Today I am stoooooked to bring you the incredible story today behind Chasing Foxes.
Silas and Grace Moser (the two bloggers), have managed to build up a HUGE blog in just over a year, and I really wanted to find out how they did it!
A little over a year ago, Silas and Grace were unsure of where their lives were headed…working in stressful jobs, desiring travel, wanting to create something to enable that lifestyle…..the usual.
Fast-forward a year later…and their blog is receiving over 2,000,000 page views a month and generating solid income (which will surely grow exponentially for a while. They’re only starting year two…)
How on Earth did they do it??
Stuff we talk about?
- NOT niching down(!)
- How new bloggers underestimate the hustle required
- Analyzing viral headlines
- The best ways to monetize a blog (read the mega-guide for this here)
- Talking to significant others about your blogging passion
They’re delightful people (as well as brilliant and super hardworking I might add), and I KNOW you’re going to get some golden nuggets of blogging wisdom from them. I love their story.
Show Notes
- ChasingFoxes.com
- Nick Loper interviews Rosemarie Groner (and my interview with her is here. and Nick lol)
- Sarah Titus
- The 4 Hour Work Week – Tim Ferriss (required reading for all entrepreneurs)
- The E-myth Revisited – Michael Gerber (working ON your biz, rather than IN your biz)
- Pat Flynn
- Bigger Pockets – #1 Real Estate Investing Podcast (love me some bigger pockets)
- Staff Virtual
4 key takeaways from today’s episode:
1 – The importance of niching down (OR NOT)
“The riches are in the niches!”
YAWN.
We hear this all the time in the meta-blogging world. We’re told to niche down 3 times in order that we might find a audience to connect to.
Here’s why this is generally true:
It’s easier to “stand out” in a very targeted niche (because there is less competition)
Here’s why this MIGHT not be true at all:
Blogging, side-hustles, and online business does have a “numbers game” element.
Silas and Grace have taken to a broad “lifestyle” niche, including travel, money, blogging, food, etc…and are doing so for a numbers game.
They aim to reach the maximum amount of people possible, and intend to convert those website visitors who have multiple lifestyle interests in common.
For example, I like reading about personal finance, digital marketing (I.e. how to blog), AND travel. I’d totally land on ChasingFoxes.com for a travel related article, and click-through to a personal finance related article.
If you’re good at driving traffic (which having several sub-niches lends itself to anyways), then this approach could totally work.
“Could.” Not “will.”
2 – Blog growth takes a lot of work
When we talked about joining Pinterest group boards, Grace casually mentioned she spent a number of days JUST reaching out to group board owners. She couldn’t even identify how many boards she’s a part of…because it’s dozens and dozens, if not hundreds.
This is a key ingredient to their massive growth….and it didn’t come easy.
That sort of effort takes a lot of time, and it’s tedious.
- How many times do you read an article on Pinterest marketing…and not take action on it?
- Or take action on it…but just a little? If a course says “join 50 group boards!” How many do you actually join?
- How much free time do you spend blogging vs. watching TV?
All these questions boil down to “How badly do you want it?”
Silas and Grace wanted it bad.
{{{{Speaking of blog growth, DYEB has a lovely course on Pinterest traffic. It’s a simple email course for beginners-intermediate folks…which you can opt into below.}}}}
3 – If you plan on spending time on your blog, clear it with your significant other
This is important. Your spouse (or boyfriend/girlfriend) should 101.5% be on board with your blogging efforts.
If you have a full-time job, you might be blogging at night or on weekends…when you otherwise might be sending time with your family.
This can be a tough thing for non-bloggers to understand, so it’s vital you sit down w/ your loved ones and explain to them why you’re doing what you’re doing.
9 times out of 10, they’ll totally support you, but you should present your case anyways (they’ll also just enjoy learning about something you’re passionate about!)
4 – Spend more time on your headlines (tired of hearing this yet?)
Silas and Grace made a dedicated effort to analyze Buzzfeed and Upworthy headlines, learning what worked and why.
Who does that??
We all know headlines are important, but the truth is we all still skimp sometimes. (I totally do).
Can anyone here tell me the purpose of your blog post headline?
- To get the post read?
- To make you look good?
NO.
***
The purpose of your headline is to get your first sentence read.
The purpose of your first sentence? To get your second sentence read.
This is copywriting 101.
***
(Also, Grace and Silas took it to yet another level…they didn’t just choose 1 headline. They chose 5-6, and ABCDE and F tested them via different Pinterest images. Smart!)
