Webinar: Reach your goals by blogging
This webinar will show you how to use a blog to meet your goals. It includes five days of of video sessions and email-based course materials. You can purchase this workshop for anytime, on-demand access. The cost is $195.
The webinar people ask for most often is one about how to blog. So, here it is! By the end of the course, whatever your goals are for yourself or your company, you will know how to leverage a blog to meet them. I’ve been blogging for ten years and I have received hundreds of awards for my blog. I’ve also made about $300K a year from my blog for a long time, and that revenue is almost never from banner ads. I’ll show you creative ways to make money from blogging and creative ways to think about goals for your career that go far beyond how much money you make.
Here’s an outline of what we’ll cover:
Day one: Define goals so you can meet them
One thing you can’t do is make money from advertising. But you can do almost anything else with a blog, and I’ll show you how to think about goals so you can focus on something that will change your life. And, for those of you who blog for a company, I’ll show you how to use your position to make a big impact on your company’s bottom line.
Over the years I’ve changed what I want from my career so many times. Every single time my blog has allowed me to reach my goals. It doesn’t matter what you want to do: A blog is great for career change. Launching a startup, for building a consulting business, for climbing to the C-suite: blogs are suitable tools for intellectual, innovative, creative people who want to grow. I’ll show you how to use a blog to meet your goals no matter what they are.
Day two: Be an expert in any topic.
So many of our goals for our lives require that we are rock stars in our career. High pay, part-time work, funding for a company—the list of goals is endless, but the best way to meet them is always the same: position yourself as top tier. A blog gives you a path to the top by positioning you as an expert and letting people get to know you for how you think and what you care about, instead of what you have been paid to do in the past.
Day three: How to write a blog post people will love
I have a formula I use for every blog post. The formula ensures that the community of people on my blog feels cohesive, relevant, and meaningful as a result of every post. I’ll show you my formula and I’ll explain why it works. Then I’ll lay out a plan so you can use my formula too. The best part about my formula: It works with every blog topic you can imagine.
Day four: Tricks for getting attention for your blog
You don’t need a lot of traffic to make your blog successful. But you do need the right traffic. I’ll show you how to identify your best audience. I’ll also walk you through ten specific tactics I used to attract the right traffic. I’ll show you what works and what doesn’t and how to leverage my research to meet your goals. I’ve also spent years figuring out what makes a blog post viral, and I’ll share all my knowledge on this topic with you. Hint: offensive blog posts don’t work.
Day five: Final evening of Q&A
Ask me anything! By this time in the course we will have spent so much time together that the questions will be insightful, surprising, and wide-ranging and that’s what makes this Q&A so fun.
This course is also going to be a great time for me to send you all the blog posts I’ve written about how to blog that my editor told me did not fit on my blog. Hooray for that!
The second sign up now links to a super cute trampoline picture, but I think you wanted to link to paypal. Hope this is helpful. Feel free to delete after you read.
Thanks for letting me know. And here’s something: I never ever think of deleting a comment like this after someone tells me. It makes sense to delete it. I guess. But I’m always so grateful that someone takes the time to help me make my blog better, that I want to leave the comment there, and say thanks.
Penelope
It’s like Christmas, going away for a few months and coming back to a treasure trove of new posts.
And now I’m split between doing this seminar or the “what to do in your 20s” seminar. I usually just ignore them, but these last few have been eerily relevant.
Penelope,
Sounds fab. But the link to “sign up now” leads to a photo of your son on a trampoline. :-)
Steph
Hi there Stephani,
Whilst I wasn’t expecting to see a picture of Penelope’s son on a trampoline I really liked it…it reminded me that all work and no play is not a good thing!
This sounds amazing, Penelope. I wish I could attend but I am going to be gone on vacation during that time. What an awesome course for you to provide!
Is the time on these correct? Is there going to be a recorded version? I’m in the central time zone, so they’d all be from 10-11 pm for me…for people in the Pacific that would be 12-1 am. Just wanted to double check.
I think you are confusing the time difference…9pm Eastern would mean 8pm Central…
D’oh! You are right – I added instead of subtracted. Thanks for setting me straight.
I am ready to sign up but the time is a challenge so also want to know if a recording will be made available! Thank you!
All the sessions will be recorded so you can watch them on demand.
Penelope
Availability by on-demand recording is a strong sales point! May I suggest you put this information in your copy?
Yeah. You’re right. Some days I feel like I crowdsource my copywriting for these seminars. Each time I publish, you guys tell me more ideas for how to advertise them. I think I am going to add the on demand part right now… thanks.
Penelope
Happy to serve.
P.S. I started my career as a copywriter so I notice things like this.
Your dates are off by a day. Sunday is July 28th (not 29th), and so on. I only noticed this because I just made a hotel reservation for that weekend.
If a recording is available, I’ll sign up. I’ll be traveling
over these dates and will miss almost the entire seminar.
Yes, you can watch the seminar any time you want. Actually, all the seminars I’ve done are available on demand, it’s just that I am not doing a good job of telling that to people.
Penelope
I was so very excited when I saw that you were doing this seminar until I converted the time to where I am and realised that the live chat will be between 3am and 4am my time… so I really hope there’ll be a recorded version of this seminar available. I need my wits about me at work and I don’t function well after disrupting my sleep patterns.
I’d beg for a recorded version if I thought it would work ;)
Yes! Recorded version.
A lot of people buy recorded versions of other seminars and people really enjoy those, so I’m sure this one will work well recorded also.
Penelope
is this different from your last blogging seminar, the blogging bootcamp?
also, what’s the myers-briggs score for people who compulsively buy classes and then do nothing with them?
Hahahha. The Myers Briggs score for that is INTP!
But I find that I’m drawn to learn stuff that I have no idea how I’ll use. I always end up using it — but in surprising ways. The seminars I do are about putting interesting ideas together in ways that keep me engaged. That’s how I keep talking about careers after ten years of talking about careers. And I suspect that a lot of smart people take courses with no clear path for how they’ll apply the information. For me, that’s a treat.
That said, there will be some overlap in the two seminar. But Melissa and I did not do the first course, so this one will feel much more like the other seminars we have done – more like party and less like a lecture.
Penelope
My blog is mostly a photo essay with short phrases and a occasional story. Would this still be helpful to me? I’m tempted.
If you want to use your blog to help you meet goals in your life, then the seminar will help you.
Penelope
Your first blogging seminar was so helpful that I would consider doing this one too. My budget for seminars is maxed out at the moment because I had to get a court reporting software seminar this month, but this one will be tugging at me. I’ll get it next month once I free up some funds. So glad you record these.
I took the “Blog Your Life” in December. I am wondering if the material in “Reach Your Goals by Blogging” will overlap with that previous one? Thanks.
Hi, Julie. There won’t be a lot of overlap. Most people don’t want to write about their lives on their blog. The seminar you took was specifically for people who do. Also, when you launch a blog to write about your life, that is usually an end in itself. This seminar will help people reach a much wider range of goals with their blog.
Penelope
In this era of user reviews via Yelp, Amazon, Trip Adviser etc., I rarely purchase items or experiences without consulting reviews. I’m not asking people to post reviews here (think: David Dellifield as cautionary tale) but I wish there were a space where we could access Penelope Trunk Seminar Reviews. #TrunkRev
Hopefully some startup will soon create one for this area of experiential consumption. Right now you enjoy a privileged position of permission marketing with your high volume of blog readers. I’m starting to feel like this space is becoming one of too many commercials and not enough content/programming (poor ratio of seminar ads to blog posts).
But still I’m curious enough about some of your seminars to try to inquire if they were worth the cost. I often wonder – how did that one go?
Tina, I won’t review the webinar I took, Blogging Your Life, but I will say that I got my money’s worth. I was re-invigorated. Penelope stays on topic and just being in her presence is kind of electrifying. She is also available during the course of the week to answer your personal questions via email, which is valuable. If you get a big charge reading the seminar description, I’d say you can’t go wrong to take it. You’ll get something out of it.
Is this different from your seminar on how to write about your life?
Hi P – Just wondering if you have a class size limit or what the typical live audience size is (i.e. if I have any chance to get a question answered during Q&A). Looking forward to a potential learning opportunity with you & this wonderfully interesting community.
I answer every question. Mostly because I love the questions. So I just keep answering til they are answered. And I answer them in email, too. And I’m probably insane to even be putting this in the comments, but you have a lot of access to me during this seminar. I have never had anyone complain that they didn’t get their questions answered. Also, people are very active in the chat room, and it’s a great place to get questions answered as well.
Penelope
Penelope, the seminar looks amazing and it’s great that they will be recorded. But, since this is my first time signing up for your seminar, I was wondering if the recording can be played more than once? Can they be downloaded to my computer so I could always watch them in the future? Thanks~~
Dear Penelope,
I am addicted to your seminars. I promised myself the last one would be my last one, but this one sounds awesome. Can’t wait.
Liz
So I already said I bought a seminar regarding work so I couldn’t buy this one, and then I changed my mind and bought this one anyway.
I promised myself that my goals from now on need to be enriching. I need to learn and take action. So I’m labeling this seminar as enrichment for myself. I know you can’t guarantee enrichment, but fun can also be enriching, and I need fun just as much.
Additional suggestion – would love to have a link to “add this event to your calendar” (outlook or iCal). Especially after signing up. Thanks & looking forward to it. :)
The course sounds great….When you say it will be available on demand is there a time limit for accessing the links or will they always be available?
Some webinars I’ve taken with other organizations offer unlimited access–but only for a few months and then content is removed.
Thanks.
Melissa snatched the words out of my keyboard.
I have the same question — and the answer could be part of your promotion.
I’m leaving the videos there. You can get to them any time.
Penelope
I would not miss this for anything! Penelope (and Melissa) put on a fantastic seminar.
Tina: I agree with Julie’s comments above. I have attended two and it is a bargain at $150. It is as real treat to see P in spontaneous action – her mind never ceases to amaze me.
And I agree with Penelope the seminar is “more like a party and less like a lecture.”
Best,
Jane
Jane, this is so nice. Thanks. And Julie, thanks for your comment, too. The seminars are only fun to do if everyone loves them. These comments make me excited for this one to start!
Penelope
Hi Penelope,
I too am an INTP and laughed at someone’s comment about signing up compulsively, then questioning it!! Anyway, I’m registered but have some questions: How are the Seminars conducted? Is it a live chat or a recording? My next blog is under development, is this seminar relevant for a blog idea/concept? I like what you had to say about blogs here so I look forward to this. Thanks, Nancy
The seminar will work very well for someone who is just starting a blog. You’ll just be smarter with each blog post you do -you will significantly abbreviate that sense of feeling lost that people feel at the beginning of blogging. That’ll be nice, right?
Penelope
Consarn it, I’d be blogging now if I could handle the technical part of it. All the smart people say how easy it is which only makes me feel worse.
Alan, the reasons it’s easy is because blogging requires only a small list of actions that you do over and over again. But figuring out that small list of actions is hard for some people.
The best way to start blogging is to write a headline and write a paragraph and hit publish. Then do it again. Don’t worry about links or photos or any of the other fancy buttons and categories you can add. Just do a headline, do a paragraph and publish. Over and over again. Then, one day, you will find out how another button works. Then you will do one more thing in your headline-paragraph-publish routine. You don’t need to do everything at once to be a blogger. You just need to write a paragraph and publish it to be a blogger.
I hope this helps!
Penelope
Already the best blogging advice ever.
Question: how would your seminar apply for blogging with a captive audience?
In my case, employees of the company I work for. I’ll be starting shortly on a new role here, that seems kind of community manager, and one of the expectations might be for me to write on our blog (?).
I’m very tempted to join this seminar, just don’t know if it would be relevant in my case. What do you guys think?
Short answer: Yes, the seminar will help you.
Long answer: The first rule of blogging is that no one has a captive audience. Not even a preacher, because everyone knows you can fall asleep in the pew. So your job as a blogger is to make sure people read to the end of your post. Because they care about what you’re saying.
Every time one person reads my post I am honored. Really. No kidding. Because I know I’m so lucky to have readers. No one has a captive audience. No one gets readers handed to them on a silver platter because you can’t force someone to read to the end. (Well, except in school. Which is actually another reason why school is so irrelevant to the real world.)
Penelope
Awesome answer; I’m sold. Will register tonight.
Thanks,
Penelope, I really, really, really want to sign up for this just for the learning oppty with u, but due to naysayers want to make sure it’s a good fit. P, do u think I would benefit from this even though I don’t write “blog” posts per se? I create/host web shows. Life advice for Teen girls. Videos, just posted w-a headline, I usually don’t write anything else under it. I need to bring more attention to my work & hv the web shows lead to a cable or ntwk hosting gig. The way your mind works is crazy amazing so i’m thinking it doesn’t even matter if I don’t blog somehow ur insight will lead me in the right direction…but the naysayers keep telling me… but u don’t blog, but u don’t blog…but u don’t blog… whattya think?
Hi Penelope,
I am considering this seminar but I’m unsure about the following:
-What if your career goals are not clear? Would this still help?
-What is one wants to use this for professional and personal goals, such as attracting attention from important/influential people and finding great romantic interests (in a subtle way)? Can a blog do both without sacrificing credibility? Is this a crazy question? :)
-Lorie
These are great questions. I’ll address them all in the seminar.
Penelope
This is so relevant to me. I signed up yesterday. I can’t wait! I really loved the “Making your 20’s count” seminar as well.
Hi Penelope,
my wife is a fan of your blog and has nagged me to read it. I have stated to. I like it a lot. For what it’s worth (and you probably know this already) I believe that the honesty and wit of your opinions contribute greatly to your success. Then again what do I know?
Anyway some questions: I know you say you don’t make money from ads on your blog, but how do you make $300K a year exactly? Is it from consulting, seminars, workshops, self-publishing? Something else?
Could you give me some idea of how that $300K breaks down? For example, are you making most of your money from one product or service? How do you convert blog readers to customers? As Samuel Johnson said, “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money”. Perhaps a touch polemic, but for those of us who write and need the green stuff, a good rule of thumb.
Thanks,
Neil Myers
Hi Penelope! My cousin sent me a link to your blog a week ago and I fell in love IMMEDIATELY! I’m on the brink of 40 (38 yrs old), married, 7 children, 1 granddaughter, 1 dog, 1 cat, caretaker of my eldest physically challenged daughter, holistic homemaker, homeschooler, and somehow built a following sharing my thoughts and crazy life via social media. Your workshop is right on time for me. I paid via paypal and want to know if this seminar will stream online? Thank you for in advance for your response.
I signed up for this and I am excited.
Will I get some more details via email?
Hi Penelope,
This seminar sounds really intriguing. I’ve always liked what I’ve read when someone posts something on the internet to share.
After homeschooling my kids for almost 20 years, it’s time for me figure out what I want to do. I know I love writing. I’ve been blogging for years. Sometimes separate blogs – our life or unschooling or gardening. Now it’s all merged again, and I’m not sure that’s best.
It’s time for me to figure out if there’s a way to make money with blogging and/or sharing my experiences.
Will the chat be recorded too? I’ll be traveling in California during that time span, but I’ll bet there will be great info happening there as well.
Correction. ;)
I don’t like ALL things I’ve read on the internet! I like YOUR writings that people have shared with me on the internet.
hating it when there’s not an edit button…
Hey Penelope,
love your blog. and great that the seminar would be available on demand. i will be travelling at that – but definitely glad that you will the videos on demand. highly boring question – how would i get access to the videos – if ive already paid for the seminar?
thanks a bunch? looking forward to learning more
After my fourth time starting a blog and getting nowhere with it, maybe this is what I need. I was talking with a career counselor the other day and she told me, “You could blog.” According to you, I can’t make money just as a blogger. But I can use a blog to work my way into a field I am passionate about–and become a better writer for college!
And decide how much I actually need college :)
I could also use a blog to network for my upcoming volunteer project and connect more people to ideas that could help them.
Here I am selling your seminar to you! That must be rewarding.
I missed this! Will you be doing anything similar again?
Hey Penelope,
I just saw the seminar details and it looks really helpful – but today’s the last day. You said in response to someone else that you leave the videos up for continued future access – if I were to purchase the seminar now, would I be able to access all the videos (from all 5 days) as well?
Thanks!
Remember, even the mighty oak was once a little nut like you :)
I can’t access the video. Am I doing something wrong? I’ve received the receipt from Paypal that the purchase went through, but the PayPal screen just redirected back to the signup page again. Now that I’ve purchased it, how do I get access to the 5 videos? Thanks.
I am also having the same problem. I can’t seem to find where to access these videos from. Would love to know the answer as well, thanks!
Thanks for posting this! Can’t wait to get started! :)