Category: website

    Recruiting New Subscribers Based on Your Reputation to Serve

    Once you start a list, it will be your job to grow the number of subscribers that you have over time. While it may seem meager at first, with subscribers only trickling in, it will pick up steam when you put more effort into it.

    Word-of-mouth is a powerful indicator of who to follow and who is trustworthy in any niche online.

    When you can generate positive word-of-mouth and recommendations as a niche leader, you will see your subscriber numbers soar.

    You do this by maintaining your ethics and showcasing a true desire to step up and help people. There are many of your competitors who are only in it for the money, and when you can set yourself apart from them as someone who truly cares, you will find that people naturally flock to you.

    You want to be open and honest about your own journey in the niche. Whether it’s online success or weight loss, telling the story of how you overcame obstacles and succeeded will resonate with your readers. They will want to share your stories with the people they care about – such as friends and family members.

    Some people try to position themselves as guru marketers who have never made a mistake. And while these individuals do develop a following of like-minded people, it’s more ethical and honest to be transparent about your journey.

    If you want to develop a reputation as someone who consistently shows up to serve your audience, then you’ll want to invite people to contact you. You can have a contact form or give out your direct email address.

    Make sure you respond to emails and contact in a timely fashion. If your audience grows to a level where you can’t handle all of the communication on your own, then you might want to host a webinar where your people can frequently interact with you or hire a virtual assistant to help you maintain communication flawlessly.

    While many marketers focus on their responsibility to provide good information to their audience, keep in mind that it’s also your responsibility to protect your followers from bad information.

    When you turn down opportunities to make fast cash by only recommending quality products as opposed to anything and everything, word will spread of your morals and subscriber numbers will increase.

    Make sure you’re strategic about growing your subscriber base. Whether you participate in giveaway events, create valuable content to be shared by others, or simply develop friendships with competitors who will sing your praises, you can’t rest on your laurels and expect people to flock to you for no reason.

     

    There is free training on setting up AWEBER and MAILCHIMP at HOME BUSINESS STARTUP TOOLKIT.

    If you want help with setting up an email subscriber service you can check out the HOME BUSINESS STARTUP TOOLKIT set of FREE Trainings here 

    Categories: blogging, Grow a Home Business Tags: Tags: , , , ,

    Writing Content for your Business

    The content of your site tells a whole lot about your website. They will basically describe what your site is about and also tell people what your site has to offer. Articles and website content makes a whole lot of difference in your site because they can catch the attention of your website visitors and keep them in there.

    With good website content you get the benefit of clearly depicting what it is you want to share with people. Also, good content and articles can lead people to your site. With more traffic, you get to earn more from your site making it profitable. A sites success, be it for profit or not, is the number of the flow of traffic in your site.

    SEO Enhanced Website

    So how does good content and great articles get you traffic? Well, many search engines rely on the keyword and keyword phrases of a site to put it in their results list. If your content contains a good number of keywords and keywords phrases, it may be chosen to be a part of the top listed sites in the search result pages.

    But before you think of just plastering your site with all the keywords and keyword phrases it could hold, search engines also filter out that abuse. You must have good well written articles that incorporate the keywords and keyword phrases properly in their content and articles.

    There are many of those who cannot afford the time to write their own website contents and articles. While writing content and articles specifically designed for the internet may take some getting used to and some researching and learning, there are many writers that can be found all over the world who could do it for you.

    Outsourcing your Web Content

    Many of us do not have the time to learn web content writing and article writing designed for the internet. There are writers who have great experience in doing this and charge only a minimal fee for such work. Writers like this can be regarded as experts in this style of writing and can greatly help your website to get that coveted spot in the search engine rankings.

    Other than getting your site in the web results page of search engines, they can also provide your site with meaningful articles and content that can impress your website visitors and entice others to view your site. Every website could use the extra traffic website visitors could invite.

    Outsourcing your Writing in Your Business

    Then there are those who need papers to be done either for their school or office work. Top writers around the world are very knowledgeable and do extreme researching to get a job done right. They are also very adept in many writing styles that are needed to best suit the client’s need.

    Many writers around the world charge a minimal fee depending on the type of writing job needed and the number of words needed in the content. Usually, a two hundred fifty worded article would cost from 4 to 8 dollars depending on the writers experience and ability. This is a small price to pay for having a content rich site or for a well researched and written paper.

    Finding a Good Writer

    There are also many sites that can offer you these services with their team of well trained and experienced writers. They offer many writing services to cover any writing needs. A writer can be based anywhere in the world and are guaranteed to offer good contents and articles. Each one are doubly checked, edited and proofread so that you would get your money’s worth.

    Finding a good writer or a site that offers these kinds of services is simply done by searching for them in search engines. Type down your keyword or keyword phrase (e.g. Content Writers, Article Writers) and you will see a long list of sites that offer these services.

    The services site include:

    Upwork.com

    Freelancer.com 

    The top sites would probably be the best since they have done a good job of keeping their content at a high quality to get them high rankings. But you may also want to shop around and read some of their sample work to get an idea of how much it will cost you.

    Writing content is a skill that can reflect well your business or not reflect well if the content is less than grammatically correct or it is not easy to read. So, make sure you get samples of someone’s work from them before you hire them to write your content. They should be able to give you a $ per page or $ per 1000 words rate so you can budget your money for outsourcing some writing.

    Categories: Content, Grow a Home Business, Outsourcing, SEO, Website Tags: Tags: , , , , , , ,

    5 Reasons to have a Blog in your Business

    Marketing – the action of promoting and selling your products or service. 

    5 Reasons why you should  blog in your business?

    1. It is a free marketing tool to use on your website and in social media.
    2. It brings awareness to your Brand as other businesses learn about your company who may want to connect or partner with your business.
    3. It is good to showcase your authority and knowledge about your product or service.
    4. Visitors find a way to connect and enjoy reading about company activities or events.
    5. Most importantly, visitors get to know, like and trust your business as a company they could do business with and they are more likely to find that your business has the solution to their problem.

    Click Here to Get “Blogging for Business Made Easy!”
    You may say you don’t have time to blog on your website about your business but you are letting a free opportunity for you to market to your customers slip away if you don’t! Blogging has become a way to market yourself and your products or services to website visitors and out on social media. People do want to hear what you are all about when they are looking for a solution to their problem. If you are out there blogging and doing social media posts, whether you are a small home business or a large corporation, your words will speak for your business.

    The more insight and peeks behind the scenes you get, the more that people will see you have authority in your field and line of work/service. Why You Need to Stop Waiting and Start Blogging (like TODAY) – SoulScripts
    Click Here to Get “Blogging for Business Made Easy!”
    Even if your business is a large one, and you’re setting out to create a blog that speaks to your customer base, there are always ways to make it personal. Show that you understand the issues they’re facing and the problems they’re looking to solve. Use your blog posts to demonstrate to your audience that you’re the best solution to those issues and problems.

    Having a voice doesn’t just mean the act of talking or writing. It means having a point of view, being distinctive, and maybe even a little opinionated or controversial. There is a lot of noise on the Internet, and one of the biggest challenges that people face is sifting through all of that noise in order to find the content that’s interesting.

    How are you going to create all the content for your blog?

    According to Neil Patel, if you write 10 ideas per day then by the end of the year, you will have 3650 ideas!

    The great thing about writing down 10 ideas a day is that you’ll become, as James Altucher says, an idea machine. by Neil Patel’s Guide to Blogging Consistently

    Then if you save an hour before day just to focus on your blog content; it may take you a few days to write 300 -500, words and then a couple of days to add images, proofread and add a call to action then you will have new blog post every week only from one hour a day!

    If you aren’t into writing content but find it easier to do audio then collect your thoughts and jot down the important points you want to make and then get out your microphone and record! Your audience may also be busy and they would enjoy listening to you and your personal thoughts then reading. Who has time!?

    The voice of your blog should be a good fit for the product or service you’re selling. For example, if you are an affiliate marketer for natural health care products, then a writing voice that’s positive and nurturing is almost certain to be more appropriate than a voice that’s “in your face” or that uses risqué humor.

    For more on blogging for your business check out

    Click Here to Get “Blogging for Business Made Easy!”

     

    Categories: blogging Tags: Tags: , , , ,

    14 Ways to Build Your Email Lists

    Building an email list is crucial to the survival and advancement of your business. It doesn’t matter if you have an online business or a bricks and mortar business; email marketing is an exceedingly effective form of marketing and should never be overlooked. It is, in fact, one of the most effective forms of marketing that has ever existed. Here are fourteen ways to build your email list.

    1. Create Value-Filled Content – While they won’t see the content until they subscribe and open the email, the content needs to be very well written, engaging, and relevant to the audience. You want them to love it so much that they keep opening and that they share your emails with their friends.

    2. Make Emails Sharable with Social Icons – It’s easy to add social icons to your email messages now, so be sure to do that. Add that to your email at the bottom, but also add a CTA asking your readers to share the email.

    3. Create Segmented Email Lists – The more focused each email list is, the more relevant the messages can be for the subscribers. By segmenting your lists when people make a purchase or click through to answer a CTA, you can make each email much more customized.

    4. Create a Lead Magnet – Some sort of incentive is very helpful for getting people to want to give up their email address. However, you should be very careful to make the incentive specific to your target market, to avoid visitors who just want the freebie and have no intention of ever buying anything.

    5. Create a Sign-Up on Facebook – Facebook is a great place to add an email sign-up form. You can create a CTA on Facebook easily, and people who will follow you on Facebook will likely want the information you have in your emails.

    6. Host a Contest – Contests can be a great way to get more people to sign up for your email list, especially if you run an affiliate contest on a product or service that you’re offering. In addition, you can give people a chance to win one of your books or products if they sign up, share, follow, and like.

    7. Create YouTube Videos – YouTube videos are a great way to attract more visitors. They have a lot of built-in viewers who search for things, so create short videos directed toward your audience.

    8. Use Creative Twitter Welcomes – You can get software to send automatic welcome messages to people who follow you on Twitter, like SocialOomph. While people complain about them, they’re still effective. Although if you are able to send personal welcome messages by hiring a virtual assistant, please do.

    Link to Social Oomph – https://www.socialoomph.com/

    9. Conduct Interviews – Find people who need to interview experts in your niche and pitch yourself as a guest. Most of the time when you are a guest you’re expected to bring with you an offer to their audience. This offer can require an email address to receive it.

    10. Host a Webinar – Webinars are on fire right now, and a great way to build an email list fast. Everyone who wants to attend the webinar has to sign up for your email list. People see personal webinars as valuable and are more willing to give up their email address for them.

    11. Find Joint Venture Partners – Partner up with others to do a multi-person webinar, or host another type of event such as an in-person event. When each of you promote to your own lists, it helps build all your lists.

    12. Publish a Book – A physical book or an eBook published via Kindle is a great way to get your name out there as an expert. The book can mention your email list and website too. You can even provide a special landing page for book buyers.

    13. Speak Offline – Host or become a speaker at offline events. This works especially well if you do have a physical book to show to people. If you have a good talk, you can get people clamoring to sign up for your list.

    14. Paid Promotions – Try using paid promotions on Facebook to collect email addresses, by giving away something free or requiring an email to watch all of a video.

    Using these methods will build your email list. You should do all of these methods (although not all at one time) over the course of your business to help build your email list. Keep building the list – never stop. Because the larger your email list, and the more targeted it is, the more successful you’ll be.

    Categories: Email Subscribers Tags: Tags:

    Ten Ways to Make Use of Online Communities

    Building an online community, and participating in online communities, is an important way to market your business online that is going to really take off  and beyond. The technology has become simpler, and anyone can start a community today. The trick is building it into a productive and valuable extension of your business.

    1. Start Your Own Community – If you have your own community focused on a certain niche, you will be able to control what happens and market yourself easier without having to follow anyone else’s rules.

    2. Release Limited Programs – If you release limited programs only to the group, they’ll feel as if they are special and unique and be more likely to give you a good testimonial and referral when the product goes live to the rest of the public.

    3. Ask Questions – Keep the discussion going by asking at least one question of the community every single day. Not only will it keep the community active for others who are just visiting for the first time, it will help people get to know you by seeing your name and face every day.

    4. Conduct Polls – Some online communities have a way to conduct a poll. This is where you ask a question but have set answers that they can choose from. It’s a great way to ask about your future products, such as, “Should I Name my Product X or Y?” By making them part of the creation they’ll be more likely to purchase.

    5. Have Weekly Twitter Parties – Choose a topic or goal for the week and ask the members of the community to participate in a Twitter party with prizes, special hashtags, and fun during the Twitter party.

    6. Plan a Monthly Webinar – Your community is the best place to tell about the monthly webinars and they are the ones you should invite to it. Plan it around a particular topic that is applicable to your niche.

    7. Promote Yourself Via Your Signature Line – It’s important to have a really well filled out profile as well as a good signature line that sends the members of the community to a special sales page just for them.

    8. Invite Others into the Community – Seek to selectively grow the group by inviting others who are interested in the same niche to the community. Keeping new members coming in on a regular basis is a way to keep the community fresh and active.

    9. Don’t Allow Anonymity – If you own the group, ensure that people are themselves and aren’t allowed to be anonymous. The reason is that if people are required to use their real name, they’ll be much less likely to be scammers and you need to keep your community safe.

    10. Become the Go-To Resource – Within the boundaries of your niche and subject matter, seek to be the go-to resource by always answering questions when they come up. In addition, start discussions and share content that relates to your niche.

    Using online communities to build relationships with other people is an important way to grow your business. This is because businesses that have longevity have always known that putting the customer at the center of everything is what works.

    Categories: Membership Tags: Tags:

    Nine Ways to Market Online via Email

    Email marketing is one of the most important and effective forms of marketing to ever be invented. The conversion rate for appropriate email approaches four to seven percent over time. That’s because a new client needs to see a brand seven to eight times before they trust it enough to buy something. Email is the perfect way to do that.

    1. Use the Right Software – There are many different types of email marketing software available but you need to read the fine print to be sure that you can do what you want to do with it. It’s safer to use a cloud-based service than one you use that is self-hosted, although those exist too. Both provide code for your subscription form.

    2. Autoresponder Series – No matter what else you do when it comes to online marketing, when someone gets on your list be sure to send them something no less often than weekly. Less than that and they’re going to forget about you, and they might even think you’re spamming them because they forgot. Set up triggered emails in the service to go out on a regular basis.

    3. ECourses – A great way to fill up your email marketing autoresponder is with an eCourse that delivers daily or weekly with information and assignments for your audience. This is not only a good way to teach them something but also a good way to suggest other products.

    4. Easy Recurring Content – Autoresponders offer the ability to set up easy recurring content that goes out on a triggered basis, either by actually setting a date or by setting an interval.

    5. ENewsletter – Some marketers use newsletters to send information to their audience. Newsletters are often larger and also available on the site in HTML so a subscriber can view them via email or on the site. A newsletter can go out monthly or more often. Be sure to tell your audience how often they’ll get the newsletter so they know what to expect.

    6. Craft Effective Headlines – It’s very important that headlines and subject lines be specific, keyword rich, and something the audience will want to open and see. Don’t be tricky or too cheeky as people don’t click through unless they know what’s inside.

    7. Personalize Email – Autoresponder technology allows you to personalize an email based on the information you’ve gathered from your audience. You can collect first name and email, and then you can send your email to, “Dear Sally,” instead of no one.

    8. Use Double Opt-In – It’s really important to use a double opt-in procedure. This means that the person subscribes at your website, then they agree that they subscribed via their email. Using this method offers proof if it ever comes up that you are not sending SPAM.

    9. Don’t Forget the CTA – When you send emails to anyone for any reason, you should include a call to action. It might be to share the newsletter with others, to like you on social media, to try out software you recommend or something else entirely.

    You simply cannot have a good online marketing plan if you don’t involve yourself with email marketing. In fact, everything else you do marketing wise should all lead back to building your email list. A targeted email list will enable you to give yourself a raise whenever you want one.

    Categories: Email Subscribers Tags: Tags:

    The Importance of Getting Involved

    When you join memberships, the most important thing you can do is to get involved. Getting involved means that you work to build relationships with the members of your group through the actions at meetings – as well as before, during and after. The importance cannot be overrated, because it’s an essential component that works well if you’re using memberships to advance your business.

    * You’re Not Selling – When you get involved in groups, it’s really not as much pressure as you might think. For one, you’re not supposed to sell anyone anything. You are simply getting to know different people, spreading your wings and letting people get to know you.

    * Building Relationships Is Vital – One of the best things you can do for your business is to get to know others, build relationships with them, and them with you. It’s great to get to know a lot of people so that you can be in their mind and they can be in yours when the need arises.

    * You’re Supposed to Network – When you go to network meetings and get involved, the thing is that you’re supposed to network; no one is turned off by your networking attempts. It’s not like going to a normal party where people are sticking around with their family or clique. Networking is designed for you to step up and do something.

    * It’s Good for You – Believe it or not, being involved with something outside of your own business directly is a very good thing to do. Being connected to a community is good for your health, both mentally and physically. Plus, you just can’t know enough people.

    * It Will Boost Your Business – It might not happen overnight, but the more people you know, and who know you as someone that gets involved and gets things done, the more business that will come your way.

    * It Builds Momentum – Sometimes you may think networking isn’t working, but what you do today will build on what you did yesterday and so forth. You will be happy in a year that you did the networking you did and that you got involved, because your life will be completely different and your business will feel as if it’s on autopilot.

    * Puts Experts at Your Fingertips – Not only will people refer you to work, you will be also able to refer others. Being a resource to others is an important role to play, because when you do good deeds for others then they will return the favor.

    * Puts You in the Mind of Your Audience – Just like you have experts at your fingertips due to your involvement in memberships, you are also going to be at the top of their mind if you get involved with the groups you join. They’ll see your example and they will like you and trust you to do what you say you’ll do.

    The importance of getting involved in any membership is vastly underrated. It doesn’t matter if you have an online or offline business, just step out of your four walls and communicate with others – both online and in person. Getting involved with memberships and your community will pay off exponentially.

    Categories: Membership Tags: Tags:

    What to Include in Your Email Newsletter?

    Knowing what to put in your email newsletter is as important as creating one. They say that the money is in your list, but if you don’t send out regular messages you’ll miss out on the additional income that an email newsletter can generate. It’s important not to over think each newsletter that you send out. Keep them simple, not too long, and always point the reader to something else such as something to buy, share or do.

    1. Tips and Tricks – It’s great to include a list of tips and tricks for your readers in your email newsletter. If you send out a daily newsletter, you could make once a week a list of ten tips or tricks to use that involves putting your services or products to their best use.

    2. Special Offers – You don’t have to send out a special offer every newsletter but if once a month or so you offer your newsletter subscribers an offer that no one else is getting just for being a subscriber, you’ll make them feel special. People love the feeling of membership and exclusivity.

    3. Engagement Opportunities – Give your newsletter subscribers an inside way to meet up with you, either through live meet-ups or online webinars. Having one webinar a quarter or more often is a great way to engage your newsletter subscribers. Google Hangouts is a great way to accomplish this. You can even offer Q&A’s.

    4. Early Bird Notices – Tell your list subscribers about new products before you announce them to the world. Giving them a few days to purchase at a discounted “early bird” rate is a great thing to include in your email newsletters.

    5. Feedback Questions – Using your email newsletter as a way to get feedback on potential new products or services is a great way to encourage engagement. You can do it via questionnaire or poll.

    6. Testimonials – Including a section for customer testimonials is a great way to recognize your clients as well as to provide social proof to newsletter subscribers who have not purchased from you yet.

    7. Share Buttons – Inviting your newsletter subscribers to share certain newsletters that don’t have exclusive material is a great way to improve your subscription rate, and will also make your current members feel included in your community.

    8. Legal Notifications – Every newsletter needs to include all legal notifications relevant to anti-spam laws. If you go with the most stringent laws, you’ll be sure to cover all your bases.

    9. Opt-Out Information – While this could be covered under legal notifications, it’s important that you include opt-out information that is easy to find in every single newsletter that you send out. Don’t be worried about subscribers unsubbing. It’s better to have a clean list of people who want to be there than a list full of people who resent getting your information.

    Ensure that you include a variety of different things in your email newsletter that are designed to get a response and you won’t be disappointed in the results. In addition to the nine items above, never forget to include a call to action (CTA) in each newsletter that you send out. Without a CTA there is no point to the newsletter. So, be clear about that before you start.

    Categories: Email Subscribers Tags: Tags:

    What to Look For in an Online Community

    If you want to join an online community rather than build your own, it’s important to look at several communities to ensure that you spend your money and/or time wisely before getting too involved. It’s pretty easy to tell quickly if a community is one you want to stay involved in if you know what to look for.

    * Uses Real Names – You don’t really want to waste time in a community where everyone is anonymous. You want to make real connections with real people with whom you can conduct business. When you are dealing with a lot of anonymous people that isn’t going to happen; instead you could end up scammed.

    * Has Active Discussions – The owner of the group should be working hard to ensure that discussions stay active and productive. If no one has started a new discussion in the last week other than to spam the group, it’s probably not a very good community.

    * Offers Plenty of Content – You want to be part of a community that offers informative content to the audience that is helpful to their business. If the content and information that is available is old and outdated, it might not be a community that you want to waste time on.

    * Has a Podcast – A really good addition to any online community is a podcast where the host interviews members and also experts in the niche. This keeps everything new and fresh for the members and keeps them coming back.

    * Community of Customers – The best community you can join is a community full of potential clients for you. For example if you’re an author’s VA you might want to join a community of authors.

    * Community of Colleagues – Alternatively, you might want to learn more about your niche by joining a community full of your actual competition. It can be very enlightening to learn from others who are doing what you are doing.

    * Notice Who Is Commenting – When a discussion starts, who is starting it and who is commenting on it? You may notice that the same people are always involved in the discussions. That is okay as long as the comments are well formed, intelligent, and there aren’t a lot of disagreements without someone checking the discussion.

    * How Many Blatant Ads Appear? – Some measure of promotion is okay because it’s their community that they started likely to promote themselves, but you want the promotions to be well thought out and not the only thing the community is about.

    * Do They Offer Live Events? – Webinars, teleseminars, Twitter parties, and even in-person live events speak to a well-organized and established online community that will continue to grow and thrive.

    Choosing an online community to become a regular part of is an important thing to consider, because it takes a lot of time and effort to create value from the experience. You don’t want to spend your time in the wrong place.

    Categories: Membership Tags: Tags:

    What Types of Free Gifts Can You Offer to Subscribers?

    The freebie is a popular way to entice a new subscriber to offer up their information so that you can put them on your email list. It’s still a great way to get someone to sign up. The important thing about a freebie is that it should be useful, valuable and of the same quality as the things you sell to your audience.

    If it’s a lesser value, they may not realize it and they will think this is an example of the type of work that you do and not buy your products or services. If you are serious about getting more clients, your freebie needs to be the example of what your audience expects. However, never make your free gift something that you have to produce separately for each person; that would be too difficult and take too long. You want it to ideally only cost you something to produce one time.

    EBooks – This is a great gift to give away, especially if you use one you normally sell so that it has a perceived value to the visitor. If it’s something you normally sell on your website or elsewhere, then the visitor feels a lot of incentive to get the free item.

    Software – If you create any type of downloadable tools, software, plugins, or apps or have permission through private label rights to use them as freebie giveaways and it’s something very useful for your audience, this is another really great free gift to give your subscribers. This works best if the freebie is something your audience can use in conjunction with your products or services.

    Reports – A report is just a short eBook that is more focused on solving one problem, instead of an overall “how to” like a book would be. If you had a website about vegetarianism, you could for instance offer a free pantry check sheet, conversion or substitution chart for your readers to use.

    Coupons – People do like getting discount coupons, so if you can offer your visitors a coupon code for signing up for your email list that is a great freebie to offer. Don’t discount your work too much, though, because that devalues what you do.

    Videos – Offering a video lesson or videos of a live event as a freebie is a great way to repurpose videos that you’ve made. Just load them up to deliver to the people who sign up for your list.

    Checklists – An awesome freebie to give your audience are checklists to use that you’ve tried and put together especially for them.

    Charts – There are all sorts of charts you can provide your audience depending on your niche.

    Bundles – You can put together a compilation of all of the above if you want to offer a really outstanding freebie to your list subscribers. This is a great way to give them an overall sampling of what you do well.

    Getting people to opt in and subscribe to your list is an important part of making your online business or the online marketing of your offline business successful. The money is still in the email list, no matter what other channels exist for marketing your business. Get your audience on your list and you can give yourself a raise whenever you want to.

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