Askpat 2.0: A Weekly Coaching Call On Online Business, Blogging, Marketing, And Lifestyle Design

Today's question comes from Anne, who has a question about the writing style for her niche site. Are posts made up of bullet points okay? I share my experiences with different writing styles on Smart Passive Income (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/) and at my niche site, Green Exam Academy (http://www.greenexamacademy.com/). Share your experiences with #AskPat344. Do you have a question about writing for your website? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Curt, who asks about my work-life balance. How many hours do I work in a week? Curt’s site is http://valuesdrivenresults.com/. In this episode I mention Hal Elrod’s The Miracle Morning (http://halelrod.com/). Do you have a question about building your business around your schedule? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Garret, who has a successful niche site. How can he leverage that success to grow a larger business? Today’s caller mentioned Niche Pursuits (http://nichepursuits.com/), a great resource for information on making the most of your niche site. Do you have a question about niche sites? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from DJ D’Loose, who is looking to build his following across platforms. What can he do to increase interaction on Facebook, Soundcloud, and other platforms? In this episode I take a look at DJ D’Loose’s social media feeds and share my thoughts for how to better engage his audience. Do you have a question about increasing audience engagement? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Gary, who needs to build his on-camera confidence. What are some good resources for building up this confidence? Toastmasters is a great resource for improving your public speaking (https://www.toastmasters.org/). Caleb Wojcik has lots of advice for improving your own videos (http://diyvideoguide.com). Do you have a question about your online presence? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Warren, who is planning to start a forum. How can he encourage users to contribute when the forum is still new and doesn’t have a lot of content? Warren’s site is http://www.thesuperblife.com/. Fizzle does a great job managing their community (http://fizzle.co/), as does Darren Rowse from Problogger (http://www.problogger.net/). Steve Kamb institutes challenges to keep his community engaged (http://www.nerdfitness.com/) Do you have a question about forums and Facebook? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Laura, who needs help deciding if she should continue with her launch plans, given that a Google-backed venture has just launched something incredibly similar. What should she do? I need you to weigh in using #AskPat338. Would you keep going? The Google-backed project is http://digit.co/. Uber (https://www.uber.com/) and Lyft (https://www.lyft.com/) come to mind. I also discuss Meerkat (http://meerkatapp.co/) and Periscope (http://www.periscope.com/), Vine (https://vine.co/) and Instagram (http://instagram.com/). Do you have a question about your launch plans? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Eric, who has an app that he wants his target audience to use. The app doesn’t need to make money; he just wants it to get used. Eric’s site is http://aboutmywoods.org/. Do you have advice for Eric? Share it with #AskPat337. Do you have a question about marketing your app? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Nickeya, who has a question about using email for product validation. This is an area I’m very interested in. I mention Chris Ducker's experiences with infomercials, which is very similar to how we can validate products in the online world (http://chrisducker.com/). Do you have a question about product validation? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from David, who is a new blogger. He asks, “How many words should I write per day?” Here are the tools I recommend: Five Minute Journal (http://www.fiveminutejournal.com/), 750 Words (http://750words.com/), and Jeff Goins’s 500 Word Challenge (http://goinswriter.com/my500words/). The sites I reference are Problogger (http://www.problogger.net/), Daily Blog Tips (http://www.dailyblogtips.com/), Social Triggers (http://socialtriggers.com/), and Become a Blogger (https://www.becomeablogger.com/). Do you have a question about blogging? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Kara, who has an audio podcast and is considering starting a video podcast. Which tools should she use to record her video podcast? Kara’s site is http://www.morningcooldown.com/. To learn about RSS feeds, go to my podcasting tutorial (http://podcastingtutorial.com). For video editing, I recommend Screenflow on Mac (http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm) and Camtasia on a PC (https://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html). For video podcasts, my videographer Caleb Wojcik (http://diyvideoguy.com/) introduced me to Podbean (http://www.podbean.com/). Vimeo Pro (https://vimeo.com/pro) is also a good choice for video podcasts. Do you have a tool to share? Use #AskPat334. Do you have a question about video podcasts? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Emmanuel, who is a graphic designer. How can he take his service-based business and make it passive? To learn how to productize your services, listen to Smart Passive Income session 158 (http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/how-to-productize-your-service-based-business/). Do you have a question about your service-based business? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/. Share your thoughts on this episode using #AskPat333.

Today's question comes from Jeremy, who asks if my income is truly passive. Here are my thoughts on this great question. In the episode, I mention FoodTruckr (http://foodtruckr.com/). Do you have a question about passive income? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Alain, who wants to know how I capture thoughts for my writing process. Share your writing process with #AskPat331. In this episode, I talk about Evernote (https://evernote.com/), Scrivener (https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php), and Rev (https://www.rev.com/) Do you have a question about the writing process? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Brian, who is getting a new podcast started. He wants to know the best way to write out his show notes. In this episode I mention Amy Porterfield (http://www.amyporterfield.com/), Michael Hyatt (http://michaelhyatt.com/), and Cliff Ravenscraft (http://podcastanswerman.com/). Do you have a question about podcasting? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Curtis, who is just getting started. He wants to know when he should set up the LLC. Does he have to do it right away or can he wait a little while? Do you have a question about getting your business started? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Luca, who is starting a website, but the domain name he wants isn’t available. What should he consider as he picks a new site? I mention Glen Allsop from Viperchill (http://www.viperchill.com/), Zen Habits (http://zenhabits.net/), Problogger (http://problogger.net/), and Entrepreneur’s Journey (http://entrepreneurs-journey.com/), as well as this article from Niche Pursuits (http://www.nichepursuits.com/goodbye-exact-match-domains-hello-brandable-websites/). The Patent and Trade Office is online at http://www.uspto.gov/. Do you have a question about starting your website? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Tyler, who is looking for advice regarding WordPress plugins. What’s the best way to managing frequent updates and making sure that features don’t break? I share my advice; share yours using #AskPat325. Do you have a question about your WordPress website? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Nathan, who wants to know if there is a quick method for finding and fixing broken links on his site. Nathan’s site is http://minneapolisrunning.com/. The plugin I recommend is Broken Link Checker (https://wordpress.org/plugins/broken-link-checker/). Do you have a question about keeping your website up to date? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.

Today's question comes from Alice, who has received negative comments from members of her community. How should she respond? Should she respond? Alice’s site is http://www.yourdoulabag.com/. You can find Jay Baer at http://www.convinceandconvert.com/. Do you have a question about dealing criticism? Record it at http://www.askpat.com/.