25 Things You Can Learn From Collis Ta'eed

1. Think strategically about your blog:

Collis identified this as one of the reasons he reached his blogs tipping point in 2008

You could say that thinking strategically about your blog is important if you want to build a business with it. Look carefully at what you are spending versus what you are getting back. Think long term and don’t be afraid to spend money along the way – so long as it’s wisely spent.

I’ve tried to make sure all my money is wisely spend, and my strategy thus far seems to be really working out. Its worth asking yourself how far ahead are you planning for?

Two tips on selling ebooks:

Collis included this in his Problogger interview about how to be a rockstar ebook seller

• My main tip would be that unless you a very self disciplined person there will be a lot of times where you *really* don’t feel like writing. The more you put it off, the worse it gets. I found it was best to allocate some time, a day or a few hours before work, and start writing, no matter what. Sometimes you delete everything you write in the first half hour, but once you get into the swing it gets easier and things flow.
• Barter (how they got Leo involved in return for redesigning his site)

4. Offer to Stay on and Help the New Owner … For a Time

Collis expanded on this in 10 tips to a successful blog sale.

This is something that I didn’t actually do in the auction, but I think would have boosted the asking price a little. During the auction a few people asked for me to stay on and help the new owner to varying degrees. One person asked for a 1 year commitment of posting monthly, given that the blog isn’t even a year old, that’s obviously a bit silly. But having said that offering to potential sellers to stay on a little after the sale gives them the assurance that the transition will be smooth.

This is a really curious piece of advice and something that may help many bloggers get a higher price for their blog. I’ll be researching to find more examples.

5. Hire via the site:

Collis talked about this in a problogger guest post about hiring people.

A great place to find people is through your site. Hiring via your site means that you know the people are interested and passionate. We keep a contribute form on the contact page for people to express their interest. We ask for an ‘audition article’ which we pay for if we use and that way its a very seamless, easy process. Some of our best writers contacted us this way.

Another method is linking to your ‘contribute page’ on twitter. This has helped me be aware of openings and get high profile guest posts.

6. Hire well known writers:

Later in the post, he said

It’s also great to find well known writers. Some of the writers we have on FreelanceSwitch include Leo Babauta of ZenHabits, Skellie of Skelliewag and Chris Garrett of ChrisG. These guys are great because they all have their own followings. Additionally bloggers have a tendency of linking back from their own blogs periodically driving extra traffic and readers back your way. Lastly the great thing about these types of people is that although they tend to be more expensive, they know how to write posts that people want to read.

This is the same advice I gave to a friend whose company was researching blogging. It is something that I intend to do, as soon as I can afford it.

7. Design to look like a Professional Outfit

Collis said this in his post detailing how he got 500 subscribers in just five days.

One of the great benefits of being a professional designer is being able to custom design sites for myself. A tailor made design really takes a site or blog to the next level in its perception by new visitors. It means that people stumbling on your site immediately see you as a professional outfit and expect quality content. When you back that up with some pillar articles all of a sudden you are in business.

With the FreelanceSwitch design, we deliberately worked on making not just an aesthetically pleasing design, but also a very approachable and friendly look. Using characters, bold type and friendly tones the site manages to get across a persona of a helpful and readable content.

People will take you a lot more seriously if your site looks professional. This is especially so when you are using a common theme; you don’t want to look like a clone of all the other sites.

8. Have regular link ups.

In part two of the series, Collis said that by linking, ‘we tell our readers that there’s no need to go anywhere else.’

We give the message that by reading FreelanceSwitch, you’ll not only get the best we have to offer, but the best that everywhere else has to offer. And if that’s the case then FreelanceSwitch may be the only blog of its kind that you need bother subscribe to.

This is a really useful tip. You will have to make sure the links don’t dominate the site but it certainly will ensure you are an authority.

9. Publish On a Tuesday

Collis elaborated on this in his post about Tuesday being the internets peak hour.

I had originally planned to publish this series on a Thursday. After a series of delays, I choose a Tuesday. I’ll be testing out this theory then.

10. Offer Breaking News

Collis wrote about this further in a post on Freelancer Magazine

Another characteristic of blogs that rise to the top is that they break news first. That is they tend to be sources of information you either cannot get elsewhere or would not know where to find. By providing the hottest news items the great blogs make it imperative that you subscribe or visit them first. In that sense they become indispensable.

I don’t offer breaking news but it certainly is one way to rise to the top. It can also involve a lot of pressure, so its best to think before committing yourself to this style.

11. Choose a nice clear font and size.

This was one of the five tips Collis gave to pull the readers in.

There was a time when small was cool and designers in particular push 9 and 10 point text on web users. That time was the 90’s and thankfully it has passed. Go for a readable font at a readable size.

I think that many 11 and 12 point text are too small for some blog designs. I really appreciate it when a blogger takes the time to choose a clear font.

12. Don’t advertise your subscriber numbers

Collis discussed this in an article about making your blog seem more established.

You may be impressed that you have 18 subscribers to your RSS feed, but chances are that noone else is. Nothing else says brand new blog with no readership than an icon proclaiming how few people are subscribed. While having no subscribers doesn’t necessarily equate to bad blog, it does means that you are now combatting the thought “noone else reads this blog, why should I?”

In many cases, bloggers are avoiding showing their follower subscribers altogether. I have no plans to divulge my subscriber numbers in my sidebar but am still questioning whether I should write about them elsewhere.

13. Offer an Amazon store

This was included as one of 9 ways you can profit with amazon.

An ?aStore? is Amazon?s mini-store product that opens up in a new window. You can fill it with a little catalog that you think would be interesting to your readers and if Amazon can detect it, the aStore will display the user?s Amazon wishlist, which is a handy way of reminding them of the things they already decided are worth spending on.

You can style an aStore to match your site, and put a link or graphic in the sidebar of your blog to call attention to it. Give it some supporting text indicating that you?ve hand picked things that you think might be interesting.

I haven’t explored this, as I’m in a competitive niche, but I’ve seen many sites have a lot of success with this. The main point is that you make your every item is targeted to your blogs readers.

14 Invite a few Top Commenters to Write a Blog Post each month

Collis talked about this in his post on making your blog more communal.

Blogging tends to make the community focus around a single person, the more you can distribute this the better, by allowing key community members to write a post you distribute the focus

This is a fascinating idea and can create a real sense of community around your blog. If the audience responds, you can even invite them to do regular guest posts or paid work.

15. Be Ready to Receive

Collis expanded this in his post about enabling your creativity.

There is nothing worse than forgetting a great idea. When inspiration strikes you want to be ready. If you find you have ideas at night then keep a notebook next to your bed, if they happen in the car, get a voice recorder, if you often have nothing nearby learn some memory techniques to help you hold on to those precious ideas. Whatever the case, be ready.

I have a number of notebooks that will fit into various bags of mine. I also have a voice recorder. This ensures that I’m reader to jot down my ideas and can process them at a more convenient time.

16. Be Strategic with Free Work

Collis discussed this further in a post on Freelance switch.

f you do choose to work for free, make sure they know that they are lucky (because they are), and how much you would normally charge for your work. I’m not suggesting you be cocky, but rather subtly ensure that they know you’re on an equal footing to them. Using the word ‘collaborating’, can be especially useful in driving this home. Remember though, the goal is to win friends and influence people. And once you’ve got your foot in the door, wiggle it around so you get some standing room!

I am very strategic with my free work. Currently, I try and exchange it for another bloggers services or ask for a referral. I’ve since discovered that my time is to precious to do everything for free.

17. Send your terms along with your quote

Collis gave this advice in his comprehensive guide to starting your freelance career.

When sending your initial quote it can be a good idea to send your terms of service along with it. “Terms of service” or “Terms and Conditions” are simply a set of terms that you set for the agreement. Generally speaking they work to protect you and your client from transactions that go wrong

This is very useful. You may also want to send out a bunch of prerequisite questions to ensure that you and the client are a good match.

18, If your going to selling hosting, really sell it.

Collis wrote about this in his post questioning whether an individual should sell hosting.

In other words don’t sell hosting to a couple of clients and then stop, because you’ll get all the drawbacks without the rewards

This was a really useful post. I had toyed with the idea of selling hosting, but this post made me realize that in my circumstances, it was a bad idea. It was useful to know this before I invested time and money on the idea.

19. Be referable.

Collis said that this was the secret to getting more web work.

A large number of jobs for most freelancers come from referred clients. Do a good job for one person and they tell others for you. 80% of all the jobs I’ve worked were referrals and I think being referrable is extremely important. Focus on the characteristics that make people want to work with you, and be reliable, very reliable.

Since reading this post, I’ve been trying so hard to make sure that I’m referable. I’m still working on my systems, but I’ve seen a positive result so far.

20. Fill out your profile to make you look good

Collis gave this as one of 8 tips to help you get work through LinkedIn

This is really a no-brainer, if you want to get full use of Linkedin it has to be a representation of you. It’s a bit like putting together a resume, include everything that is relevant *and* puts you in a positive light and ignore the rest. According to Linkedin , users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to find opportunities through the site. Linkedin has a neat tool that tells you how complete your profile is and gives suggestions on what else you can do. I recommend filling in just about everything.

This is a top point, but it also applies to other social media profiles. Rather than keyword stuffing, you should focus on using your profiles to advertise why the reader should investigate you further.

21. Use Mailouts

Collis wrote about this further in his post on emailing marketing for freelancers.

This is a must read for anyone looking to use emailing marketing as part of their business. He includes a list of what you shouldn’t do and provides you with enough information to sketch out a good email marketing plan.

22. Translate your site

This is something that I’ve seen many authority blogs doing, and it has also helped some sites to generate extra press. Its well worth doing if you have a strong international community surrounding your blog.

23. Create teams of writers when you add other projects

This is something that I am thinking about doing as my site progresses. As well as having teams of writers, Collis has created teams of editors to ensure things run smoothly. It is an impressive model.

24. Add a job board

This generally only works on authority sites, but it is a really useful way to monetize your blog. It may be worth researching if you are in an untapped niche.

25. Use buy sell ads for your advertising

Many advertising options are offered using Buy Sell Ads. I’ve seen many successful bloggers use it. I will be researching other advertising options for the smaller blog.