How Our Site Has Improved Through the Under30 Rockstar Business Series
If you’ve been reading this blog for any period of time, you probably know that we’re about giving information, not about selling you products (with the exception of our recent book, the Nu Nomad!). Actually, we probably shy away from selling to a fault, and could use a little coaching on making some money from this labor of love!
However, I do feel really strongly that if something has really helped me in life it’s my duty to let other people know so that they can also be helped. And that’s what I’m doing here.
In 2008 and the first part of 2009, NuNomad’s blog went sadly neglected, first due to some personal reasons of my own and secondly because we turned our energy towards creating our book. It’s not an excuse – it’s just what happened. Our blog was sitting on Typepad on its own domain of bluesuitnomad.com and linked to from our main site. Although our stats had been initially climbing they tanked with neglect. I also was not active in social media at that point which pretty much pushed us off the virtual map.
So, finally in mid 2009 with our book nearly finished and our family nomading adventure about to begin, I decided to turn back to the blog and see what we could salvage. I wasn’t really sure where to begin, except to start writing posts again. This time I also decided to become more active in social media, use my Facebook account more regularly and try Twitter.
It was on Twitter that a whole new world of possibilities and community opened. Through learning about how to use hashmarks, I was quickly able to find a community of like minded people. And through that community building I came upon Cody McKibb (@codymckibb) and his Thrilling Heroics on a day that he was pushing a new Under30 Rockstar Business Series.
I was pretty skeptical really. I mean, first of all, I’m not under 30. I also have no goal of being a “rock star”. What I wanted was someone to tell me how to get this blog out of the morass it was in. I wanted someone who would just give me practical, “ok, here’s what you do – 1,2,3 steps” – cut to the heart of it and cut out any surrounding B.S. And it had to be affordable.
I was immediately intrigued by Greg Rollett, Matt Wilson and Jared O’Toole (@g_ro @mattwilsontv @jaredotoole) and their video sales pitches for the training. Their stuff looked solid, the price was right and so I decided to go for it.
Here’s what happened. I got exactly what I was looking for. Matt, Greg and Jared not only know their stuff but are very supportive and helpful in answering questions and going above and beyond what they promised. I immediately went to work on the blog overhaul, changed from Typepad to WordPress and got serious about social media as well as blog alliances. The training took place in September of this year. I think the charts below speak for themselves in terms of what’s been happening on this blog. (click the Alexa screen shot to see the larger image)
Yes, I know Alexa shows us dropping last week but that was Thanksgiving in the U.S. and I feel ok about that. We still have a long way to go. My goal is to be in the top 100,000 of Alexa by the new year and I think we may be able to do that (yes, you can help by subscribing, commenting etc!).
Under30 RockStar Business is now a membership site. I highly recommend it to anyone who is in the position to work on improving their blog or site performance. And, yes, we are affiliates now so I will get a kick back if you sign up from this site – just want to be up front about that. But I also want to say that another amazing thing about these three guys is that they have never asked for me to become an affiliate or to write this article about them. I have done so out of my own enthusiasm for my experience and the improvements we’ve seen on our blog. Check them out!
