Social media has been around for AGES by now…
But when’s the last time you really sat down to review your “strategy?”
Ya know, to grow an audience? Get more view/downloads, whatever?
Do you even HAVE A STRATEGY?
*checks notes–crap, no, I don’t.
Today’s guest is one of my all-time favorite podcasters, entertainers, and genuinely great dude, Joe Saul-Sehy!
And he’s here today to A: have fun, and B: help us think about social media
But when’s the last time you really sat down to review your “strategy?”
Ya know, to grow an audience? Get more view/downloads, whatever?
Do you even HAVE A STRATEGY?
*checks notes–crap, no, I don’t.
Today’s guest is one of my all-time favorite podcasters, entertainers, and genuinely great dude, Joe Saul-Sehy!
And he’s here today to A: have fun, and B: help us think about social media again “for the first time since setting up that TikTok account that we never actually post to and almost hate checking now–and UGH yeah ok I need to think about this again.”
And if you enjoy Joe, be sure to check out everything he’s doing over at Stacking Benjamins! (one of the top personal finance podcasts out there, and one of the few I still listen to ????).
Want to be a next-level freelancer?
Highly-paid? Sought-after?
Want to pick and choose your clients and definite your dream career doing what you REALLY want to do?
Sarah Li-Cain is a world-class podcaster, (and blogger, YouTuber, producer, freelancer–lots of stuff really), and today’s she’s stopping by to chat about partnering with companies to produce content.
She’s also just a genuinely nice & smart person! There’s loads of value in this on
Want to pick and choose your clients and definite your dream career doing what you REALLY want to do?
Sarah Li-Cain is a world-class podcaster, (and blogger, YouTuber, producer, freelancer–lots of stuff really), and today’s she’s stopping by to chat about partnering with companies to produce content.
She’s also just a genuinely nice & smart person! There’s loads of value in this one
In 2021, bloggers often STRUGGLE to get page views–let alone REAL fans that continue to follow them for months and years.
It’s a busy internet ????
The “What Why What” formula contains the bare minimum of blog “branding” that you absolutely NEED to emphasis if you want to attract long-term fans and readers.
This is a simple copywriting lesson that’ll help you turn random website visitors into people that follow you.
Want to know the real re
In 2021, bloggers often STRUGGLE to get page views–let alone REAL fans that continue to follow them for months and years.
It’s a busy internet ????
The “What Why What” formula contains the bare minimum of blog “branding” that you absolutely NEED to emphasis if you want to attract long-term fans and readers.
This is a simple copywriting lesson that’ll help you turn random website visitors into people that follow you.
Want to know the real reason behind this post?
To help me save time on blog reviews.
I’ve reviewed over 1,000 blogs over the past 5 years–and every single blog I’ve looked at runs into the same problem.
They lack the essential explanation behind “what why what.”
So I’m finally just putting my answer into a blog post format to hand to people ????
So let’s dig into what the heck that means, and why it’s important.
The goal: to collect loyal, trusting, raving fans.
And we want to nurture them starting with random website visitors (i.e. new traffic).
Got it?
People come to your brand from a tweet, pin, click in Google, etc–and you nurture them to raving fans who buy your products and click your affiliate links. The “what why what” conquers the FIRST step in that journey before people bail on your blog
Without nailing this, that journey will never take place for most blog visitors.
1 – “What” is your blog about?
If the name of your blog is “Personal Finance for Dummies” or “Problogger,” people might get a great idea.
But what if you’re domain/brand name is your name?
Or something clever but obscure that explains nothing? (Think ChasingFoxes.com)
What if your name is Busy Budgeter, but you also talk about multiple sub-topics that aren’t budgeting?
Don’t you think you should explicitly tell people EXACTLY what you blog about?
She told us, explicitly, WHAT her blog is about
FYI that’s Rosemarie, founder of Busy Budgeter, a $1M+ blog. Here’s her story!
Your job as a brand-builder and true-fan-magnet is to inform new website visitors EXACTLY what your blog and brand is about. What you teach, share, and sell. Make it easy for people to learn this information.
Where is this most important?
Your homepage, and possibly your about page. Tell people what you do.
Moving on.
2 – “Why” should we follow you–rather than your competitors?
So your name is Bobby and you started a personal finance website called “Millennial Money Man.”
Great!
But there are 1,823 other personal finance blogs out there.
Rockstar Finance says over 1,800 personal finance blogs in their directory…
Why should people follow Bobby as opposed to everybody else?
Bobby sharing “why” people should trust his content and follow him
Apply everything I’m saying to your own niche FYI.
There are tons of other blogs like yours.
There are two main ways to convince visitors why they need to follow YOU: Authority and your unique story.
Authority = People want to know that YOU know what the heck you’re talking about.
Your unique story = something none of your competitors have.
Bobby’s story above is that he paid off $40k of student loans over 18 months on a teacher’s salary.
While there are loads of similar stories now among finance bloggers–there were far fewer when Bobby started his blog, and it allowed him to stand out and make people say “wow.”
Home page, about page, sidebars, email opt-ins. Show people why.
Most of DYEB’s “why” is my story.
I’ve started over 45+ online businesses and blogs, failed a lot, and have a ton of stories for learning to share.
I might actually be OBSESSED with blogging and online business. My passion for this helps me stand out.
I quit a cushy job to be broke for a while and make this whole online business thing work.
I made $18k in my first year, and on track to triple that in year 2.
3 – “What’s” in it for me (a new website visitor)?
The old “WIIFM” thing:
What’s In It For Me?”
Seriously though. What’s it in for me to read your blog post? Literally, what am I going to get?
Knowledge? Laughter? Commiseration?
What’s it in for me to opt-in to your email list–especially since I’m on 10+ other newsletters in your niche?
What do I get?
Tell people, in the most explicit of terms, exactly what they will get out of being a follower of [your-blog-name].
Tell them what’s in store if they stick around.
Go back and remember our goal.
Repeat after me.
My job as a blogger is to turn cold website traffic (new visitors), into loyal repeat visitors, fans, and customers.
*love me love me, say that you love me.
*fool me fool me, go on and fool me!
Ok amazing 90’s pop songs aside–my podcast guest today is a brand strategist, copywriter, and overall hilarious and awesome creator–and she’s gonna help us find true love.
From our audience.
But not in a weird way.
Hillary Weiss and I are gonna chat…
WHAT is a “statement piece” and why you need oneExercises for copywriting (to write more good words)Her de
Ok amazing 90’s pop songs aside–my podcast guest today is a brand strategist, copywriter, and overall hilarious and awesome creator–and she’s gonna help us find true love.
Blogging Tools: The Definitive List for Growth (in 2021)
Below is NOT a huge list filled with every blogging tool under the sun…
These are the battle-tested solutions I use daily for my blog & business.
Important note…
NONE of these companies reached out to me to get featured here, and I’m more than comfortable using my affiliate links! (This means I earn a commission if you decide to purchase through my special link, at no extra cost to you!) Please see my affiliate disclosure to learn more.
I stand behind these blog tools 1,000%.
Looking for a specific blogging tool? Here are some quick links:
We use ActiveCampaign for email automations & funnels! It’s easily as powerful as others like Drip, Keap (formerly Infusionsoft), and Ontraport–but it’s easier to use. We’ve been with them since 2019 and have no plans to switch. HOWEVER, if you DON’T have need for really advanced automations, I actually recommend Flodesk (see below)
DYEB readers get 50% off lifetime using my special link! That’s $19/mo for UNLIMITED subscribers.
Flodesk
#1 for email marketing.
We use Flodesk for our “main” email list, including sending newsletters, simple welcome sequences, etc! Their automations work great, segmentation and subscriber management is great, and their email builder is THE BEST I HAVE EVER USED. Seriously. A++++
I use Bluehost and Namecheap as well for various other projects and websites, and recommend them too (see the hosting section below), but Do You Even Blog is hosted using Siteground. It’s speedy, fits my budget, and their support has always been great.
I’ve tried around 10 podcast hosts over the years–and I’m currently on Buzzsprout for 3 reasons. 1) It’s EASILY the most user-friendly platform ever. 2) They’re constantly releasing GREAT new features, and 3) the price is right
After YEARS of Teachable & Thinkific & LifterLMS & others, I switched to Podia in late 2019, and couldn’t be happier! Unlimited courses, digital downloads, memberships, a great user interface, and pretty-good sales page builder, and most everything else creators need. I’ve been really happy with them!
Other tools Pete is currently using (and has added recently):
More info on these can be found below!
Everything’s below, but I just wanted to list off some recent additions!
Dropbox (file storage and collaboration). It only took me 15 years to jump on the Dropbox train…but I’m glad I finally did.
Deadline Funnels (for evergreen timers, used in my funnels)
Morningfa.me (for YouTube keyword research and analytics)
Blogging Platforms - What Website/Software Should I Blog on?
Should you blog on Blogger.com, Medium.com, etc?
Or should you blog on your own website using WordPress, Weebly, Squarespace? Etc?
WordPress.org (hosted on your own hosting account) Price: Free
The absolutely ultimate beginner blogging tool.
WordPress is the actual software that powers this blog, as well as something like 33% of the entire internet!
It is by far the best choice for bloggers, over competitors like…
Wix
Weebly
Squarespace
Joomla?
It offers far more customization (even if that DOES come with a learning curve at first), and comes loaded with the most power.
There’s a reason WordPress is dang-near a household name. They’re awesome. Use it.
Wordoid: Create a new word completely, shows availability!
You can also use the widget below to search right here on this page
DYEB Pro Tip: I really, really, really suggest finding a domain with an available .com, as long as it’s easy to pronounce, spell, and say!!
What's the best WordPress hosting company?
A website is really just a collection of files (like the files on your computer).
A hosting company simply “hosts” your website’s files on their server so people everywhere can access them!
Bluehost – STILL the best hosting for beginning bloggers Price: Starts at $3/month
They have my recommendation–for new bloggers especially.
In the past, I did NOT recommend Bluehost–based on using their product YEARS ago.
However, while doing research for my newbie guide, I gave Bluehost another shot and went through their entire set-up process.
I was blown away by how smooth it went!
I still recommend Siteground for established bloggers who have experience navigating cPanel & installing WordPress, but for new bloggers, I’m recommending Bluehost 110%.
It’s probably the fastest way to get up and running with a new WordPress blog I’ve ever seen, and their user dashboard looks way better than it did 5 years ago.
Siteground – I’ve used them in the past, and they’re fantastic! My top recommendation for bloggers w/ over 20,000 pageviews/month.
I do NOT recommend hosting your site with Godaddy, Namecheap, Bigscoots, or Hostgator (I have used all of these).
Image and Graphic Design Tools
Use these tools to create incredible looking pin, share images, and graphics!
Canva (plus PowerPoint!)- Free and Pro Versions ($10/month)
I’ve used every tool you can imagine, including PicMonkey, Snappa, etc, and Canva wins for 2 reasons:
Their free version is still A+
You can export to PowerPoint!
For those who prefer to edit using software NOT in the browser, or who find Canva a bit clunky, you can now export to PowerPoint for further edits.
Pro Tip: Canva has REALLY great pre-made templates. I stole 10-15 Instagram templates, exported them to PowerPoint, and proceed to edit those as normal.
This tool is a bit more advanced, as it was created with professional designers in mind. However, I’ve found the user interface pretty easy to navigate, especially with their MANY tutorials on the Sketch website.
This is what I use for logos, pins, and other advanced graphics that need a bit more customization than I can get with Snappa.
Keeping my pins organized in Sketch
Where Can I Find Great Stock Photos for My Blog?
There are a metric ton of stock photo sites, but here are my recommendations:
What if there was a way to search several stock photo sites at once?
That’s what this site does. It can be a bit tricky to navigate (click “multi-site search” on the left menu), but if I can’t find it on Pexels, I’ll generally come here next.
What Are the Best Tools for Compressing Images?
In your blogging tool arsenal, you NEED a tool to compress those fancy images you’re creating.
This is important for SEO, as uncompressed images slow down your site!
These also fall under the WordPress site speed optimization discussion.
ShortPixel – Free quota of compressed images a month, paid options available.
This is what I use to compress images these days, as it saves a TON of time compared to the manual upload/download/upload process of using a browser-based compressor.
To use ShortPixel, you
install and activate the plugin
drag-n-drop images to WordPress like you always do
That’s it.
Short Pixel automatically compresses your images to be speedy, and it can even auto-resize large images as well.
Lastly, it’s cheap.
You can get up to 100 images/month for free, and you can also avoid monthly commitments and just pay in bulk (I bought 10,000 images for $10. That’s insanely awesome).
Compressor.io is a browser-based image compression alternative (FREE)
Drag your image in, it compresses it and gives you a download link.
Not as simple as a WordPress plugin compressor like ShortPixel, but still easy and free.
SEO tools (Search Engine Optimization Software)
Looking to grow organic SEO traffic? Use these tools to conduct keyword research, produce epic content that gets backlinks, and grow.
There are several different functions for these tools!
I use it. Everyone uses it. You should too. It’s awesome for on-page SEO.
Will getting all of Yoast’s little green lights guarantee ranking in Google? NO. But it IS still a handy tool for gently optimizing blog posts (especially for beginners).
For a smooth $30/month, you get access to ALL of these tools. Keyword research, domain and keyword tracking, competitor analysis, backlink miner. It’s crazy how good these are, and it’s less than HALF the cost of other SEO tools
keyword research
content planning
backlink analysis
SERP tracking
Site audit tools
way more
SO much more affordable than the big names (even though I actually use Ahrefs. Full disclaimer, but it IS expensive).
There are LOADS of SEO tools out there for keyword research, Google competition analysis, etc. Moz, Ahrefs, Market Samuria, Keyword.io…all these are great (but most are expensive).
Google’s keyword tool is the top blogging tools for beginners. It’s free, (fairly) easy to use, and contains all the data you would ever need.
Use it till you can afford KWFinder or Ahrefs.
Here’s an expensive SEO software pro tip:
99% of bloggers do NOT need these tools 12 months a year.
Instead, spend one month’s worth, and do enough keyword research and content planning for several months–then cancel!
You can always renew for another month down the road.
This tool is incredible! Simply activate the extension, and Keywords Everywhere will start to show you search volume in Google search results, using Soolve, Answer the Public, and more!
Pro tip: you can’t rely on the exact numbers! Paid keyword tools will likely be more accurate–but this is a great starting point considering it’s free!
Site audit and broken backlink tools
We’ll talk more about site speed below, but managing broken links, redirects, etc, is important!
No, it’s not free–but it’s cheap and far superior to other cache plugins I’ve tried (and I’ve tried them all). It’s the most user-friendly cache plugin I’ve found.
WP Rocket is worth it. One of my “mandatory top-5 plugins” for bloggers.
Note: I don’t recommend Hootsuite or Meet Edgar or Social Bee for bloggers. These are great tools, but do not fit the needs of bloggers as well as SmarterQueue and Buffer.
Site Security and Blog Backup Tools
These tools will make sure your website stays nice and safe–free from hackers and bots
Updraft is the ONLY backup plugin I’ve seen that has 3rd-part backups (i.e. Google Drive, Dropbox, etc), available in their free version.
Woot!
P.S. Many premium WordPress hosting providers ALSO include some sort of backup tool. I know Siteground, Bigscoots, and Kinsta provide this!
Email Marketing Tools & ESPs (Email Service Providers)
Grow your email list? Complicated email marketing funnels?
Check
Out of everything I do here at Do You Even Blog, THIS is the blogging tool question I get most often:
“Which email marketing software is right for ME?”
Below are my honest–but controversial–recommendations for bloggers.
The Best Email Service Providers for Bloggers:
Flodesk – $39/month $19/month using my affiliate link for unlimited subscribers!
Flodesk is my new favorite thing EVER.
Why? It’s incredibly easy to use, the email builder is amazing, and everything looks. so. good.
Oh yeah, and they have forms and automations–and UNLIMITED subscribers for one low price??
While it does lack some of the more powerful features for email marketing, it’s definitely a solid choice for new folks.
ActiveCampaign – For advanced email marketers who need powerful automations (starts at $17/mo)
ActiveCampaign’s automations are best in class.
If you have complicated email marketing funnels–your options are Drip and ActiveCampaign.
I used to use Drip.
Then they unexpectedly jacked up their prices without telling anybody. They switched their focus to serving big ecommerce companies, and left the rest of us high and dry.
So I’m moving to ActiveCampaign!
Do you recommend ConvertKit?
If you’re making enough from your blog to cover $29/month, and all you really need is…
Easy to use email editors, and
Landing pages and opt-in forms
ConvertKit is just fine! (but I still like Flodesk better, personally).
Their editor is incredibly easy to use, and you can create as many opt-in forms, landing pages, and email sequences as you desire!
However, their automations are FAR behind those of ActiveCampaign, and the fact that they don’t have a free plan puts them behind Mailerlite.
Hemingway App for crafting short and compelling language (Free)
This software was literally created to be a super fun (and slightly addicting) way to potentially make your writing a lot more crisp, clear, bold, and maybe way more impactful.
Oops, guess that last sentence should’ve been:
A fun (and slightly addicting) software to make your writing crisp, clear, bold, and way more impactful.
Grammarly will pop-up in most applications, browsers, and apps, and tell you what you’re doing wrong (and gives you an easy way to fix grammar errors!).
Grammarly in action
Social Warfare – Social Sharing Plugin (Free and cheap paid version)
This plugin makes it easy for people to share your content–a must-have in blogging.
Blog Organization, Productivity, and Project Management Software
These blogging tools help you get more done, faster, and better.
Tools to manager your content calendar (and various projects)
Trello is INSANELY simple to use, and organizes tasks and projects in a highly visual format (kanban boards!).
I pretty much stink at organizing and planning out operations for my team (and creating a content calendar), but even I’ve found using Trello handy.
Pro Tip: “Butler” is a specific “power-up” you can enable for Trello boards, allowing you to do some helpful automations. Check out a video on that here.
If you like the more “list” visual aspect, Asana is very powerful
Misc. Productivity Tools
TextExpander ($30/year) – If you find yourself typing things repeatedly–email signatures, URLs, phrases, etc, TextExpander allows you to create shortcuts for bunks of text. Example: I simply hit “hhdd” and out pops http://www.doyouevenblog.com.
Freedom.to ($20/year) – This app works on both mobile and desktop, and allows me to selectively block Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, IG, etc, so I won’t even be tempted to be distracted.
Voxer (Free mobile app) – It’s half texting/messaging and half walkie-talkie app! I use this instead of texting for most of my online relationships–including Team DYEB.
Lastpass (Free) – My password manager of choice. It’s absolutely amazing and I think e ery human should use it.
Yoink (Mac & iOS only. Roughly $7 in App Store) – I had NO CLUE I needed something to make dragging-n-dropping files better–but I did. I use this every day.
Scanner Pro ($4 mobile app) – Makes scanning paper-ish things a SNAP–and can also create multi-page PDFs.
Alfred (Mac only. Free & Paid) – It’s like an insanely functional search bar for your Mac. I use it no less than 50 times a day.
Rocket (Mac only. Free) – Makes it easy to insert emojis! ?
Wi-Fi Sweetspots (Free mobile app) – I use this to find the best wi-fi spots when I travel to different coffee shops, public places, etc.
Otter.ai (free) – Hands down the best audio transcription tool on the internet! Great for quickly taking voice notes and seeing transcriptions–or for podcast transcripts
Blog Monetization Tools
These tools make it simple for you to market, sell, and deliver your own products (or help sell affiliate marketing products!)
Gumroad (Free and $10/mo) – Quickly selling any product from your blog.
I used Gumroad to sell t-shirts. Was incredibly easy.
This is NOT an e-commerce or store option–like WooCommerce or Shopify.
Rather, Gumroad is stand-alone software to sell digital or physical products from just about anywhere–from embeddable buy buttons, links, etc.
The reason Gumroad gets my recommendation is because of its simplicity. No reason to stress over software design, APIs, payment processors, etc. Just sign up, create a product, embed buy button, and BOOM. You’re selling something.
I have to mention this for advanced bloggers with established courses, etc. This is what I use to process ALL my transactions these days.
Quickly get product checkout pages set-up and optimized
Upsells
Bump offers
Cookied countdown timers on carts
Affiliate management
GREAT integrations
Full E-commerce solutions:
WooCommerce (WordPress plugin. Free, but not really)
It’s still a great product, but a bit hard to set-up and make “perfect.” Also, while the core plugin and functionality is free–you have to shell out $$ for even basic expansions.
If you can front the $29/month price tag, Shopify is a fantastic stand-alone e-commerce platform. I know several bloggers who have separate Shopify shops in addition to their main site.
This post (and this entire site) was built with Elementor
The Best WordPress Themes for Bloggers
You need a theme that WORKS, looks great, loads quickly, and works with other plugins.
StudioPress (or any Genesis Framework theme) Price: $50-$150
StudioPress makes amazing WordPress themes that are…
fast-loading
clean
easy to design
easy to learn/configure
affordable
YES–there’s a learning curve when you first pick up a Genesis theme, but it’s like riding a bike: If you ever switch themes, you’ll already be comfortable with design, helping you get up and running ASAP.
Alternative – the default WordPress themes (Free!)
At the time I’m writing this, I’m currently on the Twenty-Nineteen theme, and I love it!
You can’t go wrong with a default WP theme. They’re simple, fast, and clean.
WARNING: Stay away from Divi!
Divi is a page builder framework, and also has a broad “theme” that you can highly customize.
The problem?
Divi themes are notoriously slow If you ever decide to switch AWAY from Divi, you are in for a world of hurt. Stay away!
Extra random blogging tools!
These are random tools that add value to my career as a blogger, podcaster, course creator, etc
Robert Farrington (The College Investor, a massssssive site at this point) is joining me on the podcast today to answer a simple question:
“What’s working in your business–right now?”
It’s an interesting question, and it brought up a lot of cool stuff!
Although I will say that a lot of what we talk about could be consider “advanced,” but don’t let that put you off completely. There are gems in here!
We chat
SEO in 2021Completely ou
Jessica (http://thefioneers.com/) recently implemented a SUPER simple version of an evergreen funnel–and has already seen some incredible results from it!
Today she’s sharing the juicy details of what she did and how she’s made it work so far!l
I am also proud to say that she’s an Online Impact member and BMF student (technically the first BMF student I think?).
Anywho, Jessica’s brilliant. You’ll get alot out of this one
Listen to my episode wi
Jessica (http://thefioneers.com/) recently implemented a SUPER simple version of an evergreen funnel–and has already seen some incredible results from it!
Today she’s sharing the juicy details of what she did and how she’s made it work so far!l
I am also proud to say that she’s an Online Impact member and BMF student (technically the first BMF student I think?).
Anywho, Jessica’s brilliant. You’ll get alot out of this one
Listen to my episode with Jessica from the Fioneers:
Ah yes, the whole “customer journey” thing.
Taking somebody who JUST took a leap to join your email list…
…and turning them into loyal, DIE HARD “i’ll literally buy anything you ever put out–even if it’s a new chewing gum brand” sort of follower.
(or something).
The problem though?
What on Earth do we SAY to these people?
To earn their trust?To build our authority?To HELP them?
Luckily, email marketing pro Allea Grumm
I know I know…
I have left a void in your podcast player.
Since I’m in-between DYEB podcast seasons–you’ve just been ITCHING for more blogging & online business podcasts, yes??
Well, good news!
Here are some of my all-time favorites (as well as new discoveries!) for creators & online entrepreneurs.
Let’s start with some podcasts you might not have heard of before…
The Not For Lazy Marketers Podcast – Emily Hirsh
Listen
really great strategies for Facebook ads & funnels
short n sweet-ish episodes! Generally 12-16 minutes long (I always skip the first 60 seconds, as it’s the same intro every week.
Emily runs some great solo shows, and is a really good marketer and salesperson herself. Pay attention not only to what she SAYS to do–but what she does within her own business
Seth’s awesome (but only because he was a guest on my podcast here. JK he’s just awesome), and this podcast format is really nice.
He rarely gets specific in terms of strategy, tactics, etc, but that’s kinda the point. He’s helping us THINK about things, and hopefully become better marketers (and humans) in the meantime.
If you’re into the Godin, definitely give it a listen.
Naval isn’t a creator like we typically think of–he’s a startup investor and entrepreneur in his own right–and this podcast is less about online business–and becoming a smart thinking & savvy entrepreneur.
If you’re into SEO (#highfive), you def need this one.
It’s less “how to” kinda stuff–and more news, updates, and the occasional hot take or new idea. Most of the more “pro” SEOs I know tend to listen to Marie.
strategies & ideas on SYSTEMS, automations, integrations, and organization.
It’s kinda like the title says: all about systems in our business!
Just one problem–Jordan actually shut down the podcast in mid-2021. Boooooo. Episodes are still up for now though, so go listen to some of the old ones!
My old tried-n-true business podcast lineup:
These have been around for a while, but I still find myself listening to on occasion!
great interviews. I really like Amy’s interview style
the beginner basics
Solid (but not necessarily unique) perspectives
Amy’s pretty broad–and tends to “dumb down” her message in a lot of ways–but that doesn’t mean any of it is bad advice at all.
In fact, she’s one of my favorite interviewers in marketing (I tend to skip her solo shows). Definitely worth a listen, especially if you’re still pretty new!
success stories in small business and/or solo entrepreneurship
I just love Nick, and always have. He’s also a great interviewer–and I like that it’s not ALL about blogging, or ALL about SEO, or copywriting, etc.
He has a nice variety of interesting guests–both experts and non-experts alike. I don’t listen to every single episode, but I’ve been a regular listener and subscriber for years.
the occasional entrepreneurship episode, otherwise general life-improvement kinda stuff
extremely casual (almost unedited it seems) chats with extraordinary people
good stories
Like him or not (and many don’t), but Tim’s a smart cookie.
This is one of the main podcasts I binged in the years leading up to THIS business of mine (Do You Even Blog), and I can partially attribute all the work I’m doing–to Tim and this podcast.
Tim runs a YouTube consulting agency–and tends do repurpose a lot of livestreams to his podcast.
I personally recommend going and checking out some of his older content–instead of starting with the most recent. The older episodes (1-2 years ago) are usually still relevant, and were better imo.
All business’d out? Here are my current non-business podcasts
I’m going to argue right here and now–that many of these podcasts can ALSO improve your content & business skills!
Speaking of pristine storytelling–this podcast is a work of art.
I personally recommend going back to the OLDEST episodes to start–as the newer episodes include more dialog and discussion. The old episodes are JUST short stories, and Mike is an absolute master.
You can kinda consider this the cousin of the Tim Ferriss podcast–as Tim and Kevin are good friends and tend to talk about some of the same topics. A good listen, especially for those who are into tech.
My buddy Chris runs a personal finance podcast, and you should listen.
I’ve listened to probably 200-250 personal finance podcasts over the years, and there are really only 3-5 that I stay subscribed to (even if I don’t listen to every single episode). Chris is one of those!
His are more short n’ sweet, and I just like his voice
Chelsea is also a good friend (and OG Online Impact member woot!), and the work she’s doing in finance (specifically for moms–but I listen anyways) is incredible.
I tend to get the most value from her mindset-focused episodes.
One of the G.O.A.T.s at this point? Brené’s podcast has turned out great I think! (and be sure to grab The Power of Vulnerability on Audible. It’s one of my all-time faves as well).
Also, here are my top-recommended true crime podcasts:
I won’t explain each of these, because if you’re into true crime, well, no explanation needed. They’re about true crimes!
(But these are particularly well done)
Cold
Bear Brook
The Ballad of Billy Balls
The Clearing
Missing on 9/11
(and their first season, Missing in Alaska, is good too!)
Comment below w/ your favorite shows!
I’m all ears. Literally.
Drop me a comment below and promote a show you’ve been digging this year!
Social media has been around for AGES by now…
But when’s the last time you really sat down to review your “strategy?”
Ya know, to grow an audience? Get more view/downloads, whatever?
Do you even HAVE A STRATEGY?
*checks notes–crap, no, I don’t.
Today’s guest is one of my all-time favorite podcasters, entertainers, and genuinely great dude, Joe Saul-Sehy!
And he’s here today to A: have fun, and B: help us think about social media
But when’s the last time you really sat down to review your “strategy?”
Ya know, to grow an audience? Get more view/downloads, whatever?
Do you even HAVE A STRATEGY?
*checks notes–crap, no, I don’t.
Today’s guest is one of my all-time favorite podcasters, entertainers, and genuinely great dude, Joe Saul-Sehy!
And he’s here today to A: have fun, and B: help us think about social media again “for the first time since setting up that TikTok account that we never actually post to and almost hate checking now–and UGH yeah ok I need to think about this again.”
And if you enjoy Joe, be sure to check out everything he’s doing over at Stacking Benjamins! (one of the top personal finance podcasts out there, and one of the few I still listen to ????).
Want to be a next-level freelancer?
Highly-paid? Sought-after?
Want to pick and choose your clients and definite your dream career doing what you REALLY want to do?
Sarah Li-Cain is a world-class podcaster, (and blogger, YouTuber, producer, freelancer–lots of stuff really), and today’s she’s stopping by to chat about partnering with companies to produce content.
She’s also just a genuinely nice & smart person! There’s loads of value in this on
Want to pick and choose your clients and definite your dream career doing what you REALLY want to do?
Sarah Li-Cain is a world-class podcaster, (and blogger, YouTuber, producer, freelancer–lots of stuff really), and today’s she’s stopping by to chat about partnering with companies to produce content.
She’s also just a genuinely nice & smart person! There’s loads of value in this one
Here’s a secret:
I, Pete McPherson, am a master procrastinator.
Ya know the stories you hear about college students waiting until the day before the exam to start studying?
Nice you meet you!
I ALWAYS wait till the last minute, but I somehow still get stuff done by the due date.
However, it wasn’t until later in life that I discovered this is actually an asset.
Question for you:
Why is it that late December is the best time of year to buy a u
Ya know the stories you hear about college students waiting until the day before the exam to start studying?
Nice you meet you!
I ALWAYS wait till the last minute, but I somehow still get stuff done by the due date.
However, it wasn’t until later in life that I discovered this is actually an asset.
Question for you:
Why is it that late December is the best time of year to buy a used car?
Why do companies tend to push themselves harder than ever in Q4 every year?
Why do you seem to get SO much work done the day before you leave for vacation?
Answer: Deadlines.
Car dealerships and corporations set annual sales goals—and December brings a mad dash to meet their quotas.
When you know you’re leaving on vacation, you work extra hard/smart to make sure you won’t be thinking about work when you should be throwing your kids into swimming pools at Disney World ????????
People work harder during periods of procrastination—because they have to. Deadlines and short-time frames encourage harder and/or smarter work.
How you can use this for your blog:
That’s the real trick, isn’t it?
Trying to replicate the feeling of “OMG I HAVE to get this stuff work work work,” even though you don’t have an actual deadline.
It turns out, the answer is simple—but still really hard?
Use shorter timeframes for your goals
Set strategic plans on the weekly (or even daily) levels
Step 1 – Cast aside “annualized” thinking for a second…
When folks start blogs, businesses, or any project, it’s almost ALWAYS accompanied by annualized thinking.
Annualized thinking = setting a 2020 goal.
This is why 99.99% of New Year’s resolutions fail—it’s simply too long a time frame to accurately predict what’s going to happen!
You have NO idea where your blog will be 10 months from now. Planning that far out has diminishing returns
Consider a long road trip.
Annualized thinking/planning is like if I decided to drive from Georgia to California—with no maps, GPS, or asking for directions.
I know which way is west from my hometown, and I’d probably make it a few states over—but I’d soon need to course-correct before I get completely lost, eventually getting stranded with no food, eventually resorting to a life of crime on the streets in order to survive.
Here’s a quote from “The 12-Week Year,” the book that spurred this blog post and the 12-Week Blog Plan course. (my affiliate link above)
“At the heart of annualized thinking is an unspoken belief that there is plenty of time in the year to makes things happen. In January, December looks a long way off.”
This is totally true.
We get a tad behind in late January or February, and we’re not worried, because “there’s so much time left!”
Back to the book…
“We mistakenly believe that there is a lot of time left in the year, and we act accordingly. We lack a sense of urgency, not realizing that every week is important, every day is important, every moment is important. Ultimately, effective execution happens daily and weekly!”
So what to do?
Shorten the timeframe for your goals.
Note: I’m not saying you should scrap your annual New Year’s resolution or your 2022 goals.
By all means, set a general target for 2022!
Implementing the 12-Week Blog Planner is not a replacement for an annual goal—it’s a supplement.
A necessary supplement if you’re like me.
In fact, an annual goal can help you step back from day-to-day grinds and think objectively and long-term.
That’s a crucial step to 12-week years as well–but it HAS to be coupled with shorter-term planning.
How to create an #actionable blog plan.
Again, we go through this in a step-by-step, interactive format within the 12-Week Blog Planner below—but I did want to leave an overview here.
Here are the 3 steps:
Define a vision for your blog/biz
Create 2-4 SMART(ER) goals
Map out tactics on a weekly (and daily) basis.
1 – Why vision is incredibly important
Simply put, you need to know where you’re going.
You can work 23 hours a day at PEAK efficiency, but if what you work on isn’t aligned with where you want to be in life, it will have been worthless.
A compelling vision = a crystal-clear picture of the future.
It is critical that your business/blog vision aligns with—and enables—your personal vision. This alignment ensures a powerful emotional connection that promotes a sustained commitment, and continual action.
No vision = no emotional connection to stick with the plan.
Got it?
“If you’re lacking in passion for your business or in a relationship, it’s not a crisis of passion; it’s a crisis of vision.”
Brainstorming and completing the Vision Worksheet is the first step in the 12-Week Blog Planner.
You’ll need a vision for your blog
12 weeks from now
3 years from now
You need to make dang sure your short-term vision/goals line up with your long-term vision.
Here’s an (outdated) 12-week DYEB vision:
My vision is a picture of what I want to be working on, and what I want my biz to look like.
2 – Why 2-3 goals is optimal for a 12-week year.
The next step is to create a few goals you can aim for 12 weeks from now.
These goals become planning “targets” on which you’ll base your weekly and daily actions.
If you’ve never heard of the “SMARTER” framework for goals, you can read about that here, but I’mma just hit you with what I think is crucial for bloggers:
1 – Make them specific and measurable.
This is the bare mimimum.
“Make more money”
“Get affiliate revenues”
“Grow email list”
THESE ARE NOT GOALS. They are not specific or measurable.
“Make $1,000 gross from the blog via ads and affiliate links, and grow my email list by 75%.”
That’s a bit better.
3 – They should be obtainable within the time frame!
This one’s huge.
Honestly. Realistically. Set 2-3 goals that you CAN legitimately complete in a 12-week timeline.
Why? Because you’re going to be DOING IT.
Goal setting should not JUST be some inspirational-motivational-super “it’d be great but it’ll never happen” sort of process.
You’re going to be hitting these goals, and if you do, you should have been working to your vision.
4 – But still a tad lofty
My friend Jenny from Good Life, Better once referred to them as “stretch” goals. I like that term.
Targeted goals should make you a tad uncomfortable.
There is a proper balance of “I can do this” mixed with “Wow—what I’m currently doing won’t hit that goal, so how can I hit it?”
5 – They should align with your vision.
You might even just change the way you’ve phrased your vision—to be specific and measurable goals.
Here’s my (outdated) goals for DYEB 12 weeks out:
my 2 business goals
6 – Each of these 12-week goals becomes a planning target for which you need to write tactics.
The overall 12-week goals are then broken out into weekly goals and corresponding #actionable tactics.
That’s up next
3 – Identify the actions that MATTER
Using your blogging vision and the goals—this is where we’ll set a strategic, weekly plan of action—that if completed, will move you to your goals.
Mmmmm tasty.
Important: What makes a good tactic?
1 – Your tactics should start with a verb and be a complete sentence.
“Email 3 people this week with a guest post pitch.”
“Write 1 blog post and publish, and write 1 blog post draft to get ahead.”
“Create automation workflow “shell” in Drip, start-to-finish.”
2 – Your tasks should be “executable in the week they are due to be delivered.”
I.e. If your task can’t be completed in one week, it’s too long. Break it up into smaller chunks.
How do I create weekly plans?
2 ways:
You could take your big 12-week plans and break them into 12 chunks (hard)
You could brainstorm—then organize—your tactics into weeks, and THEN make weekly goals (what I have to do).
For me personally, I have to start with the overarching goals (the 12-week ones), then create tactics, then create weekly goals in the process of organizing the tasks.
Here’s a step-by-step to your weekly plan.
Step 1 – For each goal, brainstorm ALL actions that are required to hit your goals
What do you need to work on to hit your goals?
Braindump everything on a sheet of paper or spreadsheet.
Step 2 – Identify the high-priority and high-leverage tasks
Not all activities will move you towards your goals equally.
Checking email
Scheduling social media posts
Fixing broken backlinks
Writing and perfecting SEO content
Which of those are more important for hitting my SEO goals?
Finding new productivity apps
Going through a new blogging course
Recording and editing podcast episodes
Setting up my advanced email funnel
Which of those are more important for hitting my monthly recurring revenue goals via my funnel?
Which actions will have the greatest impact?
Step 3 – Map out high-priority tactics by week
This is the hard part. The time-consuming part.
Map out every week for 12 weeks using high-leverage tasks.
In the 12-Week Blog Planner, we complete a worksheet containing this weekly breakdown—and send you the results—but it’s also crucial to keep some sort of spreadsheet/document.
See below for why.
Keep score & Keep track = stay committed.
There’s one more obvious reason why people fail on their blogging and/or life goals = a lack of commitment.
“It’s one thing to define new actions that will lead to higher results, it’s another thing to consistently do them.”
Entire books and classes attempt to cover this subject.
However, for the 12-week blog plan, there are 3 slices that help make up your commitment pie:
An emotional connection to the outcome of your work—or non-work—i.e. a proper vision
Effective tracking & “reminding” at weekly intervals
Effective measurement—i.e. scorekeeping! Woot!
To-do 1 – Have a weekly recurring meeting—with yourself.
I’m running mine every Monday directly after my mastermind call.
In this meeting you’ll
Score the previous week (see below)
Plan out the current week in greater detail
Refresh yourself on your long-term vision and goals.
To-do 2 – Keep score on your progress!
This is the magic bullet for the 12-week year—literally assigning yourself a percentage-based SCORE for every single week, based on how effectively you completed your tactics.
Every single week (that’s important), you’ll calculate the percentage of tactics you fully completed. I.e. the number of tactics you did, divided by the number of total tactics.
That’s your score
Aim for 80% or greater, and aim for improvement.
The idea behind this:
If you’ve done the homework starting from the vision, the goals–then determined the highly-leveraged actions to take to accomplish your goals—the ONLY step left is execution.
So what if you execute—and you don’t hit your goals?
Measurement is the ONLY way to properly diagnose a lack of results and figure out whether it was your plan that was flawed or your execution.
Tactic scoring example:
If you had 4 tactics in week 1, and you completed (and I mean completely completed) 3 out of the 4, your score for the week is 75%.
Insanely important note: If you score less than 100%, you have NOT failed! You should aim to score around 80% and above. If you were to correctly plan, then execute 80% of the identified tactics, chances are high that you have realized a lot of your goals/vision!
The problem is doing the work
Want help creating your blog plan? Introducing the Interactive 12-Week Blog Planner.
Using the lessons taught in The 12-Week Year, I’ve assembled an interactive email course to walks you through creating a blog plan.
3 email lessons
3 worksheets
BONUS Email Lesson (fires if you complete the worksheets)
BONUS Custom Summary Email (fires if you complete the worksheets)
Blogging Tools: The Definitive List for Growth (in 2022)
Below is NOT a huge list filled with every blogging tool under the sun…
These are the battle-tested solutions I use daily for my blog & business.
Important note…
NONE of these companies reached out to me to get featured here, and I’m more than comfortable using my affiliate links! (This means I earn a commission if you decide to purchase through my special link, at no extra cost to you!) Please see my affiliate disclosure to learn more.
I stand behind these blog tools 1,000%.
Looking for a specific blogging tool? Here are some quick links:
DYEB readers get 10,000 credits to try Jasper for FREE with my special link!
Jasper.ai
#1 for AI-fueled writing assistant
It took a few years, but AI-powered writing has FINALLY reached a point where it’s worth it–and Jasper is by FAR the best tool. This will save you SO. MUCH. TIME. in your blogging! It feels like cheating–but they even have a built-in plagiarism check JUST to be certain. It’s crazy fun.
I use ActiveCampaign for email automations & funnels! It’s easily as powerful as others like Drip, Keap (formerly Infusionsoft), and Ontraport–but it’s easier to use. We’ve been with them since 2019 and have no plans to switch. HOWEVER, if you DON’T have need for really advanced automations, I actually recommend Flodesk (see below)
DYEB readers get 50% off lifetime using my special link! (for UNLIMITED subscribers.)
Flodesk
#1 for email marketing.
I use Flodesk for my “main” email list, including sending newsletters, simple welcome sequences, etc! Their automations work great, segmentation and subscriber management is great, and their email builder is THE BEST I HAVE EVER USED. Seriously. A++++
Simply put, there’s no EASIER and BUDGET-FRIENDLY host to get a WordPress site up and running. It’s literally one click, their support is great, and it’s easier to transfer away if/when your traffic gets higher!
I’ve tried around 10 podcast hosts over the years–and I’m currently on Buzzsprout for 3 reasons. 1) It’s EASILY the most user-friendly platform ever. 2) They’re constantly releasing GREAT new features, and 3) the price is right
After YEARS of Teachable & Thinkific & Podia & others, I switched to Thrivecart in late 2018, and couldn’t be happier! Unlimited courses, digital downloads, memberships, a great user interface, checkout pages & embeds. AND LIFETIME PRICING! No more monthly payments. SO worth it.
Other tools Pete is currently using (and has added recently):
More info on these can be found below!
Everything’s below, but I just wanted to list off some recent additions!
Dropbox (file storage and collaboration). It only took me 15 years to jump on the Dropbox train…but I’m glad I finally did.
Deadline Funnels (for evergreen timers, used in my funnels)
Morningfa.me (for YouTube keyword research and analytics)
Blogging Platforms - What Website/Software Should I Blog on?
Should you blog on Blogger.com, Medium.com, etc?
Or should you blog on your own website using WordPress, Weebly, Squarespace? Etc?
WordPress.org (hosted on your own hosting account) Price: Free
The absolutely ultimate beginner blogging tool.
WordPress is the actual software that powers this blog, as well as something like 33% of the entire internet!
It is by far the best choice for bloggers, over competitors like…
Wix
Weebly
Squarespace
Joomla?
It offers far more customization (even if that DOES come with a learning curve at first), and comes loaded with the most power.
There’s a reason WordPress is dang-near a household name. They’re awesome. Use it.
Wordoid: Create a new word completely, shows availability!
You can also use the widget below to search right here on this page
DYEB Pro Tip: I really, really, really suggest finding a domain with an available .com, as long as it’s easy to pronounce, spell, and say!!
What's the best WordPress hosting company?
A website is really just a collection of files (like the files on your computer).
A hosting company simply “hosts” your website’s files on their server so people everywhere can access them!
Bluehost – STILL the best hosting for beginning bloggers Price: Starts at $3/month
They have my recommendation–for new bloggers especially.
In the past, I did NOT recommend Bluehost–based on using their product YEARS ago.
However, while doing research for my newbie guide, I gave Bluehost another shot and went through their entire set-up process.
I was blown away by how smooth it went!
I still recommend Siteground for established bloggers who have experience navigating cPanel & installing WordPress, but for new bloggers, I’m recommending Bluehost 110%.
It’s probably the fastest way to get up and running with a new WordPress blog I’ve ever seen, and their user dashboard looks way better than it did 5 years ago.
Cloudways – My current host for this website! If you have a growing site, Cloudways is lightning-fast (on the front end for your readers, AND in the WordPress backend. It’s fantastic).
Siteground – I’ve used them in the past, and they’re fantastic! My top recommendation for bloggers w/ over 20,000 pageviews/month.
I do NOT recommend hosting your site with Godaddy, Namecheap, Bigscoots, or Hostgator (I have used all of these).
Image and Graphic Design Tools
Use these tools to create incredible looking pin, share images, and graphics!
Canva (plus PowerPoint!)- Free and Pro Versions ($10/month)
I’ve used every tool you can imagine, including PicMonkey, Snappa, etc, and Canva wins for 2 reasons:
Their free version is still A+
You can export to PowerPoint!
For those who prefer to edit using software NOT in the browser, or who find Canva a bit clunky, you can now export to PowerPoint for further edits.
Pro Tip: Canva has REALLY great pre-made templates. I stole 10-15 Instagram templates, exported them to PowerPoint, and proceed to edit those as normal.
This tool is a bit more advanced, as it was created with professional designers in mind. However, I’ve found the user interface pretty easy to navigate, especially with their MANY tutorials on the Sketch website.
This is what I use for logos, pins, and other advanced graphics that need a bit more customization than I can get with Snappa.
Keeping my pins organized in Sketch
Where Can I Find Great Stock Photos for My Blog?
There are a metric ton of stock photo sites, but here are my recommendations:
What if there was a way to search several stock photo sites at once?
That’s what this site does. It can be a bit tricky to navigate (click “multi-site search” on the left menu), but if I can’t find it on Pexels, I’ll generally come here next.
What Are the Best Tools for Compressing Images?
In your blogging tool arsenal, you NEED a tool to compress those fancy images you’re creating.
This is important for SEO, as uncompressed images slow down your site!
These also fall under the WordPress site speed optimization discussion.
ShortPixel – Free quota of compressed images a month, paid options available.
This is what I use to compress images these days, as it saves a TON of time compared to the manual upload/download/upload process of using a browser-based compressor.
To use ShortPixel, you
install and activate the plugin
drag-n-drop images to WordPress like you always do
That’s it.
Short Pixel automatically compresses your images to be speedy, and it can even auto-resize large images as well.
Lastly, it’s cheap.
You can get up to 100 images/month for free, and you can also avoid monthly commitments and just pay in bulk (I bought 10,000 images for $10. That’s insanely awesome).
Compressor.io is a browser-based image compression alternative (FREE)
Drag your image in, it compresses it and gives you a download link.
Not as simple as a WordPress plugin compressor like ShortPixel, but still easy and free.
SEO tools (Search Engine Optimization Software)
Looking to grow organic SEO traffic? Use these tools to conduct keyword research, produce epic content that gets backlinks, and grow.
There are several different functions for these tools!
I use it. Everyone uses it. You should too. It’s awesome for on-page SEO.
Will getting all of Yoast’s little green lights guarantee ranking in Google? NO. But it IS still a handy tool for gently optimizing blog posts (especially for beginners).
For a smooth $30/month, you get access to ALL of these tools. Keyword research, domain and keyword tracking, competitor analysis, backlink miner. It’s crazy how good these are, and it’s less than HALF the cost of other SEO tools
keyword research
content planning
backlink analysis
SERP tracking
Site audit tools
way more
SO much more affordable than the big names (even though I actually use Ahrefs. Full disclaimer, but it IS expensive).
There are LOADS of SEO tools out there for keyword research, Google competition analysis, etc. Moz, Ahrefs, Market Samuria, Keyword.io…all these are great (but most are expensive).
Google’s keyword tool is the top blogging tools for beginners. It’s free, (fairly) easy to use, and contains all the data you would ever need.
Use it till you can afford KWFinder or Ahrefs.
Here’s an expensive SEO software pro tip:
99% of bloggers do NOT need these tools 12 months a year.
Instead, spend one month’s worth, and do enough keyword research and content planning for several months–then cancel!
You can always renew for another month down the road.
This tool is incredible! Simply activate the extension, and Keywords Everywhere will start to show you search volume in Google search results, using Soolve, Answer the Public, and more!
Pro tip: you can’t rely on the exact numbers! Paid keyword tools will likely be more accurate–but this is a great starting point considering it’s (almost) free!
Site audit and broken backlink tools
We’ll talk more about site speed below, but managing broken links, redirects, etc, is important!
No, it’s not free–but it’s cheap and far superior to other cache plugins I’ve tried (and I’ve tried them all). It’s the most user-friendly cache plugin I’ve found.
WP Rocket is worth it. One of my “mandatory top-5 plugins” for bloggers.
Note: I don’t recommend Hootsuite or Meet Edgar or Social Bee for bloggers. These are great tools, but do not fit the needs of bloggers as well as SmarterQueue and Buffer.
Site Security and Blog Backup Tools
These tools will make sure your website stays nice and safe–free from hackers and bots
Updraft is the ONLY backup plugin I’ve seen that has 3rd-part backups (i.e. Google Drive, Dropbox, etc), available in their free version.
Woot!
P.S. Many premium WordPress hosting providers ALSO include some sort of backup tool. I know Siteground, Bigscoots, and Kinsta provide this!
Email Marketing Tools & ESPs (Email Service Providers)
Grow your email list? Complicated email marketing funnels?
Check
Out of everything I do here at Do You Even Blog, THIS is the blogging tool question I get most often:
“Which email marketing software is right for ME?”
Below are my honest–but controversial–recommendations for bloggers.
The Best Email Service Providers for Bloggers:
Flodesk – $39/month $19/month using my affiliate link for unlimited subscribers!
Flodesk is my new favorite thing EVER.
Why? It’s incredibly easy to use, the email builder is amazing, and everything looks. so. good.
Oh yeah, and they have forms and automations–and UNLIMITED subscribers for one low price??
While it does lack some of the more powerful features for email marketing, it’s definitely a solid choice for new folks.
ActiveCampaign – For advanced email marketers who need powerful automations (starts at $17/mo)
ActiveCampaign’s automations are best in class.
If you have complicated email marketing funnels–your options are Drip and ActiveCampaign.
I used to use Drip.
Then they unexpectedly jacked up their prices without telling anybody. They switched their focus to serving big ecommerce companies, and left the rest of us high and dry.
So I’m moving to ActiveCampaign!
Do you recommend ConvertKit?
If you’re making enough from your blog to cover $29/month, and all you really need is…
Easy to use email editors, and
Landing pages and opt-in forms
ConvertKit is just fine! (but I still like Flodesk better, personally).
Their editor is incredibly easy to use, and you can create as many opt-in forms, landing pages, and email sequences as you desire!
However, their automations are FAR behind those of ActiveCampaign, and the fact that they don’t have a free plan puts them behind Mailerlite.
Hemingway App for crafting short and compelling language (Free)
This software was literally created to be a super fun (and slightly addicting) way to potentially make your writing a lot more crisp, clear, bold, and maybe way more impactful.
Oops, guess that last sentence should’ve been:
A fun (and slightly addicting) software to make your writing crisp, clear, bold, and way more impactful.
Grammarly will pop-up in most applications, browsers, and apps, and tell you what you’re doing wrong (and gives you an easy way to fix grammar errors!).
Grammarly in action
Social Warfare – Social Sharing Plugin (Free and cheap paid version)
This plugin makes it easy for people to share your content–a must-have in blogging.
Blog Organization, Productivity, and Project Management Software
These blogging tools help you get more done, faster, and better.
Tools to manager your content calendar (and various projects)
Trello is INSANELY simple to use, and organizes tasks and projects in a highly visual format (kanban boards!).
I pretty much stink at organizing and planning out operations for my team (and creating a content calendar), but even I’ve found using Trello handy.
Pro Tip: “Butler” is a specific “power-up” you can enable for Trello boards, allowing you to do some helpful automations. Check out a video on that here.
If you like the more “list” visual aspect, Asana is very powerful
Misc. Productivity Tools
TextExpander ($30/year) – If you find yourself typing things repeatedly–email signatures, URLs, phrases, etc, TextExpander allows you to create shortcuts for bunks of text. Example: I simply hit “hhdd” and out pops https://doyouevenblog.com.
Freedom.to ($20/year) – This app works on both mobile and desktop, and allows me to selectively block Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, IG, etc, so I won’t even be tempted to be distracted.
Voxer (Free mobile app) – It’s half texting/messaging and half walkie-talkie app! I use this instead of texting for most of my online relationships–including Team DYEB.
Lastpass (Free) – My password manager of choice. It’s absolutely amazing and I think e ery human should use it.
Yoink (Mac & iOS only. Roughly $7 in App Store) – I had NO CLUE I needed something to make dragging-n-dropping files better–but I did. I use this every day.
Scanner Pro ($4 mobile app) – Makes scanning paper-ish things a SNAP–and can also create multi-page PDFs.
Alfred (Mac only. Free & Paid) – It’s like an insanely functional search bar for your Mac. I use it no less than 50 times a day.
Rocket (Mac only. Free) – Makes it easy to insert emojis! ?
Wi-Fi Sweetspots (Free mobile app) – I use this to find the best wi-fi spots when I travel to different coffee shops, public places, etc.
Otter.ai (free) – Hands down the best audio transcription tool on the internet! Great for quickly taking voice notes and seeing transcriptions–or for podcast transcripts
Blog Monetization Tools
These tools make it simple for you to market, sell, and deliver your own products (or help sell affiliate marketing products!)
I have to mention this for advanced bloggers with established courses, etc. This is what I use to process ALL my transactions these days.
Quickly get product checkout pages set-up and optimized
Upsells
Bump offers
Cookied countdown timers on carts
Affiliate management
GREAT integrations
Gumroad (Free and $10/mo) – Quickly selling any product from your blog.
I used Gumroad to sell t-shirts. Was incredibly easy.
This is NOT an e-commerce or store option–like WooCommerce or Shopify.
Rather, Gumroad is stand-alone software to sell digital or physical products from just about anywhere–from embeddable buy buttons, links, etc.
The reason Gumroad gets my recommendation is because of its simplicity. No reason to stress over software design, APIs, payment processors, etc. Just sign up, create a product, embed buy button, and BOOM. You’re selling something.
Full E-commerce solutions:
WooCommerce (WordPress plugin. Free, but not really)
It’s still a great product, but a bit hard to set-up and make “perfect.” Also, while the core plugin and functionality is free–you have to shell out $$ for even basic expansions.
If you can front the $29/month price tag, Shopify is a fantastic stand-alone e-commerce platform. I know several bloggers who have separate Shopify shops in addition to their main site.
This post (and this entire site) was built with Elementor
The Best WordPress Themes for Bloggers
You need a theme that WORKS, looks great, loads quickly, and works with other plugins.
StudioPress (or any Genesis Framework theme) Price: $50-$150
StudioPress makes amazing WordPress themes that are…
fast-loading
clean
easy to design
easy to learn/configure
affordable
YES–there’s a learning curve when you first pick up a Genesis theme, but it’s like riding a bike: If you ever switch themes, you’ll already be comfortable with design, helping you get up and running ASAP.
Alternative – the default WordPress themes (Free!)
At the time I’m writing this, I’m currently on the Twenty-Nineteen theme, and I love it!
You can’t go wrong with a default WP theme. They’re simple, fast, and clean.
WARNING: Stay away from Divi!
Divi is a page builder framework, and also has a broad “theme” that you can highly customize.
The problem?
Divi themes are notoriously slow If you ever decide to switch AWAY from Divi, you are in for a world of hurt. Stay away!
Extra random blogging tools!
These are random tools that add value to my career as a blogger, podcaster, course creator, etc
Sam from Government Worker Fi recently posted a HUGE win in our private community (Online Impact ).
He had set a quarterly goal for SEO traffic…
And crushed it a full SIX WEEKS early.
He did this through a combination of…
Finding keywords using the “golden ratio,”Taking a spreadsheet-based analytical approachand more.
He’s also been selected as one of Ezoic’s featured partners (meaning he’s driving some traffic and making the money!
This is my brutally honest Jasper AI review (formerly Jarvis) for bloggers, copywriters, and creators.
As a 13-year veteran blogger, I have been REALLY skeptical of these AI tools, and I’ve tried just about all of them over the past 2 years.
Out of all of those, Jasper.ai is the tool I keep coming back to, and the only AI tool I can officially recommend!
It took some tinkering, but I finally “figured Jasper out” a few months ago, and OMG has it changed my content
This is my brutally honest Jasper AI review (formerly Jarvis) for bloggers, copywriters, and creators.
As a 13-year veteran blogger, I have been REALLY skeptical of these AI tools, and I’ve tried just about all of them over the past 2 years.
Out of all of those, Jasper.ai is the tool I keep coming back to, and the only AI tool I can officially recommend!
It took some tinkering, but I finally “figured Jasper out” a few months ago, and OMG has it changed my content production for the BETTER. I’m even Jarvis certified now!
Do you think a robot can write better than you? Is Jasper worth it for YOU? Keep reading!
My Overall Recommendation & Jasper Experience
Jasper.ai is a paid writing assistant that uses AI and machine learning–to help you produce content faster & easier.
And for that?
Jasper is a total success! It DOES work, and it can absolutely speed up the process of composing blog posts or generating powerful copy for your product/service.
However, if you expect Jarvis to do ALL the work for you, you’ll be disappointed. It’s not a standalone “one click and I’ll publish whatever it spits out” sort of AI!
It took me a while to realize this…you still need to guide the Jasper AI quite heavily, and that can take a little while to figure out! (hopefully my tips below will help).
Who is Jasper a good fit for? Overall thoughts:
If you’re willing to learn how to use Jasper a bit, it’s absolutely worth it.
The Starter Plan would be perfect for copywriters since you still have access to the templates and don’t need a ton of words each month.
However, bloggers and SEOs will get the most use from the Jasper Boss Mode plan! You get a lot more content each month and the long-form editor is WORTH IT.
Final Verdict: Is Jasper.ai worth the price?
All-in-all, I can fully recommend Jasper.ai for anybody who is willing to accept the fact that it’s an assistant, not a 1-click solution! If you produce a lot of content and want that process to go faster, Jasper CAN and WILL help.
Jasper.ai Pros and Cons
PROS
CONS
Easily the best AI writing tool I’ve tested (out of 5 competitors)
There is a small learning curve to “figure it out”
Faster content production
A bit pricey for beginners (but it works better at least)
A surprisingly great text editor (the long-form editor)
You definitely need to fact-check all content produced.
GREAT integrations with SurferSEO, Grammarly, and even a Copyscape plagiarism checker
The copywriting templates & blogging recipes work, and work well!
They are constantly releasing updates and improving the AI
INSANELY good support. Like, literally the best I’ve seen in a long time
It helps creators, bloggers, writers, etc, get past writer’s block and get their ideas on paper, faster!
It uses a technology called GPT-3 (from OpenAI). Not to get TOO technical, but GPT-3 is basically artificial intelligence software that has been “trained” on a large amount of data.
Here’s how it works (the simple version):
You give Jasper basic info on what to create.
Jasper takes your info & analyzes its huge database of internet content
Jasper writes some outputs for you to review and edit
That’s the basic technology of GPT-3, but Jasper takes it several steps further, allowing you to customize the outputs for certain tasks like blogging, copywriting frameworks (like AIDA & PAS), and even tone of voice!
You input instructions for what type of content you’re creating, and Jasper spit out content for you to edit.
Who is the team behind Jasper?
Jasper was actually developed by the same company behind Proof (a long-time player in the digital marketing world). They aren’t strangers to creating helpful Saas products for creators & marketers.
$29/month gets you 20,000 words generated per month
Full access to AI copywriting skills & templates
Full access to 25+ languages
Full access to trainings, Jasper FB group
The starter plan is probably best for anybody who produces short-form content, like social media posts, emails, or copywriting assets (sales pages, landing pages, etc).
Yes, long-form creators (bloggers & SEOs) can make use of the starter plan, but there are a few key features they’d be missing…
Boss Mode Plan – starts at $59/month
$59/month gets you 50,000 words generated per month
Access to everything in the starter plan
Long-form document editor
Integrations with SurferSEO, Grammarly, and a plagiarism checker
A much longer “content-lookback”
Jasper “commands.”
Priority support
Personally, I’m on the $59/month Boss Mode plan, as I sincerely believe the long-form editor, integrations, and “content lookback” are WORTH IT.
Boss Mode is a must-have for long-form content creators, and the good news is they lowered their prices! (it used to start at $119/month. Whew!)
For more info on those boss mode features, see our features section below!
Does Jasper.ai offer a free trial?
Sorta. They do offer a “risk-free 5-day money-back guarantee,” which is promised to be a no-questions-asked refund!
AND–if you sign up for Jasper with our special link, you get 10,000 word credits for free!
How do the credits work?
When Jasper outputs a word, 1 credit is used up. (using the long-form editor or short-form templates, skills, etc!).
The starter plan gets 20k credits every month, and if you go over, you can either upgrade your plan OR buy a one-time bonus pack!
IMPORTANT NOTE: The plagiarism check isn’t free (but it’s absurdly cheap).
The plagiarism check uses a popular tool called Copyscape, and it costs you a few cents for each blog post. You can simply add a “balance” of $10 or so to your account, and that will last you a LOT of words.
A 1,900-word article costs me $0.19 to run.
Who is Jasper for?
The short answer is “anybody who writes anything,” but that’s kinda broad.
The following people will benefit THE MOST from Jasper:
Bloggers who struggle with HOW LONG it takes to produce content
Bloggers & SEOs who pump out a LOT of content (for niche sites, blogs, etc)
Copywriters who work with clients or agencies, and are CONSTANTLY creating new copy and testing new ideas
Anybody who works in paid ads (Facebook Ads, Google Ads, etc, where a LOT of copy is needed for testing, etc)
Podcasters and YouTubers who work off of scripts
That said, the following people might also benefit from Jasper (but probably only need the Starter Plan).
Brand-new bloggers who aren’t making any money yet from their blogs
Podcasters and YouTubers who don’t use scripts… (Jasper can get you fast content ideas, as well as titles and descriptions).
Authors – Jasper’s AI can certainly help if you’re writing a book, though you’ll probably have to split up documents by chapters (or even smaller segments?)
While I do think that “anybody who creates content on the internet” can probably utilize Jasper is SOME way…
Bloggers, SEOs, and copywriters will benefit the MOST.
The bottom line is this:
If you’re somebody who creates A LOT of content, then Jasper can be a HUGE time-saver for you (and help you produce better content).
If you don’t create a lot of content, then Jasper might not be worth it… at least not yet.
Want to go deeper into how Jasper works? Check out my full Jasper AI Tutorial here!
Jasper.ai Features: A Full Tour
Let’s take a look around the different features & benefits that Jasper has to offer.
Jasper Templates:
Jasper templates are specific use-cases for creating content!
Need to write a compelling Facebook Ad?
Need to whip up a quick outline for your next YouTube video?
Want to tell a fun and creative story for your next blog post?
Choose the template, and Jaster walks you through, step-by-step!
The outputs of these templates are mostly short-form content (obviously except for the “long-form assistant.”
Here are some of the more popular templates in Jasper:
Blogging Templates:
Paragraph Generator (NEW in April 2022): You give an idea of what to write, and Jasper will spit out a paragraph (or more) of content for you to use!
Long-form assistant: This templates walks you through, step-by-step, of what to include in your blog post (introduction, conclusion, etc).
Blog Post Outline: This is just what it sounds like…Jasper will help you create an outline for your blog post!
Blog Post Topic Ideas: Jasper will help you brainstorm ideas for your next blog post.
Blog Post Intro: Jasper writes an intro to your blog post
Blog Post Conclusion Paragraph: Jasper writes a nice little summary conclusion.
Creative Story: You’ll give Jasper some inputs, and the AI will write a story that engages readers.
There are more to help you create blog posts, but those are the bigger ones.
Copywriting Templates:
AIDA Framework: AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Give Jasper info about your product, and it’ll output the framework used by copywriters around the world to write effective sales pages, landing pages, etc.
PAS Framework: A similar framework to give sales copy, PAS stands for Problem, Agitation, Solution.
Facebook Ad: You’ll give Jasper info about your product and target market, and it’ll write ad copy! THIS IS GOLD for FB ad people–mostly due to the fact you generally need SEVERAL ads to test.
Google Ads: Same thing, but for Google Ads!
Product Description: You’ll give Jasper info about your product, and it writes a description for you to use on e-commerce platforms, etc.
There are loads more templates, too!
SEO titles and descriptions
Unique Value Propositions
YouTube outlines & descriptions
Real Estate Listings
The list goes on. These are fantastic short-form wins! It’ll even write a personal bio for you. My example below is with a “Will Ferrell” tone of voice.
Long-Form Document Editor (Boss Mode Only)
The long-form editor is a bonified text-editing space similar to a Google Doc, WordPress editor, etc.
The amazing thing about the document editor is the “content lookback.”
Basically, Jasper will look back at all of the content you’ve written, and USE that data to create content EVEN BETTER.
The more you write, the better Jasper gets at…
Saying the right things
Adapting to YOUR tone and YOUR voice
Adapting to your natural formatting.
I can’t underline this enough: The long-form editor is absolutely fantastic, and where I spend 95% of my time in Jasper.
Integrations with SurferSEO, Grammarly, and Copyscape
Also, you can also access “SEO Mode” and “Power Mode” in the long-form editor.
SEO Mode = If you pay for SurferSEO (it doesn’t come with Jasper), you can access your SEO tools in a sidebar.
You’ll need a paid SurferSEO account to use this, but the setup and integration is literally 30 seconds. It’s super easy.
I personally hope they add more integrations like this soon!
From the editor, you can also access:
The Plagiarism checker
A “re-phrase” tool for sentences (to make things sound more natural)
A grammar fixer
Enable or disable Grammarly
An “explain it to a 5th grader” tool that’ll simplify text you select
Grammarly works by default right in the editor.
Power Mode = In the power mode tab, you have access to all of Jasper’s templates, for easy copy/pasting! That’s insanely powerful (and also where you access the handy Paragraph Generator).
The long-form editor also has normal access to formatting tools like headlines, bold, italics, etc.
And of course, you can invite team members to collaborate on docs(!)
One thing to note: You cannot currently export your document as a PDF, or straight to WordPress. It’s more of a copy/paste thing right now (but it works really well for WordPress btw. That’s what I do).
Jasper “Commands” (Boss Mode only)
In the long-form editor, you’ll see a “compose” button that will run your instructions for Jasper to analyze and give output.
BUT there’s another way to tell Jasper what to create–via “commands.”
Basically, you can “command” Jasper with natural language processing (i.e. you say “write a blah blah”), and it follows your orders.
For Example:
If you want Jasper to write a pros and cons list, you might type out “write a pros and cons list for upgrading to the iPhone 13.”
Then you hit “Command/Control + Enter,” and Jasper reads the commands and executes it.
This is actually quite a bit more functional than the “compose” button, because you can give detailed instructions in a “natural language.”
Tell Jasper to…
“write an intro”
“write a list of subheaders for the header above”
“write a list of F.A.Q. for this blog post”
etc
Super powerful.
Jasper Recipes: What are they and how do they work?
I LOVE Jasper’s recipes!! This was a brilliant idea.
Jasper Recipes are community-made templates for different types of content that you can deploy into the long-form editor with one click.
They could be literally anything!
These “recipes” contain some instructions for getting started, and then literally have Jarvis commands ready to go.
Since Jasper REQUIRES you to give it direction–recipes are nice because they have instructions built-in.
I’ve been making my own recipes for different types of blog posts!
short info content
review posts like this one
round-up listicles
etc
Jasper “Tone of Voice”
Jasper can write in different styles!
For example, I typically write in a light-hearted, fun style, so I’ll generally input “fun,” “playful,” or “witty.”
You can also input popular celebrities, comedians, etc. It’s not 1,000% accurate all the time–but these can be really fun to play with (ESPECIALLY in the Jasper templates for sales copywriting, etc).
AND–not only can you CHOOSE a tone of voice for your content, but Jasper will also “learn” your tone of voice the more you use it.
You’ll find the “compose” function working a LOT better after you’ve written a few things with Jasper. AI is smart.
Unlimited Project Workspaces
If you work on multiple projects, Jasper allows the creation of unlimited workspaces to keep everything separate.
This is SUPER handy if you want to use Jasper for things like:
Client work
Your own projects
Multiple blogs
Agency work
Etc
Plus…you can share workspaces with other people! So if you have a team or work with freelancers, this can be essential for staying organized.
Jasper Community Facebook Group
Yes, just about every company on the internet has a Facebook group, but the Jasper community is EASILY one of the more useful ones I’ve seen!
It’s extremely active, and there are lots of new ideas and use cases being shared every day.
Also, the Jasper team has some recurring threads for sharing your work, or even posting writing jobs (or GETTING writing jobs).
If I have questions, the Jasper community is generally the FIRST place I go to, as the response time is almost immediate. They did an excellent job setting that group up!
Jasper AI Bootcamp and Official Training
Wait–this blog post wasn’t enough?? How dare you.
Just kidding.
The Jasper team totally understands that their tool DOES require a learning curve. Luckily for us, they’ve put together an excellent Bootcamp and training program to help people learn how to use Jasper.
The Bootcamp is a series of video & text lessons that guide you through the basics of setting up and using Jasper. This is INVALUABLE, as it helps you learn not just HOW to use Jasper–but also some best practices for actually making this tool work for you.
Seriously, you have to learn how to use AI tools. They aren’t “1-click and done.”
More good news: The BootCamp is surprisingly short. Yeah there’s a learning curve, but it’s not going to take you WEEKS to figure out. The videos & lessons are short and to-the-point.
Jasper is VERY well documented. I love when companies take the time to make helpful content surrounding their product! Shows they care.
Live training & webinars
There are also weekly webinar training from the Jasper team.
And generally, they aren’t JUST the Jasper team talking about how great the product is–they often feature OTHER creators and how they’re using Jasper.
They’re well-done and totally free of course.
Jasper supported languages
If English isn’t your 1st language (or you blog internationally), you’re in luck! Jasper supports over 25 input and output languages.
Jasper AI Tutorial & Best Practices
If you want to get the most out of Jasper, there are a few tips & tricks that I’d like to share here:
1 – Think of Jasper as an ASSISTANT
Jasper isn’t here to write for you COMPLETELY, or do all the work. It’s here to help you write.
Jasper isn’t really capable of writing entire blog posts with no guides. However, it’s REALLY good at listening!
Make it a point to always give Jasper enough context and details (yes, it takes a second to write this context and details–but Jasper is still a time-saver even taking this into account).
2 – Edit as you go
This is the single biggest reason people give Jasper a try–and are disappointed.
They give Jasper a LITTLE detail
Hit compose
Hit compose again, without editing or adding,
etc.
The Jasper AI can get “off track” really fast.
However, if you can consistently edit Jasper’s output (for your own formatting and tone), the AI WILL start to pick up on what you’re doing, and it will work so much better!
Give Jasper the details
Hit compose (or use a Jasper command, etc)
Edit the output, fix factual errors, fix formatting and tone
THEN let Jasper do more work
3 – Get used to constantly deleting Jasper’s work.
At the end of the day, Jasper is just an algorithm. It’s not human, and it doesn’t KNOW what’s right or wrong.
Make peace with the fact that you’ll do a ton of deleting! That’s just part of the process.
Give Jasper inputs
Edit his outputs
Repeat
You’ll see a LOT of bad content (especially if you’re new to Jasper). Don’t worry, it’s not just you! I STILL delete a lot of outputs.
4 – Jasper doesn’t do “facts” or “opinions” well, so feed that into Jasper!
Here’s another brilliant idea:
Do your topic/product research beforehand
Compile some talking points, facts or points of interest, and your own opinions about your topic
(Optional: Go ahead and create an outline for your content)
Put that content at the top of your Jasper document editor!
Don’t worry about formatting or grammar.
Think of this as “feeding Jasper” the correct information to work with. You’ll notice that the AI will refer BACK to your talking points, outline, etc, throughout the document editor.
This will save you a TON of headache. If Jasper doesn’t have the facts, he sometimes just makes stuff up.
5 – Limit Jasper outputs to 1 or 2
By default, hitting compose in the Jasper templates (or long-form editor) will generate 3 outputs. This is usually a waste of Jasper credits!
Instead, limit your Jasper outputs to 1 or 2.
If you want more, you can always hit compose again.
6 – Don’t give up! It gets easier (and way faster)
When I first started using Jasper, I was SO frustrated. I thought the product didn’t work, and that I wasted my money.
But I’m SO glad I gave it another chance!
Hopefully, these tips help, but it does take a bit of tinkering to get the hang of it.
7 – Use Jasper for what it’s good at
Jasper is GREAT for content ideation, brain dumping, and getting FIRST DRAFTS DONE FAST.
It’s not for polishing. It’s for bulk-generating drafts.
It’s not for finished copywriting. It’s for getting ideas fast.
It’s also great for taking existing content and improving it, making it simpler, etc.
Jasper AI examples
Just for fun, let’s take a look at some examples I’ve done.
Blog post examples:
First, this very blog post was written in Jasper
I started by research this article and creating an outline OUTSIDE Jasper
I brought in the outline and my opinions
I went header by header, alternating between ME writing, and Jasper writing
I copy and pasted into WordPress for final formatting and editing
Now, what if I use the paragraph generator for the next little bit (about how this has taken about 2 hours to write so far because I’ve been editing as I go)?
Output:
Jasper Boss Mode Command Examples:
Here’s a command:
“write a list of people who jasper would be a good fit for”
or how about…
“write an AIDA for the content above”
Blog post topic ideas
Now let’s generate some content ideas using a template–and let’s pretend I’m trying to sell more copies of my 1HR BLOG POST templates…
Instagram Post Captions
I like this one! I could see great potential for bulk-scheduling IG posts (or other social media posts).
YouTube Video Script Outline
This really isn’t specific to video, either. Podcasters could use this too!
Feature to Benefit Copywriting Template
If you have a product, it’s always helpful to translate the features of your products–to the benefits that your customers will get!
Even without giving Jasper specific features, he was able to come up with cool stuff using this framework:
Now that we’ve seen Jasper in action, it’s times to check out some Jasper alternatives!
Jasper.ai Alternatives
Ok, so Jasper isn’t perfect. No tool is!
Here are some alternatives to Jasper that you may want to check out:
NOTE: It’s worth noting that MOST of these AI tools actually use the same underlying software from OpenAI, called GPT-3!
The AI software is the same, so it mostly comes down to how these tools USE the AI:
How much control they give YOU
How customizable the inputs are (tone of voice, etc)
Long-form editing
Features geared towards specific people (blogger? copywriter? both?)
Etc
Copy.ai
Summary: Copy.ai is equally good for short-form content like Facebook Ads, etc, but their long-form content is NOWHERE NEAR as good as Jasper’s
Pricing: Copy.ai has a limited free plan, and paid plans start at $35/month (billed annually)
Copy.ai is another great AI tool, but it’s mostly geared towards copywriters, i.e. short-form content.
They have numerous templates, tools, etc, similar to Jasper, but they do NOT have a great long-term editor yet (as of April 2022, they actually JUST announced a new blog post writing tool, complete with an editor of sorts, called the “first draft wizard.”)
Bottom Line: It’s simply not as good as Jasper’s yet. But if you mostly work on ads or sales copy, give it a try for free here!
Writesonic
Summary: Built more for long-form content, but a bit clunky. If you use SEMrush already, this is a great fit.
Pricing: Several plans, starting at $15/month for access to the long-form writing assistant and SEMrush integration.
Writesonic is promoted as geared towards SEO creators specifically (though they also have the standard copywriting tools, Facebook Ads, sales content, etc).
They also have a native SEMrush integration!
Their long-form article generator works similar to Copy.ai’s First Draft tool…
You input the title and description for your article
The AI generates an outline to review and edit
The AI uses THAT outline to start generating text, all at once
You edit
It works! But I still think Jasper.ai’s long-form editor is better.
Bottom line: If you’re into SEO and use SurferSEO (or nothing), I think Jasper wins. If you’re using SEMrush, Writesonic is DEFINITELY what you want.
Summary: Geared towards agencies or companies, but the tools are pretty much the same. No long-form editor.
Pricing: The SMALLEST plans start at $35 / month, and the next plan is $199 / month.
Peppertype is definitely chasing a different audience, mostly targeting agencies & corporate work. They technically have blog-related AI tools, but they’re still pretty limited.
Their copy tools are right on par with Jasper and Copy.ai, but they don’t really have a long-form editor yet.
And while the $35/month plan has 50,000 monthly word credits (similar to Jasper), you’ll have to pay $199/month (woah) for any collab or sharing options.
Also, their user interface seems SLOWER to me. Kinda frustrating and hard to work with.
Bottom line: I personally don’t recommend Peppertype. I don’t see any benefits over Jasper AI (and I think Copy.ai is better).
ContentBot.ai
Summary: ContentBot is newer and less powerful, but looks promising (and they have a “pay as you go plan.”
Pricing: Pay as you go (cool!), and plans starting at $29/month. But no free trial, boo!
ContentBot DOES have a long-form editor (and it works well), but it’s not as powerful as Jasper’s.
For one thing, you don’t have access to the AI tools inside the long-form editor (like the paragraph generator, for example), and the long-form assistant is less customizable. It’s just one button that says “write for me.”
They also have an interesting SEMrush integration where you…
put in your topic
SEMrush creates a “content plan,” i.e. a few content ideas
ContentBot will send you the first 800 words each week, automated.
Kinda cool, but I don’t see a massive benefit to this over other AI tools. You can whip out 800 words based on a topic in NO TIME in Jasper.
Bottom Line: ContentBot is trying to release cool new features, and the pay-as-you-go plan could be nice–but their tools aren’t on par with Jasper yet, and they don’t have a free trial.
Rytr.me
Summary: This is the budget pick for a reason: it’s clunky & not as powerful. But it’s cheap!
Pricing: Plans start at $9/month, but that’s 50,000 characters per month, not words
If you’re on a budget but want to try an AI writing assistant, Rytr is your best bet. Plans start at $9/month, which is 50,000 characters per month. That is NOT a lot.
For context, THIS blog post, up to this point, is over half of that.
That, and Rytr’s user experience is not great.
I’ve been playing around with the long-form editor, and it is NOT easy to use. And the AI results have always disappointed me (the sentences just aren’t as good for some reason. I don’t know why).
Bottom Line: Yes, Rytr is cheap. But you get what you pay for. It’s clunky and hard to use, and the AI outputs don’t seem to be high quality.
If you are looking to put out more long-form content or sales copy faster–Jasper AI is a great tool for the job. Whether or not it’s “worth it” depends on how much content you need to produce. You’ll want to experiment with the tool in order to judge its effectiveness for you and your writing needs!
Does Jasper AI work?
Yes! Jasper AI uses the GPT-3 Artificial Integellince & machine learning tool (from OpenAI) to help you write better and faster. You can use Jasper for short-form copywriting or for long-form blog content, and the AI outputs are customizable and work well.
Why is Jarvis now Jasper?
The Jarvis team received a cease and desist letter from Marvel, who owns the rights to the JARVIS trademark (it’s the name of Tony Stark’s (Ironman’s) AI-assistant in the comics and movies. They were forced to rebrand their writing assistant software, and they chose Jasper as the new name.
In my opinion, Jasper is a FANTASTIC tool for anybody looking to produce more content, faster.
If you write blog posts (or any SEO content) you’ll probably need the Boss Mode plan in order to maximize your benefit from Jasper, but it’s worth it. They have THE BEST long-form editor from any AI writing assistant tool, and the 2,000-word lookback works really well.
If you’re a copywriter who produces a LOT of content (agency or freelance), Jasper can definitely help you with pumping out marketing & sales copy ideas faster.
If you’re a beginning blogger, you’ll have to decide for yourself if the Jasper Starter Plan is worth it to you or not!
This is my full Jasper AI tutorial to help you make the MOST of the amazing writing assistant.
Yes, tools like Jasper CAN help you churn out high-quality content in minutes–but it definitely takes some getting used to.
Luckily, there are blogging nerds like me who have been OBSESSED Jasper (I’ve generated over 300,000 words at this point, and I’m even Jasper certified!)
So here are my top tips & tricks for making Jasper work better.
Want to get a free tria
This is my full Jasper AI tutorial to help you make the MOST of the amazing writing assistant.
Yes, tools like Jasper CAN help you churn out high-quality content in minutes–but it definitely takes some getting used to.
Luckily, there are blogging nerds like me who have been OBSESSED Jasper (I’ve generated over 300,000 words at this point, and I’m even Jasper certified!)
So here are my top tips & tricks for making Jasper work better.
Want to get a free trial of Jasper AND get 10,000-word credits for free? Use the button below!
Jasper AI is a tool that uses GPT-3 (an artificial intelligence software from OpenAI) to create content for all formats at scale.
SEO blog posts
Facebook Ad copy
Email newsletters
LOADS more.
It has the ability to write high-quality articles in a fraction of the time it would take a human. Jasper is also extremely versatile and can create content for all types of channels, including websites, social media, and email marketing campaigns.
But of course, there is a DEFINITELY a learning curve in the Jasper software.
Does Jasper offer a free trial?
Yes, but only if you use an affiliate link they provide to creators (like us!). It’s not on the official site.
The goods news? If you sign up for Jasper with our special link, you get 10,000-word credits for free!
Is Jasper Boss Mode worth it?
If you ONLY produce short-form content (copy for ads, for example), you could probably do without Jasper Boss Mode.
But if you produce long-form content like blog posts or ebooks, Jasper Boss Mode is a MUST.
Here’s why:
The long-form editor (complete with “power mode” and “SEO mode,” see our notes below) is amazing and required for long-form content
Boss Mode gives a 2,000 “content lookback,” which means the AI looks back at 2,000 words of content to better understand what you want it to create! This is far more accurate.
Jasper commands are very handy
Boss Mode is a must-have for long-form content creators, but at least they lowered the price to $59/month! (it used to start at $119/month.)
More Jasper Resources:
Don’t get me wrong, THIS blog post is amazing (I’m biased), but there are also several of handy resources for making the most out of Jasper:
The Official Jasper Bootcamp
The team at Jasper released a VERY detailed bootcamp that goes over EVERYTHING you need to know to get started with GPT-3.
This is great for those who are brand new to the tool, or just want a refresher. (But I also cover most of the basics here, as well as more advanced tips and tricks).
The Jasper Facebook Group
The community Facebook Group is actually really active and helpful! They are constantly sharing new tips, examples, and case studies.
There are also job threads. Pretty great if you’re a freelancer (or want to hire freelancers).
The Jasper Blog (and live trainings)
You can also head over to the Jasper website and register for one of their free trainings. They’re constantly doing cool collaborations with other content creators, and always updating the blog with new resources.
How does Jasper work? The basics
Jasper is an AI-powered writing assistant that assists writers, bloggers, and other creators in getting their ideas on paper more rapidly.
GPT-3 is the name given to this technology (from OpenAI). Not to get too technical, but GPT-3 is essentially artificial intelligence software that has been “trained” on a massive data set.
What Jasper does when it creates content for you (GPT-3 explanation)
It’s pretty simple!
You give Jasper basic info on what to create.
Jasper takes your info & analyzes its huge database of internet content
Jasper writes some outputs for you to review and edit
That’s GPT-3 in action.
You input instructions on what you want (and Jasper makes that process easier through templates, recipes, power mode, etc!), and the AI spits back outputs.
Easy enough–but you’ll discover that doesn’t automatically mean the content will be RIGHT or GOOD.
Learn Jasper AI: A breakdown of Jasper’s tools
Here’s a brief tour of the Jasper platform, and how to use each feature.
A quick tour of the platform
Here’s a quick tour around the Jasper dashboard:
The dashboard is simple and straightforward, usually showing you a bit of news, how many credits you’ve used recently, etc.
How to use Jasper Templates
“Templates” in Jasper are simply pre-made programs to accomplish a specific, short-form copy.
Facebook Ad headlines
Blog post outlines
YouTube video outlines
dozens more.
Here’s how templates work:
You open the Jasper template you want
Jasper will prompt you for a specific type of input (for example, “Blog post title” or “product name” or “benefits of product.”
You’ll set the tone of voice (optional)
You’ll select how many different outputs you want (I suggest 1-2)
Hit “Generate AI content”
Jasper spits options out
With some outputs, you can choose to copy them, “star” them for later use, or regenerate more copy.
There are a few basic “categories” of templates that Jasper offers…
Here are some blogging Templates:
Paragraph Generator (NEW in April 2022): You give an idea of what to write, and Jasper will spit out a paragraph (or more) of content for you to use!
Long-form assistant: This template walks you through, step-by-step, of what to include in your blog post (introduction, conclusion, etc).
Blog Post Outline: This is just what it sounds like…Jasper will help you create an outline for your blog post!
Blog Post Topic Ideas: Jasper will help you brainstorm ideas for your next blog post.
Blog Post Intro: Jasper writes an intro to your blog post
Blog Post Conclusion Paragraph: Jasper writes a nice little summary conclusion.
Creative Story: You’ll give Jasper some input, and the AI will write a story that engages readers.
There are a few more that relate to long-form articles, but those are the bigger ones.
Copywriting Templates:
AIDA Framework: AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Give Jasper info about your product, and it’ll output the framework used by copywriters around the world to write effective sales pages, landing pages, etc.
PAS Framework: A similar framework to give sales copy, PAS stands for Problem, Agitation, Solution.
Facebook Ad: You’ll give Jasper info about your product and target market, and it’ll write ad copy! THIS IS GOLD for FB ad people–mostly due to the fact you generally need SEVERAL ads to test.
Google Ads: Same thing, but for Google Ads!
Product Description: You’ll give Jasper info about your product, and it writes a description for you to use on e-commerce platforms, etc.
SUMMARY: Templates are pre-made formulas for a specific, short-form copywriting objective! They’re available on all Jasper plans.
How to Use the Jasper Long-Form Document Editor
The long-form editor is one of my FAVORITE features of Jasper.
It’s an AI-powered writing document that makes it easy to write long-form content like blog posts, articles, and even books!
This is where I spent 95% of my time in Jasper.
Access to Jasper’s commands (more on this below)
Content “lookback,” meaning Jasper reads the previous words to better understand what you’re writing.
SEO mode and power mode, etc.
Here’s a quick overview of how to use the long-form editor:
1 – Create a new document
First, create a new document (either from scratch, or you can use the “long-form blog post” prompts to help you get started. That basically just helps you whip up the title, outline, and intro to your post–but you can also just do this in the blank editor).
2 – Optionally, just start writing!
Honestly, it’s a pretty decent text editor even apart from AI tools. Personally, I like to write a little bit on my own just to help give Jasper more CONTEXT for what we’re writing about.
PRO TIP: The more you write, the better Jasper gets! At saying the “right” content, adapting to your tone and formatting, everything.
3 – Use a recipe or template (in Power Mode) to get started.
If you want to kick off your document with a title, outline, content brief, or intro, etc…
You have access to all of Jasper’s templates right in the long-form editor (accessed via the “power mode” button).
4 – Don’t forget to add a title, and optionally a “content brief” to Jasper
While you don’t have to do this, it’s generally a good practice to fill in the title and description boxes to help Jasper better understand what to create (especially at the beginning of a long-form document BEFORE Jasper can look back!).
5 – Use Jasper Commands
In the long-form editor, you’ll see a “compose” button that will run your instructions for Jasper to analyze and give output.
However, there is another approach to instruct Jasper on what to create—through “commands.”
Basically, you can “command” Jasper with natural language processing (i.e. you say “write a blah blah”), and it follows your orders.
You can easily use “natural language processing, ” i.e. just telling Jasper what to do in plain English.
Here are some examples of commands you can give Jasper:
“Create an outline for my post.”
“Write a paragraph on the benefits of black garlic.”
“Give me three ideas for blog post titles.”
“Add a section on ‘how to use black garlic.'”
6 – If you’re a SurferSEO user, you can use the SEO mode
Note: SurferSEO is a separate, paid tool for SEO bloggers.
You can open the SEO mode sidebar and get access to all your NLP tools to help you optimize your document for SEO (and it updates in real-time!)
7 – Use the “compose” button to fill in the gaps.
When you need to quickly finish a thought, sentence, or paragraph, tap the compose button (or use the keyboard shortcut) to quickly tell Jasper to start writing.
Note: You’ll end up deleting a LOT of what the AI writes, but that’s normal–see my tricks below…
8 – See my tips & tricks below…
Below I’ll share even more tricks to making the Jasper long-form editor work SWIMMINGLY.
Jasper Recipes: What They Are and How to Use Them
Next up are Jasper’s long-form recipes.
These use the long-form editor ONLY (and so they only make sense for the Boss Mode Jasper plan).
Jasper Recipes are community-made templates for different types of content that you can deploy into the long-form editor with one click.
The best news?
You can create and save your own recipes!
I’ve been making my own recipes for different types of blog posts.
short info content
review posts like this one
round-up listicles
To create a reusable Jasper recipe:
Click “recipes” and then “new”
Fill in the name and description of your recipe (you can make these public or private btw)
Fill in the recipe! This is what will be deployed directly to the long-term editor when you run your recipe.
Save it.
You can then “deploy” the recipe to the long-form editor, complete with the variables and commands you wrote in the recipe.
Once the recipe is run, you’ll simply go through the recipe and…
Believe it or not, that’s pretty much it as far as the Jasper platform…
You give Jasper inputs (either in specific templates or in the long-form editor)
Jasper analyzes its database on the internet
Jasper gives you outputs.
That’s the easy part. The HARD PART is figuring out how to get Jasper to actually produce GOOD content!
And it can take a while to learn.
Here are my top tips for making Jasper work better & faster:
1 – Think of Jasper as an ASSISTANT
Jasper is NOT a completely one-click “done for you” type of tool, but rather an assistant that can help you get your work done faster and better.
If you think of Jasper as your assistant, not a human mind that KNOWS WHAT YOU WANT.
You have to give Jasper SPECIFIC Instructions–else it’s going to be useless for you.
And…the more specific you are with your instructions, the better Jasper will be able to help you.
2 – Edit as you go
Again, the more you GIVE Jasper, the better he gets.
It’s vitally important to edit Jasper’s outputs as you go.
Correct the INFORMATION first and foremost
Format the content the way you like (Jasper picks up on this!)
Delete bad or unneeded content
THEN get back to letting Jasper create outputs. This is the most important tip in this entire article.
Many new Jasper users think Jasper’s going to do ALL the work for them. It won’t.
Let it create content, then edit, then go again.
3 – Get used to constantly deleting Jasper’s work.
Speaking of which–don’t be worried if you find yourself constantly deleting Jasper’s outputs.
It’s completely normal.
In fact, the more you use Jasper, the more you’ll find yourself doing this.
Jasper gives you a lot of content. Most of it will be unusable. That’s just the way it is.
The key is to get used to editing and deleting quickly so quickly that Jasper starts to pick up what you’re doing–faster.
Towards the end of a blog post–I usually find that Jasper is MUCH better at anticipating what I want it to do.
4 – “Pre-load” Jasper with facts and opinions!
If there’s one thing Jasper DOES NOT do well, it’s come up with your opinions or accurate facts.
You have to give Jasper those.
The best way to do this is to “pre-load” him with information before you start writing.
For example, if I’m going to write a post about “essential oils for men,” here’s what I’d do:
Google the search term and open the top results
Go through each post BRIEFLY, and make notes
Collect the accurate data, reviews, product info, etc, that I need
Come up with my overall opinion on the topic
COPY AND PASTE MY TALKING POINTS RIGHT INTO THE TOP OF THE JASPER EDITOR.
Then I’ll start writing and using Jasper. I basically just TOLD him the facts and opinions about the product, and now he’ll USE that info in his outputs.
This makes fact-checking and editing so much easier.
5 – Limit Jasper outputs to 1 or 2
Whenever you hit “compose,” Jasper will, by default, give you 3 outputs to choose from.
This is great if you want QUICK options, but it also eats up a ton of word credits.
I generally leave my outputs set to 1 or 2, to save credits. You can always re-do it if you don’t like those.
6 – Don’t give up on Jasper! It gets easier (and way faster)
Like any new software, it will take a hot minute to “figure things out” on the Jasper platform!
All of the AI tools are new, so there’s a bit of a learning curve.
I remember when I first started using Jasper, it was SLOW and painful (I literally went through 3 different free trials, before I became a full-time paying user lol).
I’d have to edit EVERYTHING it wrote, and it would take me forever to get a post done.
But little by little, I started discovering these tricks and tips, and Jasper became exponentially more useful to me.
7 – Use the 3 asterisks shortcode
Sometimes, you’ll want to tell Jasper to IGNORE certain sections of your content, and that’s where the three asterisks come into play.
Just put those on a line in the long-form editor, and Jasper will ignore all the content above it.
This will help the AI avoid duplicating content it’s already written, and keep it more focused!
8 – Use voice dictation to speed up the process even more
This isn’t really a Jasper trick, but more of a writing trick in general.
Look up the keyboard shortcut on your computer to enable voice dictation (it’s different from Mac and Windows). This will allow you to SPEAK your content, rather than type it.
You can even speak Jasper commands. It’s almost like talking to a real AI, right??
9 – ALWAYS use the built-in plagiarism checker
This is one of those “do NOT forget this” tip.
The built-in plagiarism check actually uses Copyscape, a popular plagiarism detection tool.
It’s way more accurate than the free plagiarism checkers you’ll find online, BUT it does cost a bit extra.
How to use the plagiarism checker:
You’ll need to load some money to Jasper (I loaded $10)
Click the plagiarism button in the long-form editor
Run the checker (it’ll cost a few cents. It’s super cheap!)
If it finds plagiarized content, it’ll show it to you!
That’s it, but don’t forget to run this, ESPECIALLY if you haven’t been heavily editing the Jasper outputs.
Some users have found the paragraph generator provides up to 20-30% plagiarized content. NO GOOD.
Jasper AI F.A.Q.
Let’s break down some frequently asked questions about Jasper and AI writing assistants in general.
How do I export content from Jasper?
At the time of this writing, it’s just a “copy and paste” sorta thing. There’s no official export button for a specific format.
The good news is–I’ve personally found the “copy/paste” work really well for formatting (some tools can mess up formatting, but Jasper’s seems ok).
How do I use Jasper AI?
Here’s the basic 3-step process for using any of Jasper.ai’s tools: First, you give the AI inputs on what to create. Second, the AI will analyze its database of internet content. Last, Jasper will output content based on the inputs and data.
Which tone of voice is best to use?
While you can leave the “tone of voice” field blank, it definitely helps to shape the AI to YOUR specific style of content! You can use adjectives like ” conversational” or “formal.” You can even put in celebrities like “Will Ferrell” or “Michelle Obama.” Cool!
Why did Jarvis change its name to Jasper?
In early 2022, Marvel (the team behind Iron Man, The Avengers, etc) reached out to the Jasper team and asked them to change their name for legal reasons (Jarvis was the name of Tony Stark’s AI assistant in the Iron Man movies). The team came up with “Jasper” and rebranded their platform.
Final Thoughts on Learning Jasper AI
Yes, Jasper can be an insanely powerful tool for your writing workflows…but there IS a learning curve!
Think of Jasper an an assistant
Edit as you go
Delete all unnecessary content
Give Jasper detail to help keep it focused
Start following these tips, and you’ll quickly realize just how well Jasper works!
Ready to get started with Jasper?
Use our special link to get a free trial PLUS 10,000 words credited to your account!
In this post how to use Jasper AI recipes in the Boss Mode long-form editor!
Jasper’s recipes are pre-made templates that you can “run” to make long-form content way faster. (Templates + AI = holy content, Batman )
Although it took me a hot minute to figure out how Jasper works (3 free trials). At this point I’ve generated over 300,000 words using Jasper Recipes–and I’m here to share my tips and tricks!
Want to try Jasper for free–AND get
In this post how to use Jasper AI recipes in the Boss Mode long-form editor!
Jasper’s recipes are pre-made templates that you can “run” to make long-form content way faster. (Templates + AI = holy content, Batman )
Although it took me a hot minute to figure out how Jasper works (3 free trials). At this point I’ve generated over 300,000 words using Jasper Recipes–and I’m here to share my tips and tricks!
Want to try Jasper for free–AND get 10,000-word credits? Use the button below!
You can think of “recipes” like the word “templates.”
They’re pre-loaded documents,
With variables and Jasper commands already written in,
That you can easily deploy to the long-form editor,
For specific types of content
For example, I created a recipe for long-form product reviews, called 1HR REVIEW POST.
I simply run the recipe, fill in some details about the specific product I’m reviewing (filling in the “variables”), and then start using the pre-written Jasper commands to start generating the EXACT content I use for review posts.
There are TONS of Jasper recipes out there, from Jasper and 3rd party users alike!
YouTube video scripts
10-minute info posts
Listicle posts
way more
How to Use Jasper.ai Recipes, Start to Finish
Let’s dive into the Jasper platform and learn how to use recipes to create content faster!
Do I need to be on the Jasper Boss Mode plan in order to use recipes?
Yes, you need to be on the Jasper Boss mode plan in order to use the long-form editor (including recipes, Jasper commands, SEO mode, content lookback, and more).
Luckily, they decreased the price to $59/month for 50,000 words (I’ve never used more than 25k in a month, so that’s plenty I think!).
First, login to your Jasper account and click “recipes” in your dashboard.
Here you’ll see several things:
A few featured recipes from the Jasper team
Any recipes you’ve already created (or saved from 3rd parties)
The ability to edit those, or “run” them to a blank document
A button to create a new recipe from scratch
We’ll go over creating your own recipes from scratch below!
2 – Choose your recipe and hit “run”
Find the recipe for the type of content you want to create, and click “run.”
This will open up a blank long-form editor complete with the recipe content.
If you’re new to Jasper, you probably won’t have your own created yet, and that’s ok! I’ll share some of my own recipes below.
3 – Replace the variables
“Variables” are unique to the specific content you’re creating, and usually look like a word in curly brackets, like {this}.
For Example: If I run my 1HR REVIEW POST recipe, here are some of the variables:
{product} = the product name of what I’m reviewing. Example: “Cloudways hosting”
{feature 1} = the first feature I wanna talk about. Example: “lighting fast page speeds”
{benefit 1} = the first benefits I wanna talk about. Example: “fast load times mean better SEO rankings.”
Here’s what those variables look like in my recipe:
PRO TIP: You can “find and replace” your variables all at once! Use your “find” shortcut (CMD + F on Mac, Cntl + F on Windows) and search for your variable name (i.e. {product}). Then replace them with the proper content one by one, or all at once (using a Chrome extension, etc)
As you can see, I’ve sprinkled the variables throughout the content. When I reach a certain section (Pricing, for example), I’ll replace the {price} variable with the cost of Cloudways hosting–and then run the pre-written Boss Mode commands.
4 – Run the Jasper commands
The second major part of Jasper AI recipes are boss mode commands.
Basically, you can “command” Jasper with natural language processing (i.e. you say “write a blah blah”), and it follows your orders.
For Example:
“write some blog title ideas for Cloudways hosting”
“write a paragraph about why page speed is important for SEO bloggers”
“write an intro sentence for the heading above”
“write a bullet point list explaining the main features of Cloudways hosting”
Then you hit “Command/Control + Enter,” and Jasper reads the commands and executes it.
Commands are generally denoted in Jasper recipes with a “>” symbol.
There are a TON of useful Jasper commands you use in the long-form editor (and therefore can include in recipes).
You simply start at the top of your recipe’s document
Fill in the variables for your specific article
Run the Jasper commands top-to-bottom
5 – Fill in with the compose features (or Jasper templates in power mode)
Following the variables and commands in your recipe probably won’t get you to 100% of your blog outline.
You will need to supplement all that content!
In fact, it’s really important to analyze whatever Jasper spits out of the commands. He can often stop in the middle of a sentence or a thought, giving you the need to finish it.
There are a few ways to supplement the content from the recipe commands:
Write some yourself
Use the “compose” function on the left sidebar
Use templates in the power mode
If I’m being really honest, I like to write in my own concepts after each command! Not only does this make the concept more unique (and in my actual tone of voice), but it also teaches Jasper how to write better!
Jasper’s AI is smart–and it gets smarter as you edit its outputs AND supplement with YOUR words!
Using the Compose Feature
If you would like to let the AI keep chipping away at your constant after running a recipe command, you can use the built-in compose function.
You’ll definitely want to fill in the “title” and “content brief” sections for your specific article, and I also recommend limiting the output length to “small” or “medium.”
Jasper can get off track quite quickly when it’s set to “long,” and then you’re wasting your word credits.
Using “Power Mode” in the Long-Form Editor
In the power mode tab, you have access to all of Jasper’s templates, for easy copy/pasting!
These are the short-form templates for specific uses, like the…
Paragraph generator
Sentence expander
Content improver
etc
those are the templates I end up using the most for writing long-form contact in Jasper.
But again, don’t forget to RUTHLESSLY EDIT Jasper’s outputs, and supplement with YOUR OWN writing in your own voice!
This makes for far superior content but also trains Jasper on what you want it to sound like!
How to Create Your Own Jasper Recipe
Yes, there are several handy recipes that the Jasper team has already featured, but the real beauty is being able to create your own Jasper recipes!
Here’s what you do:
1 – Head to “recipes” and click on “new recipe.”
It’s in the upper-right corner.
2 – Put a title and description for your recipe
It’s worth noting that you can keep your recipes private from the rest of the internet (they are by default), or you can optionally get a sharable link!
3 – Remember the preferred Jasper recipe “syntax”
Though your recipe will still work with different formatting–I still like to format mine to their recommended syntax (in case I share it with anybody else).
For variables that will be unique to your content, Jasper recommends wrapping these in curly brackets.
For commands, Jasper recommends putting a “>” at the start of the line.
This makes your recipe easier to read (so you’ll know what’s what).
4 – At the top of your recipe, list out some common variables
What type of variables you use will depend entirely on what type of recipe your creating!
Product review blog posts = you’ll probably want the product name, your affiliate link, benefits and features of the product, the price, etc.
Information content = You might prompt yourself with variables like “reader’s main paint point,” or “subtopic 1,” “subtopic 2,” etc.
5 – Optional: prompt yourself for a blog post outline or talking points!
Since the Jasper AI doesn’t do facts or your opinions very well, it can be helpful to “feed” Jasper that information right at the top of the long-form document.
Why? The “content lookback” feature will READ that information and use it throughout the AI outputs!
Personally, I usually create my outline & talking points before I use Jasper, and copy/paste that info into the top of the document (I leave a variable for it in my recipes).
6 – Optionally add a YouTube tutorial
Jasper leaves a spot for you to add a video explainer link (from YouTube).
You can leave this blank if you’re recipe will be private.
That’s it! Don’t forget to save your recipe.
How to find Jasper AI Recipes across the internet
The recipes that Jasper gives you aren’t actually that great once you start getting the hang of the platform.
But luckily, there are TONS of Jasper creators (like myself) making and sharing Jasper recipes!
Search YouTube for Jasper Recipes:
If you try searching Google for Jasper recipes–you’re going to find a lot of affiliate articles, and NOT a lot of useful recipes to try.
Instead, head to YouTube and start searching for Jasper stuff!
For example, Corrie Who Writes has a few useful ones.
1HR ROUNDUP POST – A blog post recipe for roundup posts, Available in Template Jam
1HR BLOG POST (original) – A frame work for FAST blogging, SEO or otherwise, Available in Template Jam
How to Delete Jasper Recipes
Deleting recipes is simple enough:
From the recipes page, click “edit” on the recipe you want to delete
Click the “delete” button in the lower-right corner
That’s it!
Conclusion: Creating your own Jasper Recipes WILL save time
At this point, I just want to summarize and say that I LOVE Jasper’s recipe feature (I’m a template nerd anyways). I think the MOST value actually comes from using Jasper for a few articles, learning the ins and outs, and THEN diving into creating your own recipes.
Starting with others’ recipes will give you an idea of how they work, but they’ll be more powerful when you customize them to YOUR content, your style, etc!
Call it a niche site. Or an authority site. Or an SEO blog.
Whatever.
I call it AMAZING work from Mike Donovan (NicheTwins.com).
In January 2020, he had never done ANY of this stuff, and a little over 2 years later, his site is…
Over 500,000 pageviews a monthOver $20,000 in revenue a month
That’s incredible!
And given I’m currently growing my own niche site, and I’m generally an SEO nerd anyways, I figured it’d be fun to have Mike on the podc
Call it a niche site. Or an authority site. Or an SEO blog.
Whatever.
I call it AMAZING work from Mike Donovan (NicheTwins.com).
In January 2020, he had never done ANY of this stuff, and a little over 2 years later, his site is…
Over 500,000 pageviews a month
Over $20,000 in revenue a month
That’s incredible!
And given I’m currently growing my own niche site, and I’m generally an SEO nerd anyways, I figured it’d be fun to have Mike on the podcast and grill him on his SEO process
How to find viable niche site ideas
Site Structure & keyword research (i.e. what do I actually write?)
Fun-ti-mi-za-tion (noun): the action of making the most fun of a situation or project.
A few months ago, I discovered a secret.
A secret that will affect my work life till the day I die.
Here’s the story
Earlier this year, I sent my bestie Raina Willick a voicemail that basically said ”OMG we should totes do a podcast someday. We’re smart. We laugh a lot. People would love us!”
She lives a thousand miles away, but I could feel her eyes rolling.
(an
Fun-ti-mi-za-tion (noun): the action of making the most fun of a situation or project.
A few months ago, I discovered a secret.
A secret that will affect my work life till the day I die.
Here’s the story
Earlier this year, I sent my bestie Raina Willick a voicemail that basically said ”OMG we should totes do a podcast someday. We’re smart. We laugh a lot. People would love us!”
She lives a thousand miles away, but I could feel her eyes rolling.
(and rightfully so. I pester her with ideas a lot).
But a few months later, Raina reached out to ME with an amazing idea for a show! Skipping forward a bit—we DID the podcast and it launched in May The Unbusy Podcast
We did the project—but with one limitation…
Honestly? We both loved the idea for the project—but we got our own businesses, yo.
And families and hobbies and life.
And you know how it is…
The end result (a podcast) sounds awesome, BUT there are 1,000 activities we weren’t looking forward.
So hell…
What if we just—didn’t do them?
Podcast show notes didn’t sound fun
Committing to weekly episodes didn’t sound fun
Creating social media channels DEFINITELY didn’t sound fun
Editing out the ”ums” and ”uhhs” from the audio didn’t sound fun
There were a hundred little things we could’ve done—that didn’t sound fun.
We didn’t do any of them.
Introducing Funtimization
If something didn’t sound fun, we straight-up didn’t do it.
If an avoidable or optional task, feature, or strategy didn’t sound fun, it got axed.
In FACT, over the course of the project—Raina and I routinely found ourselves stopping to ponder whether or not a proposed activity was fun.
No fun? Optional or avoidable?
We didn’t do it.
Funtimization does NOT mean ”avoid hard work.”
Some tasks will always be not fun. (I’m looking at YOU, uploading audio & formatting podcast descriptions & scheduling episodes).
However, there’s a difference between…
Avoidable stuff
Unavoidable stuff
If you can decide not to do a task—and still ship a project, then it can be funtimized.
How to funtimize your business for happiness and (ironic) success:
I use the word ”ironic” here, because an interesting thing happens when we optimize for fun…
We stress less
We think more clearly
We have interesting ideas
We focus on what moves the needle
We have more energy (that translate beyond business!)
Rethink unavoidable
Who TF decided podcasts need blog-post-esk show notes? Or accompanying YouTube channels?
Just because somebody mentions an activity in their step-by-step guide—doesn’t mean you should do it. Rethink which activities are actually unavoidable—and which can be scrapped (for funtimization or otherwise).
Use these questions to practice funtimization in your business:
What are some avoidable or optional activities, strategies, or projects on my plate?
Of those, which really don’t sound fun right now? Can you delete them entirely—or push them off till a later date (when maybe they’ll seem more fun?).
What are some UNavoidable activities or strategies?
(super secret strategy can you outsource any of that?). Also, is there a way in which you can make these seem more fun? What about them do you have to change?
Which activities don’t ACHTUUALLYY move the needle towards my goals?
If these don’t immediately sound fun, axe them with the strength of 1,000 suns.
Honest to goodness—WHAT SOUNDS FUN ?
You’d be shocked how often entrepreneurs will skip over thinking about this.
Put down the hustle (for now), and analyze your work for fun-ness. Anything stand out? What about something you’re NOT doing all the time (because it doesn’t move the needle?). Maybe do that anyways.
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Fun activities give you…
More clarity
More creativity
More inspiration
More happiness outside of work
More life (literally. You could live longer)
How can you practice funtimization?
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Love this idea? Drop me a comment below and say hi.
There are two ideas I really like…
Selling one of my niche sites for $100k+Buying starter or low-profit sites–then building up and FLIPPING them for $100k+
Either way I want to make $100k+
(lol)
Luckily, the CEO of Flippa (the internet’s top marketplace for buying and selling websites) Blake Hutchison decided to stop by for the podcast!
Blake’s here to chat about…
Things you can do to prepare your website for saleHow to search for a profitable a
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