About Steven AitchisonI am promoting Leo Babauta’s, zenhabits.net, A-List Blogging Bootcamp as I truly believe it was a catalyst in my own blog rising from the ashes to where it is now, and where it is heading for the future.
In August 2009 I had 3,200 subscribers (roughly) and I made a promise to myself: that I would go all out to get have 10,000 subscribers by December 2009. I didn’t reach that target but I increased my subscriber rate by 112% in only 5 months. Previously I had been gaining 88 subscribers per month. The last 6 months I have increased my subscriber rate by an average of 679 per month. Now that figure is impressive in any language. I’m not blowing my own trumpet here, I want to tell you one of the reasons this has happened.
Two Words:
Leo Babauta
I joined Leo Babauta’s A-List Blogging Bootcamp back in August 2009 and it gave me the impetus, the knowledge and allowed me to network with a special group of people in my field.
The bootcamps were just that, 10 days of amazing information by way of PDF’s, emails, podcasts, a forum where we could chat to other members and get help, and of course a daily visit via U-Stream TV and a chat function with Leo Babauta. Leo and Mary Jaksch (who handles the running of the course) also gave critiques and showed members how to improve their blog. This was invaluable and my blog was duly changed in August 2009 and I haven’t looked back since.
The course does not focus on subscribers, I only speak about this because subscriber rate is measurable, the course also looks at:
- Psychology of subscribing
- Anatomy of killer content
- Usability
- How to write your about page
- How to craft great headlines
- The art of guest posting
- How to promote your blog
How to Make Your Blog Pay The Bills
This is the new bootcamp that Leo and Mary are hosting and it promises to be a great one and looks at how you can make money from your blog. In the upcoming Bootcamp they’ll look at how to create a career on the back of your blog. They’ll examine in detail how to create a decent -or even outstanding – income, as well as how to lift your profile so that you become an expert in your readers’ minds.
There is so much more than this planned for the new bootcamp and so much that I have left out here as it wouldn’t be fair to Leo if I told you everything that was going to be in the course.
The reason I tell you this is because Leo is hosting another Bootcamp: How to Make Your Blog Pay The Bills from May 16 – 20 2010 and it promises to be bigger and better than the one I was on.
Leo is offering his FREE ebook ‘How I Got 150,000 Subscribers’ which is itself a great read. You will get to read how Leo got started and how he shot up the ladder to blogging fame.
People who know me know I rarely promote anything in my blog posts, but I honestly feel if you are a blogger and are struggling to get to the next level you will gain a hell of a lot from it.
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Steve,
Thanks for being so open about your success. Anything Leo shares would lead anyone to success, there is no other way with him. We ascend a ladder step by step but with Leo I’m guessing one could take at least a couple steps at a time.
.-= Tess The Bold Life´s last blog ..Green Living – Made Simple =-.
Yep, I think Leo took whole ladders at a time and forgot about mainstream steps to success
Thanks for the info, Steven. All I can say is something really made a difference in the way you blogged starting from this fall. And now I know it was Leo’s bootcamp. I’m sure it was not only a valuable tool for improving your blog but also a great life experience.
Thanks for letting us know about that. I might join the program if I’m not on the road again
.-= Dragos Roua´s last blog ..How To Defrag Your Mind In 5 Easy Steps =-.
Hi Dragos, I think you would even get something out of it, although you are well up the ladder of success already
This is a great recommendation, Steve. One that I will follow-through on.
PS: I’ve just finished your excellent book and would like to recommend it- is Amazon your preferred forum?
Best, Robin
.-= Robin Dickinson´s last blog ..The two social media words that divide opinions =-.
Hi Robin, thanks for buying the book, one of the first. It would be great just to write a short review on Amazon. I’ve just sent you a twitter DM as well.
Wow!! I am so glad you shared this Steve. It is great. I am checking out the links. I too have seen the huge leap in all your work. You’ve been a great inspiration to me. So all leads you share I take seriously. Plus, you are someone that we all trust. You rate tops on the integrity chart. So I am glad you DID share this. I am needing to learn more right now. I too love your honesty about your success. It’s good to see. You deserve it. Hugs, Robin
Hi Robin, hope you enjoyed the links for the ebook, Leo’s work really is inspiring. Thanks for the vote of confidence on the integrity chart
you know I wouldn’t promote anything that wasn’t good for the readers.
Thanks for sharing Steve!
.-= Lana – DreamFollowers Blog´s last blog ..One Thing Everyone Wants =-.
Hi Lana, thanks for leaving a comment, I appreciate it
Thank you loads and loads for this…I really think i needed to read this at this time. I do have my subscriber base growing at snail speed
and hopefully this info will move it to lightening speed 
I have just filled out leos form. I tell you blogging bootcamp should come to india…I know we indian bloggers do really need it
Much Love,
Z~
Zeenat, I know 1 thing that will increase your daily subscriber rate by around 300% at least.
You gather all the best posts from your blog together, say 40 or so, make an attractive book cover. Put an Aweber subscription tool on your blog and have a picture of your FREE ebook for signing up, just like mine in the top right hand side, and voila, your readers have a reason to subscribe. Right now getting a free subscription to your newsletter is not enough in the world of FREE, offer them the ebook and that makes it different. Honestly, it will work. I can even help you if you want, if you can get the 40 posts together I will make a great cover for you and get it up and running. You have to pay for Aweber of course but at least your subscriber base will grow.
Steven,
Youre awesome! I will take you up on your offer for sure. As you know I am in between writing a free ebook for the blog …specifically for this reason. As soon as its done….I will get in touch with you..and you can guide me thought the rest.
Thank you so much for being such a big hearted guy
No wonder robin wrote that post for that special you…:) You deserve all the praise..and much much more.
Much Love,
Z~
.-= Zeenat{Positive Provocations}´s last blog ..Nature Made Us Individuals =-.
Awesome! One of my biggest problems has always been subscriber count. 1000 would be amazing. I’ve never actually sat down to read tips an tricks to make subscribing more effective – looks like I will from now on.
.-= Craig´s last blog ..7 Free Things That Will Shove Success in Your Face =-.
Hi Craig, there are a ton of things that can be done to increase subscriber rates. I would more of your own content if I were you and get yourself known as a PD blogger.
Hi Steve,
Your blog is really impressing me a lot to struggle in my life. I appreciate your confidence that you have fixed into your mind to get the subscribers target. This is what i am also expecting myself but many times i failed in me. But I am really happy that I am also a one of the subscriber for your blog..
I am interesting to get in touch with the Leo Babauta blog camp but, unfortunately I don’t have my own blog right now. I have to create but I don’t have any idea to implement my blog and which topic i should create and write. Hopefully very soon I will get my own blog website. I am analyzing that how to workout with my blog with the public..
Thanks a lot for giving so much confident by words to me..
Thanks you for commenting Luke, I am glad the blog is helping you.
A-ha! You know, Steven, I wondered why all of a sudden (sort of) you were popping up all over the place. Not only that, but suddenly all of your posts were drawing me in. The “secret sauce” revealed!
Well, whatever you are doing, keep it up, ’cause it’s working.
And, btw, I didn’t comment on the video post, but I LOVE the accent!
Hi Lisis,
thanks for the compliment. the blogging course by Leo really was great and it gave me the determination again to keep going.
I heard great things about it from Arvind and he even gave me a few tips afterwards which meant that my alexa ranking went up form 3.2million in September to 680,000 today. Not a definitive indicator but an indicator none-the-less.
If it gave me that just on the hearsay, I’m intrigued on what it will give me at the actual boot camp! Whoop whoop!
.-= Amit Sodha – The Power Of Choice´s last blog ..A Top 30 Chart Of The Most Uplifting Songs Of All Time =-.
Amit, I think you would get a lot out of it, although you are heading in the right direction already
Steven – great tip off and advice. I like the ebook idea and didn’t realise it was so simple to execute. Thanks for the inspiration!
Phil
.-= Phil Bolton´s last blog ..Six steps to Stress-free Productivity =-.
No problem Phil. If you need any help with it, give me a shout.
Hi steve,
Thanks for posting this.
I am thinking seriously thinking about leos boot camp
You wouldnt believe this lol!!!. I was reading reviews on aweber and i paused a bit so i could read your latest post and i came accross your suggestion to zeenat which has made me go for aweber(without going through the rest of the reviews) and enforced my determination on my next project which is a free monthly e-magazine which is available to new and existing subscribers of my blog.
Thanks for this steve.
P.S. I’m looking for and is open to bloggers who want to contribute articles to the magazine
.-= ayo´s last blog ..Blog Update!!! The Life Skills Magazine =-.
Hi Ayo, It’s well worth going on the bootcamp and I would encourage any serious blogger to consider it. I am thinking about running a competition whereby I would pay for someone’s whole course when they buy from myself, so everyone who bought from my link would have the chance of winning the prize.
.-= Steven Aitchison´s last blog ..How To Know Your Are On The Right Path – Video =-.
Hi Steve, this is a great suggestion. I really admire Leo and his writing probably changed me as much as any other single person. I too noticed a difference in you I just didn’t know what it was. I’m going to order your book on Amazon too. Great reviews so far. Congratulations.
.-= Stephen – Rat Race Trap´s last blog ..Linchpin – A Review =-.
Hi Stephen, I would recommend the course and would love to hear what you think of it should you decide to go on it. I would also love your thoughts on the book if you buy it.
.-= Steven Aitchison´s last blog ..How To Know Your Are On The Right Path – Video =-.
Leo’s so inspirational to us bloggers and I think investing yourself in his bootcamp’s a brilliant way to let yourself and the world know how serious you are about it. I know his advice is excellent but all kudos to your for following through and putting in the hard work to get there. And for setting ambitious goals. I’m sure you’ll have 10k subscribers soon. I hear the first 5oo are the hardest so you’re doing great:)
Hi Annabel, thanks for leaving a comment. The course was well wroth it, but like you say you really have to follow thorugh on what Leo teaches you in the bootcamp. I am still following through and it has stood me in good stead over the last few months.
.-= Steven Aitchison´s last blog ..How To Know Your Are On The Right Path – Video =-.
Hey Steven,
I just signed up for the ebook and am definitely thinking about the bootcamp as I trust your recommendation. Leo has some very deep ideas that are right on.
Anways thanks for telling us about it.
All the best,
Eren
.-= Eren Mckay´s last blog ..Family bonding activities – insights to help connect deeply =-.
Congratulations Steven, I have been watching with great interest your progress since last August.
Onwards and upwards for you:-)
.-= Arvind Devalia´s last blog ..Let Your Life Be Your Message =-.
Wow, that’s great to hear of measurable results like that. I’m a fan of Leo and I think he has provided a lot of value to the blogging community, especially to bloggers who are trying to get started.
I’d heard about this boot camp but have hitherto avoided investing in it.
Good luck as you continue to grow your blog!
.-= Chris´s last blog ..How to Live 100 Years =-.
Heya Steven,
I totally remembered that we gotta know each other through the bootcamps. Was an amazing time. Doubling your subscriber count in 6 months is a huge accomplishment.
Hats off to the course and your hard work that made it all come to good.
Daniel
.-= Daniel´s last blog ..5 Keys To Creating Any Profitable Business In Less Than 30 Days =-.
Thanks for sharing this with us – I wasn’t aware that Leo was opening up the bootcamp again soon. I’ve downloaded the ebook and will consider taking the course. I’m already in the middle of a similar ‘bootcamp’ right now and am expecting great results from it.
Congrats on the numbers
Investing in yourself always pays off.
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..Friday’s Links =-.
I’ve been interested in your posts and products for only a short time, but I really like what I’ve seen. I really appreciate when people offer quality products not quantity. In light of this, your endorsement speaks volumes about Leo, who I already hold in high regard. I’ll look even closer at the A-List Bootcamp now.
Thanks.
.-= David – Zen Choices´s last blog ..What Can Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Perspectivism” Teach About Interconnectedness and Judging Others =-.
Thanks for the info on Leo’s boot camp. Your growth rate was amazing so you definitely have my ear. You can add one more subscriber to your list. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing!
Jesse
.-= Jesse Walker´s last blog ..5 Ways Top Home Business Entrepreneurs Fight Procrastination =-.
Steve,
Thanks for the FREE e-book I will definitely read it and apply. Hopefully this will help increase my subscribers. Great info.
Lori
.-= Lori Robertson´s last blog ..Overcoming Adversity And Defeat =-.
Wow, Steven that is great! And all from the A- List Blogging Bootcamp? Thank you so much for sharing! I’m going to get it now!
.-= Emily Giuffre´s last blog ..When All the Fun is Gone =-.
Thanks for being so transparent with your success, it helps us all realize the work that’s required to strive for similar results (I appreciate that).
.-= Murlu´s last blog ..A Crash Course On Holding Your First Blog Contest =-.
Excellent study, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little study on that. And he actually bought me lunch simply because I discovered it for him smile So allow me rephrase that: Many thanks for lunch!
For those of you are newbies or seasoned bloggers out there may want to get a feel about a 5-day blow-and-whistle Alist Blogger Bootcamps. Well, I have just completed its 5-day botcamps starting August 8, 2010 to August 12, 2010. This bootcamp even has an endorsement from Darren of Problogger. I just wonder if Darren himself had gone through this bootcamp or had been given an opportunity to look at the entire course or not. Being having gone through this bootcamp myself, I think I want to provide you an overall picture of this course. Honestly.
First, the price. $285 for 5 days or $57/day. To me it’s more expensive than an academic course offering by a higher institution. For an online course offering by a noted university, it costs $5000 for 6 months (180 days) , which is $27/day. One can even enroll in a course with edu2go with only $100 for 6 weeks. I guess given the content of the course, somewhere between $50 to $100 is the most appropriate, at least given the currently deteriorating global economy. It’s really not worth $57 a day.
Now let’s go into the heart of the course, the content. The user interface is somewhat clumsy and cluttering, It seems to me that the course instructional designer has no extensive experience about how to design an effective online course. It’s not just throwing a bunch of text, video, audio, and set up a forum for discussion is good enough. Pedagogical method must have taken into picture to provide the best learning experience for variety of learning styles.
The course has 3 components: text, video, text, and a forum. First, the text. The text page has no print button for those who want to print out to keep it for later reference. There is a photo of the author or a snap on the text. It takes time to download the entire page for those who have slow bandwidth. From the standpoint of instructional design, there is no need to upload a photo of an author or unrelated snap on the page because it does not have anything to do with the content. And there is no need to inspire learners by putting up a story of how Mary accidentally became a blogger.
And another, 02 How a Passionate Artist Fulfilled Her Dream of Teaching An E-Course, which talked about Amelia Critchlow of 101 Bird Tales. Those stories have been spreading all over the web. I have the feeling that the producers of Ablist Bootcamp lack of good materials to put them on, so they they figured out by filing out these superfluous articles. Come on, don’t you have any valued material for learners?
Next, video. The video is embedded onto the page itself using Camtasia. It does not have a download button so that learners can download to watch it later on iPod, iPhone. Only one video has transcript, the rest has not. Some video clips even take almost 25 minutes to watch. It’s a waste of learners’ time forcing them to sit in front of PCs to watch these videos that one can find everywhere easily. One of the videos was how to use autoresponder Aweber. Is that necessary for learners who paid $285 to learn how to use Aweber? There are a ton of free Aweber tutorials out there. Learners would tortured himself/herself “ Do I really want to learn Aweber paying my hard earned $285.? Or videos about how to make a podcast. Just go to Apple related website and you can find tons and tons on how to make a podcast. Video clips are good tools when dealing with something that text and audio alone cannot fulfill their functions; otherwise they waste learners’ precious time? Time is money, right?
Lastly, there is one audio clip on Why Email Lists Are Powerful: Interview with Dave Navarro [PODCAST]. No transcript. People now are smart to be aware of how important to have a list. Do we really need this podcast? I wonder.
The forum: I almost did not see Leo on the forum. A bunch of learners asked themselves and tried to educate each other. As I said, the user interface really got into the way of the process of learning, and the forum is not an exception. Hey, is it expensive to hire a first-class instructional designer?
In summary, to me at least, I wasted my money that I sweat everyday to earn. Why? Because I can find these materials, video, and audio, and get into free forum ( Warrior) to ask questions and have generous folks to give me answers. The bootcamps itself violates almost the essential of designing an online course. I do not want to declare it a scam because I believe Leo and Mary have put a great deal of efforts into the course and tried to figured out how to provide the best learning experience to their subscribers. They just should put their feet in the position of learners.
Day 1
Masterclass Day 1 video and audio
01 Introduction to Create Courses that Sell
02 How a Passionate Artist Fulfilled Her Dream of Teaching An E-Course [CASE STUDY]
03 The Accidental Entrepreneur: Mary’s Story [CASE STUDY]
04 How Going from Blogging to Bootcamps Changed My Life: Leo’s Story [CASE STUDY]
05 From Passion to Product [WORKBOOK]
Day 2
The material of Day 2 will show you how to create an asset through building an email list. You’ll learn why that’s crucial if you want to make money from blogging.
Questions from the Day 2 Masterclass: Recordings
06 Why Building a List is Crucial For Future Income
07 Jeff Walker: Why an Email List is an Asset [VIDEO]
08 Why Email Lists Are Powerful: Interview with Dave Navarro [PODCAST]
09 How to Set Up a List on Aweber [VIDEO]
10 The Good Karma List Machine
11 Good Karma List Machine: Installation [VIDEO]
12 Good Karma List Machine – Admin Setup [VIDEO]
Day 3
In the material of Day 3, you’ll learn about the importance of launches – and exactly how to do them. Don’t miss the Unit 13 video – it’s inspiring!
MASTERCLASS Day 3 recording
13 How a Broke Guy Stumbled Upon Launch Secrets and Got Rich [VIDEO]
14 How to Create a Launch with Heart: 5 Tips that Increased Membership by 470% in 4 Days
15 How to Create a Short Sales Page (PDF)
16 A-List Blogging: The Launch Swipefile PDF
17 The 4 Day Cash Machine Launch E-mail Swipe File
Setting up and running successful courses is easier than you think. The Day 4 material will show you how to set up courses quickly and simply.
Day 4
Recorded MASTERCLASS with Leo Babauta
18 The Three Essentials for Creating Successful Courses [VIDEO]
19 The Three Crucial Ingredients of Successful Courses [TRANSCRIPT]
20 How a Scrapbooker Created Successful Courses With Small Numbers and Organic Growth [CASE STUDY]
21 How to Start Making Real Money With Your Products in 3 Days [PDF]
22 How to Structure a Module – Part 1 [TIPSHEET]
23 How to Structure Modules – Part 2 [CASE STUDY
24 Camtasia: the Magic Software for Creating Training Videos [ARTICLE PLUS 4 HOW-TO VIDEOS]
25 Camtasia In Action – How to Grow a Killer Blog [VIDEO]
26 How to Create a Podcast – Part 1 [VIDEO]
27 How to Create Podcasts – Part 2 [VIDEO]
28 Amazon S3: How to Rent Cheap Online Storage Space for Media
Day 5
In this module, you’ll learn about Membership Programs. Why to create them, how to set them up, and how to run them.
Recording of Mary’s Masterclass
29 Why Membership Programs Rock
30 Membership Programs: Challenges and Joys
31 Introduction to Membership Software
32 Toolkit for Creating Courses and Membership Programs
33 How to Use Wishlist Member – Part 1: Modular Model [VIDEO]
34 How to Use Wishlist – Part 2: The Publisher Model [VIDEO]
35 Creating a Forum: How to Use the Simple:Press Plugin
36 Boost Your Success with Affiliate Programs