25 Lessons You Can Learn From Ali Hale

1. Guest posting for to promote your products

Ali did many quality guest posts and interviews when she launched her staff blogging course. This was a great way to get publicity without having to ask for a review. It also served as social proof for her awesome writing skills.

2. Offer custom coupon codes

Ali offered custom coupon codes for promoters of her staff blogging course. This was a very effective strategy – I bought it! She kindly offered a coupon code for readers of this blog. Check out her staff blogger course and enter the following code: Jade

3. Develop a product as an course instead of an ebook

Ali offered her staff blogging course as a series of different modules instead of a book. The information was still provided as pdf files, but was presented in different modules and had several accompanying worksheets. I thought it was a really interesting way to presenting information.

4. Have a recommendation policy

Ali links to a recommendation policy above the products she advertisers in her sidebar. This builds trust and also demonstrates the quality of the products.

5. Offer batch prices on your services page

Many people request you contact them to get batch prices. This can be time consuming and can lead to people going elsewhere. I really appreciated how Ali included her prices and I’m sure other people did too.

6. Offer free handouts for your coaching services

Ali offers two free handouts from her staff blogging course as part of her main coaching package. This makes the course more valuable, without losing the sale from the course.

7. Take a course that you pay for

Ali wrote about this in her post on turning enthusiasm into action.

Depending on your goal or project, taking a course may help validate it in the eyes of the world. (This shouldn’t matter – but for many of us, a big stumbling-block is not wanting to make our families ashamed of us!) Taking an academic or vocational course might help show that you’re serious. Plus, in some industries or fields of work, having an official qualification will make people take you seriously.

As soon as I’ve paid for an online course, I’ve help myself accountable. Some people online will take you more seriously after you’ve taken certain internet marketing courses. You can also leverage the course sometimes for extra publicity. I’ll be writing about this later.

S. Stop worrying about what other people think

Ali expanded on this in her post about living your way

We can internalise other people’s advice, strictures or warnings so much that it can take a bit of thinking to unpick where they come from. You could be struggling to pay the rent on a place of your own just because your college friends insisted they’d never be seen dead going back to their parents’ home. You may find yourself busy gardening every weekend just because your neighbours have prize-winning rose bushes. Perhaps you even chose your whole career based on what your teachers wanted for you, not what you wanted.

It can be hard not to worry, especially when you are just starting out. Worrying is just a waste of time and causes you a lot of unnecessary stress. If someone publicly criticizes you, see what you can take from the criticism and publicly thank them.

9. Pin Your Projects to a Calendar

She also said:

While you’re still feeling fired up and enthusiastic, or at a time when you’ve recaptured something of that first spark, sit down with your diary or calendar. Set yourself some specific actions on specific dates. These are going to vary depending your project.

This can be hard to do initially so its best to leave room to be flexible on the calender. However, it is extremely useful just to know what actions need to be done at what time. This applies to unpaid work as well.

10. Be Proactive

Ali discussed this further in her guest post on Problogger

Don’t sit around hoping that your dream job will appear on the ProBlogger boards: instead, look at the blogs which you read and see if any use multiple writers. If they do, there’s a good chance that they pay. Hunt around for pages like these:

I was very proactive organizing this blog series. I lined up interviews with top bloggers. I told people I was willing to guest post for them. I paid for products that I thought would help me connect with the author. Its very hard, but leads to so many amazing opportunities.

11. Identify what actions you really need to take

Ali discussed this further in her fabulous Problogger guest post.

If you’re currently planning a blog, or waiting to relaunch or restart an existing one, don’t keep waiting for the perfect moment. You’ll always wish you had more time, more knowledge, and more support, and frankly the only way you’re likely to get them is by getting started!

Breaking down a task into actionable steps makes it SO much easier. I have about 200 actions I need to take in the first month after the launch. It seems like a lot, but it is so much easier now I know what they are.

12. Focus on the audience, instead of yourself

Later in the post, she said

If you’re trying to develop a blog from the early stages, consider shifting the focus onto “you” the audience: see what people are asking about in comments, or read other blogs in your area for ideas. Keep your personal touch, but make sure the content is relevant, valuable and useful to the reader.

I’ll be focusing a lot of my future articles and guest posts about what my twitter followers have been asking during the launch stages. However, I am aware that this is only a small fraction of my potential audience. I’ll be really focusing on this as my blog progresses.

13. Write Quality Articles

Ali expanded on this in her interview on Daily Blog Tips

Avoid glaring errors with grammar, spelling and punctuation (readers will forgive minor slip-ups, so don’t obsess over every comma)

I once got a lot of criticism because of poor grammar on a Problogger guest post. It was hurtful, but I eventually found an editor who was willing to help me get better. This is allowed to command more for my guest posts.

14. Ask what else could they mean

Ali wrote about this further in her post about thinking the best of people.

If someone’s behaviour towards you seems rude, offensive or unkind, ask yourself “what else could this mean?” Perhaps they’ve suffered a recent bereavement; perhaps they’re ill, or under a lot of stress.

It can so so easy to just let fly when people offend you online. I try to see the best in people but don’t acknowledge those who are only out to cause dissent.

15. Writing for the web requires a different style

Ali discussed this further in her interview on jennescalona.com

Writing for the web — particularly for blogs — requires a different style and format from many other forms of freelance writing. You need to be able to write for readers who are busy and distracted: this means having subheadings that are descriptive rather than clever, using lists and short paragraphs to break up the text on the screen, and using bold text to highlight key points. Many blogs will want a chatty, friendly style, and you’ll need to be able to adapt your writing voice to suit the tone of the blog.

It can take some time to get used to the different style of the web – it requires reading a lot of blogs, and then experimenting to find your writing voice. I recommend experimenting in the comment sections of blogs and seeing what people respond to.

16. Get onto Twitter

She later said

Most blog editors, and every staff blogger who I know, use it, and it’s a great low-pressure way to network.

Most of my opportunities have come from a connection made on twitter. Usually I’m on there just to have a chat and help people out where possible. I’ve got offered high profile guest posts, offers for help and even a job before my blog had even launched. I’m a huge advocate of twitter.

17. Enjoy it!

Ali talked about this in her interview on Insight Writer

Don’t force yourself to write posts on a topic that you think will be popular or easy to make money from … choose something that you’re passionate about and very interested in. You’ll be writing (and reading) a LOT about it…

This blog launch has been really tough, but I’ve loved it because its something I’m really passionate about. I love being able to learn more and it makes my work day so much easier.

18. Staff Blogging Gives You Money For Your Own Projects

Ali wrote about this further in her post on Blogopolis Blueprint

If your first attempts at blogging for yourself were anything like mine, your anticipated fortune won’t have materialised yet. In fact, your sum total blogging income might amount to $15.35 in Google AdSense – and the chance of reaching the $100 payment threshold any time before Christmas could be slim.
Staff blogging, however, means that you get a guaranteed sum for each post you write. This could be valuable extra pocket money for improving your own blog: it could buy you a premium or customised Wordpress theme, high-quality plugins, ebooks or traditional books to improve your skills, or any number of other goodies.

I once did a post that earned me over $500. That funded some of my projects over the next four months. You don’t have to go into staff blogging with the goal of replacing your income. I went into it with the goal of funding my hobby.

19. Your Writing Should Be Honest

Ali expanded on this in her awesome guest post on Copyblogger

Of course you should check facts and, where possible, cite sources in your articles. That’s just the basics. Being honest in your writing goes further than that.
It means you’re responsible for including information that you might prefer to omit. If you’re reviewing a product on your blog, for instance, you need to give the bad as well as the good.
It actually builds your credibility and often increases sales to admit the downside. Any good copywriter will tell you that.

I try to do this where possible. The only trouble is that sometimes, I worry that my honesty will hurt peoples feelings. Instead, I’ve found product creators appreciate the honesty and sometimes make changes for future editions of that product.

20. Set small and specific sub-goals

Ali wrote about this in a guest post on Motivate Thyself

If your end goal is going to take a long time to reach, it helps to break it down into smaller chunks, and set these as specific sub-goals. This lets you get a regular sense of achievement, and the feeling that you’re making progress – very important for your motivation levels!

This has helped me so much. This post series required a lot of planning and hard work. To make it easier, I just set goals of finishing a certain nymber of posts a day and just crossing them off when done. It was a really great feeling to know I was making progress.

21. Create premium options instead of raising your price

In a comment on Men With Pens, Ali said

My other clients are one-offs, small companies wanting small websites. I found that I was undercharging on these (client liaison took up a lot longer than I expected), and rather than raising the price of my standard website package from £199, I cut out some of the elements included in that and turned them into premium options.
That might be a possible way forward for writers raising prices — rather than saying “the whole project will cost more”, say “I’m going to be charging more for X”. That way, your hard-up clients may choose to carry on with you, just with a reduced service. And make “X” the element of projects that gives you the most hassle.

I have no experience with raising my rates, but was very interested in her comment. I’d love for you to share other tips in the comment section here.

22. Keep speeding up

Ali wrote about this further in a fascinating article on Freelance Switch

Don’t be afraid to spend money on quality resources, too: earmark a percentage of your freelance income to invest on improving your skills and your business. That might mean buying a book (I snapped up How to Be a Rockstar Freelancer with my first week’s freelancing pay, and I pre-ordered Darren and Chris’s ProBlogger the day it was announced.)
Once you’re beginning to make a name for yourself, you may want to pay for a professional design for your own blog to showcase your work, or spend some of your earnings on a course to further your skills and to make new contacts.

I agree with this. I’ve spent a lot of money on information resources. They have really helped me develop further.

23. Get more sleep

Ali expanded on this in a post on Life Optimizer

If you find yourself extremely reluctant to part from the duvet in the mornings, it could just be that you’re naturally lazy … but it’s more likely that you’re not getting enough sleep. Some people are fine with six or seven hours, others need nine: so don’t assume that your current sleep quota is enough for you.

I tried waking up earlier this month in order to get more done. I found that instead of being more productive, I was slugging and got significantly less done in the day. Instead of creating more hours I now focus on getting a good nights sleep and packing more into my day.

24. Keep a journal

Ali wrote about this on a Pick The Brain post about keeping a journal.

When faced with hard decisions that have to be made, writing can help solve them, giving you fresh ideas and perspectives. The result might only be that you accept the difficult times … or it might be that you realize a whole new aspect to the situation. Like having a good cry, writing in a journal is cathartic, leaving you calmer and feeling more able to deal with things.

I have a journal specific for my blogging activities. It includes strategies and post ideas, but I also write about my problems and brainstorm ways to get through them. Sometimes I just express concerns or hurt feelings. It feels great to get them out of my system, which then helps me to blog more productively

25. Don’t Forget to Celebrate: Pick Some Rewards

Ali discussed this further in a post on The Change Blog

Something which I intend to start doing more is to pick rewards for reaching milestones. I find that this is both an encouragement to work hard towards a goal, and also a way to acknowledge that I really have achieved something of significance. It’s so easy to treat our achievements lightly, or to feel that they don’t matter because they wouldn’t be “big” in the eyes of the world.

The best thing about this tip is that you don’t even have to financially reward yourself. As soon as my blog launches, I’ll be heading up to Melbourne to do some bushwalks and cheap tourist activities. Just having these rewards in my head has helped me get through the launch process!