Tag Archives: Marketing

List Building Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs

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List Building Marketing TipsThe Importance of List Building Marketing Tips

List building marketing tips are readily available, but the true value is in knowing exactly how to get started with this strategy. I learned early on that “the gold is in the list and in the follow up.” Remember that we all begin as online entrepreneurs with no one on our email list. These days people will gladly exchange their name and email address for your free giveaway, as long as this is something that is…

Irresistible – You must create a report, guide, white paper, series of audios or videos, or something else that your target audience will feel like they can’t live without. Observe your own behavior to see which sites you are willing to opt in to and which ones cause you to simply click away, most likely never to return.

Relevant – Make sure what you are creating as your free giveaway is relevant to your topic. If your niche is nutrition and health, your audience most likely will not be interested in a report on how to take a family vacation while on a budget. I regularly joke that many of my people need to lose a few pounds and love dogs, but that doesn’t mean they want to hear about weight loss or dog training from me. It’s not why they opted into my list to begin with and I must keep that in mind.

Substantial – Gone are the days of a three page document as the free giveaway. When I was first online the people who were already successful gave away the equivalent of a short eBook as their free giveaway. At some point all of us switched to something short and sweet, but I believe the trend now is back to something of great value and substance.

In my mind, list building includes both the process of encouraging and persuading someone to join your list, as well as the ongoing task of keeping them on your list and actively engaged. This can be a challenge, as you will hear differing ideas of how often to send emails, what to include in your messages, and how often to offer something for sale. This comes with the experience of running an online business, so you must jump in and see how your community responds to you.

I like to tell stories within my email messages, and many people tell me that this type of storytelling is what keeps them on my list and actively participating in my programs. Do not be afraid to share some things about yourself, but remember that once you do you will be unable to take it back. For example, in my family we seldom mention anyone’s name and never show pictures. This needs to be a serious discussion within your family, as people feel differently about this depending upon their prior experiences. The most important thing is to build your list and to communicate regularly with them.

What other questions do you have regarding list building marketing tips and growing your business as an online entrepreneur?

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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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Content Creation Marketing for Small Business

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Content Creation for Small Business MarketingContent Creation Marketing for Small Business

I was reading a post by Ron Tester, small business marketing expert at Do This Not That Marketing, and in it he shares eight trends of content consumption that are noteworthy. I would like to elaborate on his fifth trend, the need for content to be multimedia in nature:

“Content Needs to Be Multimedia — Video, infographics, images, audio, eBooks, articles, blog posts and more should all be used together to create a storm of new content that works together to promote the products and/or services that you want to promote. Content can still be repurposed into new forms, but you need to put a unique spin on it. This is such an important trend, even I am creating videos. Believe me, I wouldn’t be doing it if people weren’t wanting it.”

Read this over a couple of times to make sure you understand the power of Ron’s words here.

I couldn’t agree more and would like to include one of my “lifestyle videos” from my YouTube channel to show how I use video to get my message out to the world.

I also repurpose my posts into articles, audio trainings, podcasts, and short reports on a regular basis. I learned while working as a classroom teacher that people have different learning styles, and I have kept that in the back of my mind over this past decade that I’ve been an online marketer and entrepreneur. Think about how you can use audio, video, and other types of written content to share and promote your products and services.

Content creation marketing for small business is a worthy endeavor and must be implemented regularly for best results. Learn more about the small business marketing course taught by Ron Tester and myself and join us in the member’s area.

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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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Content Curation Marketing to Grow Your Online Business

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Content Curation MarketingContent Curation Marketing

I first heard about content curation from my good friend and colleague Marlon Sanders back in 2010. He was sharing his results from a course he was promoting on this topic, and frankly, I didn’t get it. It was my mistake not to spend some time discussing this with him to learn what he knew that I did not. Eventually I understood the concept and now content curation marketing is a regular part of my online business strategies.

Recently I was reading an excellent post from Steven Rosenbaum is the CEO of Magnify.net, a real-time video curation engine for publishers, brands, and websites. He’s also the author of Curation Nation. His post, 5 Tips for Great Content Curation, really got me thinking about this important topic. In in he shares his five best practices for content curation marketing:

“If you’re a curator looking for some boundaries in what feels like the Wild West, here are five best practices to consider.

1. Be Part of the Content Ecosystem

Be part of the content ecosystem, not just a re-packager of it. Often, people think of themselves as either creators or curators as if these two things are mutually exclusive. What a curator really should do is embrace content as both a maker and an organizer. The most successful curators include sites like The Huffington Post, that embrace the three-legged-stool philosophy of creating some content, inviting visitors to contribute some content, and gathering links and articles from the web. Created, contributed, and collected — the three ‘c’s is a strong content mix that has a measurable impact. Why? Because your visitors don’t want to hunt around the web for related material. Once they find a quality, curated collection, they’ll stay for related offerings.

2. Follow a Schedule

Audiences expect some regularity, and they’ll reward you for it. It doesn’t need to be a schedule that you can’t keep up with. If you want to curate three new links a day, and write one big post a week, that’s a schedule. Make sure to post at the same time each week. This is so readers know when to expect new material from you. Consistency and regularity will also bring you new users, and help you grow a loyal base of members who appreciate your work. A good example of someone who gets why a schedule makes a difference is Jason Hirschhorn via his MediaReDEF newsletter. He never misses a publish date.

3. Embrace Multiple Platforms

It used to be that your audience came to you. Not anymore. Today content consumers get their information on the platform of their choosing. That means you should consider posting short bursts on Tumblr, images on Pinterest, video on YouTube, and community conversations on Facebook. And don’t leave out established sites and publishers. If your audience hangs out on a blog, you may want to offer that publication some guest posts or even a regular column. Essentially, you have to bring your content contributions to wherever your readers may be.

4. Engage and Participate

Having a voice as a curator means more than creating and curating your own work. Make sure you’re giving back by reading others and commenting on their posts. A re-tweet is one of the easiest ways to help build relationships with fellow bloggers and curators. And your followers will appreciate that you’ve pointed them to good content. One word here, I never hit an RT without clicking through to read what I’m recommending. You can also lose followers if you don’t put in the effort to recommend material that you really think merits their attention.

5. Share. Don’t Steal.

Take the time to give attribution, links back, and credit. The sharing economy works because we’re each sharing our audiences, and providing the value of our endorsements. If you pick up someone’s work and put it on your blog, or mention a fact without crediting the source, you’re not building shared credibility. You’re just abusing someone else’s effort.”

The first and second of these “best practices” resonate with me the most; think of yourself as more of a publisher of content and then it doesn’t matter who wrote it originally, as long as you give proper and due credit when it was someone else’s idea. Also, sticking to a content curation marketing schedule will ensure your readership never goes more than a week or so without receiving additional content from you.

When I began teaching my Really Simple Content Marketing training course I made sure to spend enough time on content curation marketing so that my students would be able to get their content up and published with ease on a regular basis. Once you get into the flow of curation you’ll never want for content and people will think of you as an authority on your topic. Also, an added bonus is that they will tell you they see you “everywhere” on the Internet.

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Marketing Your Small Local Business

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Marketing Your Small Local BusinessMarketing Your Small, Local Business

I’ve been marketing for small, local businesses since 2007, and this actually got me started as an online marketer. Marketing your small, local business online is an excellent way to get more targeted prospects into your physical location and purchasing from you on the internet.

Neil Patel shares some excellent information on marketing a brick and mortar business here. In his well written and thought out post Neil breaks down the process into Days 1 through 10, Days 10 through 25, and Days 25 through 30. As expected, he emphasizes the importance of creating high quality content, and this is Step 2 of his 3 Step Basics plan. He states:

“One of the fallacies many entrepreneurs believe is that simply having a website with some on-page SEO is enough.

But that’s not how Google works, and that’s not how people work either.

If you want to attract new customers and build a loyal fan base, you need to place a premium on creating and curating high quality content.

Content is huge.

But how does this apply to marketing a brick-and-mortar business? Here’s how…

Let’s say you own a coffee shop in Boulder, Colorado.

You take the first 2-3 days and pay to create your website—design it to look great and navigate easily. Then you set up your Facebook page.

Now, it’s time to start populating your website and your social media with killer content.

Continuing with the coffee shop example, the next step would be to start writing articles or filming videos based on your niche.

You could write an article about the best locations for growing coffee or about 3 unconventional brewing methods you can try today, or you could film a video showing people how to do cappuccino art.

The list of things you can do is endless.

By creating this content you will improve your chances of ranking on Google, and you will also start providing free value to customers, which will increase their trust and their desire to give you their business.”

I agree with him completely on this point and this is why I created my Really Simple Content Marketing training course recently. If you are interested in marketing your small, local business you will want to make creating high quality content a top priority. The content you add to your website or blog will serve you for years to come. Think of this as a marathon and not a sprint and you will set yourself up for great success.

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Podcast: Lynn Terry…Internet Marketing Pioneer

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Lynn Terry Internet marketing PioneerLynn Terry, internet marketing pioneer, is my most recent guest for the podcast interview series. She is one of the original online marketers, having come on to the internet nineteen years ago! She was quite young at the time and wanted a way to create a business she could run from home or from wherever she happened to be. With two small children at home this business model proved perfect for her goal. I have been inspired by Lynn since first hearing about her when I came online in 2006, and today I am proud to call her a colleague and a friend. When she agreed to be my guest for this podcast I knew it would be an epic conversation.

I believe that Lynn shared incredibly valuable advice and tips during this interview. She is sincere in wanting to help others, especially online entrepreneurs. She teaches how to be successful with a variety of models, including affiliate marketing, and was the first person to be dubbed a “super affiliate” by others in the industry. This truly resonated with me and I set out to learn as much as I could on the topic from Lynn early on in my own career.

If you want to get clear about what online marketing is all about, and to hear sage advice and wisdom from someone who has seen it all, you will love this interview. Get ready to take some notes, especially when we discuss what has changed over these past nineteen years and what to focus on if you are just getting started in business.

If you’ve been following me for any time at all you know that I love niche sites. Much of what I learned came from Lynn’s Niche Success Blueprint training. I highly recommend that you go through this training and implement everything she is teaching you there. Knowing how to

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The 3 Marketing Mistakes Most Online Entrepreneurs Make

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Marketing MistakesMarketing mistakes can be costly. After working with online marketers for ten years now, I’ve seen them run into the same problem over and over again. Even though they have amazing things to offer their customers, they get stuck and stagnate.

I’d hate for that to happen to you, so let’s put a stop to that right now and talk about the 3 mistakes to avoid…

Mistake #1: Not Marketing Consistently

It never fails. Most new bloggers, affiliate marketers and product sellers get excited when they start out, so they tell everyone they can about their project. But then…

They don’t get the results they were hoping for and just give up.

OR

They get some good results, but fail to keep it up.

The thing is, marketing is an ongoing process, but it doesn’t have to be a difficult one. It just has to be Done for You Templatespart of your overall business plan. Each daily plan needs to include at least one marketing item, so you develop a habit and stay consistent with your growth.

Mistake #2: Being Wishy Washy

Oh yeah, I see you over there nodding your head. I get it…you’re a blogger or you’re a writer. You’re not a marketer and the last thing you want to act like is a used care salesman. I do NOT blame you.

But the thing is, marketing is not the same as a high-pressure sale. If you do it right, marketing blends in with your content creation process. It becomes a part of everything you do. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of your work and recommending it to others and that’s exactly what a smart marketing plan does.

Mistake #3: Trying to Reinvent the Wheel

The world of online marketing can certainly be difficult to navigate, but what you need to succeed is right in front of you. See what is working with others and figure out how you can apply that to your own business.

Of course, sometimes that’s easier said than done. How do you know what’s really working and how can you apply the strategies without copying someone else?

Well, I’m sure you know that I’ve got your back and have the solution just right for you….

My friends Ron Douglas and Alice Seba have been at this for a long time. They know what works and what doesn’t, and they’re always willing to share freely.  They’re the perfect example of marketers who don’t sound like used car salesman, but certainly aren’t wishy-washy. They engage their audiences by educating them and making them feel like they need their solutions.

That’s one of the reasons they opened up DFY Templates and I’m inviting you to join me over there. Each month, they offer you their fill-in-the-blanks templates to help you get your marketing done quickly and effectively. You have full rights to edit the templates how you’d like. You can even use them with your clients or brand them and resell them.

The special charter member opportunity expires very soon, so go here now and get the lowest price possible. I want you to have instant access to your first marketing template package and let me know what you think.

 

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Online Marketing Tips Podcast: Doing What It Takes

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Doing What It TakesDoing What It Takes for Online Entrepreneurs

This most recent podcast is a discussion of doing what it takes to be successful in business and in life. This conversation comes from my upcoming book, entitled Doing What It Takes. Here are some of the points I explain in great detail:

  • Take full responsibility for everything that happens in your life. This was a big one for me, as I was coming from the “victim” mentality for so many years. To finally embrace the belief that I had been and continue to be responsible for everything in my life rattled my core values and beliefs in a life altering way.
  • Feel the fear and do it anyway. Now this is the title of an excellent book first published in 1987 by Susan Jeffers, and the concept would be expanded upon by Shad Helmstetter, in his book What To Say When You Talk To Yourself a few years later. For years I believed that if you were honestly afraid of something you had two choices. One was to get as far away from it as possible and the other was to grit your teeth, squint your eyes, and try to get it over with as quickly as possible. Now I choose to face the fear, verbalize what I am feeling internally, move towards and through the experience, and observe the shift that occurs as I get closer to it becoming part of who I am.
  • Be willing to die for the truth. This comes from an inspirational talk by actor and producer Will Smith where he discusses how no one could ever surpass him in a treadmill competition because he would be willing to drop dead of a heart attack rather than to jump off while the other person is still on the machine. Now this may sound very dramatic, but the point is a valid one.
  • Get ready to do the work and make things happen. When the film The Secret was released in 2006 I was at the very beginning of my journey as an online entrepreneur. I absolutely adored the idea of being able to think about what I wanted in my life and to know it was on its way to my doorstep. Then the reality set in that I had to actually take massive action and I loved that concept even more. Why? Because I knew that few people would be willing to do the work it would take for them to achieve even the smallest of their goals. Do the work, stay focused and productive, and you will be far ahead of almost everyone else.
  • Abandon the notion of needing to know all of the steps and pieces up front before you can surge forward. You only need to know the relevant and tangible pieces of any project at the very beginning. This applies to most things in life.
  • Know that the resistance is coming. Accept and embrace this as a part of the process of changing your life and becoming a successful entrepreneur. This feeling is more than likely going to be a physical one, so you’ll have to experience the discomfort a few times before recognizing it for what it is. For me, it’s a feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. In the beginning I thought I was either hungry or had a stomach ache. Once I identified it as resistance to change or action related to my business I simply acknowledged it and moved on.
  • “Not feeling like it” will never be a reason not to accomplish even the smallest task or goal. When I first heard others saying they did not do what they had intended to do or what was expected of them because they just didn’t feel like doing it I was dumbstruck. If you find yourself feeling this way, simply give it a moment and do it anyway. When I need to write a new sales letter for a product or training course or live event I usually don’t feel like doing it, but that has never stopped me from completing the task at hand and getting on with it.
  • There probably isn’t a blueprint for exactly what you wish to achieve as an entrepreneur. Accept and embrace this as a challenge to develop your own blueprint over time as you learn more, implement what you are learning, and experience various levels of success.

Think about each of these points, listen to the podcast, and then comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts on these ideas and concepts.

Are you ready to be surprised? Recently, I have introduced a new feature during these podcast training calls. I will always have the latest course or program, either one of my own or one offered by someone I highly recommend, at my Surprise! link. Check it out today and see what I am recommending this week. If it’s not my own program, product, course, or live event then it’s always from someone I know, trust, and highly recommend as a great value to you as an online entrepreneur.

I certainly hope these affiliate marketing tips will be beneficial to you as you grow your business. Online entrepreneurship is most definitely a worthwhile goal.

Are you already a part my list community and receiving my daily email updates and training? If not, please give me your first name and primary email address in the form on the right-hand side of this site. If you are brand new to my podcasts, you will be interested to know that this specific training call, as well as all of the calls in my podcast series is intended to teach you and other new online entrepreneurs how to take your business to the next level quickly and effectively, and as a way for me to share my exact methods, techniques, Case Studies, secrets, and advice on creating a profitable and lucrative online business using the ‘multiple income streams’ approach. People on six continents have now discovered that starting an Internet business is the very fastest way to achieve both time and financial freedom, as well as to great success in all areas of your life, and you need help to get there quickly. That’s why I started this online marketing tips podcast for my community.

You will see that each podcast session is first recorded live as a teleseminar, and then repurposed into a podcast to extend my reach to the world. Please join my list (opt in on the right) to be included on these calls, and be sure to introduce yourself and share your site for optimal exposure for years to come! Also, check out my Podcast Show Notes site to see how you can subscribe at no cost to both of my podcasts, and please leave me a review on one or both of them if you are so inclined.

If you would like to get started earning income online right away then I recommend affiliate marketing as the stream of income that will allow you to “earn while you learn” You may now pick up my popular training on winning affiliate contests and other online marketing tips for only seven dollars at Affiliate Contest Secrets. This training regularly sells for $27. Use the discount code CONTEST to bring the price down to $7. This training has been completely updated for 2016 with the latest information, strategies, and Case Studies for you to use in your own business.

Please be sure to leave your comments below so that I may get to know you better and to serve you as you continue your journey as an online entrepreneur. Getting started with an online business will change your life forever and my reward is your massive success!

Subscribe To My Online Marketing Tips Podcast Today!

 

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