Technorati and Firepole

As part of my business plan for the new year I will be working on upgrading this site as well as my business site. This blog will continue to cover automation-related topics and remain free of commercial links; I really do try and be unbiased when it comes to brands and manufacturers. At the same time I now work for myself again and need to find ways of leveraging this site and my book to get new business. To that end I have enrolled in Firepole Marketing’s Audience Business Masterclass. Since the major goal of this class is to increase traffic and create better engagement with followers of the blog, this will mean making changes. I don’t really know what those will be yet since I am not very far into the class, but since the goal is to engage readers I’m sure it will all be good.

One thing I’ve already learned from working with Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing is that there are a lot of places that a blog needs to be registered at to increase visibility. One of these is Technorati, which lists over a MILLION different blogs on any subject you can think of. Since part of registering my blog on their site involved embedding a code into a new post, here it is: BZGNEB899FPS and QBX85RK68S2J. Of course thats also the reason for posting again so soon after yesterday. I guess ideally other bloggers post something almost every day, but I generally post only once or twice a week.

For those who have their own blogs or own a business, I highly recommend Danny Iny and Firepole Marketing. I have a lot of books on sales, business, consulting and other motivational/philosophical subjects, but Danny’s approach has really hit home for me. Despite being primarily focused on web-based businesses, there is a lot of great advice on business in general. His book “Engagement From Scratch”, along with a six video course are both offered for FREE on his site, http://www.firepolemarketing.com. Before enrolling in the Audience Business Masterclass I had already gained a lot of insight into what my business and blog could be without paying a cent.

I still plan on keeping my business website and this one separated, but a big part of business is the size and engagement of the audience. I have really enjoyed posting here over the last couple of years and have learned a lot myself about the automation world while researching for the book and blog, but I think I could count my regular followers on my fingers. I hope that by improving the content and presentation of this site it will be a better site for all concerned.

Share
About

Electrical Engineer and business owner from the Nashville, Tennessee area. I also play music, Chess and Go.

7 Comments on “Technorati and Firepole

  1. Hi, Can you let us know how the rest of the Audience Business Masterclass went? Was it worth the money? Did you manage to get through all of the lessons? I am looking for reviews online and almost all of them are by people who are in the beginning stages of the class. Does anyone manage to get through it all?

    Thanks for taking the time to reply.

    • Hi Faith,
      The class was excellent and I would say worth the money. I did get through all of it and learned a lot.

      In my case I learned much of how a website should be structured and how to identify and relate to my audience better, but I also realized that it is unlikely that I could directly monetize my website. I reach a pretty large audience but unless I wanted to sell a physical product or allow advertising I wouldn’t make money. That’s ok for me but may not be for others; my income comes from direct contact with customers. I think most of the people in the class were looking for ways to make money online rather than how websites and blogs work, so they were willing to change their niche and target audience; I am not. My blog existed before I took the class and I didn’t want to change it.

      While taking the class I was able to find a lot of blogs that did monetize pretty well through book, consulting or seminar sales. While I do have a book and I consult, none of my customers come from my website. Instead, they may find information there that helps them make a purchasing decision.

      In short, if your goal is simply to make money online, be willing to change your target audience and/or message.

  2. I recently signed up with Firepole Marketing through an affiliate but was declined my money back as per their guarantee. I suggest avoiding this company.

    • Hi Justine,

      I am surprised to hear that. My experience with Firepole was pretty good, though I never asked for money back. Did you try contacting Danny Iny directly and asking him why?

      • Hi Frank,
        I am also interested in Danny Iny’s ABM course but cannot find many reviews online, which I find a little strange. The site advertises that it “guarantees a 3-6k/month income increase by the end of the class” – which also seems a little too good to be true.. I understand that your approach was different since you didn’t want to make money off selling a product on your site, but did you see how it went for other participants? Did they really see an increase in income? I would really appreciate your input since the cost of the class is definitely an investment..
        Thank you!

        • There are a lot of helpful materials and exercises given out during the class, that was one of my biggest takeaways since I knew very little about attracting readers. The other place you would find a lot of people who could tell you more about the class is on their Facebook group, which is probably only open to those who have enrolled in the course. I know, not much help if you don’t sign up for the class, but there is a lot of active conversation on it. You might also e-mail Danny himself, I found him pretty responsive, though this was a couple of years ago. Good luck!