In order to set my goals for 2012 in proper context, I think it's worth sharing some of what got done in 2011:
- Roughly doubled the readership & traffic levels at OTF compared to 2010, which was honored by the Nashville Scene as Best Sports Blog in Nashville.
- Added Marc Torrence (@OTFMarc) and Sam Page (@predsblog) to the writing staff at OTF, bringing different perspectives to the table.
- Went through a redesign of Hockey Gear HQ and dove into the concept of internet marketing, earning just over $900 in revenue for the year. Having published less than 1% of the planned content for that site, I'm extremely hopeful that this can turn into a significant income generator.
- Published an e-book on my fantasy hockey draft strategy, which, despite some glitches along the way, seems to have helped a number of folks. That strategy appears to be working, as I'm currently in 1st place in all 3 of the leagues where I used it!
- Started an email newsletter at Hockey Gear HQ which now has over 100 subscribers, who receive updates every week or two about the latest sales and coupon codes related to all things hockey.
- Dipped my toe into the waters of video blogging by setting up YouTube channels for both OTF and Hockey Gear HQ.
So what are my goals for 2012?
- Double the readership at OTF again, specifically targeting 5 million page views for 2012.
- Design templates which clearly present key hockey stats (including advanced stuff) for teams & players, to make their use in OTF articles more useful and accessible for the reader.
- Publish at least one article per day at Hockey Gear HQ, and earn at least $10,000 there.
- Revise and expand my fantasy hockey e-book this summer.
- Grow the HGHQ email newsletter list to 1,000 subscribers
- Produce at least one video blog each week, either for OTF or HGHQ.
- Post at least one article per week here at OTF Classic, touching on issues relating to sports blogging in general (social media, search engine optimization, tips & tools, etc.).
Can I hit these goals? We'll see, but at least this takes care of my OTF Classic post of the week!
By the way, if there are any topics you'd like me to write about here, feel free to let me know in the comments...
3 comments:
I considered diving into the world of internet marketing myself, but I felt that my friends would hate me for bugging them about stuff. I mean, it's pretty low-risk high-reward, so it's tempting. I wouldn't mind reading about tips on how to maximize impact of blogging in general to make it a legitimate income source.
My approach there is to not push the stuff to my friends so much as position it so that when people are searching for information on hockey equipment or apparel, Hockey Gear HQ shows up prominently in the search results, and has something to offer in terms of a review or an opportunity to save money via a sale or coupon code.
I do push out links to the HGHQ stuff via my OTF channels, but I try to keep it to a small percentage of the message.
Thanks for the comment, it gives me a good idea for next week's post.
Dirk -
I'm looking forward to what you have to say about blogging and the like over here. You are one of the few who seem to really consider things before making a move.
Brad -
If you are on;y marketing to friends, you probably aren't going to be that successful. :) That said, there are great ways to market without being "that sales guy." Content marketing is similar to what most bloggers do already, but with specific offerings available after. There are some great resources online (like Copyblogger.com and KISSmetrics.com's Beginner’s Guide To Content Marketing. Hope those help.
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