Archive for Solopreneur
Social Media for the Solopreneur
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In the early days of the web, the only ways a marketer could build a connection with customers was either through email or through their website. Then came Web 2.0.
With the advent of social media, the potential depth and breadth of your connection with your customers has become virtually limitless. That is, if you know how to leverage social media properly.
Social media presents an incredible opportunity for the shrewd marketer. How can you use social media to deepen existing connections and attract new customers?
Build Relationships with People Who Don’t Give Email Addresses
It takes a lot for someone to give you their email address. Even top marketers rarely get more than 20% of the people who land on an email capture page to actually give them their email address.
Contrast that with what it takes for someone to “Like” or follow you.
In order to like you, people just need to see a piece of your content that they connect with anywhere on the web, or through their friend’s feed. It doesn’t take much and can be just a passing thought.
The same goes for tweets. If someone sees one tweet of yours that they like, they can decide to follow you.
You can reach a lot of people who wouldn’t have otherwise got in your funnel through social media.
Social Media Is a Two-Way Street
Email marketing and (most) website marketing is a one way street. That means that you’re the one who’s providing the content, while your customers consume the content. You put out emails, they read the emails.
While this can be an effective way to market a product, it’s nowhere near as effective as having a real connection with your customers.
Social media allows you to have a two-way conversation. They can comment on your stories, tweet back, answer polls, like, post on your wall and express their opinions however they like.
This gets people much more invested in your brand and in your product. Someone who just reads your emails versus someone who’s in active discussion with you are two completely different kinds of customers. The latter will vehemently recommend your products, buy from you regularly and share your content, while the former may only purchase every once in a while.
Access to People’s Friends
Finally, social media gives you access to other people’s social networks.
With email marketing, you only get access to one person. On social media, if you make a post or a tweet that someone strongly agrees with, your content will immediately be shared with hundreds of other people. Among those people are more people who might re-share your content.
Social media is a powerful tool for building two-way connections and reaching friends of your customers. If you don’t have a solid social media strategy yet, now’s the time to create one.
The Right Balance for Email Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsEmail marketing often involves a tightrope walk between selling and connection. If you sell too much, you’ll lose your customer’s interest and burn out your list. Focus too much on connection and not on selling and you won’t generate enough revenue.
What’s the right balance?
Between 10% and 20% Selling
Generally the right amount is somewhere between 10% and 20% selling, with between 80% to 90% of your content being focused on quality, solving the customer’s problems and making a connection.
80% to 90% content is enough to get your customers in the habit of opening your emails. They’ll know that by and large, emails from you will be of a high quality.
Having 80%+ of your content be connection-based also does one other thing: it essentially buys you the right to sell to them.
When someone gets immense value from the emails you’re sending, they won’t feel resentful when they read a sales message. In fact, they’ll read your sales messages with an open mind, knowing that there’s a good chance they might get value from the product you’re offering.
If you oversell, people will resent being sold to. If you consistently provide high quality content, people will look forward to your next product and eagerly read your sales message.
The 5 to 1 Email or the “At the Bottom” Style
There are primarily two different ways you can split your selling and connection content.
The first method is to send only emails that have connection and problem-solving content, then every once in a while send a 100% sales message.
If you use this method, make sure that your sales messages also provide value. Even if you regularly send out quality content, you still can’t just send out a spammy ad. Instead, you have to provide value even as you’re selling them.
By sending only one sales message every 5 to 8 emails, you keep up with the 10% to 20% rule.
The other method is to sell regularly, by putting an advertisement or one or two promotional sentences at the bottom of every email.
This method works very well, because instead of trying to get a home run of sales in one email, you’re getting a steady flow of sales with every email that you send.
Try to tie in your sales message with the email itself. For example, if your email talked about all the most common obstacles graphic designers run into when looking for clients, then pitch an easy way to find clients in your promotional sentence, even if your product covers a lot more than that.
Walking the fine line between over- and underselling in email marketing can be a little tough. As a rule of thumb, sell between 10% and 20% of the time to maximize customer connection while still pulling in strong revenues.
Podcasting For Solopreneurs
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Podcasting is one of the “hot” things on the bucket list for the solopreneur. Named after the Apple iPod MP3 player, podcasting refers to uploading MP3 recordings onto your website. Other people can download these into their MP3 players or listen via the internet.
A podcast is similar to a blog, or weblog. Instead of reading your words, however, with a podcast people can listen to them. Many podcasts have a format similar to a radio talk show, where the host gives their thoughts and opinions on a given topic; some also interview guests or include a roundtable discussion with others.
Podcasts are great for publicity. As stated before, they are the newest thing on the internet and people are hooked on them. You can integrate your podcast with iTunes. People can have your podcast automatically downloaded onto their Mp3 player. There are also RSS feeds that will do the same thing.
You can choose to have a general podcast that will serve as publicity for your website. You can also opt to have your podcast promote a single item, such as an information product you created.
You can monetize your podcast by selling ad space, or commercials, that will play during your podcast. You can also give out your affiliate links during your podcast. For instance, you can review a product that you are an affiliate for, and tell your listeners to check out the product at your affiliate link.
Some people may choose to have a member’s only podcast. This is a podcast that is only offered to people that have paid a membership fee to you. Usually, these types of podcasts are highly informative and at least an hour in length. You may interview experts or present the podcast as a mini information product.
You can promote your podcast in several ways. Of course, you will want to include information about your podcast on your website. You can give a sneak peek at upcoming topics or guests. You may also want to create a newsletter that reminds people when new podcasts are uploaded and provides links for more information.
If you interview someone, ask them to send out an email to their list letting them know they will be a guest on your podcast. If your interviewee has a large following, many people will subscribe to your podcast in order to hear the interview. You can also provide a press release template so they can alert the local media of their appearance, or you can also send out press releases to publicize your guests’ appearance.
To create a podcast, you can use a service such as Audio Acrobat. For a small monthly fee, you can record and upload audio files to your website. Audio Acrobat allows you to record via your telephone or computer microphone. They are also integrated with iTunes, so your podcast will have the potential to be accessed by millions of people. To edit your audio, you can use free shareware, such as Audacity.
Podcasting can be a fun and profitable way to market your business. Give it a try and see if you like it. Unlike traditional internet talk radio, you don’t have to put too much money into it. You really have nothing to lose.
Landing Pages That Get Results
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Getting a high conversion rate with your landing page isn’t just about writing good copy. Design can play a huge factor as well. Poor design can kill even world class copy. Yet many entrepreneurs don’t really understand what goes into landing page design.
The design of a landing page doesn’t use the same rules of design as graphic design. The goal isn’t necessarily to look good, though that doesn’t hurt.
Instead, the goal is to direct attention flow as clearly as possible. You want to first make it easy for the headline to catch attention. Then you want to direct that attention in an unobstructed way.
Here are a few tips on landing page design.
Headline Color and Font
Red has traditionally been one of the highest converting colors in any market. This is still true today, with a few notable exceptions.
In markets that are heavily marketed to, such as the “make money online” market or the “lose weight” market, red headlines can actually decrease conversions. People are tired of hardcore sales messages and start to tune them out.
In a heavily marketed market, try a deep blue color instead. In other markets, red is still a healthy choice.
For fonts, always go for a sans-serif font. Tahoma has been tested to pull extremely well. Make the font as big as possible to fill the whole screen.
Graphical Headline, Graphical Subheads
Instead of just using plain text for your headline, you can really bring it to life by making it a graphic instead.
This allows you to add drop shadows, yellow highlights, creative punctuation and so on. This applies to both headline and subheads.
If you use this technique, always try to compress the image as much as possible. Your headline should load instantly when visitors load the website.
Color, Background and Width
The background of your sales letter should be as unobtrusive as possible. Many top sales letters just have white backgrounds. If you want something a little better looking, you can use a slight color or a mild pattern.
Never use a background that calls attention. Your reader’s eyes should be on the sales message, not the design.
Always use black text on a white foreground. Different text colors and different foreground colors never, ever work.
The width of the sales letter should be relatively narrow. This helps create the sense that the content is easy to read. The width should be no more than 700 pixels wide, preferably below 650 pixels.
Ezine Marketing Tips to Promote the Solopreneur
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Have you thought about using an ezine to market your business? If not, consider using an online magazine to gain interest and traffic. Here are a few tips to use as you craft your magazine.
People love to read magazines. They provide articles, ads and photos to view. You can use one as a way to market your business.
With magazines also come subscribers. It is one step closer to getting people to try your products and invest in your business. Here are some ways you can use your ezine to leverage your business position.
Offer a free subscription – Just for signing up and giving their name and email address, you can offer free subscriptions to your online magazine.
Write articles about your products – You can write articles related to your niche market, helpful ones that offer timely and expert advice to your reading audience. But, don’t forget to write pieces about your business products. Let people know that you are an expert and then tell them about what you do.
Create a readers section – This is where readers can have their questions featured and answered by you. Include an email address where they can send them.
Offer advertising for free or at a discount – This is one way to pay for your magazine efforts. Offer a free month of advertising in exchange for subscription. Also include the price for advertisements depending on where on the page their ad is located.
Have guest writers – Ask readers and colleagues to write articles. If their submission is accepted, then they can get a discount on their total product order on your site. And, you can give them a byline.
Use directories – Ezine directories such as ezine-dir.com allow you to create a page to promote your magazine. Include links to your advertising page, your magazine site and your website. Even create a page that gives them a sample of the online magazine to read.
Hold contests – Everyone loves contests. The prize could be a free item from your store (within a certain price). Second and third prizes could be discounts upon purchasing. Feature the names of the contest winners in the next edition after the contest ends.
Send out mailings to your email list – To those that have opted in for contacts on your website, send them an email autoresponder with a link to where they can subscribe to your online magazine. You can advertise a free report as incentive to sign up.
Promote it on social networks – Do you have a Facebook business page? Talk about your ezine there. Even create a magazine page where subscribers can give feedback on your work.
Ezines can be used to promote your business by providing vital information about your business to current and prospective customers.
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