045 How To Build A Prolific Blog – with Farnoosh Brock

LESLIE:  Hello, hello and welcome to another episode of Learning with Leslie, the podcast where you learn, I learn, we all learn about Internet marketing, online business blogging, social media, traffic generation, you know all that www stuff.

Today, I’m very excited to have Farnoosh Brock, a new friend, a good friend now, creator of the Prolific Living Blog where she writes about living life on your own terms. She’s the author of the book, “Motivation: From Goals to Greatness,” where she writes about the sources of true motivation to help you tap into greatness. She has been featured in Forbes, and was also a feature speaker at BlogWorld 2011, where she talked about personal branding. My goal for this interview is pretty simple. You want to hear a story? You want to know how she got to where she is today? And then, we want to get some practical tips on how us, bloggers, can live a prolific life, can do great things online with our blogs, and even beyond.

Farnoosh, thank you so much for joining me today.

FARNOOSH: That was the warmest, most exciting welcome I’ve ever had. Thank you Leslie for having me.

LESLIE: You are very much welcome. It is a pleasure to have you on the call today. I’ve been looking forward to this, and I’ve been getting to know you by listening to your podcasts, reading your blog. I woke up one morning to do some work, and I started listening to your podcast, and then, I lost track of what I was doing, and you messed up my morning for that little time that I was listening to the podcast. But, you know what? It was well worth it.

FARNOOSH: Oh, that’s wonderful. I’m glad to hear it. And, thank you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I’m very excited to have this conversation with you today.

LESLIE: Awesome, awesome. Okay, so, I go to your blog. By the way, if anyone does not know her blog. It’s at prolificliving.com, and if you go there, you can see all the stuff that she’s writing over there. But, there was one thing in particular that really caught me off guard in the beginning because it seems as if you talk about everything. Okay, so, I see you’re talking about meditation, entrepreneurship, yoga, health, photography, public speaking, relationships, building relationships, travel, technology, you have a podcast, and I think to myself, “Wow, this girl is doing everything.”

Now, this is my question.

FARNOOSH: Okay.

LESLIE: Because many times when you speak to bloggers, people that have been out there and blogging for a while, and even when I give advice, one of the things that you hear a lot is you want to find a very specific niche.

FARNOOSH: Mm-hmm.

LESLIE: And, you’re doing a lot. And, it seems to be working. So, I want you to tell me how you go about doing that, and share that with the listeners today.

FARNOOSH: Okay, a very good question, Leslie because I struggled a lot with that piece of advice, and it’s a very good advice. I know that when you focus on something, and you grow that, and you become really, really good at that, then you become the expert in that particular industry, in that particular field, a voice of authority, and that’s all fantastic. So, the reason I didn’t do that is because I had a lot of passions. I do love writing, and I wanted to focus on a number of things. So, it’s actually not everything. You won’t find anything on politics, I guarantee you.

LESLIE: Well, good, good.

FARNOOSH: But, no, seriously, it is not everything. My tagline, my mission for the blog for Prolific Living is to give people smart habits for rich living. So, everything that I talk about is, first of all, first-hand experience. It’s my life, what I do. I don’t go out and, you know, watch somebody to speak or do something, and then come and write about it, you know. It’s everything that I’ve experienced. So, it’s my journey as I have gone through all these wonderful experiences in my life.

LESLIE: It’s very personal.

FARNOOSH: It’s very personal, but it’s not a journal or a diary. It’s where I relate to people because I want to bring back whatever I learned from a lot of mistakes, a lot of mistakes, and then, the things that have worked, right? So, I do believe, for example, you said, entrepreneurship, which is my recent life because I left the corporate world this year. And, meditation, yoga, all my explorations in health, and living well, and taking care of my body, and then, I do travel a lot. I’m so fortunate. I get to travel a lot, and then, travelling is not over-rated if you’re not in travel. I can do- I can tell you that.

LESLIE: I agree.

FARNOOSH: So, but I do believe that it comes down to smart habits for rich living. And then, there are areas that I do focus on. Like recently, I have started to focus more on helping people crush their fears, fears of doing things that they are so afraid of. And, I focus a lot on helping people understand that they can move beyond miserable jobs, whether that be in a corporate environment or not. If they are in a place where they feel trapped, I try to help them create a different mindset because I struggled so much with that that I just want to talk about that, and I have a lot of readers who are interested in that, and it seems to help them. So, crushing fears, living life on your own terms, and cultivating smart habits that help you sustain that kind of life. That’s the over-all mission, but then, you can take that a lot of places.

And then, one more thing I want to add to that advice-

LESLIE: Mm-hmm, go ahead.

FARNOOSH: -for the niche, you know, choosing a small niche, you know, if you do that and it works for you, that’s great, right?

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

FARNOOSH: If it starts to grow, and you’re enjoying it, you’re writing about stuff that you want to learn about yourself, and share, that’s great. But, if you want to talk about a number of things, and you can find a common threat to them, then, if you continue to do that, and you are building it, you become the brand, and you can talk about anything when you’re the brand. I mean, if you look at some of the role models we have in the blogging world, if you really pay attention, they do talk about a lot of things.

LESLIE: That’s very true.

FARNOOSH: You know, you know? I mean, Chris Brogan, one time, I was talking about making a green smoothie with his daughter. What does that have to do with social media, you know? And, we all read it, and we all enjoyed it, and then, he moved on. So, you can do that because you are the brand, and you have listeners and followers who want to know about you. So, that’s my answer. How does that sound?

LESLIE: That sounds excellent. Because really, when you’re talking about blogging, the difference between blogging, and what we used to look as a website in the past, before WordPress, and all these type of stuffs came in to be, the difference is it’s more about the person that is writing it, and their experiences. I guess it is also about learning.

FARNOOSH: Mm-hmm.

LESLIE: But, it’s as if you’re building a relationship with that person whether you know them in person or not. So, you’re getting to know them. You’re gaining from their insights, and it’s much more personal that it has been in the past.

FARNOOSH: Absolutely, absolutely. And, we wanted to know who is behind everything they’re saying. I mean, the first page that I checked on every blog, and I do go to a lot of new blogs, is the “About Page.”

LESLIE: Definitely.

FARNOOSH: Right. So, you want to make sure, if you’re a new blogger, you have that really, really nicely set up, and it relates to your readers, and it makes an immediate connection.

LESLIE: Definitely. And, you know, there’s something that you mentioned. Yes, you talked about all these different topics, but you find a way to weave it back into the main goal of your blog, which is to promote smart habits for rich living.

FARNOSSH: Mm-hmm.

LESLIE: And that, that is also very specific. But, there are different aspects of it, so you can tie that in.

FARNOOSH: Yes.

LESLIE: And the cool thing about it is people get to know you.

FARNOOSH: Right, right, yeah.

LESLIE: And, they get to know, “Okay, this person that I’m checking out their blog, they don’t- their entire life doesn’t revolve around one specific topic. That person is dynamic. They have different aspects of life that they enjoy taking part in, and so on.” And, I think that’s a very good take-away from this first part.

FARNOOSH: Right, yes, now I have seen that, and I do follow listeners. So, I do read the comments. I engage with them. I get e-mails. I get feedback, and I listen, and I- and if they like something a lot, I bring that back because-

LESLIE: Got you.

FARNOOSH: -you know, a lot of these topics are my passion. So, if I’ve noticed something, I do bring it back like my most popular ever post, with over 300 comments is where I questioned whether happiness is tied to having children or not having children. Right, it’s the path to happiness. That was a very brave topic.

LESLIE: That is a brave topic.

FARNOOSH: So, everyone on earth has an opinion on that, right?

LESLIE: Most definitely. I’m getting ready to comment on that one right now.

FARNOOSH: Oh my gosh! So, and I talked about that again another time, and I related all the comments, and I went back, and I summarized what I heard, and again, it exploded. So, when you connect with your readers, I mean, niche kind of takes second place, and you’re there with them on a certain subject matter that really lights them up. So, if you can find something like that, I mean, I would follow that and go with that because you want to build that relationship with your readers and grow it.

LESLIE: Very awesome. Okay, so, I’m getting to know this Farnoosh. And, so I’m going to ask you this question. If I were to ask one of your closest friends, to tell me a little bit about Farnoosh, how would they describe you?

FARNOOSH: Hmm. Probably the first thing they would say, hopefully it’s good, but, hopefully they would say a lot of energy.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: You know, I do have a lot of energy. I was talking to my husband ‘cause somebody else asked me, “How do you get all these energy?” And, he said, he hasn’t figured it out in ten years! So, I have a lot of energy, and it goes back to taking care of myself, which is one of my main messages to my readers, and anybody who would listen actually, to take care of yourself if you’re going to be the most amazing Internet marketer or blogger, or entrepreneur, anything. You need your health. So, the more you take care of yourself, the more energy you have. And, I think that’s something that people see right away. So, you would probably hear something like that, and that I travel too much— it’s not too much.

LESLIE: Can you quantify that for me? What is too much?

FARNOOSH: Exactly. I mean, I am executive platinum on American Airlines.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: It means 100,000 miles a year.

LESLIE: Oh my word!

FARNOOSH: But, I don’t renew every year. Hold on, I don’t renew every year, and we do like to go faraway places. We get a lot of miles. And, you know, everyone has something. I mean, I can’t help it. It’s just too much fun to travel, and I’ve cut down everywhere else in my life, but I think and travel is so accessible to us right now.

LESLIE: Definitely. Now, what’s the most recent place that you’ve visited?

FARNOOSH: Well, most recently, in September, we went to England.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: We went to London, and to Cambridge, and back, which was really, really fun. And, then we went to Toronto. We go to the International Film Festival, which they have in September every year, which I highly recommend.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: It’s a great city but, in September during the film festival it’s really wonderful. And, we are heading down to Australia very soon.

LESLIE: Okay, now, I know there’s some guy that’s listening right now, and is getting very excited and thinking, “Man, this Farnoosh girl, she’s amazing. She is married.”

FARNOOSH: Oh, that’s funny.

LESLIE: Let’s get that out there. Now, your husband, does he also work from home, or does he have a full job, and how does that work?

FARNOOSH: Yes, he does. We were both at the same corporation. I quit this May, and he is very, very supportive, and he does still work, so he goes to the office. It’s a Fortune 100 Company, and he is able to do some of his work remotely. So, yeah. Sometimes, when we travel, he brings his laptop along, and he does his work, and then, we take some time off together. So, yes. He does not let me go fun places by myself.

LESLIE: Well, that’s good. You don’t want to go by yourself. It’s much better with someone with you.

FARNOOSH: Absolutely. It’s always more fun when you travel with friends and family.

LESLIE: All right. Okay, so, let’s find out how you got to where you are right now. Before you started your blog–

FARNOOSH: Mm-hmm.

LESLIE: — what were you doing?

FARNOOSH: I was so lost.

LESLIE: Okay, what does that mean?

FARNOOSH: I was.

LESLIE: Tell us, tell us what lost means.

FARNOOSH: Oh my gosh. So, everyone who was envying me up to now will change their mind. I mean, I went to engineering school, which I hated. Electrical engineering.

LESLIE: Oh, okay.

FARNOOSH: I took these there. You know it’s nice. I pull that card out when somebody just calls me a pretty face. You know, I’m like, “No, I actually have some brains.” But, you know what? Other than that, it was so hard, and so not a good match for me. Then, I went to the corporate world, and I was so lost, and it was so hard. I had a job in customer support, you know, really angry customers from big, big, places, and I was always trying to find what I want to do. So, I thought for sure becoming an executive in the corporate world was going to bring me happiness.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: And, I just hit one close door after another. I mean, I had a pretty successful career. But, it takes a lot to go up that triangle. You know, it’s like you know if the CEO is at the very top, it gets harder and harder with every step, and there is just so much involved, and I- one day, I decided, that’s not what I want anymore. So, I had to find what it was, right? Sometimes, you know, it’s- you’re not on the right path.

LESLIE: Uh-huh.

FARNOOSH: Okay, that’s great information, but then, what is the right path? You know, and it’s really a hard place to be. So, I was trying to- and then, the name prolific to me, means really productive. Somebody who creates stuff. And, I’ve always liked to create stuff, which doesn’t lend itself to engineering and technology the way that I wanted to relate. So, I’ve never taken a writing class, okay?

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: English is my third language. But, I wanted to write so badly. So, in 2008, seven or eight, I started blogging for fun, just for fun, and I started on Blogspot, which I don’t recommend. You want to go to WordPress.

LESLIE: Okay, wait, let’s rewind. What made- what led to blogging back then because now everybody’s blogging? But, what-

FARNOOSH: Yes.

LESLIE: Did you go to a website and saw a blog, and thought, “Man, I need to do something like this.”

FARNOOSH: I did read Steve Pavlina’s blog, I’m sure you’ll love him, but only because I was trying to quit coffee, and do early rising, and all that. Not necessarily because he was blogging, and I wanted to blog. I think it was a escape. I think blogging is an escape to your own world. I didn’t even have readers for a long time. I mean, it was Blogspot. I had comments closed because Steve said to close comments. That was the stupidest thing. But, I did. So, I was just doing it for fun, and then I was writing, and then, few people read my blog, and liked it. And, then my younger brother, I really looked up to him, he said I have a good voice. So, then I started.

LESLIE: And, I agree with him.

FARNOOSH: Thank you, thank you. So, you know, I think you just stumble upon it.

LESLIE: Uh-huh.

FARNOOSH: I think it was just- it was a hobby. I wasn’t doing that much at all, at the beginning maybe, a few hours a month. It was nothing because I had a full-time job. I had all these other things going on, and then, I started to see things that are happening like around 2008, I started to then combine. I had a couple of, or maybe three or four Blogspot blogs, I combined them, and then I move to one website. I created Prolific Living, and we started to really put some effort into it. It was still a hobby, but I decided, you know, I’m going to just give it a try. I needed something that was mine that I did it on my terms. It was like a little creation. That was outside of my work because I was so unhappy there, and outside of life and responsibilities, and obligations.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: So…

LESLIE: And, what were you blogging about at that time?

FARNOOSH: At the beginning, I was doing strictly, so this was quiet a niche, I was doing strictly book reviews on one of my blogs. I was reading a ton of books. It was mainly fiction and business books. This is a weird combination, but I was going back and forth between those ‘cause I was still trying to figure out to see your route–

LESLIE: What you wanted to do… Uh-huh, okay.

FARNOOSH: And then, on the side, I was reading a lot of the classics. Then, I had another one just on Yoga, and another one just on my exercises, and another one maybe on food. So, yeah.

LESLIE: So, you were blogging all over the place, and different topics on different blogs on Blogspot, and you decided to put everything… Sorry, you decided to bring everything together in one central location.

FARNOOSH: Right.

LESLIE: And, that was prolificliving.com.

FARNOOSH: Yes.

LESLIE: Okay, so you weren’t doing it as a business. But, there had to be a transition where you realized, “Okay, there’s more to this. I can actually do this as a business, make some money, and so on.” Can you tell me a little bit about that process?

FARNOOSH: Yes. So, I didn’t think about it at all in those terms until I went to BlogWorld in October, exactly a year ago. And, I remember I was still very committed to my job even if I wasn’t happy, you know. I made a lot of money. I worked from home in my pajamas. It was easy. I had a lot of benefits. It was insane to leave all of them, and I was still making plenty of time for the blog, but I think something Darren Rowse said up on stage just stirred something in me, and I had a turning point. And then, I went home, and I started to look, to see, what can I do? What can I do? Because I wasn’t going to put ads all over the place. That’s crazy.

LESLIE: Yeah, yeah.

FARNOOSH: I was going to create something. So, I wanted to create my own products. I think that idea is really, really exciting to me.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: Creating, and the idea that you can create your own products, I mean, that is so powerful because ten years ago, none of us could do this.

LESLIE: Yeah.

FARNOOSH: Or maybe, even five years ago. It wasn’t as easy.

LESLIE: It was not as accessible.

FARNOOSH: No, it wasn’t. So, anybody who’s just starting should be so excited because so much is accessible to us.

LESLIE: Definitely.

FARNOOSH: So, the turning point was, I think around March, we were on vacation. I was having a really hard time at work. I was on a very, very rough project. I didn’t like it, and I asked to be moved off the project, and they said, “No,” and I decided to quit. I decided to quit my job. So, then, I came home, and at the same time, in January, I decided to build my first product. So, I started to focus really hard on a really, really high-quality product, and that got me really busy. So, this was building a business, building my mailing list. I started building my mailing list–

LESLIE: Ah, yes.

FARNOOSH: — right after BlogWorld.

LESLIE: Well, you know, there’s a question that’s in my mind. Okay, you weren’t blogging as a business. So, why did you go to BlogWorld? What led to that? If you’re just blogging for fun, when I think about BlogWorld, I think these guys are about business with their blogs, and they’re doing huge things-

FARNOOSH: Yes.

LESLIE: — making tons of money. What made you go there?

FARNOOSH: My husband forced me to go.

LESLIE: Ah.

FARNOOSH: I think, you know, you’d think it’s funny, but he kept calling it Blogapalooza. And, he kept saying, “Have you registered yet? Have you registered yet?” And, the one reason, I’m so lucky is that Las Vegas is his favorite city.

LESLIE: Ah, there you go.

FARNOOSH: He wanted it as an excuse to go back, but I am so glad he made us go because –

LESLIE: So, you didn’t want to go?

FARNOOSH: I- I was thinking it was too early. It’s too early. I’m going to get intimidated, you know, I had a lot of friends online, but I was going to go, when I had something “to show for,” you know.

LESLIE: Got you.

FARNOOSH: But, you know, Prolific Living had a lot of traction. We put out our first e-book, and the first few were free. And, one of them was on life lessons, and it was a whole collaboration in the community, and it did so well. It had over a thousand downloads. So, it had traction at the time, but it was him. It was all his influence. I’m so happy.

LESLIE: Well, I’m glad he did that.

FARNOOSH: Thank you.

LESLIE: Now, now, okay, you gave away your e-books for free. Why did you give them all away for free?

FARNOOSH: Because I wanted to create some value, to share the first tings. So, the first two e-books were free. The third one was free if they signed up, if they opted in, and so many–

LESLIE: Oh, so, the first two, they didn’t even have to opt in?

FARNOOSH: No.

LESLIE: Oh, wow.

FARNOOSH: And people criticize me for that. They said. “You could sell this.” The first one was the life lessons, which was a lot of collaboration. The second one was my blog rolled e-book, which anybody that goes to prolificliving.com, you can just go click on the free tab, and you can download those- they’re right there for you.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: And then, I wrote a writing manifesto because I wanted to give something really valuable to people who got on my newsletter.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: And so, that was essentially free, and then, I started, and I wanted to learn how to create really high-quality e-books in the first place, and also have something to wear. I just gave it away. I mean, I wanted my readers to get stuff if they weren’t interested in the paid products.

LESLIE: Okay. All right, so, you started giving away the e-books, and then eventually, what was the transition like to, uh, from free to paid?

FARNOOSH: It was hard because- and this is something that’s different in different spaces. So, I guess I fall in the personal development space-

LESLIE: Uh-huh.

FARNOOSH: -even though I do talk about a lot of different things, but my first product was the one I worked on for four months. It was a comprehensive travel guide with interviews and worksheets, and master tip sheet, etc. So, it was a big product.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: It was hard because, first of all, I am really, really good at certain things, but I have weaknesses in other areas, and I know that now. And, marketing has not been one of my strengths. I’ve learned a lot since then, but it hasn’t. So, I just, you know, and I had a lot of help, a lot of support in doing that, and- and I still had some profit in that. But, it was just hard to get the people to see that transition. And, I was okay with that because you have to be at peace with your own decision and with your own direction ‘cause then, you start to attract the people that are meant to be your readers and your followers.

So, if you want to sell stuff on your blog, then sell. Don’t half-sell, then just sell. Be proud that you are offering something for sale. Don’t be embarrassed by it. If you’re going to put ads, then just put ads. If that’s your decision then, you’re going to turn some people off and bring some people on. I mean, that’s just the trade off. And, I’m perfectly okay with that. I think I offer tremendous value, and a lot of it is still for free. But, you know, I have a lot of products that are paid, and I, you know, put a lot of work into it, and I’m perfectly okay with that. So, I think you just need to be really comfortable with what you’re doing, everything, you know, from pricing the product to how you offer it, and all of that. Don’t you agree?

LESLIE: Oh, I, I definitely agree. And, I’m the person that when I talk, anyone that listens to my podcast know what I believe, and when I talk about online business and making money online, the first thing I emphasize is giving value. I’m giving a lot of value away for free-

FARNOOSH: Yes.

LESLIE: -because that’s how people get to know you, get to trust you, and get to see that you know what you’re talking about.

FARNOOSH: Yes.

LESLIE: And then, you can move to promoting affiliate products, and producing your own products, and I’m not a very- I’m not very much into hard selling. I’m more into showing what the value is. First, giving value upfront, then showing these are some products that I’m promoting, or these are some products that I’ve developed, this is exactly what the value is. If this is something that interests you-

FARNOOSH: Mm-hmm.

LESLIE: -here you go, it’s available. I’m trying to help you out in your journey.

FARNOOSH: Yes.

LESLIE: And, that’s the concept that I promote, and I’m glad to hear that that’s the same thing that- the same model that you use in building your online business.

FARNOOSH: Yes, and that’s going to be a tough one for people who are new because you’re going to get comments, you’re going to get maybe, feedback, or not so great feedback, and- and you just have to let it roll off your shoulders, and not let it bother you because peop- it’s not about you. It’s just, you know, some people may not like something you’re doing as long as you believe in it, you are doing your best. You’re putting your best out there, like you said, Leslie, giving value, believing in it. You can price it $1000 if that’s what you think. If it’s that’s much value, then, go for it. I mean, it’s really a wide, wide range of opportunities out there, and you’re going to find your readership. So, don’t try to appeal to everyone. I learned that a long time ago.

LESLIE: Got you, got you. Now, you said something that, I think I might have to disagree with you on.

FARNOOSH: Okay.

LESLIE: You said that, and I quote, “Marketing is not one of my strengths.” Now, you say that, but you have a blog that’s relatively young that’s getting a good amount of traffic, great interaction, people are coming to your website, people are buying your products. So you’re doing something very well, whether you think it’s one of your strengths or not. I’m going to say it’s one of your strengths, whether, you know, I’m not saying that you studied marketing in school, or anything of that sort-

FARNOOSH: Right.

LESLIE: But, you’re marketing yourself. And, you’re getting your name out there. You’re getting your products out there. That’s what marketing is.

FARNOOSH: Thank you, thank you.

LESLIE: So, I want to dissect this. I want to unpack this because there are people that are listening to this interview right now that are starting blogs, trying to get it out there, but they’re not getting any traction.

FARNOOSH: Mm-hmm.

LESLIE: So, I want you to talk about what you did, and how you were able to get the traction that you got.

FARNOOSH: Yes, thank you. Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate it. You know, I feel for everyone who is just starting out, so much. I mean, I have to keep myself from trying to help everybody one-on-one. It’s true, it’s true. It’s so- because it’s so hard at the beginning. You don’t get any comments. You don’t get anything, and you want to give up. You just want to pack up and go home, and I think that you have to be prepared for a lot of hard work. You know, it does pay off, but I have put, I’ve counted, I think maybe 7000 hours, one year like I was doing so many weekends, so many nights, and some of those hours were completely wasted because I wasn’t managing my time because I was putting time in some plugin here and there, and then in the wrong theme, and you know, you just learn over time. That’s why I think, that now, looking back, I would have definitely hired a coach to help me because your time is more valuable than your money-

LESLIE: Definitely.

FARNOOSH: -whatever your financial situation. Our time is so much more valuable. So, now, I am so conscious of my time. But, if you’re starting out, it is hard. Just try to be really clear why you are doing this, okay? Are you doing it because you like the idea of having a blog? Are you doing it because you really have something to say? You have a story to tell. You have a message you have to share like I have stuff I want everyone to hear. So, that’s what’s driving me every day. I want to write. I’m going to write a book. I’m going to, you know, go into iTunes and create a podcast, however I can get my message out, because I think it needs to be heard. If you have that kind of conviction about your message then, you’re going to get through. And, you’re going to build that momentum, and I truly believe it.

So, you have to have that conversation with yourself. Why am I doing this? And, when you’re clear on that, then, you figure out the best way. Set some goals. Tell yourself, “I want to have 100 readers by the end of this month.” How do I get or go about that? And, just do some organization. If you don’t want to work with a coach, or- And, that’s fine. I mean, everybody’s different and there is a lot you can do on your own. You can actually do everything on your own in enough time.

LESLIE: Yeah.

FARNOOSH: But, there’s a lot of resources, so don’t be all over the place. Don’t try to work on everything at the same time ‘cause I’ve tried it, and we can’t do that no matter how brilliant we are. So, and focus on different aspects of the blog, right? So, first, try to get something that looks professional that has a great message, that has a theme, a mission, something that when people come, they’re like, “Okay, you know, that’s who this person is, you know, it’s John at, you know, Smart Living.” I just made that up.

LESLIE: Uh-huh.

FARNOOSH: And, so they just make that connection, and then, give them something that they can associate with you. Make yourself memorable, and that can go in your “About Page.” And then, showing up, consistency, right? Writing things and building things, and giving and offering value, and building relationships, which I think this one has been huge for me, so you have to get out there, and build relationships, and you can do it different ways. You want to be true to what feels comfortable for you, but, now we have social media, and it can be overwhelming, and a complete waste of time if you misuse it, but you want to use it in a smart way. You want to find people that you see as your role model. So, I wouldn’t necessarily go and pick all the top bloggers. I would- I always pick people that I like as a person.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: I really, really like Darren as a person. I, you know, every time I listen to him, he just feel like he’s so sincere. So, that’s why I would follow him. So, you want to make sure the person appeals to you that way. It’s easier to learn from them. You pick a few role models, you see what they are doing, and you give yourself time because it takes time. I mean, it took me 2 ½ years, if you’re looking at Prolific Living now, I started Spring ’09. So, this spring, it will be three years. So…

LESLIE: Wow, okay.

FARNOOSH: Right. It takes a lot of time.

LESLIE: Okay so, there’s a lot- you said so much just now. And, I want to recap on them, make sure that they have these points, and then, go into some more content.

So, first thing you said, is you want to be clear about why you’re doing what you’re doing, and that has a lot to do with your motivation. What is your motivation behind starting your blog? Why are you doing it? Is it just because you heard you can make money, or is it because you’re trying to give value? What is your motivation behind it? That’s number one.

Number two, you said, set some goals, and don’t work on everything at the same time. So, you can say, for this month, my goal is X, Y, and Z. And then, you work at those goals. Once you know what those goals are, you can go towards those. You can do what you need to do in order to reach those goals.

Get a nice design. You talk about that, and I talk about that in my program because when someone comes to the site, the first thing they see is the design, and if you get something that’s professional, a nice premium theme, that’s what I keep telling people that hear me talk about this stuff, “Get a nice premium theme. Make sure it looks presentable. It doesn’t take much to do it. Get that done, Make sure it’s up there,” and that’s one of the preliminary things.

Make yourself memorable. Your “About Page.” Talk about who you are, what you’re trying to accomplish, cast your vision on that page. Be consistent, build relationships, find role models, and give yourself time.

FARNOOSH: I said all that?

LESLIE: You said all of that. That’s a- no, that’s a lot of stuff. If someone were to just take a pen and paper and write down those things and say, okay, these are my goals for the next year-

FARNOOSH: Yes, right.

LESLIE: – you’d accomplish a lot.

FARNOOSH: Oh, I hope so. I hope they find it useful. That’s wonderful.

LESLIE: I definitely, I definitely think they will. Okay, now, if you were to look at everything you’ve done in terms of building your blog, in terms of getting traffic to your blog, and getting people to know that your blog is out there, what is the best thing, the thing that you did that had the greatest effect in bringing traffic?

FARNOOSH: In bringing traffic? Okay let me think. I’ve done so many different things. So, I have to say that I’m so fortunate because my younger brother who’s, by the way, a complete genius, is actually somebody that works for me.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: So, he- this is his play thing, but, he loves to do stuff and experiment with stuff. So, he is big on traffic. So, he does do a lot of the back-end work for me, but, we’ve experimented a lot, and we track the traffic together, and we’ve tried different strategies.

So, the relationship building I mentioned is very key because I did that by going to other blogs, and commenting, and I use to do that a lot, a lot in the past. I’ve done, I’ve been doing a little less, and I feel a little bad about it, but I’m always there for my network, if they need something. But, that brought a lot of traffic, and then people over time, started to link to you. So, I started tracking my Alexa rating about a year ago, and it tells you how many people linked to you, and that’s very important. It’s actually more important than traffic because when people link to you, Google says, “You are somebody,” ‘cause other people think you’re somebody, right?

LESLIE: Yeah, yeah.

FARNOOSH: So, that’s really important, and you do that when you write really amazing content, it is so compelling that people just have to link to you. And, you also let other people know it’s out there, so when you comment, sometimes, they show the latest posts that you wrote with a plugin called, CommentLuv, or you can just, you know, depending on what your niche is, maybe you can forward your blog post to someone in your niche, and say, “I think this is related to what you were talking about. I just want to share it with you.” You know, building those relationships. That’s one. But, on the technical side, like you said, Leslie, the theme, and then, Scribe is something that I opted for, and I think it really impacts the SEO, the search engine optimization, because I tried every plugin under the sun for SEO, and eventually I went to Scribe. It’s more expensive, but I really believe the way that it works and it integrates, and it gives you a score for every post.

LESLIE: Uh-huh.

FARNOOSH: It really improves your SEO, and Google starts to find you easier. Your blog becomes more efficient with some ratings that they have. So-

LESLIE: Now, can you tell me exactly what Scribe is, because I’ve seen a number of people talk about Scribe, but I’ve never looked into it.

FARNOOSH: Yes, absolutely. So, yeah. I love Scribe. So, basically, it integrates into your posts. So, if you’re using WordPress, in your writing a post, and there is a couple of boxes that they have. And, at the end, you have to fill in your metadata. So, your metadata is what really Google looks at. So, it’s basically, a description, a title-

LESLIE: Uh-huh.

FARNOOSH: Your 160-word description of the post, and then some meta-keywords. When you fill those in, you tell Scribe right there on the post to rank your- to give you a score on 100%. And, if you get 90% or even 80% and above, that’s good. If not, it tells you how to fix it. You know, maybe you’re missing primary keywords. And, I have used it so much that I know how to fix it up really quickly without modifying my post because, you know, some people do all these crazy tricks so the post looks optimized to Google.

LESLIE: Yeah.

FARNOOSH: Scribe lets you not do that, and still be authentic and original in your post, but you make sure your metadata is right, which is what Google looks at. Make sure your tags, your title, everything is right, your primary keyword is there, and then a certain number of links have to be in your blog posts. Anyway, it gives you a score. So, I try to go for 90% to 100%, and that takes a lot of headaches away from other things that I know that blog post gets ranked on Google pretty easily. So, I do love Scribe.

LESLIE: That is very interesting because I just, my most, one of my recent podcast episode deals with SEO, and what I tell people is try not to get yourself so bogged down by SEO, and just use a simple tool for making sure that the SEO is taken care of-

FARNOOSH: Yes.

LESLIE: -but, you need to focus on content. So, I think I’m going to check out Scribe and see how it works, and I’m also going to link to it from the show notes, if anyone wants to check that out.

FARNOOSH: Absolutely.

LESLIE: Okay, so we have some great things, and you know what? What you said about networking, I just need to re-emphasize because that is so instrumental. When we think about online, a lot of times we think, well, that’s technology, and it’s you and your blog, and it’s-

FARNOOSH: Oh, no.

LESLIE: -you just writing what you’re doing, and doing your marketing, and so on. But, it’s all about the people, and networking can be such a great source of traffic in terms of guest posting, and interviews, and all these different types of things that you can do to communicate with others in your niche. It is-

FARNOOSH: Absolutely.

LESLIE: – unbelievable what that can result in.

FARNOOSH: Absolutely, yeah. I can’t say it any better. I totally agree with you there, Leslie. And, it takes time to build relationship with-

LESLIE: Definitely.

FARNOOSH: -you know, people who are bigger than you, but you start by supporting them, and giving them value, and sharing their stuff and really learning from them, and eventually, you will be, you know, working with them, maybe they will link to you. It’s very possible. So, it can happen over time, but if you’re patient, a lot of things can come your way.

LESLIE: Awesome. Now, let’s talk about some of the things that you have over at Prolific Living. I know you’ve written a book, and the name of the book, as I mentioned earlier is, “Motivation: from Goals to Greatness.” Can you tell me a little bit about that book?

FARNOOSH: Yes, so as you mentioned, I was so fortunate. I spoke at BlogWorld in May, and I talked about motivation for the new media professional because I wanted to talk about how you can stay motivated in this environment where you’re pretty much working from home, or wherever, but probably in a virtual environment, not in an office, and it can get pretty lonely. And, sometimes, on a Tuesday afternoon, you know, your motivation can dip.

So, I have managed to be very, very motivated because I tapped into my source of motivation because I started doing something that I really love, and I wanted to share all of that with some personal stories at BlogWorld, and they said, “Yes,” which was amazing.

So, then, I wanted to do more when I came home. I thought, you know, that was a really good speech, but I wanted to do more, I have more to say, so I broke it down to eight pillars, eight pillars of motivation. And, some personal stories from my life from Iran, and how we left, and some stories about my dad, and my family. So, I wanted to help people find inner motivation instead of looking for it in outside sources. I mean, I think everybody has this amazing source of inner motivation. And, if you can just tap into it, you can stay motivated through thick and thin- thin and thick, thin and thick, I think, yes.

So, I wrote about that and it is an e-book. It’s available in Kindle format. I also made it in PDF and ePub where you can put it on your Nook, on your iPad, iPhone, etc. So, you can get that on the Amazon store, or over on Prolific Living.

LESLIE: Okay, I got to get me a copy of that. And, not only that, but what we’re going to do, I’m really enjoying the content.

FARNOOSH: Thank you.

LESLIE: And this concept of motivation, I think, it’s a very important concept especially, I mean, from goals to greatness. And, what I, what I try to encourage my listeners to do is something great. So, what I want to do is give away three copies of that book.

FARNOOSH: All right.

LESLIE: So, what we’re going to do is this. The first three people to comment on this blog post, the show notes of this episode, but not just a comment, not, ”Wow, that was great,” or anything of that sort, something insightful. I don’t care what it is, but as long as it’s related to the content that we spoke about today and it’s insightful. The first three people, they’re going to get a free a copy of that book-

FARNOOSH: Awesome.

LESLIE: -sponsored by the Learning with Leslie show.

FARNOOSH: Awesome. I am honored. I’m honored, and I’m going to make sure not to comment, but I usually go and comment, and say, “Thank you for interviewing me.”

LESLIE: You can comment. You can do whatever, but the first three non-Farnooshes and Leslies that leave a valuable content or comment, they’re going to get a free copy of that book.

Now, there’s another one that I saw on your site, the “10-Minute Invigorator,” and I want to know about that one because I think it deals with something that a lot of us as bloggers face. Can you tell me about that?

FARNOOSH: Yes, yes. That one was a fun project. And, my husband was the producer on that one. So, we did these high-quality videos at home, and the idea was this. We wanted to create a way for busy bloggers, busy entrepreneurs to stay invigorated during the day, you know, you get that slump at 2:00 in the afternoon, and you don’t have time to go to the gym, and come back, and shower, and all that. Well, I have done a lot of different forms of exercise, different forms of Yoga, dance, and this is not exercise so much as is, it’s 10-minute routines of breathing and body movements that anybody can do, anybody, like I tested it on a few people. I’ve had people who are not flexible and they don’t feel like they are fit. They are just worried about, you know, how they’re going to do. They’ve all done it and enjoy it. And, it’s 10 minutes of invigoration, and the way we make them is so that you have seven of them you go through, so you don’t get bored.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: Then, I did a bonus video where if you don’t even have ten minutes, you can do these two minutes of breathing exercises. They kind of look funny, but trust me, they really wake up your body.

LESLIE: Okay.

FARNOOSH: They do.

LESLIE: Wow, okay.

FARNOOSH: So, and then a couple of other bonus videos where I explained the benefits on how to do it. So, it’s a completely video-based product, and I would love for you to take a look at that. In fact, I give away the first day. So, there are seven days, and if you go to prolificliving.com/10minutes, you can get to the sales copy there, and you can- I have a little sign-in form, and then, if you want the first day for free. Then, you can log in, and you can watch that first video. I also have a video right up there that you can watch. And, I had amazing feedback on that one. I am so humbled because so many people came back and saying, “This worked! I didn’t think it would. I don’t like exercising,” but, whatever you do, please take care of your health, okay? I don’t care what you do.

LESLIE: And, you know, I like that because bloggers tend to be people that spend a lot of time on the computer, and there’s not a lot of exercise involved, I mean, unless you count moving your fingers as exercise.

FARNOOSH: No.

LESLIE: I don’t think we can count that as exercise. But, it’s only 10 minutes.

FARNOOSH: Only ten minutes. We timed it.

LESLIE: I have ten minutes.

FARNOOSH: You have ten minutes, Leslie. Do day one for me, and tell me what you think.

LESLIE: I will definitely do that. Man, I- this was great.

FARNOOSH: Okay, good. It was fun, it was a lot of fun. I hope people enjoy it.

LESLIE: Oh, I know they will. I know they will because a lot of what you said goes right along with what I keep saying, and why they come to my blog is to hear stuff like that, so thank you so much for taking this time out to come on the show, and share the things that you’ve shared with us today.

FARNOOSH: Thank you for having me. It was my pleasure.

LESLIE: You are very much welcome. So, guys, hey, I want you to check out everything. I’m going to have everything linked up in the show notes, with prolificliving.com. That’s the main URL you need to know. Go over there, check out what she has, leave comments, just listen to her podcast, and you get to hear her voice again, and you know that, all that good stuff, and it can distract you too, like it distracted me that one day.

As usual, I want to invite you to come back to the blog at learningwithleslie.com, leave your feedback, your comments. If you have questions, you can call the hotline, and I will play the number at the end as usual.

You can find me on iTunes, leslieonitunes.com. You can subscribe over there, and leave your feedback, your ratings, and all that good jives. But, that’s pretty much it for now. So, until next time, take care and God bless.