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Online Marketing Tricks to Build Your Business

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Online Marketing TricksOnline Marketing Tricks

When it comes to online marketing, tricks are always a temptation. But if you’re thinking that by tricks I am referring to something questionable, I am not. Think of these more as tips than as something that we shouldn’t be using to help our businesses grow.

One of my Finnish friends, direct response copywriter and online marketer Juho Tunkelo is a master of online marketing tips to build your business on the Internet. He wrote two excellent posts on this topic, 3 Old, Tiny Tricks Still Working Amazingly Well in Online Marketing and 3 More Tiny Tricks Working Amazingly Well In Online Marketing where I was reminded of strategies from years past that may be even more effective today than they were originally.

One of these is the use of a countdown timer to let people know when an offer expires or goes up in price. Juho says that even if this seems so “early 2000s” it still works because scarcity is a powerful trigger, when used properly. Another of these tricks is to do something referred to as “pattern interrupt” through the use of slow motion videos on Instagram. You can then superimpose your marketing message over the video with a call to action just beneath it.

The last of Juho’s “tricks” I will share with you here is one that he shared with me personally when we met for an impromptu mastermind near Helsinki a year or so ago. It has to do with remarketing to your LinkedIn contact base. You export all of your contacts into a CSV file and then you simply upload that file with your contacts to a Facebook custom audience for ads and/or retargeting. Juho explains just how to do this in great detail in the post I have referenced above. He says that if you have something to promote to that professional audience that already knows you and are half warm anyway… the conversion rates can be astounding.

I recommend that you read both of Juho Tunkelo’s posts and join his list to receive his copywriting information, tips, and ideas to put to use in your own online business.

Do you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share with others? If so, leave a comment below so we can all benefit from your expertise. Online marketing tricks can be fun, as well as profitable.

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Build Your List with YouTube

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Build Your List with YouTubeHow to Build Your List with YouTube

I’ve had my own channel on YouTube since 2011, but I haven’t truly utilized it as a list building strategy as I should have done. Recently I was reading a post from Joan Stewart (AKA The Publicity Hound) and found myself mesmerized by what she was sharing on a livestream about how we can effectively build a list with YouTube.

This is what Joan has to say about our video descriptions:

Your video descriptions (and mine too) are one of most overlooked opportunities on YouTube. That’s probably because by the time we shoot, edit and upload the video, we just want to write a few quick sentences in the description, add some keywords, and be done with it.

That’s a mistake. YouTube offers 2,000 characters for the video description—the equivalent of a 900-word article! And that’s a lot of real estate you can populate with keywords to help pull traffic.”

I have more than a hundred videos on my channel, yet I have never taken the time to write a complete description of any of my videos. This has to change!

Joan also discusses the importance of replying to the comments people leave on our videos:

Return to YouTube at least once a week and check to see if people are commenting on your videos. If they are, reply to their comments. The more interaction Google sees on your videos, the more traffic it will pull. I moderate my comments which means they don’t show up below the video until I approve them.

Pay attention to the questions people are asking within their comments. Take the time to answer. This is an excellent opportunity to encourage them to subscribe to your email list.”

I certainly hope that you can see the possibilities of putting these strategies into action so you can build your list with YouTube.I will add that Joan Stewart is one of the first people I met when I came online in 2006, and she was the first person I interviewed for a teleseminar to promote one of her courses. She is a consummate professional in the world of business.

Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to see how I will be implementing what I have learned as well.

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Content Creation Marketing to Build Your Business

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Content Creation MarketingWhen I came online in 2006 I had no idea that I would need to become a content creation marketing machine in order to be successful as an online entrepreneur. I was not a writer, and the very thought of writing a two hundred fifty word article to submit to the article directories terrified me. As a former classroom teacher I thought that I would be judged by what I published on the Internet. But I was determined to succeed and began writing an article every single day to get into the habit of writing. I even challenged myself to write one hundred articles in one hundred days…and accomplished my goal within seventy-eight days!

Recently I was reading a post by Pam and Dexter Montgomery. Their post, Create Content That Clients Value! made some excellent points.

“Content Should Be Easy To Understand

Whether your content is a blog post, information product, or podcast it should be easy to understand. If your product is in writing, it should also be easy to read.  A few key ways of making your writing easy to read and understand are to:

  • Use one main theme per content piece
  • Use subheadings to break up your points
  • Use simple formatting like bullet points, numbers, and short paragraph

Content Should Be Conversational

When you are creating your content, remember to use your personal and unique voice. Write content as if you were talking to a trusted client with whom you have developed a deep relationship. Write and talk like you are having a conversation with a peer or a really good friend. To accomplish this goal, that means you will not be using industry jargon.  You will also clearly explain any new concepts that you introduce.”

I especially like what they say about remembering to use your personal and unique voice. People have told me that when they read my daily email messages they sound like me. I take this as a great compliment in that I always want people to find me approachable, even if that is virtually. Content creation marketing is your opportunity to allow your community to hear your voice and receive your message through your content.

Be sure to check out my training course on Really Simple Content Marketing if you would like to pursue content creation to build your business.

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Kindle Publishing to Build Your List

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Kindle PublishingKindle Publishing to Build Your List

There are many ways to build an email list such as offering a lead magnet, running Facebook ads, and building up your expertise status so that people want to follow you so they can know what you’re saying. However, there is one way that is very effective that you cannot only use to build your list fast, but you can earn money while you’re building your list. That method is list building via Kindle Publishing.

If you don’t know, anyone can publish a book via Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program. You simply write a book (or outsource it and have a ghostwriter write it) with a few extra pieces inside to help you build your list. We’ll talk about that later, but for now let’s talk about why having an email list is so important for the success of your business.

Why Having an Email List is Important – Kindle Publishing Is A Part Of It

Getting people on your list gives you an opportunity to get people to buy higher priced products. The way you do that is, you send them planned messages that they’ll receive while they’re on your email list. These planned messages are designed to help you move the list members through your product funnel.

It’s easy to get confused about what’s important when building your business. You use social media, blogs, webinars, and more. However, did you know that the point of everything you do online should be to build an email list full of targeted members, who want what you have to offer? Business owners who aren’t building an email list are missing out on important opportunities to boost business. Email is the most consistent way to drive repeat traffic to your website and to sell ever more products and services to your audience.

Let’s break this down by how email can benefit your business.

  • Build Community – You may think the only way to build community is through your social media connections but that is not true. When people are on your email list you can actually get them more active in your social media communities by sending them a message to “check out the great discussion in our Facebook group” happening right now. Since most people keep their mobile devices close, you can encourage more interaction with that simple of a message.
  • Make it Simple to Communicate – When you send a message on social media not everyone receives it. While it’s true that sometimes people do not open emails, every done receive it and therefore has more of an opportunity to see your messages. Practice crafting better subject lines to improve open rates.
  • Help You Build Your Reputation – The better you are at sending just the right messages about just the right thing to your list the better they’ll view you. They’ll share thoughtful messages with their friends and family too. Plus, you can easily let your list know more about you via email messages than you can any other way.
  • Assist with Brand Building – More than likely, people who sign up for your email list already see you as an expert that they want to learn from. Plus they like your content already. You can actually use your list to try different types of content and see how they tend to share the new content giving you clues on whether it will work with a larger unknown audience before you put it on your website.
  • Enable You to Reach Audience Sub-groups – Did you know that with a targeted list you could make more money anytime you want? All you have to do is send out a message with an exclusive members only sale, or promotion and see what happens.
  • Email Lists Are Inexpensive – The technology that enables you to set up auto series is inexpensive, you can start in some cases free and work your way up to a larger account. It’s going to cost you about 20 to 30 dollars a month until your list is larger, then it will cost more but your return on investment will be more than enough to make up for it.
  • Build Relationships – Email is a great way to build a relationship with your subscribers. They get to know and trust you through the information and offers you share. List members also get a feel for your business ethics. In short, emails are a great way to prove that you really care about your subscribers and have their best interests at heart.

If you skip build an email list, you’re making a huge mistake. Email marketing is the most effective form of marketing. Whether you build a big list or a small list, when you get interested people on your list your business will be forever changed for the better. So, now we can go on and learn how Kindle can help you build a powerful email list

How Kindle Publishing Can Help Your List-building Efforts

Since Amazon doesn’t share email addresses of the people who buy your book, you have to be creative and know what to include in your book but first let’s go over how big and powerful Amazon is.

Amazon has built trust with much of the public. People give their credit card number and address information to Amazon to save for future buys so they don’t have to think about money. They just click one button and the purchase is made. Because Amazon tracks purchases and suggests related items, you have a good chance to sell your book even if you never promote it.

However, Amazon gives you plenty of ways to promote your book. Many of the promotion methods are inexpensive and some are even free of charge. In fact, you pay nothing to publish your book and can earn up to 70 percent royalties. In the traditional publishing world, you’re lucky to make 50 cents a book, but on Amazon, you can make much more per book by cutting out the middleman.

Each person who buys your book and reads it will be exposed to your free offer or lead magnet. All you have to do is mention your lead magnet in several spots within the book to make it easy for your reader to get to the lead magnet.

You’ll need to insert the lead magnet differently than you would in an information product that someone will read on their computer. Therefore, choose a link that is very simple to type in for your lead magnet opt-in page. However, the lead magnet you promote in your Kindle book isn’t much different from the other types of lead magnets that you create to build your email list. The exception is that a self-published Kindle Book makes you a published author with the ability to reach millions of customers who are ready to buy on Amazon.

Take a look at my books on Amazon to see why I am an advocate of Kindle publishing to build your list. What other questions do you have about this proven strategy?

 

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