Wanda Baader is a online marketing and business strategist, speaker and consultant. She is the owner and founder of Strategize Your Success, a full service marketing agency. She enjoys working with entrepreneurs, non-profits and small business owners who need help with their online marketing, social media and Wordpress website development.
Email open rates are a one metric we consistently watch and try to improve. There’s good reason for it, too.
If your subscribers aren’t opening your email, then they can’t read about:
• Your newest coaching program • Your latest must-have tool discovery • That epic blog post you just wrote
The trouble is, you only have about two seconds to entice a reader to open your email. Even worse, you have to do it in ten words or less.
Yikes! That’s a pretty tall order, even for seasoned copywriters. But there are some tricks you can use.
Be Ambiguous
If you’ve been on Facebook lately you’ve no doubt seen those “click bait” headlines that say things like, “She adds this to a box of Wheat Thins and I’m drooling!” The reason headlines like that work is because we can’t help but want to know what “this” is that she’s adding to her Wheat Thins. Is it sugar? Salt? Peanut butter? We imagine the possibilities, but in the end we have to find out, so we click.
You can employ the same technique in your email subject lines. Just substitute the word “this” for the actual thing you’re writing about, and you’ve got instant enticement.
Use Numbers
Here’s another strategy for creating must-read content: numbers.
“7 Hidden Benefits of Waking Up at 5am” “3 Unlikely Ways to Close the Sale” “5 Social Media Platforms You Shouldn’t Be Ignoring”
The reason numbers work so well in subject lines is because we are ego-centric and curious. We simply must know if we already use those three ways to close the sale. We will either walk away feeling good for being a marketing maven, or we will have learned something. Both are compelling reasons to open an email.
Use Power Words
Just as with all writing, choosing power words is far more effective than settling for their weaker counterparts. Imagine these two subject lines appear in your inbox.
Which are you more likely to open:
“WordPress Makes Better Looking Websites for Non-Designers” or “Create a Gorgeous Website—Even if You’re Not a Designer”
While both subjects offer the same information, the first is weak, while the second is far more compelling.
When it comes to email subjects, there are a few more tips to keep in mind if you want to up your open rates:
Keep it short – no more than 10 words at the very most, and fewer if you can. Test everything. Use your autoresponder’s split-testing functionality to see which subject line styles perform best in your market. Use personalization, but sparingly. Occasional use of your reader’s first name can be a powerful technique.
Here’s the bottom line: If your subscribers aren’t opening your email, they’re not buying. Paying closer attention to your subject lines is the single most important thing you can do for your email marketing campaigns.
A new feature that rolled out on Facebook that you may have missed for mobile. Now we can add music tracks to our personal profile stories. Here is a video tutorial.
Ever wonder what makes some social media posts, videos, or blogs “go viral,” while yours are lucky to have 3 shares and two comments (if it’s a good day). While it might seem like some well-kept secret that only the gurus know. The truth is it’s easy enough to create shareable content, if you put some thought and creativity into your efforts. But keep in mind your marketing should always have purpose and circle back to what you offer in your business. It needs to match your business products and services. So, don’t get caught up in the bright shiny objects that seem cool but aren’t in alignment with your goals.
Visual Content Is on the Rise
Videos, images, graphs, charts, infographics, etc. are some of the ways that we can best reach our ideal audiences and are a must have in order to compete in tomorrow’s marketplace. According to this infographic on Social Media Today. From 2019 to 2020 46% of businesses will rely heavily on visuals as part of their marketing strategy.
So what kind of visuals have been used most frequently in businesses recently?
Stock Images 40%
Original Graphics (E.g. Infographics) 37%
Charts and Data Visualization 12%
Videos and Presentations 7%
Gifs and Memes 4%
But there’s more…
Even though the above were used more often we need to know what got the mostengagement?
Original Graphics 40%
Videos and Presentations 23%
Charts and Data Visualization 20%
Stock Images 12%
Gifs and Memes 5%
So, as you can tell this data can help you with the question
“What do I do next in my marketing”.
Are your creative juices going crazy right now with these stats or are you already freaking out because you see video and presentations are at 23% (some sources have this even higher) and you hate seeing yourself on camera? Trust me you are not alone. The “Fear of Public Speaking” is real and it has a name Glossophobia and is said to affect over 75% of the population.
Even though it’s a scary step it can be overcome with practice, patience and the power of positive thinking that you can do it. I know for some that’s easier said than done so it might take some professional training to help you get more comfortable. I get that.
But keep in mind, we are trying to grow your business and if you are a small business or entrepreneur than more than likely you areyour brand. So, if growth and profits are tied to our bottom line then we must think more like this quote.
“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”
It’s about growing and stepping into a bigger version of yourself.
What do you need to do that you haven’t already tried?
So maybe you’d prefer to go the other route for now and do
something more like Original Graphics?
Everyone Loves Infographics
Whether you want to know more about how coffee is grown, or
you’re looking for ways to boost your blog traffic, you’ll find a variety of
infographics to fill you in.
These colorful, easy-to-read graphics share vast amounts of
data while still entertaining an audience. By condensing numbers and stats down to easily digestible bite-sized pieces, you can make valuable information highly understandable for any audience. Even better, your market will be happy to share (and share and share).
If you’re not artistic, or don’t have the skills required to
create your own, you can hire designers or use a tool such as Piktochart
to quickly make infographics your audience will love.
**Pro tip: create an embeddable link for your infographic
and encourage other blog owners to share it on their sites. You’ll
automatically drive traffic from every site that posts your content.
Create Some Eye Candy
So, let’s look at what are the biggest trends for 2019 for
your other graphic options.
Futuristic patterns, vivid color palette’s and bold fonts
are what’s happening today! Bold fonts that make them easy to read on mobile and stand out. Mobile marketing is super important, and we need to make sure that whatever we do looks good on those smartphones that are attached to everyone’s body these days.
Bold typefaces and fonts are all the rage for brands. Deep your toes into it and experiment. Check out companies that we use to help us create graphics. I recommend Stencil and PicMonkey because they have templates that you can use and make your own without starting from scratch.
Color, color and more color make a brand pop and grab
attention. So be intense, colorful and bright in your marketing. Don’t be afraid to be BOLD. You can still minimalism but use color verses the old muted tones. That’s so old school.
Next let’s talk shapes. It’s like fashion we need to look at
using geometric shapes and abstract patterns. Have fun and get creative. Even
if you use stock images look for the ones that look more natural and place some
fun elements into them.
Need more ideas look at the big brands out there and see what they are using in their marketing to fuel your ideas.
Here’s an example of a graphic that pops with color and utilizes shapes.
Don’t Forget About Blogging It’s Still Relevant
Writing a blog post? Well it’s got to be longer these days. Don’t
just skim the surface of a topic. Dig deep. Provide as much information as you
can on the topic and bring along these amazing visual elements we have been
looking at. Keep in mind, we all still go to Google to find stuff to feed our
minds. Why not be one of those resources?
Bigger is better and gets more attention because it’s
hopefully offering the good stuff people are looking for. Google still loves fresh content! Today’s blogs however
need more words. According to Hook
Agency posts of at least 1,000 words are more likely to be shared than
their shorter cousins and favored by Google. 1705 is the sweet spot for SEO. So,
don’t worry about attention spans. Readers have proven they want good info and
they don’t mind digging into a long post to find it.
Let Your Personality Shine
No one wants to read or share another “me too” post. Not you
and not your audience.
What they do want—and what they’ll happily share with their
friends and fans—is personality-driven pieces that aren’t afraid to take a
stand.
Be a giver and educate your audience. Don’t hide the good stuff
behind a pay gate. People want solutions and if you provide them with some,
they will become your followers. I give FREE information all the time and I’ve grown
a few successful businesses because of it. Don’t get me wrong we need to make
money to survive but if you have a great sales funnel, strategy and plan that
will all come.
It’s easy to form a connection with someone when you feel
like you know them personally. And what do you do with your friend’s content?
You share it, of course!
It doesn’t take much to be shareable. Just be yourself, be transparent, and be valuable. In short, just do what you’re already doing, only with a little bit more creativity, generousity and planning. Remember if it was easy everyone would be doing it.
As a marketer I am always on the lookout for new and creative ways to get opt-ins for my clients and my own business. Quizzes are one way to get to people to answer questions about themselves because it shows that we are interested in their opinions and needs. And we as humans, are all genuinely curious, too. That is another reason I think that platforms like BuzzFeed are so popular.
It’s Interactive!
So why does that matter? Well let’s look at some of the stats and information around this.
Merryl Goffin, suggests that Consumers are looking for three things from content: Education, entertainment and/or social currency. Quizzes, games, polls and calculators are shareable and give you user information based on responses. Also, Interactive content can be the first point of conversation with users. – Forbes
The average quiz is shared nearly 2,000 times – Buzzsumo
88% of marketers said that interactive content is effective in differentiating their brand from their competitors – Ion Interactive
Interactive content converts 2x more than passive content – Kapost
Online quizzes are, in a way, still considered a hidden gem of lead generation. Due to their ever-increasing popularity on social media, however, we believe quizzes are destined to be the next big thing in the modern marketer’s mission of capturing leads and increasing revenue. – Lead Quizzes
Interactive quizzes can be a powerful tool in the hands of digital marketers looking to collect information and convert online visitors into leads. By delivering entertaining, interactive, relevant content instead of simply asking website visitors to fill out a form, brands forge stronger relationships with their prospects and customers and deliver something of value before asking for information in return. – Qualtrics
With all these facts we know it’s a powerful way to interact.
So how do you get started?
Recently, I found a platform that takes the heavy lifting away and makes it simple to get started on creating quizzes. It’s called Interact Quiz Maker. I tried this myself and I will tell you it was very interesting to see how it all works. Before using this app, I had never created one before.
Once I did that I was able to go in and pick what type of quiz I wanted to create. I could pick from doing one from scratch or using a template. I chose the template route since I was new to the platform.
The great thing about choosing the templates is that there are categories that are industry specific and all the hard work is done for you. I chose to go with one that was under the marketing category, but you can choose to look at all of them if you like. Once you have selected your categories you can then go to selecting your quiz type.
Here you can select quiz types from assessment, personality or scored. You can even select all of them. That is the option I chose.
That took me to all the different quiz templates available under Marketing. One of the features I really liked is that when I chose the “select all” feature of quiz types it brought up all the quizzes for my category and all the different types which show up below the description.
You can also preview the quiz before selecting it and take it yourself to see if you like the questions and results. Keep in mind you can change pretty much anything on these quizzes which is also pretty cool.
I selected Find Your Social Media “Secret Sauce” because I liked the catchy title and I thought it would pique people’s curiosity.
The next step takes you to the cover page. You will have choices on where you want to go from here.
You can select to go to the Quick Menu section where you will find Branding and Styling, Questions and Results. Integration and Share & Embed.
I started with Integration to set up my lead capture and data collection opt in. I also connected the opt-in form to my Constant Contact account.
In this section you will also choose what information you want people to provide on your opt in form and you can select whether you want to use GDPR and your own privacy policy.
I chose to go with using GDPR since I have international followers and I included a link to my privacy policy. That is where I ran into a little snag. Everything worked fine once I published except for one thing. My hyperlink to my privacy policy wouldn’t publish. I tried it several times.
After contacting the awesome people at Interact I found out that when copying and pasting my policy that I need to go to the front of that box and make sure to backspace in front of the URL so there are no spaces. Once that happens you will see a green checkmark letting you know it worked.
Once my Integration was set up I moved on to Branding and Styling. I selected button colors that matched my business and initially I chose the feature to add my logo. After running my first test I decided to take it off. Why? I felt the logo was too small and it resides on all the quiz pages. I felt that it was more of a distraction to the quiz takers.
One of the great features is that you can change the images on your quiz by uploading your own, an image URL or you can use the ones that are provided on the platform thru Pixabay. These are royalty free images with CO0 licensing, so they can be used in commercial projects.
Note though if you upload your own you will need to make sure the image is sized to fit and that you have the licensing for the image. As you can see from the screen shot this one says 250 x 150 (it depends on which image on the sizing) and it should be formatted as a: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF image with a maximum image size of 2 megabytes.
You can also edit the content to add your personality to the questions and results. And best of all on the results pages you may add a call-to-action button to take your quiz takers to more information via an offer, product or a blog post. I didn’t do it on my first one, but I will be taking advantage of this on another quiz I’m currently working on.
Honestly, my initial testing only ran for two days so my results aren’t anything to write home about right now but I’m excited about the possibilities. I promoted it on a few of my social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and I got some traction. The best part is even if people don’t finish the quiz you can still see where their pain points are because you can see how they responded. This can help you craft your future quizzes and products.
This is a great app that does require a little testing to see what works best for you and your individual business. It’s also a great marketing tool to add to your marketing mix that you can use on your site and social media. It’s certainly a change of pace from the traditional eBook giveaway. Give it a go and try the FREE account.
Visit Interact and check out these resource pages:
It’s not unusual for a business to go thru ebbs and peaks. I think if most business owners are honest we’ve all had this happen to us. Sometimes the economy takes a turn that effects our market, maybe the rules change in our industry or our market becomes too saturated. All these circumstances can make obtaining or retaining clients harder. Profits fall, and you wonder if you should go and get a J-O-B.
I’m sure that even the titans of industry have experienced that sinking feeling of a business that’s trending downwards at one point but how it’s handled can mean the difference between success and becoming another statistic.
Worrying about money eventually leads to poor decisions. Those decisions have a negative impact on our business finances and our personal attitude towards the business.
This eventually leaks out to our daily touches that we make while networking and trying to obtain new clients. People will smell the fear and your desperation if you are not careful. So, what can you do and what should you be careful not to do?
Don’t Take on Clients that Aren’t a Good Fit
When business is down, it can be tough to keep your ideal client in mind. Instead, you jump at the chance to work with anyone who comes along with a credit card. The trouble with this scenario is you can find yourself with a roster full of clients who:
Aren’t willing or able to do the work required
Spend all their time telling you why your ideas and advice won’t work
Drain your energy and make you dread your office
Make you chase them around to get paid
Yikes! That’s no way to operate a business, but that’s just what a fear-based mindset can do to you. Better (much better) to hold out for that perfect client. And while you’re waiting, let’s look at some ideas to get you back on track.
Don’t Stop Creating
When profits are low you feel the need to pull back and who can blame you? You feel that you can’t afford to spend money creating new programs, buying new tools and getting coaching, right?
Ok, I get it. You are nervous. This is your baby that you created from the ground up. But keep this in mind. A fearful brain can’t create. So, let’s turn that mindset around and take it one step at a time.
If business is slow then take advantage of that extra time and get creative. What can you do in your business that can create some profit? Can you create packaged goods of your top selling services or products? Can you re-invent an old service or product to be new again? But please don’t just put old content into the market without changing it up.
But you might be thinking that sounds too easy. I say why start from scratch especially if you have some evergreen products to offer? Think like a resale shop. Sometimes it’s all in the packaging. Have an eBook that people liked in the past? Can you put a new spin on it and make it into a 15-day challenge? Take that idea and rename, repackage and repurpose but do it with a positive intent and have fun!
Don’t let that fearful brain take control. Instead connect with that creative brain that made you a business owner in the first place.
Is Your Website Doing You Justice?
While you have that creative hat on look at your site. What can you do that might help it get a facelift? Even though your skill set might not be in website development what can you do to create traffic to your site? Can you blog, add video or podcasts? How about changing out images that look a little dated? You get where I’m coming from.
If you can’t be objective, ask someone who can be (no not your Mom she loves everything you do!) but make sure they have the right background to offer credible feedback. Don’t have someone like that? Reach out to me. For a very reasonable investment I’ve helped people just like you.
Network till the Cows Come Home
When you are feeling overwhelmed, negative and fearful it’s time to get out of the office and meet with people you know. Think about the business people in your lives that you’ve networked with that are great strategic partners and can refer your business. Call them up and get together. One-on-ones have created many opportunities for me that added to my profits and created even more opportunities.
In my town, I could network almost everyday of the week and night because there are so many meetups, networking mixers and luncheons going on. Obviously, you must choose carefully and educate yourself on good networking practices. Your time has value so make the best of it. Select options that provide the best return.
I hope that you found some of these ideas useful. Remember creating a positive mindset even during the rough patches is important in any business.
If you ever worked on creating a business you know one of the essential elements needed is to identify your ideal avatar, aka your one perfect customer.
This vision of your ideal client guides everything you do. From pricing, to pain points and even the color of your logo.
My business and yours may be alike but when we peel back that onion my clients may pay different price points for my services verses yours because our background, business model, geography and/or experience may constitute different rates.
You may work specifically with Mompreneurs that are just starting their own businesses where I may work with emerging businesses that are making over $100,000 a year.
As you can see figuring out this part of your business is essential to moving forward on your business planning because you need to know who you’re marketing to.
So, take some time to consider your ideal avatars by pondering:
Age group
Income
Family status
Education
Lifestyle goals
Location
Maybe you could even come up with a story about your ideal client? You could give her a name, a couple of kids, a husband who just doesn’t get it, and a load of student loans and so forth.
But you don’t want to stop there, you may be missing a huge piece of the puzzle—and losing out on the best clients because of it.
Personality Matters
Here’s something that’s rarely considered in the “ideal client” equation, and it’s arguably the most important part: personality.
If you’re snarky, sarcastic, fun-loving and loud as a coach, then a quiet, shy, person who is easily insulted will probably not be a good fit for you. Sure, she might need your help, and she might love your products, but for one-on-one coaching, this match-up could turn up disastrous. Either she will be uncomfortable with your style, or you’ll be miserable trying to reign in your natural exuberance.
Better to pass this personality type to a coach who is a better suited to her and can be more sensitive and patient.
Success is a Collaborative Process
This one can be difficult to calculate from the start, but once you recognize it (or the lack thereof) it’s worth paying attention to. The client without the drive to succeed will—more often than not—only end up frustrating you both.
Better to end your relationship as soon as you see the signs of this than to waste your time going over the same material and exercises again and again with someone who simply won’t do the work.
Coaching needs to be a collaborative process. Two people working together towards the same goal. Making your client successful!
If you look at your current and past clients, you’ll begin to see patterns. You can easily look back and see what made some clients a joy to work with, while others were a struggle. Think about what those differences are and add them to your ideal client profile. Then compare any new potential clients to this ideal profile, and you’ll never again sign on with a less-than-perfect client.
If you are new and you don’t have that history to glean from then maybe adding an assessment tool or personality profile test to your intake process could be beneficial.
Finding Your Ideal Avatar
So once this information is compiled and you have a really good idea of who to market to we need to find out where they hang out.
Let’s look at some potential places:
Social Media – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Don’t forget the groups on these platforms answering questions and showing your expertise might get you business.
Meetups – Hosting one of these yourself can be beneficial.
Conferences or Expo – Find out whose attending before you go and make sure to connect in-person once you arrive.
Radio Show or Podcasting – Being an expert or an expert guest can be another resource.
Networking Groups – Chambers, Clubs and Associations might be another goldmine for your business.
Your own webinars or Livestreams – Have a show or educate your potential clients.
Your own business events or presenting at someone else’s – When you’re on the stage you are the expert.
In this post, we looked at how to define your ideal client, what to look for in an ideal client and places that they may be hanging out at. Hopefully, you can see why this process is necessary for you to grow your business and save yourself some time.
If you’re still having challenges with this, please reach out to me. I offer coaching and consulting to help you to define your ideal audience and create a successful business.
When you hear the word “copywriting” what comes to mind for you?
Wikipedia describes it as “the act of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or group to take a particular action.
So, the fact is, copywriting is more than just sales messages. In fact, as an online business owner and marketer, most of the content you produce could be called copywriting at least in some sense. After all, if you’re creating content with the ultimate goal of selling something, that is by definition copywriting.
Facebook
Sure, we all like to hang out on Facebook and chat with friends and family, catch up on the latest funny videos, and enjoy a mindless “quiz” or two. But for businesses, Facebook is much more than that. It’s a place to connect with potential clients, and that means that when you’re sharing your latest blog post or program with your business friends, you have to keep good copywriting in mind.
LinkedIn Profile
What makes you stand out from the other businesses online or in your niche? Your LinkedIn profile is where you share what makes you the best person to solve your ideal client’s problems. It’s where you shout about your credentials and let your ego run the show. Think of your LinkedIn profile like a resume, and be sure to list your most impressive qualifications, achievements and personal quality.
Your Website About Page
Here’s your chance to have some fun while blowing your own horn. It’s important to know that the about page is often the most visited page on a website, so it’s a critical piece of your overall brand and message. The purpose of your about page is to entice people to want to learn more about your services, so be sure to include a call to action on the page.
Blog Posts
All blog posts have a job to do. Maybe they’re meant to lead your reader to a sales page. Perhaps you’re asking for readers to subscribe to your mailing list. Maybe your blog post is designed to start a conversation. Or maybe it’s just sharing great content and inviting readers to learn more by clicking on related posts. Whatever the job, it’s copywriting that entices your reader to take that next action.
Twitter
Two hundred and eighty characters is precious little space for creating compelling content (but at least it’s not 140 anymore), yet that’s exactly what you must do if you hope to use Twitter as part of your overall marketing strategy. Think of tweets like email subject lines, and craft them to convey as much information as possible while still enticing readers to take action.
Email
Whether you’re sending an email about a new product or service or simply letting readers know you have a new blog post up, your email definitely qualifies as copywriting. In fact, even the personal emails you send to prospective clients contain what we would call copywriting.
The fact is, copywriting is everywhere in your business, from your sales pages to your invoices. Whenever you ask a reader to take some action, you’re writing copy, and the more comfortable with the idea of it, the better (and more natural) you’ll become.
Copy writing after all is going to be the best way for you to persuasively make the most impact on your business by drawing the attention and interest of your ideal client and get them to take a desired action.
In trying to understand who our ideal client is we must also figure out how we can best serve them and their needs. What are their biggest challenges and pain points that you can solve?
Chances are you’ve developed at least a simple client avatar. You know their business, their age, their income and education levels. You know where they live and what their biggest dreams are.
But do you really know what drives them?
We’re not talking about just what they want (we all want more money and free time) but more importantly, you need to know what their biggest pain points are. What keeps them up at night? Figure this out, and you’ll not only be able to better create products and services to help them, but your sales copy will dramatically improve as well.
Think about it—if you’re uncomfortable with technology but one day found yourself in a DIY mood which resulted in you accidently destroying your website during a simple update, then WordPress website management might become a huge pain point for you, right? Now imagine you find a marketing firm who not only works with WordPress, but who calmly shares examples of how they’ve rescued client websites after such disasters.
They clearly addressed your biggest pain point, and you’re sold!
The same is true for your potential clients. Show them you can help them avoid those pain points—or better yet, eliminate them completely—and you’ll forge an instant bond.
Now you may already have a good idea what causes your clients pain, but if not, you have plenty of ways to find out.
Talk to them. What do they most often ask or complain about?
Listen in on forums, on social media, threads like Quora or Reddit and other places your audience hangs out. What are they struggling with?
Reader surveys. These can be a rich source of information in any market. Pay special attention to the words and phrases your readers use to describe their troubles.
Keep an eye on your competition. What pain points are they addressing?
Google, it and do research. Find out what your potential customers are reading?
You might be thinking how can I find out what people are reading? Look at trade magazines, blogs and/or local newspapers. See what topics are being covered and you’ll probably be getting closer to the information you need.
Once you’ve uncovered your ideal clients’ biggest challenges, you’ll have a powerful tool that you can use in your offerings. They will feel like you are speaking directly to them when they read your copy, see your ads or watch your videos.
If you can help your clients overcome the most painful issues they face—whether it’s a lack of self-confidence or a fear of public speaking—you’ll instantly become a more valuable resource to them. This will result in sales conversions for your business and everyone wins.
When you look at a successful entrepreneur or business owner do you ever wonder how they manage to get it all done?
The answer is they have systems in place.
It’s true. The most productive people all have one thing in common: they don’t reinvent the wheel every day. Instead, they’ve figured out the best, most efficient way to do every task, and they create a system to do just that.
No matter what business you’re in and what projects you find yourself tackling, a systemized approach will help you:
Work faster and produce more
Produce higher quality results with fewer mistakes
Easily outsource the tasks you don’t like to do
The Magic of Templates
How many times do you answer email from potential clients? What about responding to customer concerns?
These tasks and become more effortless when you create fill-in-the-blank templates that can be re-purposed for specific cases/people. Templates can be as simple as a “canned response” in your email client or help desk, or you can use software such as Text Expander (for Mac) or Phrase Express (for Windows). You might even create a template document in Dropbox or Google Drive to house all your templates for easier access for you and your support staff.
While templates will undoubtedly save you time, the real beauty is that once they’re created, you can easily outsource things like email and even sales. Simply instruct your assistant on the proper use of your templates, and you’ll be free to do other, more important things.
Checklists Prevent Mistakes
It might seem counterintuitive, but when you perform the same tasks repeatedly, it’s easy to miss a critical step. You might think you paid your bills this month—you might even remember doing it—only to look back and see it was never completed.
But when you implement checklists, it’s suddenly much more difficult to miss an important task.
You can easily create checklists for all your common tasks and projects using nothing more than a text document. If you’re managing a team, checklists in your project management system allow you to see exactly what tasks are complete, and which are still outstanding.
Templates and checklists turn smart business owners into productivity superstars, and it’s easy to get started. The next time you answer an email you’ve answered before, save your response. The next time you set up a new product in your shopping cart or create a new opt-in page, take the time to record the steps. These documents will make future projects easier and faster to complete, and best of all, you can hand them off to your assistant to do instead.
And if you’re techie, make a video tutorial and show the steps with an over-the-shoulder training.
Automated Follow-Ups Make the Next Step a
No-Brainer for Systemizing
As any smart business owner knows, the key to passive income is a well-established (and full) funnel.
So of course, you’ve optimized your opt-in pages and monetized your download pages and have encouraged more buyers through well-placed upsells and down sells.
But what about the follow-up? Do you contact customers about the products or services they didn’t buy? Do you encourage them to use the products they have purchased? Are you making sure they know about all your other wonderful programs?
If not, you’re missing the boat. But the good news is, this can be easily managed with just a bit of simple automation, and when done right, it will smoothly lead your customers from one purchase to the next, at the exact right time for them to take advantage of your best offers.
Segment Your Audience in Your Email
to Save Time
Many autoresponder services allow you to target emails based on reader action. Want to send a follow up email to those who clicked a specific link? Create a segment and mail away. Want to re-engage with those who haven’t opened your emails in a while? Easy to do, and you can potentially recover subscribers who have gone missing. Of course, you need a more sophisticated email service like Constant Contact.
These tactics require that you know your audience and your products exceptionally well. Study your stats. Know your open and click rates. Pay attention to the promotions that work, as well as those that fall flat. With information in hand, you’ll be better able to effectively segment your lists and make the most of all the parts of your funnel. Knowing your audience takes the guess work and time out of mailing to those who have no interest in specific products, services or events.
Segmenting your list in the long run will save you time and produce higher quality prospects for your business. The more hands-off you can make your systems the more time you will have to do the higher-level work that makes your business more money.
Making small changes in your business can yield big returns. Systemizing as much as you can like other successful entrepreneurs will help you be more productive and make less mistakes.
Are you busy? Of course, you are and that is another reason that you need landing pages that convert because your readers have short attention spans because they are busy, too.
I’m sure that’s no big surprise to you. In fact, you probably browse the Internet at light speed, too, scanning titles and subheads, skipping to the bottoms of sales pages, and fast-forwarding through videos just so you can get to the next thing. You’re probably doing it on this blog post (caught you). We all do it.
The same is true for your readers, and if you want to capture their attention long enough to entice them to opt-in to your mailing list, then you must keep that in mind.
Newspaper Publishing Tip
Have you ever noticed that everything you need to know about a news story is in the first paragraph? Journalists are trained to answer all the questions—who, what, where, when, why and how—in the first few sentences. Why is that? They do it just in case the story gets cut off when the paper goes to print.
In today’s online world, where column inches no longer matter, this type of story formatting isn’t quite so critical any more, but it’s still a useful tip to use when you’re writing an opt-in page.
Think about it: If your readers are skimmers (as most of us are) then making sure you include the most important information right at the top of the page is going to greatly improve your conversion rates, right?
For opt-in pages, that means putting the biggest benefits in your subject line, and following it up with two or three sentences that build on your headline. That’s it. Keep it short, sweet, and benefit driven, and you’ll have greater success than you would with longer content.
Graphics Matter
Whether your opt-in incentive is an eBook, a video, or even a simple checklist, having a graphic representation of your offer is an important component of your landing page.
Typically, you’ll create (or have created) a digital book or CD cover. You can easily outsource this, but be sure you follow these strategies:
Bold fonts and short titles make your cover more readable.
Use high-contrast colors for more visibility.
Be true to your brand. Stick with colors and fonts your readers expect.
Crafting a Compelling Call to Action
While it seems as if you can expect readers to know what to do when they land on your opt-in page, it’s just not true. You must invite them to take the next step. Give them specific instructions and you’ll have higher conversion rates than if you just leave it to chance.
Your call to action should tell a reader exactly what to do, like this:
Click here to download
Enter your name and email for instant access
Watch the text on your form buttons, too. After all, “Subscribe” or “Sign Up” doesn’t exactly make you feel excited, does it? Consider using a phrase that matches your call to action instead, such as:
Get the Checklist!
Send the Video!
Be Sure to Offer Value
If you are offering a free gift on your landing page make sure it has value, provides a solution to a problem and highlights your expertise.
I’m not saying give away all your techniques and special formulas for success but perhaps you can offer a solution to a pain point that you see in the market and provide a step-by-step way to approach it. Show examples, do an over-the-shoulder training and/or provide resources to some of your favorite apps.
Take a look at your opt-in pages. Do they follow these strategies? If not, consider making some changes to your copy, your images, and your calls to action, and the value you offer. Then watch your results. You’ll more than likely see a boost in conversion rates if you do.
Need some help with this? Let me share a wonderful resource. Check out our friends over at LeadPages. They offer templates that can be customized to create beautiful landing pages (and other pages, too) and save you time and designer costs if creating landing pages is not for you. I use them myself and have since they started. Check them out.
