Why I Created Gateway Blogging
Not too long ago, I was just like you: I had tried my hand at some freelance work (web design) and, unrelated to that, I had a blog. My freelance business didn’t do so well. I did get one job that was over $3,000 from a guy who was loopy from his medication (which I didn’t know at the time), but not much else. I really didn’t know what to do to bring in business or how to properly market it.
Nobody Saw It Coming
Back when blogging was really new, nobody had a clue about the force it would become. People did not foresee that something that began as a personal diary would become one of the most effective marketing tools ever–for reasons that stood traditional marketing on its head! The business and marketing landscape was shifting under our feet in a major way… and most of us didn’t see it coming.
Rise of the Free Agent Nation
Not only was marketing and public relations changing, business itself was changing. It’s now possible to easily work from home and do business with people all over the world. In 2002, Free Agent Nation
How should such a person–with almost zero marketing budget and experience–market themselves? Since the customers were coming via the internet, it made sense to market via the internet. And it seemed the best way to do that was to write a blog to establish authority and expertise in a subject. But how does a blog help bring in business?
Missing the Point
It seemed that wherever I went online, almost nobody really understood business blogging. Monetized blogging sites are everywhere and most are hardly worth a second glance. They miss the point of a business blog–to get business.
I became very interested in what, exactly, made blog readers become customers. I became a total student of this. I studied copywriting, conversion (when people do what you want them to on a website), and SEO (search engine optimization). And of course I studied everything about blogging. Over time, I began to synthesize this information into a whole that, when put to use, proved to be highly effective for my own business. I was getting somewhere. My freelance business was making me a tidy supplemental income.
Gateway Blogging Doubled My Income
I worked on my techniques and shared them with others privately and via posts I wrote on Remarkablogger. Based on my own results and the feedback I was getting, I knew I was on to something. I developed the idea that a business blog was a gateway to products or services. I shared this information with my coaching clients, even as I was developing and refining it. My blog brought in paying clients. I was able to double my income. Think about that for a moment: how would your quality of life improve if you doubled your income?
I Discovered that Ebooks are NOT the Best Way
I’ve been a student and a teacher all my life. When you really want to learn (or teach) something, it’s important that you enter into a concentrated study of it. Blogs are no good for this because of the way they’re organized (that sounds a little crazy, coming from someone who’s such a strong believer in blogging, but it’s true–blogs aren’t good for everything). You really need a dedicated environment in which to learn quickly and efficiently. You also want community support from the instructors and from your peers. Again, blogs are not a good format for this. So what was the correct format?
At first, I thought an ebook would be the way to go, but the problem with ebooks is that there’s no real relationship with other people and no interaction. Ebooks are only good for people who love to read ebooks. Ebooks have no community. Ebooks have no personal coaching. Ebooks can be added to and revised, and then downloaded all over again, but really… the age of the ebook is coming to a close.
An interactive learning environment (ILE) is made for one purpose: learning new skills and information you can apply in real life to get results. If I really wanted to help people learn this stuff, I realized I would have to create a dedicated environment for it. As a charter member of Teaching Sells, I had all the expert training I could ever want to create a dedicated business blogging learning center, so that is what I set out to do, and Gateway Blogging, the learning program, was born.
About Michael Martine
I’ve been making websites and exploring online since 1997. My business blog is Remarkablogger, where I sell blog consulting services. Remarkablogger is considered one of the top how-to blogs of the blogosphere. Basically, I just try to keep it real, be myself, and talk about really useful stuff that nobody else is saying.
I’v been a professional software trainer for over eight years, teaching Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, Project Management, Adobe software, HTML, and CSS. Throughout my career as a trainer I’ve received high evaluation scores. I’ve written courseware for training companies for Microsoft Office 2007 and SharePoint (WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007).
Why am I telling you this? So that you know what kind of relevant background I have for an online learning program. This background makes me uniquely suited to develop online interactive learning environments. I have written real training curriculum used to train hundreds of people.
I have been successfully running my own freelance business, and a vital driver of its success is Gateway Blogging. When famous copywriter Brian Clark started his Teaching Sells program, I joined immediately as a charter member–even though I had never joined any such kind of program before. What I learned there would cause me to change the idea of Gateway Blogging from a book to an interactive learning environment, which is a much more profound and effective experience. I want people to truly experience what it’s like to drive new business with their blog, not just read about it in some flimsy ebook. People want real results.
I have achieved real results from Gateway Blogging, and I believe that anyone can who is willing to spend some time and effort. This is where most people would tell you their program is so easy anyone could do it. Well, that’s not true with Gateway Blogging. You have to put some work into it, and some of the pieces of it will require work that is a little technical. But you will be shown how to do it step by step.
You can get a free sneak peek of Gateway Blogging as an alpha tester by signing up below. Alpha testers will be the first group to receive discounted charter membership pricing when Gateway Blogging goes into its beta phase:
