'A Merry Life' Guide to Creating a Better Health Blog

Mary: Oddly enough the one I'm best at is the one I never thought I would be the best at: the technical stuff. I've set up countless WordPress blogs and hosting accounts now both for myself and other people, so I've learned a lot about setting up a blog and making it run well. I think because it's something I had the least confidence in it's the one I've researched and then practiced the most. But my favorite will always be the writing aspect of blogging. I love to write and I enjoyed sharing my best blogging tips for the e-book.

Matt: I love that you encourage everyone to use WordPress, and to self-host it.  It's so much smarter to start out that way so that you don't have to switch down the road.  You dedicated several pages of the e-book to WordPress-specific stuff.  Did you worry about upsetting Blogger users who purchased your book and didn't want to switch to WordPress?

Mary: I did worry about that because a lot of health blogs are started on Blogger and a few popular ones still use it as their publishing platform.  I'm not anti-Blogger by any means and I've actually encouraged some people to stick with using Blogger. But in general I do think self-hosted WordPress is a better option for most bloggers since it has so many options and gives you the ultimate control over your blog.

Matt: I liked the section on advertising, especially on how to best use Adsense and handle offers from companies who want to pay you for text links in the content.  Which ad methods have you tried, and which have you had the most success with?

Mary: I've tried a ton of advertising options. I've used Adsense (and currently do), BlogHer, Foodbuzz, other advertising networks, sold direct advertising, sold link ads… you name it and I've probably done it. For a long time I had no ads on my blog but eventually I realized I wanted to at the very least cover my hosting costs. Once that happened I realized I could probably make more money with it and started researching and testing things out. The key to making money through blogging is testing different methods. You can find something that works but it might stop working or it works but something else could work better. It's a constant game of figuring out what works the best for your site. Personally I've had a lot of success with Adsense and selling direct advertising.

Matt: E-books are really a great way to monetize your blog in a way that adds value to readers, as opposed to some ads and other methods of making money that might annoy readers.  But the idea of writing one is probably overwhelming to a lot of bloggers.  How much work was it?

Mary: I have to be honest and tell you that it was a lot of work. I did everything myself from the writing to the design to the promotion. The only thing I had help with was editing to catch little mistakes I overlooked. I should have kept track of the time I spent writing it but I worked on it slowly over a couple of months whenever I had free time. The writing wasn't very hard because it was all information I already knew and it just flowed naturally as if I was doing a coaching session with someone. But writing a 60+ page book is a lot of work whether you know the information already or not. It can get overwhelming, but when you finish that final product it is all worth it.

Matt: How did you go about announcing the e-book to your readers?  Did you do a big launch for it, or just start selling it one day?

Mary: Since it was a huge project I was working on it came up naturally in posts and I wrote a few posts specifically about the ebook the week before launching it. I did do a small launch for it and sold quite a few copies within the first two days because of that.  It was my first e-book, my first launch, my first everything! It was a great learning experience and I'm glad I did a launch instead of just putting it up to sell like I originally thought about doing.

Matt: I think a lot of bloggers have ideas for information products like this, but worry about negative feedback, since readers are so used to getting content for free on blogs.  Was this an issue for you?

Mary: Oddly enough I expected negative feedback but didn't get any at all. I suppose it still could come in the future, but so far everyone has been really happy with the e-book. I think readers are used to getting free content but a lot of people are willing to pay for information they want packaged into one information product from a source they trust. I know that personally I have bought these kinds of products and as long as the value exceeds the price I've been happy with them. I tried to make sure my e-book did that for anyone who bought it and so far everyone has agreed that it's worth the price.

Matt: Are there any e-book sites or services that you used and would recommend for those of us interested in doing it ourselves?

Mary: I used Open Office to create the ebook because it converts to PDF, which is the format of most e-books of this type.  I use ejunkie as my e-book delivery service, which ties in to both Paypal and Google Checkout. It's been really great and I totally recommend it. It allows you to sell multiple products, set up affiliate programs and more. For $5 a month it's completely worth it because it simplifies the process. 

Thanks to Mary for taking the time to share her experiences with Health Blog Helper readers.  Beginners and semi-beginners, especially, be sure to check out her Guide to Creating a Better Health Blog.  It's the stuff you didn't even know there was to know that you don't want to wait to find out about a year from now.

Please note: I'm a member of Mary's affiliate program, so I'll earn a little bit o' dough if you buy her e-book.  It's an extremely valuable resource for new bloggers, so I don't feel bad about that.