Archive for Increasing business
Making Money with Your Email List
Posted by: | CommentsI talk all the time about capturing contact information from the people who visit your website. If you don’t have a way to get an email address, when someone comes to your site you really only have one chance to get them to buy your product or service. Once they leave your site, you have no way to reach out to them and build that “know, like, trust” factor. But, if you have a system in place that does capture a visitor’s contact info, then you have multiple chances to grow that relationship and let them see your expertise and knowledge.
Once you have this system in place, what do you do with those emails? How do you actually turn your list into business and make money from your list?
Here’s a quick step-by-step process on how to make money with your email list. I’m going to just a list today, but over the next few days I’ll be breaking down each one of the steps in more detail. So stay tuned…
1) Create a “hook” or a “bribe” to get people to sign up for your list.
2) Set up your email list and your autoresponders to deliver your hook.
3) Follow up with your list on a consistent basis.
4) Offer information, resources, and work on building up a relationship with your list.
5) Start making money from your list. Offer your own products and services, send out affiliate promotions.
It’s really that simple. Ok, it’s a little more work than this list makes it out to be – but this really is the basics of using your list to make money. Again, I will be going into more detail about some ways you can actually complete each of these steps in future posts.
But get started now thinking about what you can offer as your “hook.” You want something simple to create, but with real information. Don’t just send out fluff. And make sure it relates to what your product or service is.
Have a great day!
Stop Yelling in Your Front Yard – Get a Niche!
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Today I’m going to briefly talk about your niche or target market. This is so important, and I wish more people got why it’s so important to have a specific niche you focus your marketing efforts on.
What is marketing, really? Marketing is just communication. And who do you want to communicate with? Obviously, I’m going to say your target market – a group of people who have common interests and common problems and that you can find hanging out (online and offline) in the same places. And hopefully this niche or target market is something or someone you’re passionate about helping, glad to spend time with, passionate about working with.
So why do you need to pick a target market, why can’t you just market to anyone/anywhere? Because if marketing is simply communication, then NOT choosing a target market is like trying to get your voice heard by the rest of the world over all the noise being made by all the other people communicating (marketing). This is especially true when you’re communicating (marketing) online.
I recently read this book, and I loved how she put this. It really made it clear to me, so I’m going to put my own twist on it and use it for you: Trying to reach everyone/anyone online, it’s like going out in your front yard right now and yelling at the top of your lungs that you have a fantastic teleseminar going on next week. Almost no one is going to hear you! Maybe your neighbor to the left or right will hear you, but they probably aren’t interested in your amazing teleseminar. You think you’re going to reach everyone (hey, I’m yelling really loud!), but you’re going to end up reaching no one that’s actually interested in what you’re yelling about.
If you want to communicate something to someone, whether it’s to get them to do or buy something, think something, feel a certain way or believe something, you need to know who you want to communicate that thing to. And the clearer you are about your target market, and the more passionate you are about it, the more likely your income is going to start growing.
So stop yelling in your front yard – go get yourself a niche!
If you want more information about picking and marketing to your target market, check out my free webinar this Friday. There’s no pitch, it’s not a preview call, it’s just good information that will help you market your business online. See you there!
The Top 3 Money Killing Mistakes in Business
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I follow tons of blogs, so many that I always have a 1000+ articles to read on my Google reader page. But as I was skimming through some of those articles this weekend, this series really caught my eye. It’s a series that was done by Therese Skelly on her “Happy In Business” blog. She ran this series over 3-4 blog posts, but I’m going to highlight the 3 mistakes here in one quick post for you.
Mistake #1 – This is really about your own self-limiting beliefs. Do you ever hear yourself saying any of the following:
“I’m not that unique…loads of people already do that.”
“What should they hire me?”
“I feel a bit like an imposter because of __________”
“I can’t charge that much, because _______(fill in the words here. It could be I haven’t been in biz long enough, haven’t gotten a degree, etc)
“If I don’t give away the farm, my customers will leave me.”
“I can’t say NO because what if that opportunity doesn’t come around again?”
These thoughts cause you to get in your own way. You’re limiting your potential by allowing these doubts to dictate what you do and don’t do. You need to start thinking about any of these beliefs you have in a positive way. Why should the hire you – because you’re great at what you do. I can charge that much, because what I offer is worth more than that. Ask your current clients, talk to your coach, your mastermind group. Figure out a way to turn these negative thoughts into empowering, positive statements.
Mistake #2 - This is about spending too much time on low-to-no income producing activities, and not focusing on those activities in your business that have a high-income potential. Outsource those activities that take up too much of your time and can be farmed out to someone for less money than you’re losing by spending time on them vs. spending time marketing or working with clients. As Therese says in her post about this – “set a goal to be working only in your brilliance and doing the tasks that you love and that generate you the big dollars.” I couldn’t have said it better.
Mistake #3 – Bad habits. Eliminate those bad habits that are holding you back. Here’s a few examples:
- Saying yes to every opportunity
- Following every guru and buying tons of programs (without getting a good ROI)
- Not following up with contacts
- Being in touch with your list only sporadically
- Thinking that you have to have all your marketing materials just perfect
- Getting swept away in distractions
- Pricing too low
- Spending too much time on FB and Twitter
Make a list of your top 10 bad habits, and then commit to a plan to change/stop them.
So that’s her list of the Top 3 Money Killing Mistakes in Business. If you want to read the whole series in full – you can find the first post in the series HERE.
6 Simple Steps to Social Media Success
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As I’ve gotten more and more familiar with social networking and online marketing, and as I’ve helped more of my clients use it to market their own business, I often hear over and over the same frustrations with it.
“I know I’m supposed to be online, or on Twitter or on Facebook. So I set up my profile, but I’m just not getting how it’s supposed to get me business.”
“I see people being successful marketing their business online, but I’m confused on what to do. How come I can’t make it work for me?”
People will try to copy what they see someone else doing on these sites, but they don’t see the whole picture. So they end up missing steps at the end, or in the middle, or the beginning. And then obviously they’re not going to see the results they were expecting or hoping for. So here’s 6 simple steps you can use to get started the right way with social media.
Step 1 – Understanding who your ideal client is, knowing where to find them, and figuring out what their problem is that you can solve. Then figuring out how you can peak their interest, build a relationship with them, and become known as a resource to them using online marketing/social media strategies. Finally, getting very clear on exactly what social media is all about. It’s not about selling, selling, selling. It’s about making connections, working on relationships, connecting with potential clients and eventually getting those prospects back to your hub (your blog). Which brings us to…
Step 2 – Setting up your blog. I am always pushing this issue on my clients and the people I talk to about online marketing. I view your blog as the foundation, the hub, of all of your online marketing efforts. A blog serves so many purposes. It’s a place where you can show your expertise, offer free information, peak prospect’s interest in the service or product you provide. Your blog is also where you can continue to connect with your target market, adding widgets, plugins, badges etc. to connect them to even more of your social media profiles. The whole format of a blog increases your search engine possibilities. And your blog is where you will capture your prospects’ information so you have more than one chance to sell to them.
Step 3 – Set up your social media profiles correctly. You want to fill them out completely. Use the plugins and apps available on different sites to incorporate your different sites and your blog, and to maximize your time by only having to post in one place vs. having to post to multiple sites.
Step 4 – Start connecting. Join groups that share your interests or that are of interest to your ideal client or customer. Find people to follow that you admire and can learn from. See what they’re doing that works and then try it out to see if it works for you. But don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and try something completely different. Do pay attention to the etiquette of each particular site, because you certainly don’t want to irritate anyone. Start building relationships with mentors, prospects, peers – the whole time directing them back to your website where you can continue building on the connection you started developing on the social media site. As you get out on these sites, you’ll find people trying to sell you on the newest trick or tip to get the most followers or friends. But honestly, you want to focus on developing quality connections with people, not focusing on the quantity.
And you have to remember that your ultimate goal is to get people back to your blog, get their contact information, and continue to build up the “know, like, trust” factor with them, until you convert them to a client or customer.
Step 5 – Slowly start adding other online marketing techniques. Don’t try to add everything in at once, because you’ll just get overwhelmed and give up. But once you have the top sites (I recommend Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube), you can start pulling in some other online marketing strategies to ramp up your website traffic even more. Things like article marketing, squidoo, bookmarking sites, forums, teleseminars, just to name a few. Social media isn’t the end all to making millions of dollars a year. It is a great free (money wise, but definitely not free time wise) way to get new business, if done correctly, but it’s not all you should be doing.
Balance it out with some other techniques, be consistent, and follow up with your prospects – and you will see results. You’ll start to see more traffic to your website, which will lead to getting more emails, which will lead to more clients, which of course leads to a bigger business and more money.
Step 6 – Convert those prospects into clients. You can have the hugest list in the world, you can have thousands of emails. But if you don’t do something with those, if you don’t follow up, that won’t mean a thing. This is the final step of online marketing, and without this step, all of your efforts in the 5 steps before won’t mean a thing. Yeah, sure, you’ll get those few people who will sign up with you right away, or buy your product after tweeting with you a few times. But that’s really the exception, and not the rule. The majority of people aren’t going to purchase anything from you until they (what? you know the answer) “know, like, and trust” you. And you build this up with follow-up and interaction with your list. So you have to follow-up, you have to do what you say you will, you have to offer information and resources.
If you want to get more detail on each of these steps, and find out how you can use online marketing to increase your business and make more money – attend my free webinar on February 19th. Click here to sign up.
8 Great Reasons To Use Teleseminars In Your 2010 Marketing Strategy
Posted by: | CommentsI got this ezine today from one of the people I learn a lot from – Nicola Bird – a business coach in England. She does a lot of the same stuff I do, and this particular ezine had some great information on using teleseminars to grow your business. So rather than re-invent the wheel, so to speak, I’m going to share it with you. Especially since I know from personal experience how beneficial teleseminars can be to your business.
If you want to generate more leads and get more people onto your marketing list, teleseminars and webinars are a great way to do so. Teleseminars can also help you follow up with leads and turn them into paying clients or customers. You can use teleseminars to add extra value to your services. And you can use teleseminars to create new products you can sell.
Here’s why teleseminars are such a great tool to promote your business:
1. You can ask people to sign up for a free webinar or teleseminar as a way to grow your mailing list.
2. You can let hundreds (well probably tens to start with!) of people benefit from your expertise in the space of an hour rather than reaching just one person at a time.
3. You can offer webinars and teleseminars at a mid-range price to establish your expertise to build confidence that you are the right person to spend LOTS of money with on a 1:1 basis.
4. You can use web- based services and place a link to a product you want to promote that is seen by people before and during the call, and even during the playback of the recording.
5. You can do point 4 above but promote other people’s products with your affiliate link and make money that way too!
6. You can ask others if they would like to be interviewed, growing both their list and yours, and means you don’t have to come up with the content, just good questions.
7. You can pick people you admire and want to learn more from. And then you basically get to pick their brains for an hour for free!
8. You can offer a free tele-class for people who register (first growing your mailing list) and then put the recording for sale on your website straight after the call – another form of passive income for you.
I am making teleseminars (free and paid) a huge part of my 2010 marketing plan. In fact, join me for my first free teleseminar next week, to get some simple online marketing strategies you’ll be able to implement right away in your business.
Do you think teleseminars are something you could implement into your 2010 marketing plan? Or are you already using them? If you are, how have they worked for you?
http://timesaversvirtualsolutions.com/simple-steps-to-social-media-success/
Using Your Blog to Get More Business
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How can you use your blog to get more clients, more customers? Start building a list!
One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when driving traffic to their blog, is focusing on just that – how much traffic is going to their blog. Instead you want to focus on website conversions, how many people are you getting to take some sort of action once they visit your blog. Most often, this action is signing up for something.
You want to get people on your list. You should have 3 levels you funnel your website visitors through.
- Level 1 – get on your list
- Level 2 – convert into customers
- Level 3 – repeat business
So offer some sort of free gift, to get people to give you their email address.
Now let’s focus on how to get people to your blog, so you can offer your free gift to them. Here’s some simple ways you can increase traffic to your blog.
- Write a blog post a minimum of once a week, preferably 2-3.
- Every time you write a blog post, submit it to bookmarking sites.
- Also, you can post your blog posts on groups you belong to, if the post is applicable to their subject. Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups as news articles, Yahoo groups, etc.
- Make sure your blog is integrated into Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. They all have applications that will automatically import your blog into these social media sites.
- Comment on other blogs. Say something meaningful that adds to the post. Not just “nice post”
- Register your blog with blog directories.
- Make sure you have an RSS feed set up on your blog, where people can subscribe to your blog posts. They don’t have to visit your blog everyday to see if you have a new post, they’ll actually get notified that a new post is on your blog.
- Optimize every post. Each blog post gets a separate web page on the blog; therefore you should treat each blog post as a separate web page and optimize it as a single web page. Insert your keywords, make sure you use your categories and tags for each post.
- Turn each blog post (or combine some with same topics) into an article and submit to article directories.
Start increasing traffic to your blog, get your visitors to give your their contact information, and then follow up with something of value to turn prospects into customers.
