Howdy Shouters,
How are you doing? So another month has passed by & I’m here with many juicy updates related to blogging, last month’s experiences & most importantly, our transparency report.
A quick brief for newcomers:
Our transparency report is a monthly seriesย where we share all of the important thingsย thatย we have learned so that you don’t have to experiment as much & can take smart,ย immediate action. Along with this, we also share last month’s traffic . This will give you an idea about new traffic sources and/or new income sources that you can applyย toย your blog.
To get a better picture of why we share such confidential reports, you should refer to these two posts:
- Why Bloggers Share Their Income Report & Why You Should Also Do It
- Blogging Income Report: The Mega List (with chart)
Alright, so now it’s time to share some of the newsย regarding ShoutMeLoud as well as some of the mistakes & learnings we’ve made lastย month.
Let’s start with the biggest news that many of you have been waiting for…
Shout University Launch:
Yes!ย The big wait is over & Shout University is now almostย live. Why “almost”?
- Because this is the soft launch & only selected people were allowed to reserve a seat.
On the 30th of June, we launched Shout University & it was one of the biggest achievements for me in the past severalย years.
We worked very hard for the last 2 month to launch this project. Shout University has been my biggest dream for many,ย many years.
So far we are getting great reviews about the coursesย in ourย soft launch.
Currently, we are live with 3 modules:
- AdSense Mastery
- WordPress Learning Course
- WordPress Videoย Training
The most popular lesson is the extended version of our micro-niche site experiment. Here you can learn the secret of niche blogging + keyword research. This itself is worth the cost of membership.
In the coming months, we will be live with:
- Affiliate Marketing Course
- SEO Mastery
- YouTube Money Maker
In the near future, theย following modules will be added:
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
Making a soft launch is helping us to work closely with a few studentsย & refine the product to perfection before we offer it to everyone. Moreover, people who signed up for the soft launch also gotย aย special discount + 6 months of extra time on their package.
You can learn more about Shout University here.ย If you like, you can blog about it on your blog or talkย about it with those who want to learn about making money by blogging in a systematic manner.
Well…
OK, just for the readers of this post, we will openย registration for the next 48 hours.ย This is your time to enroll at Shout University & enjoy this early bird advantage. Right now, you can enroll for a 20% discount.
Incorporating aย Company in the U.S.A:
I researched about incorporating a company in the U.S.A. back in 2013, but I decided not to do itย as opening a bank account was not so easy without actually being present in the U.S.A. Butย I realized that having a Stripe account will help a lot in collecting payment for our store & also for our new membership program.
I recently got to know about the Atlas by Stripe program for incorporating aย company in the U.S.A. The biggest advantage of using Atlas by Stripe is that it helps you incorporate the company, open a bank account, and create a Stripe account. With all of these, you can also open a U.S.A based PayPal accountย which helpsย youย to do business globally with fewer restrictions.
I was lucky enough to receive the Atlas inviteย and started the application. As of right now, the process of incorporation is still in progress, butย before the end of this month, it will be all done.
For those who don’t have the Atlas by Stripe invitation yet, but wish to open a Stripe account in the U.S.A, here is a hack which has been used by many & worksย flawlessly.
However, this is a hack so follow it atย your own risk:
- Open an LLC in Delaware using DelawareINC.ย (They have a pretty solid reputation for helping individuals around the globe.)
- They help you get an EIN number for a few extra fees. The total comes out to be $372.
- Get a U.S. phone number using Skype or Google Voice.
- Get a virtual U.S. Address.
- Open a Payoneer account ย that will give you a U.S. checkingย bankย account.
- Sign up for a Stripe account.
- Create a PayPal account.
As I said, I know a few friends who haveย used this trick & it worked for them without any problem. Though, you need to do it at your risk.
Note: It’s safer if you travel to the U.S. occasionally, or you have a relative or friend living inย theย U.S.
I recommend DelawareInc forย two reasons:
- Itย came to meย recommended by a good friend.
- My personal experience with them has been wonderful.
I first booked an LLC incorporation throughย them, but later on I got an Atlas by Stripe invitation. After 24 hours, I had to ask them to cancel the order & they refunded me 100% without charging anything. Also, they are very responsive with email & Skype support.
A few of my friends also are considering Singapore for incorporating a company. I admit, I have limited information about it.
- If you have more details about Singapore or any other countries which are heaven for online entrepreneurs to incorporate companies, do let us know in the comments or email me directly atย admin[at]shoutmeloud.com
- One of ourย readers on Facebook recommendedย a few more countries including Bahrain. I researched about Bahrain a bit & it certainly looks appealing. Here are the countries recommended by Ashish Dung Dung:
I will keep sharing my experienceย as I have learned much throughout this process. Here is a good resource that help you find countries where you can form a company.
Butย for now, let’s look at our traffic report for last month.
June 2016 Traffic Report
June was aย month of zero downtime!ย Thankย youย Kinsta hosting!
Overall, our traffic has improved & we received more traffic than we did in the month of May 2016.
The majority of our traffic comes from the following threeย countries:
- India
- United States
- United Kingdom
Followed by the following countries (as shown in the above screenshot):
- Pakistan
- Canada
- Australia
- Philippines
- Indonesia
- Bangladesh
- United Arab Emirates
PushEngage Push Notification Traffic:
I have been using PushEngage on ShoutMeLoud for web-based push notifications. If you haven’t yet integrated it, you should do that right now. I’m seeing great results from the web-based push notificationsย as you can see inย the below screenshot.
PushEngage’s free plan offers up to 2500 subscribers & you don’t need HTTPS. Apart from that, I really like their WordPress pluginย as it automatically sends notifications when you publish a new post. I will do a detailed guide soon.
For now, do create an account & follow the instructions to set this up with your WordPress blog (or any other platform that you are using).
While configuring, make sure you select “Use featured image from post as custom image for notifications.” This will improve CTR.
It currently supports single domains only, but in the near future they will be offering multiple domain integration.
Well, that’s all from the traffic department.
- If you are a WordPress developer or know someone who is & wants to be part of our team, feel free to contact us at jobs[at]shoutmeloud.com with the subject:ย “I’m the one”
With this we end our monthly transparencyย report.
Now it’s your turn to tell me & everyone elseย about your traffic + earningsย from the past month. What new things did you try? What haveย you discoveredย & learned?
Great results man, keep crushing it !
Wow Its awesome Bro. I think ,next 9 months . you will reach 40k.
Wow , that’s just awesome! Crushing it Harsh!
i follow every post in your blog.. many things learnt from your blog only.. every article was very qualitative.. keep going @harsh Thanq.
Wow this is Amazing.
I think you will reach $50k till end of the year.
hope to see this in your next income report.
Wow this is why i love blogging although i have never made more than $2 ๐ from it please help me.which is the best affilliate program to use..i run a technology website and i want to earn a living from my blog.