Articles
Niche Marketing Strategy: Go Large!
There is a ton of marketing advice online about niching things down until you get to a small, fanatical group of people who will buy anything and everything in that niche.
And this is great advice – I offer it myself and follow it all the time.
But… you know how I like to be contrary. Sort of like, if everyone is selling stock, I’m buying. If they’re buying, I’m selling.
For example,… how many people like to eat good food? Or see movies? Or drive cars? LOTS of people.
So I got to thinking… what if you made an offer that appealed to a ton of people?
For example, how to take vacations for free.
This isn’t anything sketchy – it really is possible to take free vacations. In fact, there are several different methods of doing it.
So, I advertise this free offer: “How to take vacations for free.”
And then I bill myself to my new subscribers (using a pen name) as the guy that will hook them up with really great free stuff, like the free vacations info.
In fact, if they liked that one, they will LOVE what I have coming up, so watch your email…you get the idea.
Then I send them free offers.
For example, a free report or video on how to get all the dates they want.
They opt-in to a new list to get that report or video, and now I have a targeted list of people who want dating info.
Generally, every offer I make is going to be directly tied into an affiliate product such as a Clickbank product.
They get the free report or video, and at the end of it I make a soft sell for the Clickbank product.
I also offer a free bonus if they buy the product. All they have to do is email me their Clickbank receipt, and I send the bonus. This way I can also separate my buyers from my prospects.
As I get these segmented lists, I continue to send them free offers that lead to paid offers.
And I make bank, all because I start out attracting as many people as possible and then segmented them down by interest.
Now then, you might be wondering how this is better than simply targeting a small niche in the first place.
Frankly, I don’t know if it’s better, but it is different, and it does work. And it allows me to build several lists simultaneously from the same main traffic source.
One person can be on several of my segmented lists, after all. For example, they’re interested in vacations, dating and dieting – three different lists, three opportunities to sell them products.
Using this method, it’s very easy to build a large list quickly. And if I want to immediately profit, I offer a one-time offer after they get the initial freebie.
The real payoff is when I start segmenting into smaller, more targeted lists.
And of course, it’s nice to have (for example) 10 lists in 10 different niches, because now I have 10 different profit centers, all coming from the same initial source.
Tell them what to do, for example, but not how to do it. The “how to” is in the paid product.
Or tell them the difficult method to accomplish something, and then offer the easy method as a paid product.
And you don’t have to create any products yourself – just use the ones on Clickbank. But you might be creating short free reports or videos, which of course you can always outsource.
However, it is always worth making the effort to create your own products too and then you can have affiliates promoting YOUR stuff!!
Fortunately, it isn’t too difficult to add a product to Clickbank once you have created it, but you don’t have to work it all out for yourself. Just pick up the Clickbank Superstar course and it will guide you step-by-step in the setup process on Clickbank. Cool, eh?
You can take a look at Clickbank Superstar here: warr.us/CBStar
One last shortcut: A lot of affiliate offers will start out with a free report or video. Make a deal with the product owner to get that report or video in the hands of your readers yourself. That way you’re using their freebie to segment your list, and the affiliate product owner is still making sales.
So, just do what McDonald’s do and “Go Large” and you may just be surprised at the results!
What Are The Benefits To A Business Of Using A Chatbot?
With sites like Facebook and Kik opening their platforms to automated messaging for companies, chatbots have really exploded in popularity.
Facebook went from zero chatbots in February 2016 to 18,000 by July of the same year. Kik had approximately 300,000,000 registered users, and those users exchanged 350,000,000 automated messages with the platform in the first seven months of its chatbot.
You’ve probably seen chatbots in action. They are on all sorts of websites, from major retail chains to mobile phone service providers and many other types of sites and apps.
At first, you might think you’re talking to a real person. Usually, a popup appears with a picture of an agent, along with a name. The “agent” asks something like, “May I help you with anything?” Or, “Do you have any questions?”
Chatbots are quite advanced, and many of them can almost manage to fool users into thinking they are speaking to a real person. This is beneficial, because it allows companies to lower their overhead by using chatbots to replace customer service agents in many circumstances, and only when the chatbot is unsuccessful in helping the customer must a real agent step in.
What are the benefits to a business of using a chatbot?
Well, they do have a few drawbacks, but they also have many benefits. So, let’s look at what the pros and cons are and whether chatbots are right for your business.
Benefits of Chatbots
Chatbots are very useful for a lot of different applications—from simple user contact, to answering questions, and even helping the sales process along.
One of the biggest benefits of using chatbots is that you can have fewer actual employees, because chatbots can take care of a lot of issues that might take up time from paid employees. This frees up paid employees for more important tasks and allows them to have more time to help customers with major issues.
This benefits customers, too, because they can get answers to questions and help with problems much faster than they might if they ended up contacting customer service through traditional means.
Bots can also provide you extremely valuable information about your customers if you log those conversations and analyze them, because you can see the types of questions they are asking. Never overlook those logs as a way to find out more about them.
Drawbacks of Chatbots
Of course, chatbots have a few drawbacks, too. No technology is perfect, and bots are no exception.
The biggest drawback is that artificial intelligence, no matter how advanced it may be, is not yet at the level that can replace actual humans. This inevitably leads to failure to help customers sometimes, which may end up frustrating the user enough that they leave your site. This is rare, but it can happen, so you must make sure your chatbot can direct customers to live help when needed.
The cheapest solution isn’t always the best, so it’s vital that you test your chatbot thoroughly to make sure there are no problems with it that could end up frustrating your customers.
Are Chatbots Right For You?
Chatbots aren’t right for every business. If you find that you don’t have a lot of contact with customers normally, you may not need a chatbot. But, on the other hand, if you do have a lot of contact with customers, or if you find you have a lot of shopping cart abandonment or your customers tend to ask a lot of questions or need additional help, a chatbot just might be perfect for your needs.
Here are some situations where a chatbot might work for your business:
- Your customer service agents are overwhelmed. If you find that your agents are overwhelmed by the volume of help requests you get daily, especially if the are simple requests that could easily be taken care of by a bot, it makes perfect sense for you to use one.
- You have a high rate of shopping cart abandonment. If you find that a lot of people are abandoning their shopping carts or leaving your site without converting into email subscribers or buyers, a chatbot might help by asking the customer what went wrong when they try to leave your site, and then guide them through the process so they can complete the conversion.
- Customers keep asking the same questions over and over. Let’s face it, customers rarely read F.A.Q. pages. Sometimes you may wonder, “Why even bother having a F.A.Q. page? It seems like nobody reads them!” And that’s true. But chatbots are a great way to get more people to find out the answers to simple questions without wasting your or your agents’ time. You can program common questions into your bot and let it answer those questions.
- Your business is oriented toward service. If you’re in an industry that is notoriously service-centric, such as the travel industry, for example, chatbots can go a long way toward helping customers get assistance while alleviating some of the initial work that agents might otherwise have to deal with.
These are just a few examples, but hopefully you’re beginning to get an idea of whether or not a bot might be a good fit for your business.
FB Messenger Marketing
The use of Facebook Messenger as a marketing tool has exploded in the last 12 months and it doesn’t look like it is going to slow down any time soon.
Many marketers report much higher engagement rates with Messenger bots than email marketing. This isn’t to say that email marketing isn’t effective, but rather that engagement is higher using Messenger chatbots.
This is probably due to the immediacy of the Messenger service which means that prospects can interact with the Messenger bot as soon as they request help/information etc. and time is all important.
If you want to investigate this marketing strategy further, then I highly recommend a course by JayKay Dowdall. It is called Destiny and is probably the most comprehensive course on FB Messenger marketing currently available and is very reasonably priced so do take a look.
Chatbot Solutions
There are already a number of chatbot products on the market. Some are quite effective, while others have been obviously rushed to market and are full of bugs that will frustrate you and your customers.
Let’s take a look at some of the products that are currently on the market and are considered to be good quality.
Mobile Monkey
The Mobile Monkey platform is one of the most popular chatbots available for the Facebook Messenger system, and also works with Facebook comments. They are remarkably affordable, with a 30-day free trial and a permanent free plan for under 100 customers.
The Mobile Monkey platform will even allow you to sell products directly to customers through Facebook with Stripe, Paypal, and other payment platforms.
Botsify
>> Botsify.com
Botsify is another very popular platform that works for Facebook Messenger, but also has a version that works directly on your website. They have a free plan (only for Facebook Messenger) that has a lot of features, but their paid plans (which can be used on a website) start at a very reasonable $10 per month.
Botsify also allows human takeover at any time, so you can have a customer service agent take over whenever the chatbot isn’t helping the customer properly.
ManyChat
ManyChat is another very popular platform that has been specifically designed to work with Facebook Messenger. They have a free plan that has a lot of features, but their paid start at a very reasonable $10 per month for up to 500 subscribers. This is the preferred service for the Destiny FB Messenger course mentioned earlier.
ChitChatChimp
ChitChatChimp is poised to be one of the frontrunners in the chatbot realm. It allows absolutely anyone, even with zero programming knowledge, to create their own chatbot.
It can create all types of bots, including:
- Customer support bots
- Sales bots
- Research-gathering bots
- Educational bots
- Entertaining bots
If you need something flexible and customizable that doesn’t cost a fortune, ChitChatChimp is probably your best option.
OK, there you have chatbot marketing in a nutshell. Adopt this strategy into your marketing and give yourself the best possible solution to collect leads, make sales and grow your business.
And don’t forget to check out the Destiny FB Messenger Course for some stellar training to make the most of this new marketing opportunity.
Content Marketing Explained: How To Write Content That Converts!
If you’re just getting started in blogging, it’s easy to get frustrated when you don’t see immediate results. But like anything, it can take a little time to get things rolling. It’s important to be patient in the beginning, because the quickest way to fail is to give up too soon!
When it comes to successful blogging, consistency is key.
Fortunately, there are simple, yet effective ways to dramatically increase the amount of traffic, subscribers, and revenue from the start, while also decreasing the time and energy spent managing your blog.
There is no better way to stay motivated and focused than by seeing results from your hard work, and that is exactly what you’re going to experience when you follow the techniques below.
Blogging is ALL about content and you must be producing content on a regular basis. You should ideally be producing 1-2 blog posts per week, but if that is too much to begin with, then aim for at least one per month.
And make sure that this is good, high-quality content that people would be willing to pay for. This should be some of your best stuff.
It goes without saying then, that regardless of your niche, you’ll want to write content that solves a problem and helps your reader achieve their goals.
When creating content for your blog, you want to focus on 2 things:
- Educate
- Empower
Every post on your website should do one or both of these things.
If you are writing how-to style posts that provides readers with a step-by-step process to completing a task, or accomplishing a goal, you are educating. If you write a blog post that offers insight such as a personal story of success, case studies, or motivational-style posts, you’re empowering your audience.
Another thing to consider when writing content for your blog is to focus on evergreen content. That way the content you post today should still be relevant months from now because it doesn’t become outdated quickly. This will cut down on the time you spend rewriting or revising content and prevent you from having to remove content that no longer provides value.
Start by jotting down links to the top 10 authority blogs in your niche market, and then spend a bit of time evaluating the type of content they are offering, especially posts that have a high level of engagement.
Look for things like:
- Commonly asked questions posted by your target audience.
- Posts with a high number of comments or likes.
- Posts with the highest number of social shares.
High quality, informative and unique content is the key to your blog’s success. It’s what forms the foundation for your entire business, but it also is the driving force behind turning that traffic into subscribers.
Focus on building high quality content pages on your blog before you do anything else. You should aim to have 4-5 pillar posts before you start to drive traffic to your site. That will give your visitor’s enough reason to return to your site and to leave a positive impression in the mind of your target audience.
When it comes to the length of your content, search engines prefer longer blog posts that provide informative, original content, so try to write posts that are at least 1000-1500 words in length.
Think this is difficult to do?
It’s really not. Start out by creating an outline for every post and then add in images, bullet points and sub-headers that break up the content into digestible sections and keep readers glued to the page.
Whenever possible, try to write how-to or step-by-step style posts. Not only are they easier to write, but they’ll provide actionable information that your readers will love. Lists are another quick and easy way to produce a high value post that will help your readers.
Don’t be afraid to link to other bloggers! Not only is this a great way to provide additional value by guiding your readers to other resources that may help them, but it’ll make it easier for you get on the radar of authority bloggers in your niche market.
The goal is to impress your readers so much that they return to your site again and again because they know you provide value, and are a reliable source of information.
If you don’t want to solely rely on organic traffic, you can easily use some paid advertising (best via Facebook or Google Ads) to drive people to your best blog posts.
If you are doing this, then you definitely want a call-to-action on the blog post in question. In fact, I would go as far to suggest that ALL your blog posts should have some call-to-action in them. This could be to sign up for updates, go to a squeeze page or sales page, or to click on affiliate links in your post.
Get your content marketing plan right and you can make a serious amount of money by producing high-quality, high-value content that really solves a problem for your audience, and by adding a good call-to action, you can grow your subscriber list and monetize your hard work.
Start your content marketing plan today and see what happens; hopefully you will be very pleasantly surprised.
In the next post, we will look at choosing your primary traffic source, so until then…
How To Get Leads From Your Website
A website or blog is an essential business tool and it’s one that every business uses differently.
However, there is one thing that every business wants to accomplish with its website and that is leveraging it to create more growth by increasing leads, sales and revenue.
Luckily, there are several ways to do this and they are quick and easy to implement.
Before you get started you need to determine your current state of lead generation, so you can track your success and determine the areas where you most need improvement.
The first thing you can do is to work out where most of your online traffic comes from.
- Email Marketing: Any decent autoresponder will allow you to track clicks to your website when your prospects are reading, opening and clicking on links in your emails.
- Social Media: You may be getting traffic from people who engage in a campaign through one of your social media profiles; this could be free or paid, although paid is easier to track.
- Blog Posts: You may be getting some good organic traffic from your highest-performing blog posts.
So, here are 6 ways that you can get leads from your website, starting today!
1. Add Lead Generation Forms To The Posts/Pages That Get the Most Traffic
Now you know where your traffic is coming from and your best performing posts, you can add opt-in forms to your most popular blog posts. This could be offering a free report or eBook, but it MUST be related to the content they are interested in.
These can take many forms, such as a sign-up form on the side or top of the page, a form that slides in at a certain point in time, a pop up or lightbox and they can also be triggered by “exit intent” if a reader goes to leave the page.
There are numerous tools that can add opt-in forms to your website but my 2 favourite tools are Thrive Leads and Conversion Gorilla.
2. Make A Newsletter Sign Up
As well as opt-in forms that lead to landing pages, squeeze pages or sales pages, you can also have a form to sign up for updates on your blog as a newsletter style format. I would use a Thrive Leads widget to place a sign-up form on the side of the page.
This way, although someone may not want an ebook, report etc. they may be interested in the stuff you post so may sign up to be kept in the loop with new articles that you post.
3. Offer Content Upgrades
A content upgrade is where you can offer the reader something in return for consuming the blog post they are reading.
This could be as simple as offering a pdf version of the post that they can download for reading later (this works well with longer posts). But it could also be a checklist or audio/video version of the post too. The key is that it must be entirely congruent with the post they are reading.
There are a couple of tools that you can use to create mini pdfs of your blog posts and the best two are Designrr and Sqribble, but you don’t need them as you can also do it in MS Word. The software’s will give you some styling options to make your reports more stylish if that is what you want and this does help you to stand out from others just offering standard pdf reports.
You can also use Post Gopher which is a very handy tool as the reader can fill in the details in the form and Post Gopher will automatically create the pdf and email the link to the reader when it has been generated.
4. Always Have A Call To Action
Every piece of content you write should be designed with an end goal in mind. You should always be content marketing.
Your content should always provide great value and be useful to the reader and you should guide them to look for more information from you in the form of a free gift in exchange for their email address, or, better still, in the form of a paid product or service.
Once again, the key is congruency. If the offer is related to the content they are consuming, and the content is useful to them, they are much more likely to take you up on your call to action.
Use images to make your calls to action stand out. Use tools such as Canva or Youzign to create an eye-catching image, and you can use a Thrive Leads shortcode to create a clickable image that will allow them to opt-in.
5. Create An About Me Page
One of the most widely visited pages of any website is the “About Me” page.
A good About Me page should not just be a few words about who you are, but rather a mission statement and a subtle marketing message that garners authority and trust.
When done right, this can have an indirect effect on your opt-in rate as people will have an idea about who you are, what you stand for and are more likely to trust you and accept what you say.
This is probably one of the most overlooked pages on most websites but taking a little time to craft a good About Me page can really pay off, so it is really worth the effort.
6. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly
Did you know that over three-quarters of all Americans 18 and older now own a smartphone, and nearly 20% of smartphone owners use their mobile devices exclusively to access the internet? And outside the US, the figures may be even higher, so this is a huge source of potential traffic.
By making your website mobile-friendly, you’ll capture leads from the lucrative and ever-growing mobile internet user market and this is only going to expand, so it pays to get in now.
It is also alleged that Google penalizes sites that are not mobile-friendly, so it is definitely something to consider.
OK, there are 6 ways that you can use to get more leads from your website.
While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to boosting website lead generation, by implementing these six simple tips you can transform a potentially under performing site into a strong, lead generating machine for your business.
Copywriting 101: 7 Things You Need To Know About Writing Great Copy
Well over a decade ago I bought and devoured an expensive course called “Hypnotic Writing” from Joe Vitale. If I remember correctly, it cost $1,000 and arrived in a heavy box with tons of CD’s and two thick manuals. And it was perhaps one of the best investments I ever made in learning not just good, but great copywriting that converts like crazy.
This morning I was cleaning out some old files, and ran across my handwritten notes from the course. In the notes I discovered a list of “The 7 Secret Principles of Hypnotic Copywriting.” They still stand the test of time today, so I thought I would share them with you here.
Please keep in mind, these aren’t so much a primer as a list of clues as to what Vitale’s “Hypnotic Writing” is. But from these clues you can discern enough valuable information to almost instantly improve your own writing, whether it’s blog posts, sales letters, emails or anything else.
1: Make it Personal
Hypnotic writing speaks to YOU, the reader. You’ll find words such as you, me, I, yours, etc. All of this makes you feel like the writing is speaking to your personally.
In fact, it is. The more personal, the more hypnotic. This is an incredibly powerful tool when used correctly.
2: Keep it Active
Hypnotic writing is active. You’ll find lots of verbs. You’ll find little passive writing. It’s the difference between saying, “The writing was hypnotic,” and saying, “Joe weaves hypnotic writing.” The first is passive, the second is active.
Don’t use over the top adverbs as this can scream BS, so use adverbs sparingly; your copy should be persuasive enough without resorting to over the top or outrageous claims that most readers would doubt or disbelieve. If in doubt, reign yourself in a bit.
3: Get Emotional
Hypnotic writing taps your emotions. You may find it doing so in a story format or in a direct narrative. Either way, the writing will pull at your heart strings. One of Joe’s most famous letters began, “I was nearly in tears…” That line engaged the emotions of readers. You had to read the letter to discover what the tears were for.
4: Be Sensual
Writing hypnotically involves your senses.
You’ll find descriptions of feeling, tasting, seeing, smelling and hearing.
All of this will help you become involved with the writing and therefore susceptible to what it commands.
5: Be Commanding
Hypnotic writing commands the reader to do something. As the reader, you might not detect the command as it may be embedded.
But there will always be one. Ask yourself, “What do I want to do after reading this?” What you do next may be a result of the hypnotic command.
6: Curiosity
Hypnotic writing plays on your curiosity. You may find it beginning a story – but not ending it until the end of the article.
You may find it promising to tell you how to do something, but it will only give you limited details, thereby urging you to order the product it’s promoting to get more information.
7: Hypnotic Writing is Hidden
You won’t find any obvious clues that signal, “Warning, hypnotic writing at work.” The writing will instead be smooth and personal, and the hypnotic aspect will sneak in below conscious awareness.
Now imagine if you actually had the power to influence your prospect’s subconscious mind.
Imagine if you could do it by using simple trigger words that activate involuntary reactions in their brains.
And imagine you can do it in writing and in speech.
You might not believe you can do this. But I’m going to tell you that you can, because over time we are all subtly hypnotized to accept certain suggestions. This process started when we were babies and has never stopped.
You wouldn’t even suspect these simple words of holding any special power. But when you use them correctly, they can dramatically improve your power of persuasion.
Yes, I’ve just given you a sample of ‘hypnotic writing.’ If you re-read the previous 5 paragraphs, and if you study it very carefully, you will notice I used three little words to great effect – “Imagine, you and because.”
If all you do is begin using these three words more often in your copy, you will experience an increase in the persuasiveness of your writing.
Try it out next time your write and see what happens.
Just remember that copywriting is a skill, and just like any other skill, it can be learned. Take the time to learn this critical skill and your business will thank you for it!