In this week's episode, we'll cover my history with Facebook Pages (Facebook Pages are dead!), the Facebook Pages experiment I'm running, and the resul...

Welcome back, site scholars! This week, we're diving into another case study update – this time for my "pandemic project," aka my Harry Potter site, Follow the Butterflies.

I started this site in April 2020 as the world shut down, and it's been a bit of a rollercoaster. In this three-year case study update, we'll look at traffic, blog publishing strategies, taking breaks, and more. 

As always, I appreciate your ratings and reviews,...

Welcome back, site scholars – or should I welcome my self back after a break...

In any case, we're back in session, getting right on the horse with email newsletters. How did you do in sending your list regular emails in April?  Let's do even better in May!

In this week's episode, you'll find two dozen ideas for different newsletters you could send, spreading across literally every niche out there. The only excuse you have for not ...

Welcome back to class, site scholars! Here's the latest installment in the series of "what to send your list" so you can get in the weekly habit of contacting your community by email.

In this episode, we're focusing on the month of April 2023 – though this episode will be helpful even if you're listening in future years, as long as you adjust the dates accordingly.

There are specific ideas for each week, as well as more general ide...

Welcome to class, Site Scholars! What do you do with a site you no longer love? It's tough to say – and your situation may be different than mine...

In my two-year case study update for my Great Plains Travel Guide (https://greatplainstravel.com/), I'm taking a look at how a six-month winter break affected the site, and what I plan to do next. 

I don't typically cover selling sites as I've never done this before, so let's talk abou...

Welcome back to class, site scholars! We're back for another episode in the series of "what to send your list."

In this episode, we're focusing on the month of March 2023 – though this episode will be helpful even if you're listening in future years, as long as you adjust the dates accordingly.

In addition to providing multiple suggestions for what to send your newsletter each week of March, this episode also covers why to email yo...

Welcome to class, site scholars! January is a busy month for case study updates – both my London On My Mind and Discover Sausalito sites hit milestones in that month, and that means I have case studies to share.

(LOMM is episode 14, if you want to listen to that one too.)

In today's episode, we're focusing on my three-year case study update for Discover Sausalito. I share the origins of this site – why I started it – how it's perfo...

Welcome back to class, site scholars!

In today's episode, we're taking a look at my London site – London On My Mind, https://londonmymind.com – and how it's performing at the two-year mark. In addition to sharing some site stats, I also dig into what I've learned and what my main areas of focus will be in the coming year.

After listening, I'd love to hear what you think – will I be able to focus on the areas I've suggested? Will I ...

Welcome to class, scholars! This week is a brand new type of episode, focused on what to send your email list this month – that would be February 2023 if you're scrolling through the back catalog.

In this week's episode, I share four main ideas and several more thought-starters to give you plenty of inspiration to write weekly emails to your newsletter list. Yes, 2023 is the year you're going to start sending weekly emails – it's t...

Welcome back, scholars!

Ready to up your affiliate marketing strategy in 2023? This one's for you. I recorded this interview with Amanda Williams from the travel blogs A Dangerous Business and Cleveland Traveler back in 2021, but the advice is as good as ever. In our chat, we discuss affiliate marketing strategies, how to choose affiliates, what to look out for, and more.

We also talk about products – yes, real, live, physical prod...

Welcome back to class, Site Scholars! 

Piggy-backing off last week's episode about SEO resolutions, here's an episode focused on the lessons I learned in 2022, how I'm applying them to all my sites going forward, and a complete, comprehensive, I-swear-this-will-work strategy for YOUR site(s) in 2023.

If you prefer to read instead of listen, you can find a written version of this episode over on Site School. 

I also mention a guide ...

Happy New Year, Site School listeners! Here's a podcast to kick your year off on the right foot – it's focused on the six areas of SEO that you should focus on in 2023.

Naturally, it includes EEAT and Page Experience scores, but you might be surprised to learn a few of the other areas I think are essential for your focus in the next 12 months.

This episode is available in written format on the Site School blog. And you can connect ...

Welcome to class, Site School podcast listeners! As we cross into the new year, here's a new version of my strategy for setting goals.

Instead of setting traffic or income goals, this episode covers how to identify actions you can actually control that will help you reach the next level on your site. Setting goals around those actions will help you grow and earn more from your site – and that sounds like a great way to start the ne...

Welcome to class, Site School listeners! In today's episode, I'm providing a peek beneath the hood of my Eat Like Bourdain site (https://eatlikebourdain.com). I started this site about 18 months ago, and it's been a different kind of adventure.

In this episode, I'll compare the traffic, email subscribers, and total earnings for my site at the 12- and 18-month marks, plus dive deep into my strategic takeaways and goals going forward...

Welcome to class, Site School listeners! Today, we're timely: this episode (released originally in mid December 2022) is all about preparing for the December Traffic Bump.

Not sure what that is? It's the last week of December when everyone wakes up and starts searching for new information and ideas – it usually results in a boost in traffic during the last week of the year leading into January, which is often one of the biggest tra...

Welcome back to class, Site School listeners! In this episode, I'm giving a case study update on my second blog – that is, the second-oldest blog I run – Space Tourism Guide.

STG turned five years old last month, and is definitely in a different stage of its life as a creative project and mature website. 

In this case study update, I cover:

• the growth (and losses) I've seen in the last year on this site
• strategic takeaways I ...