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Interview with Top 100 Blogger – Daniel Scocco

Posted By Darren Rowse 16th of January 2009 Pro Blogger Interviews 0 Comments

daniel3.jpgI always love it when I see bloggers extending their online businesses beyond their actual blogs to make money ‘because’ of their blog rather than just from it through advertising. One such blogger who has stepped out and done this in the last week is Daniel Scocco who has this week launched his Online Profits course that was released earlier in the week (see my announcement post).

I’ve always been impressed with Daniel and how he approaches his online business (I’ve had him as a guest post many times here on ProBlogger) and so wanted to do a short interview with him to find out more about the course and how he came to put it together.

How has the response been to the release of Online Profits?

The response was good. It was above my expectations, especially because I opted for a very clean and fact-based sales page.

We had close to 50 registered members at the end of the first day. My initial aim was to get 100 members on the site within the first week, because that is a good number of people to work with. I am sure we will cross that mark by Friday.

Getting mentioned on Problogger was paramount to that success though. In fact after reading your post I was twice as motivated to put a lot of hard work into the training program, making it worth for all the people that will follow your recommendation.

What’s been the #1 (or 2) question or concern that people have expressed about it and what’s your answer been?

The main question that people had was: “Why should I join the training program if there is so many freely available information around the web?”

I won’t deny that there is a lot of good and free information on the Internet. Problogger is perhaps the best example around. I started reading it back in 2006, and it certainly made a big difference on my “blogging career.”

Sometimes, however, people don’t have the time or the skills to find, organize and interpret all that free information and to transform it into a structured learning environment and into action plans.

That is where ebooks, books and training programs come into play. For example, back in 2006 when I started learning about SEO, instead of going around looking for bits of information here and there, I purchased the SEO Book from Aaron wall and read through it. The time that it saved me was well worth the money I spent for it, and I was also secure that the information was reliable.

Secondly, when you purchase an educational product or join a training program, you will be more motivated to act instead of just learn. You paid for the information after all, so you better do something with it! You will also be in a situation where you are encouraged to take action, both from the fellow members and from the mentors.

Another question that was asked frequently was: “Will I have access immediately to all the training modules?”

The answer is no. For this first launch we opted to make the training modules available gradually, so you will inevitably need to wait to access the advanced ones. The reason for this structure is to not overload the members with all the information at the same time (which is a recipe for making people not apply the knowledge that they will gain).

Over the last year there have been quite a few courses released that have had similar subjects to Online Profits – what’s different about this one?

Yes there are many eBooks and courses that teach Internet marketing. Most people that write about Internet marketing or “making money online,” however, do not earn that much. That is why I made an effort to bring credible names to this project.

I wanted the lessons to be written by people that have experience with real projects.

Additionally, I also think that Online Profits is unique in terms of content broadness. There are good training programs out there if you just want to learn SEO (SEO Book), if you want to learn how to make money blogging (Blog Mastermind) and so on.

For the people that want to get a complete understanding of Internet marketing (e.g., from setting up a website to optizing WordPress, from PPC to affiliate and email marketing), however, Online Profits could be more suitable.

The thing that I love about what you’ve pulled together is that you’ve managed to draw together a fairly amazing group of people. How did you get them all to agree to participate?

First of all I only approached people whose work I respect, and I explained my plan to them: to create an Internet Marketing training program that will be credible and worth for the members.

In other words, I wanted to create something that would add value to the Internet, and not simply to generate some quick bucks for the rest of us.

I believe that was the main motivator for them to join, even because most of those guys already make some killer money online, and financial benefits don’t speak to them.

What you’ve done with Online Profits is to leverage your current blog and profile to launch this course. Many bloggers aspire to do this – what advice do you have for them?

First of all you need to give before you ask. Before launching the training program I worked on my blog for 2 years, published over 1,000 posts, and attracted over 16,000 RSS readers (over 30,000 if you count all my blogs).

Secondly, I have also done all that with a genuine interest in helping other people, not expecting anything in return. When I started Daily Blog Tips, my only goal was to share the tips and tricks that I learned with previous blogs and websites. Period.

I guess if I had started my projects with the sole goal of making money people would have noticed it, and perhaps they would be less inclined to read what I had to share with them.

What’s your best tip for bloggers starting out today?

Let me try to summarize it in one sentence: create something you will be proud of.

Practically speaking, create value for other people, publish unique and useful content, network with fellow bloggers, give before you ask, and have fun along the way!

Check out the Online Profits course – it’s 50% off until the end of the week!

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. I guess for me, having WASTED so much money on systems or packages like this, I cannot convince my self that any of these aren’t just another money maker for them, but will end up being waste for the user. And don’t pin “get rich quick or easy” on me… I work my butt off every day on my online businesses and blogs.

    Brent Riggs
    http://www.brentriggs.com

  2. I already read an interview of Daniel today, but this one’s more elaborate.
    Thanks, http://www.vivekbarunrai.blogspot.com

  3. “””Sometimes, however, people don’t have the time or the skills to find, organize and interpret all that free information and to transform it into a structured learning environment and into action plans.””

    This is the most important quote in this interview IMHO.

    Straightforward, to-the-point information distilled from people who are masters of their domain always works best for me – and I’m willing to PAY for it.

  4. This sounds like a gold mine for Daniel. Congratulations. He sounds like he works really hard and for that he deserves it.

  5. I remember when Daniel started his blog Daily Blog Tips. It was quite obvious he was going to be a huge success in due time.

    As a matter of fact, its very easy to spot who will be successful at blogging and who won’t. People get caught up with tips and reading “how to blog” when they should just be “blogging.”

    However, i’m not trying to take away anything from Online Profits. I’m sure Daniel created a great enviornment for learning, but everyone needs to realize there won’t be any “secrets to success” in that course. At the end of the day, you still need to write and write some more.

  6. @Vivek What an informative comment. Thank you for the needless link drop.

  7. Fascinating interview – thank you Darren and Daniel!

    I believe in paying for products that work. I’m on a very low income but have spent a couple of hundred dollars on products that accelerated my learning process. I try not to think about how much I’m spending. Instead, I thinking about how I could be earning money faster by spending my time developing content, rather than saving money.

    Those practical tips you gave at the bottom are ones that I try to do with my everyday blogging. :) Its nice to know that it could potentially lead to long term success.

    I hope the program goes well for you, Daniel. I hope to join when you reopen late this year.

    – Jade

  8. Great interview Darren. Daniel has built a great blog and has done exactly what I am working towards – ‘using his blog to launch a product’

  9. @Brent, on don’t pin “get rich quick” on anyone :) . In fact here is one of the Q&A that we have on the sales page:

    Q: Is this a “get rich quick” scheme?

    No. We believe that there are no shortcuts to success. It will take the right knowledge and hard work. We are here to provide you with the former, and you need to be willing to take action based on what you will learn.

  10. @Derek, Tom, Jade, thanks for the kind words!

  11. My favourite tip from this post? “Create something you’ll be proud of.”

    Well said, Daniel, and I hope Online Profits proves a great pillar in your future success.

  12. “Give before you ask…” Thanks for the insightful interview!

  13. Each day I get to be inspired after reading ProBlogger, have identified a few opportunities of extending my brand through hosting unique events related to my brog. Daniel I follow your blog daily and learn a lot from you…your face-off contest is a killer concept.

  14. I must indicate Daniel that am borrowing from your concept to pit tourism industry leaders here in South Africa on a face-off format, starting next week…

  15. @David and Scott, thanks.

    @Muzi, no problems about that :) .

  16. Daniel is right. “There are no shortcuts to success. It will take the right knowledge and hard work.” and a bit of LUCK! ^_^

  17. I would firstly like to congratulate you on your success, it is impressive to read your comments and how level headed you have been with your approach to make money. As you said towards the end a lot of people go wrong by pushing their aim but I like the way you have progressed. Good luck

  18. I agree with you TechMata, solid and sustainable success in blogging takes time and efforts. If someone wants instant (and scam-ful) success, then MLM is the answer. Anyway, I will create my own course in future, Darren, I promise you.

  19. 16,000 RSS subscribers

    That is quite impressive!

  20. I agree that when you give…it comes back to you eventually. It’s concept that has existed for ages. It’s explained fairly well in The RIchest Man in Babylon.

  21. There are so many free giveaway things in internet today. But people don’t get the real use of it because they are free and they don’t cost a cent for them.

    But when it comes to something that you have to pay for, you definitely going to get the full use of it because it costs you.

    So what I think is what ever anyone say, what ever anyone thinks, the participants of this project going to get the full of it….

  22. Seems interesting. I was thinking of joining but i always get confused with so many courses around like BMM.

  23. Nice interview and great value to us… Daniel has been really one of the persons I look up to with his approach with online business… Right now I think 50% off is enough to convince me to sign. ;-)

  24. Excellent interview, I am always reading both Problogger and DBT and your both fantastic Internet Marketers and Bloggers. Good luck Daniel with Online Profits.

    Will.

  25. I am studying ethics in journalism at the moment and according to the MEAA code of ethics journalists are required to disclose when they have been sponsored by a product or person that they are writing about. Of course the internet is a whole other story..because there are no standards or ‘watchdog’ organisations. So I was just wondering …with an article such as this do you get paid in anyway for them? If so, do you feel that you ethically you should have a disclosure that states that this business is a sponsor of yours. I’m not being picky…I’m just interested that’s all. And I think its probably an interesting subject to discuss that most bloggers probably dont even consider.

    Cheers
    jess

  26. Thanks for the post. I really liked what you have said here. There are many ways one can earn money online but one has to choose the really good ones that actually send you your pay outs.

  27. I agree with Daniel, especially this one: Sometimes, however, people don’t have the time or the skills to find, organize and interpret all that free information and to transform it into a structured learning environment and into action plans.

  28. Dani is always cool. For my luck, I got an opportunity to interview him. Check it out

    http://tech.inkapoint.com/interviews/exclusive-interview-daniel-scocco/520/

  29. I do really enjoyed reading this and I agreed Dani is cool. For the pass 2 months, I’ve been busy with my blog and till today, I only have time to reading other people good stuffs. Thanks

  30. Daniel’s also extremely good at building back-links, in addition to his great content. Keep it up!

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