Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Before you write one word of a sales page, do this first…

And a failure to do it can be the difference between:

dailtsalesfbad

I know.

“CLICKBAIT MUCH?”

Put down the pitchfork a sec, and let me explain.

When I sell something, I often use the generic “Introducing Product Name,” as the headline on my sales page.

And if you’re the type of person who reads and analyzes what other people do, you might come to the conclusion: “Oh! Derek writes good sales pages. He’s using Introducing Product Name. I SHOULD DO THAT TOO!”

…but would that be a good idea?

Well, that depends, right?

Right.

But do you know what it depends on?

Maybe you can come up with the reason why pretty quickly. Or maybe you’re struggling. But eventually, I’m sure you’ll think something like…

“It depends on whether people are excited to hear about your product or not. RIGHT?”

And, yea. You’re right.

But let me ask you a much harder question…

Let’s say you’re a Yoga Instructor. And you’re selling a course where you show people how to do Yoga through video instruction.

Now it’s time to create your sales page. Should you use the word “Yoga” in your headline? Or should you avoid that word like the plague?

This is a much harder question to answer, but believe it or not, there is a clear-cut, right, answer to this question. It’s not opinion based. There’s a right and wrong answer.

And it has to do with more than just headlines. It has to do with how you create your sales page… from start to finish… and getting it right could be the difference between $0 and $9342.

Or in other words.

Making sales. And not making sales.

And that’s why I always say that there’s only one thing you MUST do before you write one word of your sales page.

What is it?

Well…

You MUST answer the question: “who will be reading this sales page?”

And more specifically… what do they already know about you (as a yoga instructor)… what they already know (or don’t know) about Yoga… and what they already know about your course about Yoga.

Now I know this is a lot. And it may make you feel overwhelmed just thinking about it.

But…

What if I said I could provide you with a simple framework that can help you figure out what to say and how to say it… without spending one second stressing about it?

What if I said that this same framework will ALSO help you figure out what you should highlight about your product or service on your sales page… and what you should ignore?

“How convenient! I got a bridge in London to sell you!”

No, but really…

So, here’s what I’m gonna do:

I put together a LIVE training that I’m hosting on December 5th. There are two convenient times. One at 12:00PM Eastern. One at 8:00PM Eastern.

Reserve Your Spot for the 12PM Eastern Training.

Reserve Your Spot for the 8PM Eastern Training.

And on this call, I’ll walk you through all the nitty gritty details that go into creating a Sales Page that Converts.

I will focus specifically on these thorny little issues like the one I just shared with you, but I’ll also share:

* The exact structure your sales page should follow (and WHY you should follow it).

* How you can create a sales page in hours (instead of weeks or months).

* Why “knowing how to write” is the last thing you should worry about when you create a sales page

And more.

Reserve Your Spot for the 12PM Eastern Training.

Reserve Your Spot for the 8PM Eastern Training.

These are the only two times available at this time, and there won’t be a recorded replay. I know you know you need a sales page. Now’s the time to make the time to learn how to create a Sales Page that Converts.

Talk soon,
Derek Halpern



from
http://feeds.socialtriggers.com/~r/SocialTriggers/~3/eFN2iRRFmLk/

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Ever been offered $500 for a $5000 job? Here’s why people think they can under pay you…

So, you’re a freelancer. And you take great pleasure in doing great work for your clients. But the “good” clients are few and far between.

The reality is this: most people contact you and try to pay you $500 for a $5,000 job.

HOW ANNOYING, RIGHT?

Of course, you hope you never work with someone like this. After all, if they don’t value you and your work, why should you even give them the time of day?

But sometimes you “come down a little” because, hey. You got bills to pay. Plus, who knows how long it’ll be till the next gig comes along?

Now what if I said you could eliminate these ridiculous requests?

What if I said you could clearly communicate the value you provide and the people who contact you would be HAPPY to pay for it?

What if, instead of getting offered $500 for a $5000 job… you got offered $10,000 for a $5,000 job?

Sounds like a pipe dream, right?

Well, check this out…

The #1 Reason Why People Think They Can Underpay You

I’m Derek Halpern, and I run Social Triggers, a top resource for entrepreneurs and freelancers who want to start – and grow – their business. I’ve seen this issue time and time again…

…and I can tell you this:

The BIG reason why this happens is directly related to one little page on your website…

The REQUEST A QUOTE page.

I’ll explain…

If you pull up you request a quote page, let me guess. It looks something like this, right?

webdesign

And sure, maybe it doesn’t look exactly like this, but something similar, right?

Well…

What’s the PROBLEM here?

I’ll tell you…

Put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer for a second.

They need the service you provide. They see your contact page. And whether they have a good budget or not, they think, “Ah. It can’t hurt to email them, right?”

And that’s why people with very small budgets… people who will try and under pay you… contact you. “It can’t hurt to ask!”

Then…

You get frustrated by these unqualified customers. And that’s when you have the BRIGHT idea to put a “select your budget” drop down menu. Because you want to weed out these under paying clients.

But then the butterfly effect happens.

People with a sizable budget see this and they run for the hills. I mean, I’m the type of guy who spent $25,100 on a web design (I even wrote about it). If I see a “select your budget” drop down menu, I run for the hills because I feel as if the freelancer is trying to screw me.

It’s really bad.

So, what can you do?

And That’s Why You Need A Sales Page

People mistakenly think sales pages are for people who sell online courses.

And they are.

Sales pages work GREAT for online courses.

But, no matter what you sell online, a sales page is vital to make the sale.

And the world’s smartest companies use them.

Take a look:

Big companies use them…

Small businesses who sell online courses, coaching, consulting, and other services use them too:

And if you look around, you’ll see different types of businesses who use sales pages to persuade people to buy.

Personally, I’ve seen people use sales pages to sell anything from an e-book, to a speech, to a hand-made leather bag, to an online course, to a piece of software…

And a whole lot more.

So, I feel confident sharing this with you:

You NEED a sales page.

And if you’re the type of person who is sick and tired of people who think they can underpay you…

…you need a sales page now.

So, How Do You Make A Sales Page To Sell A Service? Or A Course? Or A Product?

I put together a new email training series that starts on November 28th. It’s called the “Create Your Sales Page” Challenge.

And the good news is that it’s 100% free.

You can sign up right here:

Join the Free Challenge

This challenge will be delivered to you over email. So, there’s no need to show up anywhere live. But you must sign up today. The deadline to join this challenge is November 27th.

What will I cover?

I’ll walk you through how to create a sales page that converts, including the psychological hooks that persuade people to buy. Plus, I’ll show you the 5 building blocks of a sales page that converts, proving anyone can create one. Even if you’re not a writer.

“I didn’t know how valuable a sales page was.
This course changed the way I run my launches.”
– Austin Roberson

Derek, your Sales Page That Converts course is,
hands-down, the most helpful online course I’ve ever taken
— and I’ve taken a LOT of them.”
– Beth Hayden



from
http://feeds.socialtriggers.com/~r/SocialTriggers/~3/B2webnq7MVU/

How to Grow Your Email List by 750 Subscribers Per Day – Mark and Lauren Greutman

How to Grow Your Email List by 750 Subscribers per Day with Mark and Lauren Greutman

Episode: 287
Who: Mark and Lauren Greutman
Website/Blog: LaurenGreutman.com

Do you want to grow your email list, but you’re not sure where to start?

Are you sick of relying on social media to bring you traffic?

In today’s episode, I’m on the line with Mark and Lauren Greutman. They run one of the largest personal finance websites in the country: LaurenGreutman.com.  Lauren is a regular guest on the TODAY show, Dr. Oz, Fox & Friends and many more national TV shows, as well as the #1 best-selling author of The Recovering Spender.  Mark is the content and website manager, as well as an email and paid advertising guru. Together, they work hand in hand to continue to build up their email lists using multiple strategies, which often net them 750 email sign ups per day. You’ve heard me say it before: your email list is one of your most valuable assets. So Mark and Lauren are here to share their secrets for boosting growth on your email list.

Mark and Lauren’s Story

It’s Mark’s first time on the show, but Lauren has actually been here twice before! If you want to know more of the backstory, check out Episode 147: How to Get Media Exposure for Your Blog and Episode 173: A Pinterest Strategy That Makes Sense.

The last time Lauren was on the podcast, Mark had just quit his job as an actuary to come home and work with Lauren full time. Both of them say that the first year working together was difficult, but now they’re in a good groove.

I had two questions right away: what does an actuary do? And why was that first year so rough?

Mark says that an actuary basically does lots of number crunching. You can find them in many different places, but he worked on pension plans and healthcare. As a result, he’s really, really good at spreadsheets. He’s got a spreadsheet for everything, which is super helpful when it comes to the email list!

The first year was rough because Mark stepped into Lauren’s world, but they hadn’t set out clear roles ahead of time. The website had been up and running for four years at that point, and the business was doing well. But Lauren wasn’t prepared for taking on another full-time employee. At the time, she would do things because she knew they worked, but she wasn’t necessarily able to explain them to someone else.

Mark will also be the first one to tell you that he didn’t understand Lauren’s audience at first. He would spend all day writing some amazing content, only for Lauren to throw it out because it wasn’t speaking to their audience.

Mark and Lauren Greutman with their four children

Mark and Lauren Greutman with their four children

Mark and Lauren also have four children, and they didn’t plan out clear roles or put together a schedule for who would do what around the house when Mark left his job. There was also a lot more pressure for the blog to be successful once they didn’t have the fallback of Mark’s separate income. So basically, Lauren says, “It was just a big, jumbled mess.”

So what happened? How did they get out of the mess?

Lauren’s book deal was a game-changer. Once she got offered the book deal about a year ago, she had to let a lot of things go. It was physically impossible for her to write and promote the book and do the website full time and be a full-time mom and cook dinner every night. So the book helped Mark and Lauren to find a balance.

Let’s Talk Email Lists

Was an email list always a priority for Lauren?

Nope. She did an RSS email for years.

Then two years ago, when Facebook had its big algorithm changes, Mark and Lauren decided they needed to build their email list. They realized that they couldn’t just be dependent on social media to reach their audiences any more.

Emails with a personal touch and a freebie

Emails with a personal touch and a freebie

So they stopped the RSS emails and started writing emails to the list with a much more personal tone. Lauren says she doesn’t use “form emails,” where you’re just getting a digest of new content. It has to look like you personally have written the emails. You’ve got to write them as if you were writing to a close friend.

Mark and Lauren also started offering freebies for signing up the email list. They’ve got different freebies available depending on what content you’re looking at when you sign up.

They’ll also start the email with your first name, when possible. Now, it’s true that the more details you ask for when someone is signing up to an email list, the less likely they are to sign up. Mark and Lauren only ask for your first name and your email address, most of the time. But on the mobile version of the site, they only want your email address, because it’s harder to fill in multiple fields on a phone or tablet.

Mark and Lauren use ConvertKit to manage their email marketing, but Lauren also responds to every single email that comes to their inbox.

convertkit

Convert Kit

 

Wait, what?! 750 new subscribers per day, and she answers every single email?!

Yes! Lauren is careful to say that she only gets about 20 emails per day, even though they have lots of new subscribers. And she does use some canned responses, if people send frequently asked questions. But she does spend one to two hours per day just answering email.

This really sets the blog apart: Lauren and Mark are willing to invest in the people who come to their website. The community is everything. Lauren says, “if we don’t have them, we don’t have anything.”

Where Do I Start?

So if I want to build my email list the way that Mark and Lauren have, where should I start? How do I up my marketing game?

Offer a ton of value in your free giveaway

Offer a ton of value in your free giveaway

The first thing, Mark says, is to think about what kind of people you want on your list. Then, make sure that your freebies match the audience you’re targeting.

For example, Mark and Lauren were previously giving away a meal plan as a freebie, but they have since changed the focus on their blog. Where they were more about food before, now they are more focused on budgeting and debt reduction. So the meal plan giveaway no longer attracts the right kind of audience.

You need to think about who specifically you’re targeting, even within your niche. What are their needs and problems? Then, think about what you can create that will be attractive enough to them that they’ll want to sign up to your list.

You also want to offer a ton of value in your free giveaway. This helps to build trust in you and your brand. Don’t just throw them a one-page printout. Lauren says that kind of thing is just “lame.” Instead, really “knock their socks off.” Lauren and Mark are currently offering a 15-page budget pack with an explanation of how to use it and a customized spreadsheet. That’s the kind of thing they could charge for, but they’re happy to give it away if it gets people in the door.

One thing that stands out to me is the utility of that budget pack. This freebie is something that Lauren and Mark’s email subscribers will use every day in their life or in their business. And because the spreadsheet is branded, they’ll be reminded of LaurenGreutman.com every time they open it. Genius!

So think: if you were in the position of your target reader, what would actually be useful for you? I could picture giving away an affiliate tracker spreadsheet, or an income tracking spreadsheet for bloggers, for example.

Write a really creative, compelling, long form piece of content.

Write a really creative, compelling, long form piece of content.

Okay, so you’ve created your awesome resource to give away. Now what?

Write a really creative, compelling, long form piece of content with an emotional hook that gets people to sign up for your list. For example, Mark and Lauren recently did a post called “How to Budget When You Don’t Make Enough Money.” It hits all the pain points of people in debt or up at night worrying about bills.

The invitation to download their budget pack is embedded in the article copy, repeated at the end of the article, and in a pop-up. So a reader has three different opportunities to sign up.

Using Social Media Advertising

Then, once you have the content, get it out there on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Keep in mind that you’ll pay less for ad space if you are promoting content. It costs significantly less to promote a blog post as compared to a landing page.

Your goal is to get people to this piece of content in the cheapest way possible. The secret? Really good copy for the text you see on the ad itself. This is so important. It has to be super engaging if you want the cost per click to go down–which you do!

Get Your Content Out There

Get Your Content Out There

The first step to creating amazing copy is to test it out with organic reach. Mark and Lauren have 134,000 Facebook fans, so they can usually tell within the first hour if something they’ve posted is doing really well and is worth promoting. We’ll stick to tips for Facebook here, since that’s where most of my audience is focusing.

That might seem intimidating if you only have 500 or 1,000 followers, but your audience are still the best gauge of how strong your copy is. If you normally get 5 shares, but something you post gets 20 or 30, you know you’re onto something.

Mark also emphasizes that shares and click-through rates are much more important statistics than likes when testing your copy. Then, when you set up your ad campaign later on, make sure you’re measuring clicks, not engagement.

In the organic phase, it can be good to test copy by posting the same content a few different ways. Or, you can just go in and edit a post that isn’t performing as well as you’d like. Mark and Lauren have done this before, and they always see an increase in engagement once they adjust the copy.

You want to be paying attention to your RPM. That’s your ad revenue per 1,000 page views. If you know your RPM, and you divide that number by 1,000, you’ll have a rough sense of your ad revenue per page view. So if your RPM is $10, you’re getting a penny per page view.

So now, the goal is to get people onto your site for a penny each, because then that’s free traffic. In other words, you want to be earning the same amount from each visit that you’re paying for each click. And then, once they’re there, everything you make through autoresponders and your own products and affiliate links is “gravy.”

Getting Cheap Clicks

Sounds good, but these are hypothetical numbers. Like, it’s not possible to get down to a penny per click…right?

Actually, Mark and Lauren say, “YES.” It is definitely possible to get down to a penny per click. It takes some testing and experience, and it won’t happen every time, but it is possible. They’ve done it.

So how do we get those cheap clicks? Unfortunately, there’s no single formula that works every time. Mark said that it takes testing. So what does he test? And how?

You’ve got to test all kinds of things: the audience you’re targeting, the image you’re using, the copy… Basically, you have to do some kind of split testing if you want to get the cost per click relatively low.

Split Test Social Media Ads

Split Test Social Media Ads

If that sounds intimidating, there are some third-party sites that can help. Mark and I have both used AdEspresso in the past, which makes split testing really easy. It costs $49 per month, but it will auto-generate ads with all the different variables for you, which is a big help, especially if you’ve never done split testing before.  

You’ll also need to think about who you’re targeting, and how. Hit your own fans first, and then branch out to a “lookalike audience.” A lookalike audience just means an audience that has similar demographics to yours. Facebook’s ad manager can help you identify and target these audiences.

Sometimes, it’s even easier to just target Facebook pages similar to yours. If you know that there’s an audience within your niche who would be interested in your product, you can target them directly through a Facebook fan page rather than targeting a generic lookalike audience.

It can also help to have multiple email lists. So, for example, if Mark and Lauren have a cookbook list, and they want to target them with a budgeting freebie, they can upload that cookbook list to Facebook and target those people with ads for their new product.

You’ll want to cast your net pretty wide with all of this stuff. Sometimes, your cost per click goes up because your ads are just landing in front of the same people over and over, so they’re not clicking again. You need to be able to scale up once you have a formula that works.

Final Tips?

Make sure you’ve got autoresponders set up! Once you get people on your email list, you need to engage them right away. Make sure that they’re a “warm” list.

Engage with the people on your list

Engage with the people on your list

When someone signs on to Mark and Lauren’s email list, they get a thank-you page with a video of Lauren right away. It helps to put a face to the name.

Then, they get multiple emails from Lauren over the course of the next week through one of the autoresponders. Again, it’s important to give these emails a really personal tone. You want your audience to feel like you’re just talking to them. This helps them to feel more engaged and keeps your unsubscribes down. That way, you can focus on selling them, and you can use the list when you launch a new product. In addition, your list will come back to the site and generate even more ad revenue.

Mark points out that it’s also important to have relevant affiliate links. You should also make sure that you tag them, so that you can keep track of exactly what people are paying for and how much each person on the email list is worth to you (but that’s a whole other podcast…!).

If the numbers in this podcast seem intimidating, don’t worry! These tips will help you grow your email list no matter what stage you’re at. If you’re currently growing your list by 5 people per day, and you can get that up to 20 or 30 just by spending some money on ads in a targeted way, that’s a huge, huge improvement! Those are people that you can nurture and build a relationship with. It doesn’t have to be hundreds of new subscribers to make a difference.

And, finally, remember that “your money is in your list.” Mark and Lauren say that their email list is the number one most valuable asset in their business, and it should be yours, too!

Where Can I Learn More?

If you want to know more about what Mark and Lauren are up to, or you want to take advantage of that awesome budget pack, or maybe you even want to buy some of their products, head on over to LaurenGreutman.com.

Resources Mentioned

Infographic

How to Grow Your Email List by 750 Subscribers Per Day

How to Grow Your Email List by 750 Subscribers Per Day

The post How to Grow Your Email List by 750 Subscribers Per Day – Mark and Lauren Greutman appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.



from
http://www.becomeablogger.com/24064/grow-your-email-list-subscribers/

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

5 Things to Do If You Want to Fail at Online Business

Strange feeling, isn’t it?

Both exciting and terrifying at the same time.

But that’s what it’s like, starting an online business.

On the one hand, you know you were meant to do more with your life than being stuck in a job you hate.

On the other, starting a new business is risky — and the thought of failing and crawling to your boss to beg for your old job back paralyzes you with fear.

You yearn to take control of your destiny and see where your passion leads you. But passion is not enough, and you know it. To make it work, you need to create a source of self-sustaining income.

For most people, though, starting a business doesn’t sound like fun. At least not compared to “following your dream.”

But if you really want to gain your freedom while making your mark on the world, you have to make the leap. You have to start your online business.

And honestly, you couldn’t have picked a better time to do it. The Online Revolution is here and in full swing, ready to scoop courageous entrepreneurs into its warm, multi-billion-dollar embrace.

And that’s frickin’ exhilarating!

But the possibility of embarrassing, crippling failure is still very real.

So what’s a would-be online entrepreneur to do?

If You’re Not Scared Witless, You’re Probably Being Reckless

Let’s be honest, the insane number of moving parts required for a successful online business are intimidating enough to make even the most determined entrepreneur freeze like a deer in the headlights.

Getting started feels like jumping on a merry-go-round that’s spinning 1,000 miles per hour.

And that’s when the reality of failure sneaks in and threatens to smack that revolutionary opportunity right out of your hands.

But wait…

What about “taking action,” “failing fast” and “pivoting?” Aren’t they the true path to entrepreneurial success?

Well… kinda.  

Because there’s a huge difference between failing while doing something the right way, and failing because you jumped in unprepared for the challenges ahead.

Online Business Failure - Quote 1

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  Nobody can be 100% prepared for an uncertain journey like entrepreneurship. And you’re right.

But ironically, it’s our fear of failure that drives us to make some pretty silly mistakes.

In a mad dash to take action, make progress, and draw ourselves closer to the finish line, we forget, overlook, or flat-out ignore vital steps in the business building process.

Well, the good news is that many of the most common reasons why online businesses fail are completely avoidable — if you know what they are.

But here are five things to do if you’re still hell-bent on failure (and some practical advice for dodging each bullet just in case you aren’t):

#1 Create a Horrific Franken-Strategy

It seems like someone launches a new tactic, strategy or business model every week — if not every day.

The outcomes they promise are so tempting that it’s damn near impossible to resist trying them.

I mean, how can you turn your back on strategies that offer to “10x” your content, traffic, profits, and email list?

Here are just a few of the tantalizing offers that could drop into your inbox any week of the year:

  • Get 100,000 Instagram Followers
  • Get 10,000 email subs with Facebook ads
  • Build a 6-figure online course
  • Become a popular guest blogger

It never ends…

So you get scatterbrained and decide to try a little bit of everything. You take bits and pieces of powerful strategies and tactics from multiple mentors and coaches and blindly mix them together.

But in doing so, you inadvertently create a monster.  A monster that’s destined to wreak havoc and destroy your business, your time, and your pocketbook.

I like to call this monster a Franken-Strategy.

Here are some examples of what this powerful beast looks like:

  • As you work on growing your email list with guest blogging, you decide to take a shortcut and mix in a couple of quick Facebook ads.  And for good measure, you add a few Instagram marketing tactics.
  • As you work on building your blog traffic, you decide to try a little bit of everything: social media, random list building hacks, and what the heck… toss in some SEO stuff too.
  • As you work on getting your online coaching business off the ground, you decide to tinker with Pinterest marketing, and perhaps a webinar or two. While you’re at it, you stitch a few surveys to that bad boy.

The sneaky part about these crazy combos is you see popular online business gurus mixing it up all the time. And it seems to work great for them — after all, they’re gazillionaires.

Well, here are two problems with that:

  1. An effective strategy is put together a certain way for a reason. You usually can’t omit or change key steps without breaking it. (Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a strategy, just a collection of ideas.)
  2. You know those experts you follow? Yeah, they’re pros at this strategy mixing stuff. They probably tried it the “pure” way initially, tweaking it based on their results to make it work even better for them.

Sure, you’re a pro at being a life coach, nutritionist, writer or something else, but those passion-based skills differ considerably compared to those required to run and market a business.

So resist the temptation to pick and choose your tactics like you just reached the front of the queue at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Online Business Failure - Quote 2

Now at this stage, you might think:

Hey, it’s my business. I can do whatever I want!

And you’re right.

But what if doing whatever you want with your strategy stops you from getting what you actually want from your business?

I know it’s not easy to hear. But it’s true.

So pick a mentor with a strategy that feels doable for you — and stick to it. Give that one strategy a chance to shine on its own.

#2 Insist on Doing Every Damn Thing Yourself

We’ve all been there. Your car needs servicing, so you decide to train as an auto mechanic and do the work yourself.

Except, of course, you don’t.

But that’s the approach many people take to key tasks in their online businesses.

When our business requires a specialist’s skill, we’ll happily spend hundreds of hours immersed in “how to” posts — or thousands of dollars on books and courses.

But if I’ve learned anything from my four failed online businesses it’s this:

You can’t do it all and expect to keep your head above water.

Tackling every aspect of your business all by yourself simply will not work.

Now, what about you? Do you recognize any of these business-crushing mistakes:

  • You bury yourself in tutorials and knowledge bases for months so you can customize a complicated WordPress plugin or theme instead of using a more user-friendly theme that works right out of the box.
  • You need some compelling copy for your website so you decide to spend $2K on a 3-month master copywriting course instead of hiring a copywriter who can complete it in a week for half the cost (or less).
  • You want better Google rankings, so you bust your brain trying to apply complicated SEO tactics to your blog posts instead of hiring an agency to do it for you.
  • You waste time trying to personally handle administrative tasks like basic customer support emails instead of hiring a VA to assist you.

The list goes on and on…

Here Are 3 Common Reasons You Try to Do Everything Yourself:

1) Control

You not only want it done the right way,  but you also want it done your way. You believe depending on someone else to help you only adds more risk to the equation.

However, having the ability to attend to every single task for your business is not only an illusion; it’s impossible. There simply isn’t enough time or energy to play a significant role in every aspect of your business.

At some point, every successful entrepreneur has to let go of some of the reins and delegate responsibilities to others. If you can’t, you’ll never scale your business.

2) Budget

Whether you truly lack the funds or you’re just a tightwad, the money isn’t there, and you can’t afford to pay anyone else to do the work for you.

It might be tough to accept, but most online businesses need an upfront investment, which means you may not be financially ready to start one yet.

However, if you have a small budget, you can stretch it by compromising on certain things. For example: be satisfied with an out-of-the-box theme with no customizations, use a wordmark instead of a designed logo, and use free software and plugins.

3) Procrastination

It’s only natural to protect yourself from failure by attempting to prepare yourself for success. You don’t want to look like a fool, right? So you tell yourself that you need to learn this “one last thing… and then you’ll be ready to launch.

However, there’s no such thing as the right time to start. And delaying will not lessen any of the exposure or life changes that are holding you back.

Even though it’s scary as hell, you’ll likely discover that once you jump in, getting started and being exposed isn’t as bad as it seems.

Look, I Get It…

In the beginning, it may seem as though a new entrepreneur has to wear all the hats. But remember, you’re only one person, and you can’t assume the roles of CEO, marketing manager, content creator and customer service provider if you want to succeed.

Because if you think it’s tough to do everything in the beginning, it only gets worse as your business starts to take off.

So the next time you’re tempted to enroll in a $2,000 course or spend months learning a new skill or marketing technique, ask yourself if you could more wisely spend your time and money delegating tasks or making compromises while continuing to grow your business.

#3 Make It All About You (Even Though You Know You Shouldn’t)

Quick question: Who should be the focus of your blog and online business: you, or your audience?

Your likely response: “My audience. Duh!!”

“Is this a joke? Am I being punked?”

I mean, every smart blogger knows this. It’s Blogging 101, right?

The funny thing is, when the time comes to develop and execute their business’s content and design, I have yet to find a single freelancer or entrepreneur who doesn’t buck against this advice. They always let their personal preferences and hunches take center stage.

Even stranger: when I confront them, attempting to educate and warn them of the perils, they admit that many of their choices cater more to themselves than their audience, brand, conversions or their business.

It’s like warning someone that a hot stove will burn them, and their response is “Oh I know that, but I’m gonna touch it anyway. Thanks!”

My point?

You know your business should focus unwaveringly on your audience. You hear it all the time.

You get it. But you don’t practice it.

So why is that?

Well, building your business to cater to other people is a painful and counter-intuitive process. After all, it’s your business, and you want it to represent you and your knowledge.

You want to look at your site and see a reflection of yourself. Something friends and family will say “Oh, that’s totally you.”

The problem is — none of that matters.

What does matter is what your audience expects to see. And even more importantly, that your audience sees a reflection of themselves — not you.

The first step is to stop thinking of your online business as a personal project. It’s not a scrapbooking session. And it’s not a mysterious bottom-of-the-pantry casserole either.

Online Business Failure - Quote 3

Instead, think of it for what it is:

It’s a business designed for a specific audience.

Here’s a case in point:

A food blogger creates a site that looks like a food blog. And even though she doesn’t like how most food blogs look, she goes with it because it works… it’s what her audience expects to see. And she also has content and recipes that her audience craves. Not just a collection of what she likes (or even worse — what she thinks her audience should like).

There’s a reason why Mexican restaurants look like Mexican restaurants and serve Mexican food. There’s a reason why social media sites look like social media sites and offer social interaction tools. There’s a reason why minimalist blogs look minimal and offer minimalist content.

And that reason is: that’s what the audience expects and wants.

Don’t get me wrong. I strongly encourage you to apply your own personal twist in your writing and design. But if you twist too far, so much so that your audience can’t recognize their expectations in your offer, you’ll break your business for sure.

If you’re struggling with design, pick a proven template or hire a designer with a track record in your niche. Not sure which of several options works best? Ask your audience. It doesn’t matter which you prefer. (But try telling your ego that.)

As for content, you already know the answer:

  • Do your research (e.g., blog comments, forums, social media).
  • Pick topics your audience craves (not just ones you find interesting).
  • Engage with your readers and use their feedback to refine your focus.

Always keep your sights on your audience and don’t let those self-centered choices get in the way.

Because you must wrap your head around this:

Your audience doesn’t care about you. They only care what you can do for them.

Fail to make that connection, and you’ll fail to deliver what they want.

And that means your business will fail.

Every time.

#4 Try to Be a Second-Rate Someone Else

You’re smart. You know that the quickest way to building an online business is to tap into the wealth spring of a profitable market that already exists.

And let’s face it, the best sign of a healthy market is that other businesses are already thriving there.

In fact, some of those businesses are probably your role models — influential bloggers with hordes of raving fans and an enviable online empire full of million-dollar products.

Talk about a proven market!

But while it’s only natural to aspire to a similar level of success, there’s a real danger in copying your role models too closely. You’ll end up creating a “me too” business, one that fails to differentiate itself from the others already established in the market.

Let’s say you’re a huge fan of Jon Morrow. So you decide to target the same audience as Jon. You try to write headlines like Jon. You do your best to tell stories like Jon. You even imagine creating products like Jon.

But the thing is, you’re not Jon. Try as you might, you’ll always be a pale imitation.

So you have to ask yourself: why would readers who resonate with Jon’s content and style read your blog instead of — or even as well as — his?

In other words, why would anyone choose the imitation when they can have the original?

Online Business Failure - Quote 4

Of course, that’s not to say you couldn’t build a blog as popular as Jon’s, but you’ll never be able to out-Jon, Jon. So if you want to appeal to the same audience, you need to do it in a different way.

But let’s say you want to appeal to an entirely different audience. Let’s say you want to be the Jon Morrow of technology, parenting or even… interior design?

Well then, my friend, you could be onto something. Because then you have a differentiator. You’re bringing a distinctive blogging and online business style into a niche where it doesn’t exist yet.

(Just better hope Jon doesn’t start blogging on those topics!)

So never forget that you need a strong differentiator. Something about you, your business or your product that sets you apart.

In other words, you need a strong answer to the question:

“Why would people read my blog and buy my product or service instead of the already established alternatives?”

But how can you do that?

The possibilities are numerous, however, here are few ways to stand out in a sea of sameness:

  1. Have a strong attitude. Take a stand for your worldview… and don’t ever back down. You don’t have to name names and call people out. Rather, you can pick a fight with the status quo. Be bold. Be daring. Yell it from the rooftops!
  2. Pick a different format. If your role models tend to publish long-form blog posts, then try publishing in a video or audio format. If your niche is already swamped with good content, become a curator instead of a creator (just as Brian Clark did with his Further newsletter).
  3. Revitalize a classic. Find a tired method, strategy or mindset that still works and give it a useful upgrade. Seth Godin did this with his book Purple Cow. He took the classic teaching of developing a unique selling proposition (USP) and gave it a modern-day upgrade. What if you applied minimalism to parenting? Or the 80/20 rule to career development?

Next time you’re tempted to follow your heroes too closely, just ask yourself what kind of entrepreneur you want to be: a passable forgery or a true artist?

#5 Refuse to Make Real Sacrifices

You see it on every online course sales page, launch email, and money-back guarantee. Like the big list of side-effects at the end of a drug commercial, it’s always there. You can’t miss it.

“You gotta put in the work. If you aren’t willing to put forth an honest effort, then this course is not for you.”

It’s become such a common statement that you tend to blaze right past it while thinking “Yeah, Yeah, I get it. I’ll do the work. Now where’s the damn buy button?”

But here’s the thing…

Nobody tells you what “putting in the work” actually means.

Well I’m going to expose that sneaky little phrase for what it really means:

You must be willing to make sacrifices.

Building a business takes time, money, and energy. If you’re serious, then something must give. Extra time doesn’t just magically appear the moment you hand over your PayPal details.

No successful business owner got where she is without making numerous sacrifices in exchange (at least at first).

Here are the kinds of sacrifices I’m talking about:

  • Watching less TV (and that includes the latest must-see Netflix series)
  • Giving up on some of your hobbies
  • Working in the evenings & on the weekends (even if you don’t feel like it)
  • Declining invites from family and friends (and maybe getting into trouble for it)
  • Being less dedicated to your day job (which could affect your offline career)

Look, your sacrifices don’t have to be sudden and brutal — they can be methodical and gradual.

I’m not asking you to abandon your family, destroy your career, reject all forms of enjoyment, and become a maniacal, business-obsessed hermit.

However, you must take a long, hard look at what you do with your time. And figure out how you’re going to make room for your business.

Some people find it helpful to write down daily routines over the course of a week. Be honest and specific. Make a list of everything you spend time doing, as well as how much time it takes. Then go through your time inventory and make as many cuts and adjustments as you need.

For each item ask: is this more important than getting my online business off the ground? If not, consider cutting it.

Others find it easier to make sacrifices on the fly. They decide from week to week as their business commitments fluctuate.

And a few brave souls take huge plunges like quitting their day jobs. That way they’re forced to make their business a top priority. It’s a high-risk strategy but for certain people the lack of a safety net is the best motivator they know.

I can’t tell you exactly what to sacrifice. It’s up to you to decide what to cut and how much.

But I can tell you that without sacrifices, without shifting your priorities, you’ll never create the business of your dreams.

Online Business Failure - Quote 5

Stop Inviting Failure and Get on the Path to Success

Starting an online business is risky, no doubt about it.

And going into something feeling like the deck is already stacked against you is discouraging, even downright depressing.

But not all risks are created equal. In practice, you can slash the chances of your business flopping by opening your eyes to how and where failure most often occurs.

So study the lessons above and make sure you’re not cruising towards failure along one of these misguided paths.

Will this insure you completely from defeat? Of course not.

But armed with a knowledge of the most common pitfalls, I have a feeling you’re not going to let that stop you.

Because even though you know that the road to online success is paved with a million failed dreams, there’s something special about us entrepreneurs.

Despite improbable odds, immeasurable fear, and the toughest of sacrifices, we refuse to be defeated.

And that’s the secret to it all:

When you’ve eliminated the risks you can control, you must dive in and start clearing a path to success. And if you hit a road bump or make a mistake, brush yourself off, learn something useful from it… and then pick your ass back up for another round.

Because that’s what real entrepreneurs do.

So, are you ready to make that leap?

About the Author: Blaine Wilkerson helps scatterbrained entrepreneurs launch their online businesses. Grab your free cheat sheet of the most reliable tools every online business needs here.


from
https://smartblogger.com/online-business-failure/

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Pinterest Strategy: How to Increase Traffic to Your Blog – with Bob Lotich

286_bob-lotich_pinterest

Pinterest Strategy: How to Increase Traffic to Your Blog – with Bob Lotich

Episode: 286
Who: Bob Lotich
Website: SeedTime.com

Did you know Pinterest can boost traffic to your blog?

Think your content isn’t right for Pinterest? Think again!

For today’s episode, I’m on the line with Bob Lotich, creator of SeedTime.com. It’s a personal finance blog that looks at money from a Biblical perspective. He started it back in 2007, and it has since grown into a multi-author blog with a whole bunch of awesome content helping people all over the world. At a recent conference, Bob shared how he has been using Pinterest to cause an explosion of traffic over the last few years.

Needless to say, I was impressed. Why? Because his blog isn’t about cooking, DIY or any of the other very visual platforms that seem to dominate Pinterest. His blog is about managing your finances. I thought to myself, if Bob could kill it with Pinterest in that niche, we could all learn a lot from what he’s doing!

Bob’s Story

Bob has actually been on the podcast twice before. He was here for Episode 81: How to Build a Successful Blog in a Competitive Niche and for Episode 168: How One Simple Strategy Increased Adsense Earnings by 80%. If you want to know more about Bob’s backstory, head on over to those episodes.

Back then, Bob’s blog was called Christian PF, but he’s in the middle of rebranding to SeedTime.com right now. He’s still trying to reach a Christian market, but he and his team feel that this change will help them reach their goals as a business. The name comes from the Book of Genesis, where it says that there will be seed time and there will be harvest. Basically, when you invest the time to plant, you will reap the rewards.

So…Pinterest?

So what makes a personal finance blogger decide to get into Pinterest?

Bob says that his Google traffic started dropping off in about 2013. And he started to get nervous, because he’s feeding his family with this blog!

So he took action by diving into Facebook. For about 6 months, he devoted all of his energy to getting traffic from Facebook. And it worked, sort of. He ended up with about 10-15,000 views per month from Facebook. That’s okay, but it paled in comparison to what he had been seeing previously.

See Time Facebook page

Seed Time Facebook page

Then he started really looking at his analytics and he realized: he had put all that effort into Facebook, and he was still getting more traffic from Pinterest without doing anything. He had made a Pinterest account years ago, but he wasn’t very active on it.

So Bob thought, “why don’t I try to actually learn Pinterest?”

After 18 months, he had gone from about 12,000 views per month to 500,000 views per month from Pinterest. Yes, you read that correctly. Five. Hundred. Thousand. In his best month, he had 640,000 views from Pinterest. That dropped off a little after a while, and today Bob routine gets 300-400,000 visits per month just from Pinterest. Not too shabby.

How To Use Pinterest

If you want to snag some of that traffic, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First of all, think about conversions. You can have millions of visitors, but they’re worth nothing to you if they aren’t there for the right reasons. Bob told me a story about his wife’s blog to illustrate this point.

Bob’s wife ran a style blog for a while, and back in 2010 she had posted about a friend’s wedding. It was a very Pinterest-worthy wedding, and the photographer took gorgeous photos. When Bob’s wife pinned the story, she got something like 400,000 repins on the platform and over 1,000 views per month on the site–but she made almost no money from it.

seedtime_pinterest

Seed Time Pinterest page

Why? Pinterest is a very visual medium, and so people were coming to the blog just to download the pretty pictures and not to actually engage with the content.

The lesson, Bob says, is that “you can have things get repinned like crazy, and you can even capture traffic from Pinterest, but if it’s coming to your site for the wrong reason, it’s of no value to you.” A repin is not the same as a visit to your site (just like a Facebook share or a retweet), and a visit does not automatically equal value for you. You want visitors who are there to learn something or to buy something, not visitors who just want to download an image.

What Works on Pinterest?

That said, Bob’s Pinterest visitors are actually among his most profitable customers. Pinterest traffic has actually performed better than Google traffic for him! They sign up to the email list at a much higher rate, and Adsense offers convert better, too.

The key, he says, is to know how to target your audience.

Problem-solving content works really well on Pinterest. A “how-to” image pulls your audience in for all the right reasons. It’s about aligning their intentions with your business goals.

For each of his blog posts, Bob includes an image formatted for Pinterest. That means vertical rather than horizontal orientation, because vertical images get more “real estate” on Pinterest. It’s best to have a 2:3 ratio (2 wide to 3 tall).

pinterest_posts_1

Use the recommended Pinterest image format for your pins

Then, he creates a text overlay that explains the content of the post and gives the title. That way, no one is going to repin Bob’s images just because they’re pretty. They’re repinning and clicking through because they want to go to the article and find out the answer.

Top tip: don’t put the answer on the image! Create a little mystery. Infographics will get repinned like crazy, but they won’t drive traffic back to your site.

Even though you don’t want your visitors to be totally focused on the image, you still have to make a really great graphic. Bob usually creates his images in Photoshop, but you can also use a free service called Canva.com. In fact, I use Canva for Become a Blogger! It’s a great service that even has some Pinterest templates to get you started.

Remember that Pinterest is a VERY visual platform. You’re competing with great designers, and the audience in 70-80% women. You’ve got to have great images, with consistent branding, in order to be successful.

Collaborative Boards

Okay, so you’ve got great images, you’ve got tantalizing descriptions, and you’re ready to start pinning. What now?

Bob says you have to understand that most people use Pinterest as a bookmarking platform. It’s not social in the same way that Facebook and Twitter are. People may not intend to share when they repin. They might just be saving the article for later. But the sharing happens as a side effect. As a result, people might pin 10 or 15 things at once. It’s not like Facebook, where one or two posts per day will do the trick. The intention is different.

Still, when something gets pinned, it goes out to the pinner’s followers. So it’s important to have a following.

But what if you’re starting from scratch? That’s where collaborative boards can be really useful.

Pinterest is structured around user “boards,” which basically work like bulletin boards. If you were working on a project, you might have a bulletin board where you pin up inspirational images. Pinterest works on the same principle. So boards are usually topical: you might have a gardening board, or a blogging board, or a wedding planning board.

Seed Time - Money Saving Board on Pinterest

Seed Time – Money Saving Board on Pinterest

Collaborative boards or group boards are boards that have multiple contributors, so lots of people are pinning content to the same board. Some group boards have hundreds of contributors. And they’re great because once you’re on a group board, you’re all tapping into each others’ audiences.

So if Bob had a blogging group board, and he invited me to pin there, I could pin to Bob’s blogging board whenever I wanted. And if Bob had a much bigger following than I did on Pinterest, that could be really, really helpful.

But how do you know which boards to join? How do you even find them?

Bob recommends a site called PinGroupie.com. There, you can look for group boards that you’d want to be part of. You can get a description and some stats about each board. You want to look for boards with lots of repins per pin and likes per pin, although repins are more important than likes.
Once you find a board you want to join, take a look at the description to see if they’re accepting new contributors. Some will be totally closed off, but others will provide information about how to contact them if you want to join.

PinGroupie Filter

PinGroupie Filter

These group boards sound great! Why bother even having your own boards? Why not just devote all your time to group boards?

Bob says once you’re set up on Pinterest, it’s definitely fine to focus on the group boards. But having your own profile gives you credibility with group board owners. If your profile is just totally empty, the board owner might think you’re a spammer.

Also, if someone finds you through a group board, but then your profile is empty, they won’t be incentivized to click through to your blog or to follow you.

So you should also spend some time building up your own profile on Pinterest before you ask to join a group board. Bob advises taking a couple of weeks to build up your own following, get some pins up, and do some repinning yourself before you reach out to group boards.

Bob’s Pinterest Workflow

Bob says it’s important to have a “Pin It” button on your website, which you can set up with a WordPress plugin. Even just including that button will bring you some Pinterest traffic.

Pin It" buttons placed in the website

“Pin It” buttons placed in the website

It’s also crucial to look at the rules and guidelines for each group board that you join. They’ll all be slightly different. Bob recommends making a spreadsheet to keep all of that information in one place.

Bob uses a mixed workflow with Pinterest. Some of his pins are scheduled, but he and his assistant manually pin a lot, too. It’s so easy to do, and he thinks there may be an algorithm advantage to manual pinning.

Determine the Number of pins per day you need to do

Determine the Number of pins per day you need to do

When you start building your profile, or you start pinning to group boards, it’s best to start with your highest-performing content.

Check board rules about repinning the same content. Different boards will have different “spam thresholds,” so build a schedule and a pattern for repinning that you’re comfortable with and that follows the rules.

In terms of quantity, Bob and his team don’t push boundaries in terms of what boards allow. Even if he was allowed to do ten pins a day on one board, he wouldn’t. It’s just too aggressive. He’s on about 100 boards, and he says that 15-20 of those are what he would consider his top boards. He pins at least once a day to those. Overall, Bob pins 15-30 times total per day to group boards.

He also pins other people’s content on his regular (non-group) boards. He’s got 15-20 of those, and they’re mostly topical. He mostly repins other people’s content on those boards, partly because it generates good will on the platform and partly because it gives his a boost in the site’s algorithms.

A final tip: remember that you have more potential ways to communicate what a visitor will see when they get to your site on Pinterest than you do on a Google search result or even on Facebook. You’ve got the image, the title, the text overlay, the description… there are a lot of ways to get the information out. That stuff helps conversion, if you do it right. Other than that, just do what you would do with any traffic source on your site: offer content upgrades, and make sure your page design and advertising are working for you.

Where Can I Learn More?

If you want more detail about how to drive traffic using Pinterest, you’re in luck. Bob actually did a talk about this subject at FinCon in 2015, and the whole thing is up on his other site, EfficientBlogging.com. Head on over EfficientBlogging.com/fc15 to hear and see his 45-minute talk.

Resources Mentioned

Infographic

286_bob-lotich_infographic

Pinterest Strategy: How to Increase Traffic to Your Blog – with Bob Lotich

The post Pinterest Strategy: How to Increase Traffic to Your Blog – with Bob Lotich appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.



from
http://www.becomeablogger.com/24026/pinterest-strategy-increase-traffic-blog-bob-lotich/

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Social Media Algorithms: How to Respond to Declining Organic Reach – with Mike Stelzner

Social Media Algorithms: How to Respond to Declining Organic Reach

Social Media Algorithms: How to Respond to Declining Organic Reach

Episode: 285
Who: Michael Stelzner
Website/Blog: Social Media Examiner

How should you respond to algorithm changes?

Can bloggers fight back?

In today’s episode, I’m on the line with Michael Stelzner, the founder of Social Media Examiner, the author of Launch and Writing White Papers, the host of the Social Media Marketing podcast, and the founder of Social Media Marketing World. Mike has very deep knowledge about what it takes to do well with social media, and he has become a good friend and mentor to me.

We’re covering a VERY BIG topic today: social media algorithms and how to respond to declining organic reach. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but when it comes to social media, the times are changing! I felt like I had to have this conversation with Mike to see what you and I can do as bloggers to set ourselves up for success.

Mike was actually on the podcast all the way back in Episode 116, so head on over to becomeablogger.com/116 if you want to know more about his backstory. Today, we’re going to launch right into the content.

Blogging and Social Media

My first question for Mike is: how did blogging change with the invention of social media?

Blogging and Social Media

Blogging and Social Media

Mike started his first blog in 2005, and the social media revolution came about in 2008-9. He’s seen lots of changes. Some are good, and some are not so good. But he thinks the changes are mostly good.

For example, he’s seen a lot of people become bloggers who started out expressing themselves in short form on social media. They got used to having a platform and responding to an audience.

The biggest thing that social media did for blogging was that it was a traffic accelerator. In the early days, it brought in floods of traffic. It helped you when Google “had a moodswing!” It was the solution to not getting on search results.

But what about the downsides?

Mike says one of the biggest changes is that bloggers have seen declining comments on the posts themselves. Conversations have shifted off the blogs and onto the social media platforms. So bloggers now have to manage conversations in multiple places. People want to connect with you where they are, and it can get really confusing. And sometimes, it means that people aren’t clicking through. They’re just reading the headline.

It’s also harder to get traffic from social media now. Social platforms want to host the content themselves, like Facebook Instant Articles and Google AMP. You used to have a “hub and spoke” model, with content in one place and everything pointing back to it. Now, it’s like there’s copies of the content in lots of different places.

Resisting the New Model

So how has Social Media Examiner responded?

They’re holding tight. They’re refusing to publish their content anywhere but on their own site. Their philosophy is: if you want our content, you have to come and get it.

The Social Media Examiner Blog

The Social Media Examiner Blog

They have lots of strategies in place to make sure that people can find their content. For example, their email list has 525,000 subscribers! They send out new posts three days per week to the list.

Mike’s business objective is to drive people to the site. Some people might say that he’s limiting his audience by not putting the content anywhere else, but he’s fine with that. He’s not in the business of making money through display advertising, which is what a lot of big sites are doing these days.

Spreading your content around makes more sense if you need to go where your community is because you want to be a thought leader. If that’s the case, then you should be publishing on LinkedIn and Medium and those kinds of sites. But if you’re selling a product, you need to focus on driving traffic to your site.

That all sounds good, but what if you’re both? What if you want to be a thought leader AND you want to sell a product? Mike says that in that case, it does make sense to publish on the big platforms because one of your goals is to get in front of the right audience.

The Algorithms Are Coming!

Why are social media platforms using algorithms now?

Mike explained by sharing that Facebook will run out of advertising inventory by mid-2017. That’s insane. That means that there’s so much competition for advertising on Facebook that they’re going to run out of space. There’s too much demand, and not enough supply. Economics 101.

When you think about the user experience on social media, Mike says, you realize that they can’t just let everyone advertise. If they did that, people would leave the platform. Facebook has recently decided to prioritize posts from friends and family, so organic posts from pages are getting pushed out to make more space for advertising.

So Facebook advertising is like having a Disneyland FastPass: it gets you to the front of the line. There’s a lot of competition on Facebook, and these days you’re lucky if your posts get in front of 5% of your audience. To get around that, you have to pay. And if you pay more, you get seen first.

So is it even worth it to be on Facebook if no one is seeing my posts? Mike says, YES.

Search engines look for Social signals

Search engines look for Social signals

Why? It all comes down to social signals and how search engines work. We’re circling back to the way things used to be: search results are becoming more important again.

Google picks up social signals from social media interactions. The more interactions you have, the more signals you have, and the more you’re boosted in search results. So if you have 1,000 followers, and 50 of them see one of your posts, and then 25 of them like, comment, or share, that’s 25 social signals that Google sees.

I have seen this idea in action on my blog posts. Google sends me the most traffic for posts that have the most social signals. I have a really popular Snapchat tutorial that got lots of shares. And now, if you Google “Snapchat tutorial,” mine is one of the first ones that shows up.

Some bloggers who have been doing this a long time might grumble that things aren’t the way they used to be. But Mike thinks this is the wrong approach. As bloggers, we need to be okay with lower traffic numbers and rethink what metrics we care about. How many email subscribers do you have? What’s your sales income?

Smaller numbers mean that the people who come to your site are more qualified. They made the effort to find you, or they’ve been targeted with your content because they’re interested in your niche.

Little Tweaks, Big Difference

Mike says that when you have a smaller community, little tweaks can make a huge difference for your business.

For example, Mike went from 10,000 new subscribers per month on Social Media Examiner to 25,000 new subscribers per month. That’s a change from 1% to 2.5% of visitors opting in. It’s a tiny change in terms of percentage, but it makes a big difference.

One way Mike encouraged more people to opt-in was by changing the pop-up boxes on the site. Visitors now see a pop-up as they leave the site, as well as when they arrive. You can do both!

Pop up box appears as you enter the site

Pop-up form appears as you enter the site

 

Pop up box also appears when you try to leave the site

Pop-up also appears as you leave the site

He also include slide-in opt-in forms towards the end of articles on the site.

Slide opt in forms c at the end of the article

Slide-in opt-in forms found as you reach the end of the article

Mike’s motto is: “If we can grow our email list, we can grow our business.” They track everything at Social Media Examiner, and they’ve seen proof that email subscribers are their most loyal customers.

So what should I include in my pop-up boxes? Mike says to do a lot of tests. If you want to know more about how to run tests, he’s actually going to be doing a podcast episode about that exact topic! Head on over to http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/podcasts/ to listen.

Again, small changes can make a big difference. Test out a different headline. Change the button color. Yes, really!

Also, don’t assume that what works in one place will work everywhere. If all your forms look the same, people will just ignore them. Test out different combinations to find what works for you.

Revisiting SEO

Mike says it’s time to revisit SEO. He’s not an expert, but it’s worth the money to hire one. If you don’t hire an expert, then make sure you’re reading up on what the experts are saying.

blog-post-4

Revisiting SEO

One tip Mike has learned, which is especially important for older sites, is that you need to clean up any Not Found errors on your site. They’ll hurt your traffic.

Like the opt-in form changes, subtle improvements on Google can mean huge benefits for your business. It’s partly about experimenting to see what works. The Artificial Intelligence that runs the algorithms is constantly evolving. Every time you try to game it, it pushes back.

But all the little things add up. For example, don’t underestimate the power of emailing your list when you post new content. At Social Media Examiner, they post new content on social media first, early in the morning, and then send out an email several hours later. The email brings them a second wave of traffic, and Google takes notice.

Driving traffic to your site using your email list is smart. It’s great for your readers, because they want your content anyway. But it’s also good for your search rankings.

The important thing is to strengthen your home base so that you can get around the drop in organic reach.

What Is Still Working on Social Media?

Mike says it’s important to think about community. In some ways, we’re going back to the roots of social media: it’s all about interacting with your community and building relationships. Your community, no matter how small, are the people who will have your back. They’ll check in with you for updates. They’ll select “show me first” on Facebook for your newsfeed (in fact, it might be a good idea to create a short video showing your Facebook fans how to do that!).

Building a community and relationships

Building a community and relationships

In the past, it was easier to automate your social media accounts. Now, you really do have to get in there and get hands on. You have to actually build relationships. And, really, those relationships are the most important part of your business. Would you send a robot in to do marketing meeting for you? Of course not!

Automation is really just outsourcing. Instead, interact with the people who comment on your posts. Reach out and thank the people who share your content. Find out what they loved about it. Automation is not what grows your business. YOU grow your business.

What about live video? That seems to be doing really well on Facebook right now.

Mike says that live video falls under that category of informal updates. A 10-second video on Snapchat or Instagram gives people a peek into the world you live in, and they love that.

The next level is a longer video on Periscope or Facebook Live. Doing it live requires very little effort, but people really appreciate having that insight into your life.

If you want to go even further, you can use live video to promote other content and connect with your audience at the same time. So you can publish a new post, and then go live and say, “I just published this article. Here’s a quick tip. Here’s how to find the article. Now I’m going to answer your questions, live.” People absolutely love that kind of interaction.

Tips If You’re Just Getting Started

What would Mike say to someone just getting started as a blogger?

He says to work on your craft of communication in whatever medium works for you.

Some people are great speakers; others are comfortable on camera. Not everyone is a great writer, and that’s okay. You can record an audio or video post and then get it transcribed as a blog. You can also re-purpose that audio or video as a podcast or vlog.

You can even hire a ghostwriter. That’s someone who writes in your voice on your behalf. It’s your ideas, but they do the writing part for you.

This might seem extravagant. But if you value your time at $50 per hour, and it takes you 5 hours to write a blog post, that’s $250. If someone will do that work for you for $100, and save you the 5 hours, you’re getting a good return on your investment.

Now if Mike had given me this tip a year ago, I would’ve said, “great idea, but it’s not for me.” However, now I have someone writing up the show notes for this podcast (hi!), and it frees me up so much!

Mike’s other tip for new bloggers is to choose just one social network to start off with. Find out where your audience really are, and put your energy there. Do your research. Then, once you’re established, you can slowly expand over time.

Social Media Marketing World

Social Media Marketing World

Social Media Marketing World

There’s a ton of value in this episode already, but I can’t let Mike leave without talking about Social Media Marketing World. It’s one of the coolest conferences I have ever attended. It’s for every blogger who wants to understand social media. That’s the main focus. But it’s so much more than that…

New in 2017, they’re introducing the Creators Series. There will be 40 sessions dedicated to content creators in blogging, podcasting, video, and live video. Social Media Marketing World recruits 100% of its speakers, so you know that they’re all high quality presenters.

There’s also an opening party on an aircraft carrier, with Networking Ambassadors to help you meeting the people you want to connect with. And a networking bingo card! There’s even a session called “Networking for Introverts.” You will get networked at this conference!

You know me: I’m not going to recommend just anything. This is THE event that I recommend to anyone interested in social media and marketing. You can register now for 2017!

Resources Mentioned

Infographic

285_mike-stelzner_infographic

Social Media Algorithms: How to Respond to Declining Organic Reach

The post Social Media Algorithms: How to Respond to Declining Organic Reach – with Mike Stelzner appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.



from
http://www.becomeablogger.com/23974/social-media-algorithms-organic-reach/

Thursday, November 3, 2016

The Epic Content Cycle: 10 Steps to 10X Content [Infographic]

It’s the holy grail of the blogosphere — highly sought after but rarely achieved.

We’re talking, of course, about “epic” content.

Creating it, though, feels like an impossible mission for many bloggers — beyond the reach of all but the most elite writers.

But in reality, you don’t need epic skills to create truly remarkable content, just a reliable process. One you can follow time and time again to create posts that cut through the noise and rescue your readers from pain and frustration.

The following exclusive infographic is your ultimate visual guide to the epic content cycle. It’s a proven blueprint for creating content that’s ten times better than the competition.

So here they are, the 10 steps you must follow to “10X” your next post:

Click on the image below to see a larger view:

The Epic Content Cycle Infographic
Resources

 

The Epic Content Cycle Infographic from SmartBlogger.com

Are You Ready to Join the League of Epic Writers?

Despite what you may think, you don’t need to be an elite writer to create an epic post. You just need to follow the right process.

By understanding the epic content cycle, you can create content that transforms your readers and catapults you toward your goals as a blogger.

So make this infographic your guide and go out and publish your first truly epic post.

Then take a moment to do a happy dance.

And return to the start to do it all over again.

And again. And again.

About the Author: Sonia Thompson is a content marketing strategist who loves roaming the streets of foreign lands. She’s on a mission to help you develop and execute the right strategy for your business so you can get the customers you want and keep them coming back for more. Grab your free list of 40 resources that show you in-depth how to implement the 10 Steps to 10X your content.


from
https://smartblogger.com/epic-content-cycle-infographic/