Help! I Just Need to Know How to START Online! (Ever Felt That Way?)

June 11, 2010 By 2 Comments

Everyday, more and more people decide they want to explore the possibilities of working online. Maybe they already have a business, and are just ready to use the Internet to put some systems in place that leverage their time and effort. Or, they long to start their own business and are enticed by the idea of the “laptop lifestyle” and the freedom of working for themselves.

Often, however, people end up stuck or in information overload trying to make sense of what seems like a million moving pieces. It’s hard to make progress when you feel like you barely know where to begin.

Of course everyone’s business is different, and there’s unfortunately no “one size fits all” template that someone can just hand to you. But there is a general flow to how online businesses operate, so if you are truly at a standstill right now wondering where in the world to focus, these few steps should get you pointed in the right direction.

1) Be clear on the who, the what and the how of your target market.

It may not seem like the most exciting place to begin, but it is still really important. Who do you serve? What is it they need? And how to you plan to help them with what it is they need? This does take a bit work to discover if you aren’t clear on it yet. But once you have those specifics narrowed down, reaching your target market online becomes a whole lot easier.

2) Start building your list.

The easiest way to do this is to put up a website. It could be a full-blown, traditional brochure site, a blog, or even just a one-page “invite site” where the main focus is just to have people sign up for your list in exchange for some type of freebie such as an e-course, a checklist or a short e-book or special report. The great thing is that today this is easier than ever to do. With easy-to-use free publishing tools like WordPress, you can have a simple website up and running in just a couple of hours. Really! You then want to encourage people to sign up for your freebie in as many ways as possible—through social media, blogging, message boards, you name it.

3) Commit to communicating with your list on a regular basis.

One of the most effective ways to do this is through an electronic newsletter, or “e-zine.” An e-zine can be as simple as a plain text email with a couple of helpful tips for your readers—to a HTML version with pictures, an article, listings of your upcoming events and more. An e-zine is something that can be easily forwarded so that word spreads about you, and it can also help establish you as an expert in your niche and keep you top of mind when it comes to the people on your list.

One final piece of advice: get going NOW. Realize that the time will never be “just right” and you’ll never have ALL of your ducks in a row. My own coach has a mantra that I wholeheartedly agree with when it comes to doing business online: “done is better than perfect.” The sooner you adopt that view, the sooner you will see success.

And now that you know where to start, no more excuses, ok? :)

Filed Under: Online Business Tagged With: , , ,

The Missing Link—Or, Why Social Media Isn’t Working For You

March 25, 2010 By 2 Comments

I hear a lot of things about social media in doing what I do. There has been a major theme lately popping up with people who say that social media is not working for them.  They’re frustrated and ready to throw in the towel on it, convinced it just doesn’t translate into dollars in their business. I patiently listen to their frustrations, and upon digging deeper, I often find a major flaw in their marketing process.

They’re not getting them on the list.

What does this mean?

Well, they are having interactions and conversations, maybe rubbing shoulders with key people in their industry, finding out lots of great information about what their market wants and needs, maybe even getting these people to click through and visit their website or blog.  All good stuff, right?

It is, except it’s only part of the equation. As much as “relationship-building” is touted as the one of the most important benefits business owners can get from using social media, it can only take one so far—at least, that particular form of relationship-building.

In the Internet marketing world, the mantra has long been “the money is in the list,” meaning your list of prospective customer and client names and email addresses.  It is actually more accurate to say that the money is in the value you provide to your list and in the relationship you build with them. (Otherwise we could all go out and buy ourselves a list of a million names, right?)

But wait, aren’t my 42 zillion Facebook friends and Twitter followers my “list?”  Don’t they count?  Those are fantastic contacts to have, but you don’t own these lists!  Though highly unlikely, Facebook or Twitter could shut down tomorrow.  Your own list of prospects and customers is still one of your greatest assets as a business owner.

Social media should compliment your list building, not replace it. That is where I often see people getting stuck and complaining that the time they are spending on social media isn’t paying off.  What needs to shift is the way they look at social media’s function in their overall marketing. It’s an excellent place to begin establishing relationships, they just need to take it a step further and give people a way to more permanently become a part of their community.

So start building that list of targeted prospects who have essentially “raised their hand” to hear more about your business and what you have to offer. Once they’ve joined your list, your job is to continually provide them with quality content, valuable tips and helpful information so that when they are ready to buy from you, that all-important trust and familiarity has already been established.

Treat ‘em well and it will pay off in spades. :)

Image credit: ehow.com

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Your Free Offering – The First Step in Building the Know, Like and Trust Factor

September 6, 2009 By 3 Comments

free signYou have heard it before, no doubt: people buy from those they know, like and trust—often referred to as the “KLT factor” for short. This is something that needs to be established over time, and the way to begin the process is to capture website visitors’ contact information so you can begin building a relationship with them.

With so many people requesting your email address on the internet, it’s not enough anymore to simply offer a newsletter in exchange for the information—and it’s certainly not enough to ask for the information without providing anything in return.

Give them an incentive

Enter the “free taste.” It’s not likely a person new to your website is going to buy on the first visit, especially a product or service with a higher price point. (In fact, it is often said that a person needs to see your message 7 to 12 times before they decide to buy from you.) What they are really looking for is a risk-free introduction to what your business is all about, and whether it can help solve their most pressing problems. This free offering can take on many forms, but here are some of the most common:

An eCourse: This works best when you use an autoresponder service such as Constant Contact or AWeber. You can write up 5 to 10 lessons and have them go out over a period of a week or two. The lessons do not have to be long, they just need to convey your expertise on a topic your target market is eager to learn about.

A free report: Again, no need to go super in-depth with this—one idea is to write up a list of recommended resources in your niche. You could also compile a list of “top ten tips” or create a checklist for how to do something. Simply turn it into a PDF download when you’re done.

An audio file: If you’d rather speak than write, you can record an audio for others to download. Many people would rather listen than read, so this can be an enticing option for your website visitors.

Continue the relationship

Along with this complimentary offering, people will still receive your newsletter or e-zine. You simply tell them that for signing up they will get a subscription to it along with their free gift. A newsletter is what will continue to build and strengthen your relationship with your subscribers over time. If you write a blog, it can work the same way-provide consistent, good content for the people who subscribe to your RSS feed. This way, when you make those paid offers down the road, they will be much more likely to take you up on it.

The bottom line? Valuable content + familiarity breeds more sales!

Do you incorporate a free offering into your marketing?  What questions do you have about this technique?

Photo credit: jking89

Filed Under: Traffic and List-building Tagged With:

You Drove Prospects to Your Site With Social Media–Now What?

August 23, 2009 By 10 Comments

now whatBy now, I’m sure you know that being active on social media sites is a great way to drive traffic to your website or blog. But what happens once those people have arrived at your site?

You need to have a way to capture those prospects before you lose them and they click away forever. Having great content for them to enjoy once they land there is only part of the equation. You want to offer them a way to provide their email address so that you have permission to keep in touch and build that all-important, ongoing relationship with them.

Once you’ve captured their info, you then have a way to present any future offerings, events or opportunities to them. But first you’ve got to hook them in! Here are the keys to accomplishing that.

Have a sign-up form for them to input at least their first name and primary email address.

If you are using an email marketing service such as AWeber, Constant Contact or any other which provides autoresponders, you can easily create what is known as an “opt-in box” form and copy and paste the code directly onto your site. I personally use AWeber, and they provide instructions for creating the form as well as the HTML code.

Place the sign-up box in a prominent place.

Studies have shown that one of the most effective places to put the box is “above the fold,” in the upper right-hand corner of the page.  This just means that you don’t want to make the person have to scroll down to see your form. When they visit your site you want their eyes to be drawn immediately to it. A good idea is to have the box stand alone without any distracting images or text around it.

Make it crystal clear what visitors need to do.

In this case, simpler is better. The less choices people are given, the more likely they are to sign up. Describe what it is they get for giving you their information, have a place for their email address and name, a blurb on your privacy policy and a submit button.

Give an incentive for signing up with you.

These days, people are bombarded with information and offers online. You need to have a compelling reason for people to hand over their info. In exchange for doing so, give them some type of freebie–an e-course, a special report, an audio file or something else that will appeal to them. Keep in mind that this offering does not have to be super comprehensive. You can still put together something of value without it taking you more than a couple of hours to create.

Offer the ability to sign up on every page of your site.

Because you never know from which page people will enter your blog or website, be sure to place your form not only on the home page, but each page that makes up your site.

Now, when you drive all of that social media traffic that’s hungry for more of what you’ve got to offer, you have a way to continually keep in contact with them. They’ve decided to come check you out–don’t leave them without a clear next step!

Photo credit: db*photography

Filed Under: Traffic and List-building Tagged With: ,

8 Ways to Build Your Email List Using Social Media

April 19, 2009 By 12 Comments

In any business, it is important to build a list of targeted subscribers to market your services or products to. You want a responsive list and your job is to provide value to them, consistently.

Whether you have a website or a blog, you should definitely have a way to capture a visitor’s name and email address.

Two of the biggest components of effective marketing are reach and frequency. Reach refers to the number of people you “touch” with your message; while frequency refers to the number of times each person is reached on average. Frequency is a way to build trust and drives your particular message home.

More people than ever are using social media, so it stands to reason that more of your target market is reachable there today than even just three or four months ago. Take advantage of these ways to add subscribers when using social media sites so you can begin communicating regularly with more potential customers and clients.

1. Create an effective profile. What is effective? Use a real photo of yourself and your real name. Include your location and a good bio–complete, up-to-date and with all of your contact information.

2. Offer events. A great way to add targeted subscribers is to hold an event such as a teleseminar. Invite your friends and followers and direct them to a sign-up page specifically for the event. Let them know that in addition to signing up for the event, they will also receive a free subscription to your e-zine or other valuable information.

3. Join a Ning network or create your own. Ning is a platform which allows people to create their own social networks. Anyone can create a network at no cost around a specific interest.  This is a great tool for getting in front of your target market or niche.

4) Sync your newsletter broadcasts with Twitter. If you use an email list service such as AWeber, you have the option to tweet a link to your newsletter automatically when the broadcast is sent out. To do this, choose “Syndicate” and “Twitter Update.”

5. Place an opt-in box on your Facebook Fan Page. This is something I explain how to do in detail in my recent video blog post. The Static FBML application allows you to add your opt-in box very easily. This way you can capture new subscribers when your fans visit your profile.

6. Use social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking allows internet users to search, organize and store bookmarks of web pages.  Be sure to have a way for readers to submit posts that they enjoy to bookmarking sites (Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, etc.) right from your blog. This is a great way to drive traffic to your blog when others come across your bookmarked site.

7. Feed your blog posts to sites automatically. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all have applications/tools that will post your latest blog posts on their sites as soon as they are published. This keeps you on others’ radars consistently.

8. Be helpful and participate often. The best advice I can give for spending time on social sites is to give, give, give. You don’t have to spend hours there, but when you do use these sites, offer suggestions, advice and tips. Create conversation as well as join it. People will get to know you and then seek out more information about you.

Let me know if these tips are helpful and whether there are any that you are using currently with success–or any that I may have left out!

Photo Credit: Tim Morgan

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: ,