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Copywriting
How To Write And Design A Compelling Landing Page
How To Write And Design A Compelling Landing Page
Whether you’re writing lead nurturing emails, drafting blog posts or shooting an ad for your YouTube channel, in order to be a successful inbound marketer, you have to be a master content creator.
Generally, when people think about landing pages they automatically jump to conversions: but there’s more to it.
Factors such as how often visitors abandon your form, which particular treatment performs better or what the bounce rate is: all these metrics boil down to how well you craft your content.
But writing a good website landing page is somewhat different from say, a blog post.
Several nuances necessitate a different approach when handling landing page copywriting and while these nuances might seem minor, they have significant impact on conversions.
And while the main point is to get the lead, you also want to redirect them immediately to a sales page with a relevant offer after signing up to try to monetise the lead as soon as possible.
So if you’re trying to find a way to create effective copy that leads to a successful “squeeze page”, consider these practices.
Work On The Headline
Your target here is to make sure the landing page refers to the place from which every visitor came.
Likewise if an ad copy drove them there, ensure the headline refers to where they came from.
Your language should match exactly, so that your visitors stay oriented and engaged. This is a crucial part of your landing page.
Clear Call To Action
Some of your options here include using hot-linked text or graphic buttons but whatever you use, make sure your visitor knows what they need to do.
A short landing page should do well with at least 2 calls to action; and 3-5 in a longer landing page. Testing headlines and copy texts will give you the best results: but you may choose to spice it up a bit.
Always write in the second person
Your visitors don’t care much about you, your company or even services and products, except as to how they benefit them. Forge a stronger connection between the reader and whatever you have to offer by speaking to them directly, and that way you’ll have successfully demonstrated the value of your offer- by showing the reader how they can benefit from it.
Write A Clear, Persuasive Message
You might be temped to showcase your creativity here, or how good you are at turning a clever phase. Keep in mind this is business, and not an art class, so you have little room to express your creative genius.
Try to think of the most direct way to say what you want, and avoid jargon or literary flair if it detracts from the essence of your message.
It’s OK To Write Long Copy But…
Your readers can and will follow long copy provided you keep presenting a solid case. But not every service or product will require the same amount of copy so adjust accordingly.
Short copy is perfect for subscription or something that doesn’t include cash commitment. Long copy is best used when closing a sale.
Get To The Point Fast
Most of your visitors are gleaning and skipping through content and you only have three seconds to get their attention before they hit the back button.
People tend to read beginnings and ends before they focus on middles so you need to find a way to position your most critical arguments in these positions.
Make it easy for them to get the message so you don’t lose leads or new reconverts.
Learn To Use Reader Keywords
What on earth is a reader keyword? Think of the words your visitor will look for- not the search engine- when they scan your page.
Readers will assume the page they landed on is related to the CTA or page they came from so you need to confirm this for them.
You may use the same phrases -or close variations- to let the reader know they’re on track.
Draft Value-Oriented Language
This is the “so what?” of your page copy. This is where you spend time convincing your visitor that the time he or she will spend filling out the form is worth it because of the offer they’ll receive.
Make it a rule to include a header on every landing page that explains a specific benefit– “If you purchase this, you will get.”– or something similar.
This way you will pinpoint the value of your offer.
Work On The Format
Good landing page has much to do with sentence structure and word choice as it does presentation.
Your copy might be decent enough but if its not visually appealing, they might lose interest with the information.
You can get over this hurdle by breaking up your copy and using headers of varying sizes, and make use of bold text, italics, checkmarks, parentheticals, etc.
Consistency
Finally, after writing and formatting your copy, go back one last time and proofread the copy.
Remember you’re trying to convince people to give you their personal information and they are not likely to do so if they find your copy riddled with errors.
Go over the grammar, spelling, accuracy, consistency and facts.
Here’s where people go wrong:
- Using different spellings for the same words and terms
- Losing track of uppercase and lowercase letters when writing terms such as “eBook”.
- Messing up dates
- Giving inaccurate data
- Quoting the wrong sources
Test Everything
As with any aspect of landing page optimization, you need to keep testing. These tricks and tips will get you started but your work doesn’t end there: design plays a huge role in this.
Elements such as color, layout, images- these are crucial interactivity elements whose single purpose is to engage the reader at a deeper level and cause a response.
Likewise your audio and video play a major role and they all need regular testing in order to effectively merit a deeper look.
Finally, you may need to minimize the amount of clutter on your page. This means removing visual clutter, navigation bars and certain links. If you want the reader to focus on your copy, don’t give them any distractions.
Make sure your supportive visual keeps them engaged but not side-tracked. This should be enough to get you positive results consistently.
Any type of marketing funnel relies on good sales copy and there are many pitfalls and mistakes that inexperienced copywriters can make. If you want to know more about avoiding these and other copywriting mistakes, take a look at the featured resource below where you can download a copy of a free report, Copywriting Blunders, so you will be forewarned and can make your copy more effective. Download, read it and take action 😊
17 Ways To Create Blog Posts That Get Attention
17 Ways To Create Blog Posts That Get Attention
You can put a lot of content up on your blog, but your blog isn’t going to be successful if no one is reading the content.
That’s why one of the biggest keys to your success is to create engaging content that attracts readers and keeps them coming back to your blog again and again.
Here’s how to do it…
1. Give Your Audience What They Want
The first thing you need to do is understand what your audience wants. In other words, what sort of content are they already consuming? Here’s how to figure this out:
- Find out what sort of infoproducts they’re buying. Check bestsellers on marketplaces such as Amazon.com, Udemy.com. ClickBank.com and JVZoo.com.
- See what topics get a lot of traction on social media.
- Check question and answer sites to see what’s popular, including Quora.com, Yahoo! Answers, and JustAnswer.com.
- Browse niche groups (on Facebook) and forums to see what topics keep popping up again and again.
- Read your competitors’ blogs to see which topics get a lot of discussion and social media shares.
- Ask your audience what they’d like to learn more about.Check your own blog to see what topics you’ve posted about in the past that have generated a lot of interest.
Next…
2. Write For Your Audience
In order to write for your audience, you need to understand exactly who they are. You’ll need to do some research to uncover their demographics, and then spend some time reading niche discussions and talking to your audience to learn more about them.
Here’s what you want to know:
- Age
- Gender
- Where they live.
- Marital status.
- Kids or not.
- Rent or own.
- Income level.
- Education level.
- Biggest niche challenges/obstacles/pain points.
- Solutions they’ve tried.
- Why those solutions haven’t worked.
- What they want.
- What motivates them.
- Where they get their niche information.
- Their niche level (beginner, intermediate, expert).
Next…
3. Catch Attention With Titles
Engagement starts with your blog titles, which is why you need to invest time creating benefit-driven titles with a little razzle dazzle to catch attention.
For example, “How to Lose Weight” shares a benefit. It’s descriptive, but it’s also a little boring.
In order to catch attention, you need to add a little razzle dazzle. E.G., “The Weird Weight Loss Trick That Shook Hollywood (Psst, It Will Work for You Too!)”
By the way, if you are serious and want to take your blogging to the next level, check out the Rapid Blogging Blueprint. This is a premium level training that takes you through each and every step of setting up your own highly profitable blog and profiting from it. You can check it out here.
Next…
4. Open With A Bang
You need to capture attention right away, which is why your opener should work hard to get and keep your audience’s attention. You can do this by:
- Building anticipation by adding a “key points” section in your opener.
- Telling a story right away.
- Providing a startling fact or statistic.
- Busting a myth, or sharing other unexpected information.
- Sharing a really good tip right away to build interest.
- Posting an interesting quote (from a famous person).
- Showing that you understand the reader and their problem, such as by empathizing with the reader.
Next…
5. Create “You”-Centered Content
Your content needs to be all about your readers, specifically with regards to their problems and how to solve them. Unfortunately, some bloggers tend to make their content more about themselves, such as how they discovered a particular tip or trick.
Yes, you do need to talk about yourself from time to time, such as when you share your credentials or you tell an engaging story. However, you want to be sure to pivot immediately back to your readers to keep the focus on them.
Here’s a quick way to check if you’re focused on your readers: see how many times you use words like “you” and “your,” versus words centered on yourself (such as I, me, and mine). Rewrite author-oriented content to make it more about the reader.
For example, “I’ll share my favorite weight-loss trick” is author-oriented. You can rewrite it to change the focus like this: “You’ll discover a proven weight-loss trick.”
6. Avoid Passive Language
Passive language is where you craft sentences so that the subject receives an action, rather than the subject performing an action. Readers tend to find it tedious and boring to read this sort of content.
Here’s an example of a passive sentence: The dog must be walked five times per day.
You’d rewrite it to make it active, like this: You must walk the dog five times per day.
7. Engage Readers With Stories
One really good way to engage readers on an emotional level is to draw them in with a story.
For example, you can write a story about how you or someone else in the niche overcame the same problem as your readers.
Another example: You might share a heartwarming story, or even a story about an embarrassing moment. These stories build rapport.
Still one more example: if you’re trying to share a lesson, share it in the form of a story. It makes it both more engaging and memorable.
8. Ask Questions To Engage Readers
You can ask questions in the beginning, middle or end of your content to engage readers and encourage them to interact. For example:
- Have you ever _______?
- Do you ever feel ________?
- How would you feel?
- What is your favorite tip?
- What is the hardest part of _______?
- What do you think?
- What would you do?
Next…
9. Build Anticipation And Curiosity
Starting in the beginning and sprinkled throughout your content, you’ll want to build anticipation and curiosity for what’s coming.
For example: “In just a moment, you’ll discover the #1 way to get 1000 visitors in the next 24 hours. But first…”
Likewise, if you have a blog series, then be sure to build anticipation for the other articles in the series.
E.G., “Tomorrow you’ll find out which food you should NEVER eat if you want to lose weight – and chances are, you’ve already eaten it this week!”
10. Make Your Audience Smile
If you can make your audience feel something (especially a positive emotion), you’re going to have their full attention. One way to do this is to inject some humor (sparingly) into your content to make your audience smile and chuckle.
Before you start cracking jokes in your content, be sure that you’ve researched your audience, and you understand them.
What people find humorous is subjective, and it also differs across cultures. Indeed, what you find funny may be outright offensive to others, so keep your humor G-related and appropriate.
11. Serve Up Unique Content
One really good way to keep readers engaged is to give them content they’ve never seen before. Elsewhere in these guides, we’ve talked about how to create unique content, such as by sharing unique case studies, stories, and even creating formulas to teach step-by-step content.
Here’s another idea: use fresh comparisons to explain concepts and even step-by-step processes.
In some cases, the actual how-to information you’re sharing isn’t unique. However, the way you position and present the information can be unique – and that’s exactly what will keep readers engaged.
Let’s suppose you’re writing about customer retention. Most of your competitors are going to list and explain all the components of creating satisfied customers. You can make your content unique by comparing customer retention to the Hollywood red-carpet VIP treatment. It’s a simple thing, but it makes your content more interesting, and it stands out from other similar content.
12. Be Concise
If you want to keep readers engaged, then cut out all the fluff and filler. If a page, a paragraph, or even a sentence isn’t necessary to getting your point across, then delete it. You want to keep your content concise and “meaty,” which will keep readers engaged.
One good way to keep your content focused is to create an outline before you write. The key here is to make this outline as detailed as possible.
Not only should you list the major steps and points you want to cover, but you can also list substeps, tips, examples and so on. Then once you start writing, stick to your outline, and delete anything that veers from this outline.
13. Use A Friendly Tone
If you remember reading a few textbooks during your school days, you might also remember some pretty yawn-inducing passages. The problem? These textbook writers shared information, but they didn’t seem all that interested in connecting with readers. While their writing may be technically correct, it’s boring.
Naturally, you’ll want to avoid this sort of stilted, textbook-style writing.
One way to connect with your readers is to write with a friendly, conversational tone.
Think of how you’d write to a friend, and share your content in a similar manner. (This guide is an example of writing with a friendly tone – note how this content isn’t speaking above anyone, it’s not pretentious, and it doesn’t try to impress with big words and complex sentence structure.)
14. Offer Quick Wins
A quick win is a tip or other bit of information that someone can apply fairly quickly, and then get fairly quick results too. Your readers should be able to instantly recognize the value of the information and how quickly they’ll get good results if they apply it.
For example, if you’re sharing information to beginning marketers about how to find a niche, you might teach them to use a keyword tool to find niches they never knew existed (e.g., enter partial searches such as “how to ____” and “get rid of” and “secrets of”).
Your audience can literally apply that information instantly, and in minutes have a list of potential niches to explore.
Quick wins keep your readers engaged on the current blog post they’re reading, as they’ll be eagerly searching for other gold nuggets of information. However, making a habit of providing quick wins in your posts also keeps readers engaged with your blog as a whole and coming back for more.
15. Insert Awesome Visuals
Another way to engage readers is by inserting useful, polished graphics. This includes:
- Infographics.
- Tables.
- Charts.
- Illustrations.
- Screenshots.
- Photos.
- GIFs.
And similar images.
For example, you might include an infographic to make data-heavy information easier to understand.
Another example: you might include a photo or illustration that shows someone how to do something (such as the proper way to stand when doing a weight-lifting exercise such as a squat).
Need a real-life example to view right now? Take a look at the articles on BuzzFeed.com. You’ll see that many of them include memes and GIFs to keep readers interested and hooked until the end.
Point is, a good visual can attract the eye and draw the reader back into the text, and it can also add a lot of value to the content. Either way, good visuals engage readers!
16. Share Tips And Examples
Another way to add value while engaging readers is to generously provide plenty of tips and examples in your content.
As an example, take a look at #15 above. The instruction was to provide visuals in your blog posts.
You then got a list of seven examples of different types of visuals you can create, along with specific examples of some of those seven types.
17. Format For Easy Readability
If people come to your blog and see a wall of text, they’re going to hit the back button without even bothering to begin reading your content. That’s why you need to format your content for easy readability, which is a crucial key to engaging readers.
Check out these tips:
- Break up long list paragraphs by using bulleted lists instead (like this one).
- Use short sentences and short paragraphs.
- Insert graphics to help break up long passages of text.
- Utilize headings and subheadings to provide white space and highlight important information.
You should also ensure your blog uses a responsive theme with a column layout. This ensures that when people read your articles on a mobile device, the article text takes up the entire screen (that’s desirable on small screens).
On the other hand, if someone is reading your article on a large desktop monitor, you do NOT want the article to take up the entire screen, as it’s difficult to read content across a large screen.
The content should cover part of the screen, and the sidebar should cover the remaining part. Again, use a responsive theme, which will resize your columns for easy readability, depending on the device.
Now a few parting thoughts…
Conclusion
The people with the biggest, most popular and most profitable blogs are also the folks who know how to craft engaging content.
If you’re looking to find that sort of success with your blog, then I highly recommend you putting these 17 keys for crafting engaging content to work for you.
If you really want to know more about the power of blogging, you can take a look at the Rapid Blogging Blueprint training course or if you just want a few pointers for now you can grab the featured resource below for a free blogging report; download, read it and take action 🙂
How To Make Your Audience Love Your Webinars And Live Events
How To Make Your Audience Love Your Webinars And Live Events
There is more to hosting a webinar than simply having one. You need to ensure that it’s fun, informative and useful too. When people go to a webinar, they know that they’ll get a sales pitch eventually. But what makes them come back is the actual content outside of the sales pitch.
Plus, if they choose to purchase due to your sales pitch, the product must be fabulous. If you offer your audience amazing promises, you need to live up to them.
There are many types of webinar software that you can choose for your webinar marketing, and the one you choose will depend on personal preference mainly.
Webinar platforms vary greatly in price and features, and it pays to think ahead as to what your needs may be in the future if your business starts to grow; will your business include webinar training or are you simply using a webinar for marketing purposes? All these factors will help you to decide which platform is best for you.
Once you have your ideal platform, you need to focus on the content so let’s look at some ways to make your webinars shine and make people want to sign up for your products or services.
* Make It Educational – Every webinar should offer a message that educates the audience on something they need to know and can put into action right away. If the message is informative and gives them something they can do without even buying your offer, they’ll want to see more from you and may eventually buy your products or use your services.
* Keep the Message Clear – If your message isn’t crystal clear to your audience, they may leave your webinar confused. You don’t want that to happen. You want your audience to be able to digest the information in an understandable way.
* Be Entertaining – While you’re getting them the information, it’s important to also not make it boring. Be lively and entertaining. Share a story that they can relate to. Show your humanity to them and they’ll want to know more.
* Pick an Awesome Topic – This is really the most important part of the webinar. Your topic should be something that makes your audience excited to learn more. In order to choose the right topic, you need to match your expertise with what your audience needs.
* Give Attendees a Special Gift – Approximately 75 percent of the people who sign up for your webinar will not attend. But you can boost attendance if you give those who attend something no one else will get. Make it something people will talk about.
* Host It at the Right Day and Time – Knowing your audience will also help you know the perfect day and time to host your webinar. You may ultimately choose to host more than one in order to cover all the bases.
* Create an Awesome Information Page – This is not a sales page, but instead a page that lets those who have signed up for your event know what exactly will happen at the event. You can mention the freebies you’ll be giving away during the webinar and the information you’ll cover more in depth.
* Follow Up – When someone signs up for the webinar you should have an autoresponder set up to immediately thank them for signing up, sharing the information page and other information that will encourage them to attend the webinar live.
* Send Reminders – Sometimes people do not attend the webinar live simply due to forgetting. Some webinar systems have the ability to set up reminders, but even if it doesn’t you can set them up with the autoresponder system.
You can work diligently to make the webinar a success, but if you don’t include these factors you may not have that many attendees. Understanding who your audience is and what they need is your first step to ensuring that all your webinars resonate with your audience. The more your events solve problems for your audience, entertain them and wow them, the more likely they are to come back.
Of course, digital events aren’t the only way to reach your audience. You can also go in person to local events, and these can be used to network with potential business partners or to find new customers.
Here are a few pointers to keep in mind when attending a live event.
Do’s And Don’ts At Local Events
Building your business with networking is important, but you need to make sure you do it right.
To ensure that you do it correctly and don’t make common mistakes, here are the dos and don’ts of networking at local events.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but it gives you some idea of local event etiquette!
Networking Do’s
* Thoroughly practice your thirty-second elevator pitch. You need to get this down so you can get all of the points out that you need to express to people in just thirty seconds. It should be second nature, so when you meet people on the fly you can tell them what you’re all about.
* Social media is great, but so are face-to-face meetings. When your online contacts are in the area, plan time to meet face to face. Attend regular meetups in your area as well. Those face-to-face meetings are great for making connections.
* Have a good handshake. A handshake says a lot about a person. Make it a good, firm handshake.
* Always have your business cards at the ready. You really never know when you’re going to meet someone, so be sure you carry business cards with you at all times.
* If you make a promise, then be sure that you follow through on it. Follow up with the people that you meet. This is going to build those relationships you made nice and strong.
* Keep in touch. Have regular meetings with your network and be sure to offer them your assistance when asking for their help on something. If you’re having an event, then invite the people in your network too.
* Ask for help. If you’re looking to expand your business, then you need people to help you get the word out. Make sure you ask your network to help you out with spreading the word on whatever you’re working on or whatever you need help with.
* Set goals. Having measurable goals in your networking will help keep you on track and get your business where you want it to be on a specific timeline.
* Be grateful. Saying thank you to your contacts will go a long way in showing your appreciation for what they have done for you.
* Find ways to give back to your network. This is a great way to show appreciation, but it also builds those relationships even stronger when you can help out those who have helped you. No one wants to feel used, so that’s why it’s so important to give back.
Networking Don’ts
* Hard sell. If it’s the first-time meeting someone, then you shouldn’t do a hard sell on your product. This should be a time of getting to know you and what you are all about, not about getting money out of someone for your product.
* Monopolize the time talking about yourself. You should be finding out about the person you’re meeting rather than telling them all about you. If you show interest in the other person, then they will be more interested in you as someone who listens.
* Drink too much. Give yourself a two-drink maximum when you’re networking. It will make sure that you are coherent when you talk, and that you don’t say anything you later wish you hadn’t.
What networking advice do you have for local events?
OK, there are some handy hints to maximise your efforts in both local in-person events and webinars and I hope they were useful to you.
Any type of webinar or sales presentation relies on good sales copy and there are many pitfalls and mistakes that inexperienced copywriters can make. If you want to know more about avoiding these and other copywriting mistakes, take a look at the featured resource below where you can download a copy of a free report, Copywriting Blunders, so you will be forewarned and can make your copy more effective. Download, read it and take action 😊
Grow Your List With Your Content
Grow Your List With Your Content
All marketers will tell you that the most important asset you can build is your email list and it is something they all wish they had focused on earlier. You own your list and can follow up with highly targeted email marketing to turn prospects into buyers.
Creating lead magnets of various descriptions is a great way to entice people to part with their valuable email address in return for a highly valuable free gift.
These gifts can be reports, checklists, video, audio, infographics etc. The point is they must be high-quality and extremely useful; in fact, your readers should be prepared to pay for it. Don’t go for volume; we are all swamped with too much information, and this is why quick checklists and the like are becoming more popular than a 100 page eBook!
OK, now that you’ve created and made multiple freebies and given your audience multiple entry points to your list, you can focus on growing your list, and a great way to do that is to write highly informative content on your blog, and then to offer a congruent freebie in exchange for their contact details.
By the way, if you are serious and want to take your blogging and content marketing to the next level, check out the Rapid Blogging Blueprint. This is a premium level training that takes you through each and every step of setting up your own highly profitable blog and profiting from it. You can check it out here.
Of course, you need to get eyes on the content first, so let’s look at a few ways to attract readers to your blog content using a couple of content marketing staples.
Write Enticing Headlines
When creating content to get more traffic, it’s important to make sure that people are interested in the topic. Interest begins with appealing headlines that make people curious enough to click on them.
So, what makes them curious? Many things in a headline can make the reader mentally ask a question when they see the wording and phrasing.
Let’s look at a few strategies and techniques you can use in your content publishing, specifically your headlines.
Some tips for writing effective headlines include:
- Use Numbers – Using a number implies a certain amount of information will be given to the reader and it makes them curious. Compare these two headlines. “How to Build Your List” or “7 Free or Low-Cost List Building Strategies”. Which one would you be more likely to click, if you were interested in building your list?
- Use the Right Keywords – It’s essential that you know what words your audience uses when they talk or think about their needs, pain points, and the solutions. This is because knowing the exact phrases and concepts will help you choose the words, phrases, and feelings that will persuade them to take action. You can also research keywords using tools like those from SemRush.
- Make Readers Think and Question – Using the right words can challenge your audience’s perception about something, just by reading the title. It can make them think, “How can that be?” or “Have I missed something?” This works well if you craft a title that mentions their problem and hints at the solution using an unexpected word or phrase.
- Mention the Benefits – People always care more about their results rather than how fancy the features are. A good way to develop a click-worthy headline is to focus on the benefits or the ultimate result of the solution provides. For example, “Save $50 Per Week Using These 3 Tools.”
- Offer Realistic Hope/Promise – Another tactic you can use to create headlines is to offer realistic hope and solutions. “How Single Mother Quits Waitress Job and Earns Six Figures with Part-Time Home Business” is a good headline that offers readers hope and encouragement for changing their status quo. The headline promises to tell you how to earn six figures from home, using the single mother as their case study or example. However, the hope must be realistically do-able for most people. Avoid unbelievable, sensationalized, exaggerated, or click-bait headlines at all costs.
Taking the time to create the right headline for your target audience ensures that you reach and connect with them in a more personal way – through their needs, thoughts, and feelings. Once they feel connected with you and want the benefits offered, they are compelled to sign up for your opt-in freebie or other item.
Make On-Page SEO A Top Priority
Another way to get more traffic to your opt-ins is to rank higher on SERPs. On-page SEO can help you accomplish this. Your audience usually finds you via search engine result pages (SERPs). A search engine’s job is to provide their audience with a list of relevant, useful information and content, based on the words they used in the search.
Your job is to ensure that your target market can find your content using the specific words and phrases that are natural to them.
Here are a few SEO strategies and tips to help you rank higher on search results pages:
- Titles – Use keywords in the first three words of page URLs and titles. Try not to use more than 50 characters per title. Be sure to clean up the URL by taking out the stop words unless it makes the URL misrepresent what the content is about.
- Make Content Long Enough – Long content of 2000+ words isn’t a must. However, when it comes to getting more traffic, Google and other search engines tend to rank longer content (2,250 to 2,500 words) higher on the results pages. Hubspot reported that some readers prefer to read content that contains at least 2000 words (current in 2021 but the ongoing trend is for higher quality lengthy content). So, the take-away here is to incorporate both types of content on your site. Depending on your goal, your “ideal” word count likely needs to be greater than in previous years.
Keep in mind that you are writing for your readers and they don’t count words. They want accurate, detailed information that fully answers their questions and solutions that help them fix their problems. Give them what they want/need and a little more.
- Avoid Duplicate Content – This is important whether the content is on your site or off your site. If you have duplicate content on your site due to sales pages, set the site to skip indexing the duplicate content. Also, avoid plagiarizing by double checking content using a service like Grammarly.com or Copyscape.com.
- Include Meta Descriptions – These are necessary to ensure that your audience can find you. Include the keywords that help your audience find the content. If you use software like Yoast SEO, it will help you optimize your content.
- Create Title and Alt Image Text – Don’t just upload an image to your site without filling out this information. This is helpful to search engines and readers, in case the images don’t load. A side benefit is that it helps people with visual impairments to read your site more easily.
- Use Header Tags – You have H1, H2, and H3 header tags that you can use to organize and make your content look better and make certain words stand out. In addition, it helps search engines determine what information is important. Make these tags logical with the most important words using H1 tags.
- Edit Well – Spelling and grammar do matter. If you spell things wrong, the search engines may not send the traffic your way. If people find the content, they won’t trust you as much if you have these issues. You don’t have to be perfect, but you do need to use grammar that is appropriate for your audience.
Finally, be sure to add internal linking under the articles and blog posts with relevant content. This helps your audience find related information on your site. In addition, it also helps search engines to properly map your site and send the traffic to you.
If you want to know more about nurturing you list, check out the featured resource below for a free Simple List Building report; download, read it and take action 😊
The Top 2 Marketplaces To Sell Your Online Courses
The Top 2 Marketplaces To Sell Your Online Courses
If you’re an entrepreneur and into online marketing and planning to create a video-based digital marketing course, you’ll want to look at SkillShare. This is also a great place to start because they let you upload individual lessons rather than having to create a full-length course.
Lessons must be 10 minutes or longer, however most videos range from 15-25 minutes long, on average.
Students enroll in the courses that interest them, and you’re paid royalties each time someone watches your videos.
Best of all, there’s no approval process, so you can get started right away.
It’s one of the best places for those who are just starting out because there aren’t a lot of requirements and it’s really easy to put out a simple course just by uploading a single lesson.
Here’s the link:
Another course marketplace that I really like is Teachable.
Teachable provides you with the ability to fully brand your course, including creating and customizing a complete online school using their easy website building tool.
You can then incorporate your design into your main course page, lectures and even sales pages. When it comes to revenue share, Teachable works a bit differently from other programs by offering membership tiers that cost anywhere from $39-299 per month.
You are charged a 5-10% commission fee per sale unless you choose to upgrade to a paid membership plan but when just starting out I recommend testing out the free plan to get a feel for how things work, and then upgrading later.
You can find out more information here:
https://teachable.com/pricing/comparison
Now you have a platform to sell your course, you need to ensure that there is a market for it…
Validating Your Course Topic
“Validating” your market simply means taking steps to ensure that the market is there and that there are people likely to pay for a course on your chosen topic.
It’s clear to see why validating your market is so important, right, and this is important for any business venture, including internet marketing?
You don’t want to spend a lot of time working on a course that no one is willing to pay for.
Here’s how to validate your topic:
Create a list of 4-5 question-based phrases you feel a prospective student might use when searching for help on the problem you’re considering covering in your course.
Then, run a test by entering these questions into places like:
Google.com
Why not start with the major search engine? You’ll be able to quickly spot the number of blog posts that address these questions as well as uncover social media accounts, and websites that cover this topic.
Pay attention to all of the following:
Are there any actual courses already available?
Try adding “course,” “lessons,” and “training” to your search terms in order to come up with relevant results.
Are there relevant ads on the page?
If so, chances are it’s a profitable niche market and one worth taking a closer look at.
Do videos appear on the first page?
If you’re finding lots of links to YouTube videos after running your search, it’s a good sign that the topic is in-demand.
Amazon.com
Run your searches through Amazon and pay attention to the number of books available on the topic.
Take things a step further by reading reviews left by customers, as well as the overall ranking of the top 50 books.
Udemy.com
Udemy is one of the leading marketplaces online when it comes to selling courses, but it’s also a goldmine of information when researching niche markets and possible digital products.
In fact, Udemy is one of the easiest ways to not only evaluate the profitability of any course topic you’re interested in, but you’ll be able to instantly come up with a complete outline in a matter of minutes.
Quora.com
Question and answer websites like Quora make it easy to conduct niche research and get a feel for what your market is most interested in. Browse for trending questions and open discussions, paying close attention to the thought leaders who commonly provide answers.
Following those influencers can be a great way to come up with ideas for courses based on hot topics they cover on their websites and blogs, as well as their social media profiles.
I hope this has helped you come up with a few ways to validate your topic.
Next, let’s look at a powerful way to deliver your course…
Live Sessions = Profits
Have you ever seen a live session in action?
One of the most powerful ways to deliver your course related content is with live session training.
This lets you schedule meetings with all of your students which obviously will increase engagement and get people excited about your information.
Live sessions have huge impact on the overall value of your course and can really help you stand out in competitive markets.
The more you engage your audience – the more popular your course will be.
Make sense?
People love getting hands on training, especially when it’s in real time because they know the information begin given is current and up to date.
Here’s a great marketplaces where you can create a course designed around live sessions:
WizIQ: https://www.wiziq.com/
WizIQ has been around for more than 10 years and continues to thrive as a centralized community for live classes and popular courses.
WizIQ supports all file formats, so you can create a course that offers a variety of content ranging from video to audio, as well as include quizzes, surveys and tests that serve as auxiliary components.
Finally, let’s look at some ways to ensure your course is profitable from the very beginning…
Course Profit Strategies
I’ll leave you with a few last-minute tips and strategies to help you launch your course and maximize your income.
Just creating a random course and expecting the profits to come rolling in is rather naïve and is rarely going to happen, so you need to think strategically.
These 3 or 4 tips can really make a difference to the profitability of your online courses so please consider them carefully.
1: Consider Your Content Formats Carefully
The four main content formats you typically see in online courses include: video, audio, text and digital downloads (like PDF’s, workbooks, spreadsheets, etc.)
Usually, the preferred format is video, and there’s good reason for it: It’s multi-sensory. Your students can both see and hear the instruction which means it’s far more engaging and entertaining.
For that reason, you should always include at least a few video based modules in your course.
2: Give Your Course A Sexy Title
Successful courses always have a targeted, clear title that appeals to the majority of their market.
If you’re creating a course on how to build a profitable blog, a title like “6-Figure Blogging” would likely attract the right audience.
It tells your prospect what the course is about and gets them excited about the possibility of earning 6-figures a year.
3: Price Your Course Strategically
Don’t stick a price tag on your course without doing research. You want to make sure that you’re focusing on goal-oriented pricing.
What that means is that you’re assigning a value to your course based on the results your students can expect, rather than the time it took you to create the course.
You want to set a reasonable price without under valuing your content.
You also need to keep your personal goals in mind, such as:
- The number of people you are trying to reach. Obviously a lower price point will drive in a higher number of learners.
- Your income objectives. A higher price point will generate more money even with a lower enrolment.
And finally,
4: Use Your Course As A Springboard To Greater Profits
A course is a natural steppingstone to upsell from so keep this in mind when creating and pricing your course.
It’s a great way to introduce your brand to a new audience, and to build credibility in your market.
A course lets your leads get to know you!
I’ll leave you with a course checklist that will help you create a profitable course that will stand out to your audience.
Step 1: Validate your topic idea
Make sure you’ve researched your market in order to verify overall demand and give your course the best chance at success.
Step 2: Create your Course Outline
Building a course from scratch can take time but if you work with an outline you’ll have a strong foundation for your training product. It will also help ensure you stay focused while covering the most important steps needed for your students to be successful.
Step 3: Create your Course Content
Try to provide a variety of formats, and always include at least one video module in your training program.
Step 4: Give your course a sexy title
Come up with a powerful, attention-grabbing title that will stand out in the market while giving students a clear idea as to what your course is about.
Step 5: Launch your course!
Chances are you’ll sell access without doing any off-site marketing of your own, but if you really want to maximize your income you should do your best to connect with your audience and make them aware of your training program.
Spread your marketing message via social media, create a Facebook group only for students, create a lead page that offers a free incentive for those who subscribe to your list and always be on the lookout for new ways to increase visibility.
If you want to know more about creating a profitable online course, check out the featured resource below for a free report; download, read it and take action 😊
