Saturday

Part 5: Landing Page Mastery - How To Write A Landing Page That Converts




Welcome to Part 5 of Landing Page Mastery. Today we get into the meat of landing page creation, how to write a landing page that converts. I've included a couple of screen shots of landing pages that are doing a good job of converting. If you're running PPC ads, then a good conversion rate will be around 3%. If you're converting higher than that, you have an awesome lead capture system and a monthly income from sales around $5K-%$8K a month. It can be done, people are doing it everyday. I used email marketing with CPA campaigns and generated $7k per month. If done correctly landing pages can take you to another income bracket. Here's today's installment: "How to Write a Landing Page that Converts."

Most people have no idea how to write a landing page that converts. Instead, they slop together elements that they have seen used in other landing pages – but usually do not put them together in the same way the owner of the successful landing page did.

One major problem is copy. And that's fine. Not everyone is going to be an excellent writer – never mind a copywriter. But as someone selling a product or trying to build a list, it is important that you know your strengths and weaknesses – and that you either spend the time to overcome them or hire someone else to do it for you.

With copywriting, for instance, it is important to use a mix of compelling sales points with powerful psychological triggers. Most people who create a salespage miss either one or both of those elements. I found this landing page recently, look at how it is simple, clear and straight to the point.



Best of 2011 - Ecommerce Landing Pages


For instance, they might concentrate so much on building hype that they don't actually explain what solution they are providing – and for whom they are providing it. If I don't have a specific problem that your product solves, why would I buy it? I wouldn't.

Now, if they fail to sprinkle in psychological triggers, such as “scientifically proven,” “guaranteed,” and “shocking,” no one will feel compelled to continue reading, as the benefits will have a low or average perceived value.

In addition to these two problems, some sales pages lack coherency and direction. The copy looks amateurish and it doesn't slowly grind forward, breaking down the visitor's resistance to the sale – and compelling him or her to buy more and more at each sales point.




Search for term or phrase:










Additionally, if there aren't multiple calls to action – another form of psychological trigger – then a potential visitor might never feel compelled enough to pull out his or her credit card on the spot and make the purchase.

Friday

Getting The Most Out of Twitter {VIDEO}




Gene Chan, from Twitter, goes over the best practices for marketing through content and advertising. He covers how to grow your following and how to take advantage of other applications. Here are 17 Ways to Increase Twitter ROI and engagement.





Part 4: Landing Page Mastery -- Planning Your Landing Page Theme

Website Magazine


Here is the 4th installment of "Landing Page Mastery." Now that you've got the basics down, have you considered what type of theme you're going to use? The theme you choose depends upon the method of traffic generation you select. Knowing which audience you are speaking to will help determine this. If your audience is baby boomers who are seeking health products, then your landing page will have a different feel to it than if you were targeting teens looking for music and game downloads. Check out these tips on communicating with your audience through proper landing page selection.





PLANNING YOUR LANDING PAGE THEME

Perhaps the most important part of creating a landing page is planning your landing page theme. How you select your theme, of course, will all depend on how you plan to generate traffic.



If you decide to generate traffic through search engine optimization, planning your landing page theme will entail finding phrases within your niche which have a high demand (aggregate search value) and a low supply (small amount of competing sites) and then creating multiple landing pages, each which is optimized around a different phrase.



If, on the other hand, you decide to generate traffic through pay per click (PPC) programs, such as Adwords, planning your landing page theme will again entail tuning a number of different pages to fit the keywords you are purchasing.



This is actually where most people fail when they create a landing page: they don't tune it to fit a specific audience. For instance, in the case of a squeeze page for a newsletter, they might start a newsletter about toys, but they only create one landing page and send all traffic to it. This is a big mistake.

trafficadbar.com is the ultimate FREE website traffic generator.

Chances are, if you create a quality product or newsletter, it can benefit a number of people. So why not communicate the exact benefits they will derive from subscribing or buying? If, for instance, you have a newsletter about legos and toy blocks, so you group it under the loose heading of “toys,” a visitor who is looking specifically for information about either legos or toy blocks will click off your page if they don't see the direct connection to the exact topic for which they were searching.

Instead, you will want to setup a page centered around legos and a page centered around toy blocks. On each page, you will want to communicate the specific benefits to joining the list for each of those groups of visitors.

Going one step further, in addition to planning your landing page theme, if you are creating a landing page for a newsletter, you may also want to segment your list, so you can send information specifically about legos to those who request it – and information about blocks to those who request it.


That's it for today. Make sure you follow this series, it is the only step by step instruction guide to creating masterful landing pages. Tomorrow I'll share with you how to "Write A Landing Page That Converts." You don't want to miss it.

Thursday

Landing Page Mastery Part 3: What You Need Before Getting Started

Website Magazine



Today is Part 3 of How to Create Masterful Landing Pages. This lesson teaches you to prepare. Prepare your end result so that your beginning is smooth. That is, how to collect leads, creating value and benefit in your product, and a method to evaluate the sales cycle stage your leads are in. And also consider collecting cellphone numbers. Mobile marketing is the next level of business success, and you need to be poised to jump right in it. Here is part 3 of creating Masterful Landing Pages.

Before you get started building your landing page, you will need a number of things to a) make your offer actually have a point; and b) facilitate the creation of your landing page. If you're trying to gain leads for a PPC campaign, then this part is going to prove to be super important for your work.

One thing you absolutely must have before you get started is an autoresponder. Without any autoresponder, you are tossing potential bags of money in the garbage. Rather than creating a relationship with customers and potential customers – and giving yourself the opportunity to attempt future upsales -- you're allowing them to leave and never return.


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In addition to an autoresponder, you will need to have an actual offer that people want to buy. You should develop a product, such as an ebook or a piece of software. Whitepapers are really popular if you want to truly succeed. People need a reason to be interested in what you offer. In some way your offer must have value to them and provide a benefit to their lives. You will then either want to sell this product and attempt to get subscribers from your thank you page – or you will want to get subscribers by offering the product for free.


Another thing you absolutely must have before you get started is a check out service. You may want to consider Paypal, PayAlert, a Shopping Cart Service, or Click Bank. All of these services will allow you to make transactions quickly.



Another thing you must have before you get started is a set of graphics, which usually includes a graphic header, a check out button, background wallpaper, and
a half-decent picture of yourself. You can probably provide the picture of yourself, but you might want to hire a professional to do the rest.


The best conversion tool


Another thing you must have before you get started is a set of graphics, which usually includes a graphic header, a check out button, background wallpaper, and
a half-decent picture of yourself. You can probably provide the picture of yourself, but you might want to hire a professional to do the rest.

Another thing you will need before you can get started on your landing page is some way in which to create a realistic signature. Http://www.vletter.com is probably your best bet; but, if you're on a budget, you may want to opt for simply using a word processing program like the one already installed on your computer.

Thank you for reading this series. If you follow these instructions carefully, you will no doubt have a landing page that will convert forever. Hey, come back tomorrow, and check out Part 4 of Creating Masterful Landing Pages. Tomorrow we will talk about "Planning Your Landing Page Theme."

Wednesday

Part 2: The Landing Page System

Website Magazine

Today we will talk about the Landing Page System. In the beginning I didn't think having a Landing Page was a good idea. That is until I began talking to some of my friends over at the Warrior Forum (WSO) See, what most people miss out on is the ability to capture leads. When setting up a PPC campaign, you want to make money of course, but you want that long money. That is money that comes from repeat visitors and customers who are not quite ready to buy. The customers who aren't ready to buy need convincing, stroking and more information about you and your product. A Landing Page with a free offer is the perfect way to do this. Here is part 2 on setting up a successful landing page system that captures leads and converts sales.


The Landing Page System


The landing page system provides a uniquely powerful system through which you can derive profit from multiple streams. This article will briefly discusses some of those different streams – and how you can manipulate them.

Let's start with the landing page itself: all traffic is sent to the landing page. From there, it will have a number of options, depending on what you have given them. Many marketers suggest that your landing page should always be an opt-in form. Others will suggest that it should simply be a salespage.

Whether it's a free newsletter or a product for sale, the landing page system you create should include a “one time offer,” which will compel them to take action – subscribe, buy, etc.

One of the biggest challenges to internet marketers today is having to produce content. 20% say they wish they had enough content, and another 18% say they wish they had the budget to afford enough content. If you need content, here is your viral content solution. 





Once they subscribe or buy, the landing page system you create should then re-route them to a thank you page, which opens up more means through which you can upsell. One quick way to upsell is to simply include advertisements on your thank you page for related affiliate products or for your own products. Here, again, you will want to give them a one-time offer.

Also, if you haven't yet asked them to join your mailing list, this is where you should do it – on your thank you page. Once they opt-in to your list, you now have a whole new options you can use in conjunction with the landing page system to generate revenue.

One such option is selling ad space in your newsletter or ezine. The more people you have reading your newsletter, the more you can generally charge for adspace; however, you will want to avoid overselling to your list to ensure your advertisers actually make money.


The Top Searches of 2011


Your next option is to endorse a product as an affiliate. You can tell your subscribers how someone has just created a brilliant product – and you can offer it to your subscribers through an affiliate link. You may even want to use other products you have has bonuses to give them something extra.

The last and most profitable way in which you can generate revenue through your newsletter is by creating and selling your own products to them.

It  is important to note that you don't have to use all of these means to generate revenue; however, the more you use, the more you earn in general.

Tomorrow: Part 3 of the Landing Page Series, "What You Need Before Getting Started."


Tuesday

Teasas Tips: Landing Page Success Part 1

Website Magazine



HOW TO BECOME A LANDING PAGE MASTER!


BEFORE YOU CAN BEGIN TO BUILD A LIST, YOU NEED A LANDING PAGE.  THAT IS A PAGE TO CAPTURE LEADS SO YOU CAN BUILD UPON.  THE MONEY IS IN THE LIST, BUT KNOWING HOW TO GET THE MONEY OUT OF THE LIST IS KEY.  THIS IS A 10 PART SERIES ON "BECOMING A LANDING PAGE MASTER!"

Introduction to Landing Pages

Before you begin the attempt to build a successful list or create a powerful salespage, you will want to start with a rigorous introduction to landing pages. In stark contrast to undifferentiated, unfocused home pages, landing pages focus specifically on capturing leads for a newsletter or making sales for a specific product – and make no attempt to give visitors a different option.

Another word which is used for a landing page when it functions for the specific purpose of capturing leads is “squeeze page.” A squeeze page is a page designed to get names and email addresses. Usually, however, a squeeze page is usually a smaller type of landing page, which usually has an opt-in form in sight when the page loads.

So what is important to learn in an introduction to landing pages? First, it is important to recognize that all successful marketers use these. If you plan to sell a product over the Internet, you will want to use one, too, rather than relying on sidebar opt-in forms and unfocused pages that do not convey a single point and a single call to action.

Another important thing you will want to take away from this introduction to landing pages is that every landing page contains the same parts and is focused on a SINGLE goal – getting the visitor to become a subscriber or buyer.







These parts are as follows: an opt-in form (or sales prompt), a brief or lengthy introduction, a picture of the list/product owner, the signature of the list owner, and a call to action (or multiple calls to action).

Determining which model will work best for you can simply only be done through testing. While many boast a conversion and attribute it to the shortness of their introduction (many will be one short paragraph), otherwise will boast a high conversion rate because they use lengthy, thorough, and compelling copy. Jimmy D. Brown's list and traffic, for instance, has an unbelievably high opt-in rate, but he uses lengthy copy.

If there is anything you absolutely must take away from an introduction to landing pages, it is that you cannot create a landing page or squeeze page that isn't focused.

Look for part 2 tomorrow: "The Landing Page System."

Wednesday

How Much Do Marketing Managers Make?

Want to know what marketing managers make? I do. I'm studying for my MBA-Marketing and I've been doing quite a few things to prepare for my debut in the market. Outside of gaining my MBA in Marketing, I'm also working on becoming Google Adwords Certified. Being able to stand on my own in both disciplines, marketing and social media marketing will give me an advantage in the marketplace. This cool infographic gives a career and salary breakdown for marketing professionals. It also includes information that will impact any potential salary across categories. The marketing field is predicted to grow through 2018, so it's a hot career to get into. Take a look at the various opportunities, and maybe you might consider reinventing yourself and branching out into the world of marketing!


The Marketing Market: Career and Salary Breakdown for Marketing Professionals Infographic by Marketo

Thursday

Tips To Gain Control Over Diabetes

{GUEST POST}I'm publishing this post because my 23 year old son died six years ago from diabetes complications.  He was Type 1 and developed the disease while just nine months old.  He lived his life on insulin within the restrictions of his disease.  Here is an article that may shed light on other ways to manage your diabetes.


How to Control Diabetes & Inflammation
by Roberta Kleinman, RN, M.Ed., CDE


Inflammation and diabetes, or is it diabetes and inflammation? Research now tells us that these conditions are definitely related, although they are not completely sure of the sequence.

We do know that chronic inflammation can play a part in insulin resistance, high glucose levels, and high lipids; chronic low level systemic inflammation is also tied to obesity since fat tissue can release inflammatory molecules. Low level chronic inflammation can increase the aging process and break down the endothelial lining of the vascular system; this leads to complications including MI, stroke, renal failure, retinopathy, and nerve damage. Inflammation, such as a fever response to an infection can help the body respond to stress, but low level chronic inflammation can be fatal.

There is solid evidence that this condition can lead to inflammatory state diseases including: coronary heart disease or atherosclerosis, fatty liver disease, asthma, and diabetes. Since we know there is a correlation between the immune system and metabolism, we need to maintain proper nutrition, a reasonable weight, and a positive lifestyle to achieve balance for optimal immunity.


WAYS TO REDUCE INFLAMMATION:


Omega 3 fish oils have been known to decrease inflammation. Talk to your physician about taking a supplement. The usual dosage is between 1000-4000mgs per day in a capsule form and it should include a high amount of EPA and DHA. Keeping them cold in the refrigerator can reduce a fishy after-taste; find a brand from non-polluted waters. If you are on blood thinners, be aware that omega 3 fish oils may increase bleeding. If you are not interested in supplements, you should consume at least 3 fatty fish meals in a week including wild salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, black cod or herring.
Eating fresh fruits and vegetables from the complete color spectrum, organic when possible, can also reduce inflammation; even if they are cooked, they offer many benefits. Leafy greens that contain folate, such as kale, spinach and endive are known to decrease homocyseine - a marker for inflammation. Foods that contain carotenoids, like spinach and all varieties of mushrooms (especially Asian), help reduce inflammation. Onions and garlic have sulfur compounds that increase immunity and quercetin - an antioxidant that fights inflammation. Fresh spices such as ginger, cinnamon, or turmeric, which can be added to recipes, also fight inflammation.

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Small amounts of flax seeds, hemp seeds, or pumpkin seeds, as well as walnuts, extra virgin olive oil and avocados (all high in calories so limit the amounts) which contain mono-unsaturated fats can help reduce inflammation. Soy products such as tofu, soy nuts, edamame, or tempeh in moderation (if you are not recovering from estrogen sensitive breast cancer) should also be included.


Probiotics - needed for proper health in the stomach, may reduce inflammation. These are usually found in yogurt - acidophilus, bifudus (especially good for you), and Greek yogurt. If you are not a yogurt fan, you can take a supplement like Culturelle.


Fiber - insoluble fiber like whole grains, cracked grains or soluble fiber such as oatmeal, beans, berries and apples have an effect on inflammation. Beans and legumes are great; get 30 grams of fiber a day.
No smoking.


Check for periodontal disease and treat it if you have it; it sustains low level inflammation and can increase the risk of heart disease.


Avoid processed foods, trans-fat foods, saturated fats and simple sugar foods as much as possible. They all add to inflammation. Concentrate on lean proteins like skinless poultry, omega 3 enriched eggs, low fat dairy and small amounts of sharp cheeses.


A decent night of sleep is proven to help lower inflammation so concentrate on getting a minimum of 7-8 hours each night. Catch up during the weekend if you have to.


A moderate exercise program can reduce inflammation. Include weight training as well as aerobics, like walking or bicycle riding. Too intense a program may even add to inflammation so speak with your doctor prior to adding a rigorous regimen to your routine.


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All this advice is helpful for everyone but especially for those with diabetes. Hopefully, you will be able to reduce the low level inflammation and enjoy better health!
NOTE: Consult your Doctor first to make sure my recommendations fit your special health needs.

Wednesday

10 Ways To Use Press Releases with Social Media

Just read this great article on Forbes, Should You Post Press Releases In Social Media? - Forbes.  It touches on that great delineation between social media and Press Releases.  Most marketers shy away from Submitting a Press Release because for one, no one likes to write them, and they appear self serving. The question becomes, how do you blow the horn about a new product and still keep it conversational?


A recent digital readiness study shows "marketing decision makers knowledge of social networks (80%), blogging, podcasting and RSS (87%), and micro-blogging (72%) is either important or very important when it comes to PR and marking hiring."  

Social media of course, spreads messages; but only messages that have relevance, not self-serving ones. Authenticity along with a sprinkle of personality will get your messages shared more frequently.   Not like the bragging boy in the neighborhood, everyone ignores him, so will they ignore your press release if it isn't done properly.  So, to save you the embarrassment of shouting from the rooftop having no one listen, here are 10 ways to use press releases with social media.



  1. Develop relationships with influencers in Social Media.  These people can help spread your message while giving that message a viral boost. Also connect with the journalists, reporters, bloggers, and influencers who cover topics in your industry to share your press release in social media.  Start out by connecting on Twitter.  Use tools like TwitterGrader to find social influencers.
  2. Generate creative content as a networking tool.  Surely by now you know that content is king, so use it to ignite a spark to your social networking activity.  Relevant, creative content posted in a timely manner will give you a reputation as a thought leader and people will take notice of that.  Another advantage is the major SEO, social media, and lead generation benefits you get from it.  Make your content fun and interesting, while sometimes throwing in usable facts and statistics.  Social media sharing loves facts and statistics.  
  3. Have a goal and a focus on what you want social media to do and promote it using social media.  Conversational marketing works best to provoke curiosity.  Use a blog to write and talk about a specific product or service; integrate Twitter  to shout out the information throwing in an occasional relevant retweet; participate in conversations that relate to your topic.
  4. Be direct and to the point.  Don't beat around the bush, it cheapens the value of your message. Write your press release message from a newsworthy angle.  Be mindful that every product or event your company is involved in, is not always valuable to others.  Evaluate your social media message before you create a press release for it.  It may not be worth the time. 
  5. Use these tools to measure success or failure of your press release.  The only way you will know if your message is getting to the right people at the right time is by being able to make sense of the data social media activity generates.  Use this list of social media analytic tools to help you understand if your marketing is effective:  ViralHeat, Infoharmoni, Buzzstream, Twitalyzer, Omniture, Klout, Yahoo Pipes, Bime (for visual graphics), Google Analytics, Bit.ly and Compete.
  6. Use a descriptive headline with 80 characters or less to attract attention.  Anything headline lengthier will get cut off in social portal sites.  Keep in mind to keep your headline keyword rich so as to attract the search engines.  Eliminate shallow descriptions like, cutting-edge,” “flexible,” “easy-to-use,” “innovative”--these words will make your press release sound like a late night infomercial.
  7. Social media has a huge appetite for content, so feed it!  When adding links, place the most important link at the beginning of your message.  For the greatest opportunity to generate backlinks,  include the link to which you want to generate the most traffic early on in the press release.
  8. Don't make your press release a link dump.  Number one, search engines hate it, your intended audience will recognize it for it really is, a blatant attempt at promotion and it dilutes the value of your message. 
  9. Make your press release blog friendly so it may be repurposed into news content for your blog.  This is also an opportunity to create a link from your press release to your blog!
  10. And finally, always include social media links giving your readers the opportunity to share your press release with others on Facebook and Twitter.  
I hope this helps, let me know how you use social media to share your press releases, we'd love to read about it!


Monday

How to Protect Your Credit From Thieves

You know these are trying times.  With so many people unemployed, the economy is up and down, and some people who have given up hope have become desperate individuals.  It's no wonder most of my friends don't feel safe anymore.  One of my relatives had to go through a horrible ordeal to get her credit restored when she had her identity stolen on one of those social networks.  It was a very expensive process, and she had to spend so much time contacting creditors, making copies of letters, getting a police report, etc.  It just seemed like she spent so much time backtracking her life, so that thieves couldn't continue to rack up huge bills in her name while destroying her good credit.  I never want to have that happen to me.



That's when I started looking into different ways to protect myself online and while shopping.  Thieves are so smart now, that they can even steal your credit card information while you are out shopping!  Just last week my local news show ran a story on a laptop like device cyber-thieves now carry around that can steal hundreds of credit card data in seconds just while sitting in a parking lot not far from any major shopping area.  Believe me, it seemed that protecting yourself and your family was a lot easier 10 years ago!



Before all this identity theft and credit card theft started happening, I didn't feel it was necessary to monitor my credit reports.   Now, I'm afraid not to.  I don't want to go through what my cousin went through, her life became a nightmare after someone stole just a little of her personal information.  So, I did some research to find a company that would monitor my credit scores, as well as would alert me to any strange activity and significant changes to my credit score.  I was looking for a service that would give me peace of mind while keeping me informed of any strange behavior with my credit score.

Whats Your Credit Score?


I chose to protect my credit information with a service that will give me free credit scores from the three major credit reporting bureaus.   It was easy to get and the company was very helpful explaining how it all works.   It only takes a cyber criminal with a little bit of knowledge, some inexpensive computer equipment minutes to ruin your credit.  It's difficult to imagine having someone destroy your good credit;  something that you have worked hard to establish.  I refuse to have someone take my good credit rating away from me, it took me too long to get to where I am just to have someone who has very little respect and morals steal it from me.



If you're reading this and know someone who could use this credit reporting service, here is the company I use.  You never know, a friend, family member or even you could become a victim of credit identity theft.  I believe it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.  Here is the website:

Thursday

Keywords In Adwords Can Not Stand Alone

In my quest to conquer Google Adwords, I realize that a well performing campaign is only as good as its landing page or lead capture page and the follow up messages it employs.  Let me explain.


Most marketers believe they only need to create a well written Adwords campaign and make a good buy on the keywords, then they can just sit back and watch the money roll in.  Not so.  A good Adwords campaign consists of a great engine, a good behind the scenes marketing foundation.  Like the sound engineers and lighting geniuses working a concert to insure Beyonce` looks and sounds good, so must your Adwords campaign.  A landing page only captures the lead, the follow up messages to that lead are what converts the lead into a sale.  Using social media marketing can help with that.  Take a look at what social media marketing actually does for a marketer who intertwines Google Adwords, lead capture, and email marketing into one powerhouse marketing strategy.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:
-CLOSES THE GAP
-GIVES PROOF
-IS WELL WRITTEN
-IS RELEVANT
-IS NOT PROMOTIONAL

When the social media marketer wants to promote a product, the best platform to accomplish is by using a press release.  You can let bloggers, press, analysts and other influencers know about your content by blogging other social bookmarking avenues.

On the landing page it needs:
a registration form that is easily completed. ask for name, email address and company name. don't get too personal, people don't want to divulge lots of information. Give away a white paper for registration on your landing page.

Nurture your leads. Keep the conversation going by continuously giving your contacts relevant information.  Remember how you attracted them, is going to be the same thing that keeps them. So, if your offer is for a wine club, make sure you send them relevant information as it pertains to drinking and choosing wine. Anything else is irrelevant. Nurturing leads is a method to prep your prospect until they are ready to make that purchase.  Warm leads are the best leads because they have the greatest potential for repeat purchases.  There will always be impulsive buyers who make a buying decision on the first opportunity, but these customers normally do not return for future offers.  Nor do they refer others.  The warm lead, the leads you nurture are more selective.  Preferring to develop a long-term relationship with you.  Don't let them down by ignoring this opportunity.  Not all people buy at first, they want to make sure you are not scamming them. Take a look at the following graphic:

(graphics courtesy of Jon Miller, VP of Marketing and co-founder of Marketo)


Encourage interaction by including share opportunities in your follow up emails.  Use social media icons like Facebook, Twitter and the almighty email option.  These icons are universally recognized and are trusted methods to share content. Make it easy for your leads to share them.  Some marketers prefer to place these sharing opportunities at the end of a message, I prefer to place the sharing options directly under the headline inside the message AND at the end of the message.  This way it makes sharing a top of mind decision as well as a closing one after the reader has read the message.   Check out below in graphical reference below, which represents the decision making process in lead capture strategy:




My campaigns will be successful because I'm working backwards.  That is, creating the content to send to my leads, then setting up a method to distribute that content to prospects.  The Lead Capture page is just the method to get them to receive the information.  A good landing page will offer a white paper for prospects.  Make sure you have this freebie ready for immediate download for your prospects.  White papers are one of the most successful methods of generating leads.

I'll check back with you in a few days for some more tips and techniques.

What has worked for you in the past to generate leads?  Let us know, we'd love to hear about it!

Sunday

On my way to Google Adwords School!

I have spent lots of hard earned cash on Google Adwords campaigns. Unfortunately,  I believed I needed to lose money before I made it.  Even other affiliate marketers shared this bit of warped wisdom that the only way to make money with Adwords campaigns successfully is to blow your budget first then go back and evaluate the mistakes.  Wrong Wrong Wrong!

In a few months I will jump in the pool again, the pool which is called Google Adwords.  This time my PPC marketing strategy has taken a better route. I've been studying to become a Certified Google Adwords professional.  Getting certified by Google Adwords involves studying then taking tests & quizzes to advance to the next level of knowledge. The certification process begins with the most basic of internet advertising teaching.  However,  the course builds on the different tenements of Adwords advertising. The challenge is to successfully complete the certification process not just to become a Certified Adwords professional but to use my knowledge to increase my CPA (cost per action) earnings.

I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Thanks for reading!


What does it do for me?

As I sit watching the football game, my idea factory never shuts down.  I've been researching and learning my Google Adwords strategy.  

To me Adwords mastery is a pathway to a legitimate online income.  However, you can't be successful with Adwords until you learn how to manage PPC campaigns.  But before you progress to Adwords campaign management, you have to know your audience. 

So I'm thinking like my customers will think.  They will want to know, "what does it do for me?" 

Having a customer focused mindset helps focus my ad copy. Instead of copy that boasts of product accomplishments,  I know my copy must make my customers the star.  For example, instead of writing "the industry leader in weight loss products," my copy should read "lose 10 pounds using a trusted weight loss product."

I've still got some fine tuning to do on my copy but you get the idea.  Because I have been promoting CPA (cost per action) ad campaigns successfully for the past three years,  decided to take my business to the next level -- Google Adwords PPC marketing.

I'll keep you updated on my progress to Adwords greatness. I'm going to launch my first campaign in the 1st quarter of 2012.  If you have some Google Adwords best practices,  share them below in the form of a comment.  Thanks!

Thursday

Upside Down Social Networking

There are many ways to make money from the internet.  You can get paid to tweet, promote information, learn PPC & CPA marketing or even learn the finer points of email marketing.  And don't forget you can also work at creating teams of distribution representatives for products that others own.  Legitimately if you learn how to market any of these methods, you can make an awesome supplemental income or full time one from the comfort of your home.


I've done all of those methods to make a living from my pajamas.   Working from home certainly has its perks!  However, when you work from home for a long period of time, it can get lonely.  I'm the kind of person who needs human interaction.  It was okay to chat online with 'internet friends' but after awhile I began to feel like a hermit; like I had morphed into a caricature of a nerd.  So, I abandoned Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed and Flickr for awhile and navigated out into the real world per se.


What I found was I did not spend as much time online any longer.  My Facebook activity along with other social networking behavior didn't matter as much.  You see, I had joined so many groups on Facebook that those groups and the activity they demanded, became my livelihood.  My life began to revolve around updating, posting and checking for responses rather than living outside of the virtual box I had created.  The time I spent with my photography was almost non-existent, as it became more important for me to be online promoting blog posts and getting notoriety for those posts.  I didn't realize that if you write good content, and you have relative relationships within the confines of social networking, that good content will get shared without you asking for it.



My point is, I spent countless hours worrying about and trying to affect something that will grow on its own.  I'm a great writer and photographer, and that stands for itself.  People who know me and like me will read and view my creations anyway.  I had to reevaluate my behavior.  Basically, I had an 'ahh-hah' moment that resulted in an internal-online cleansing. 


I still use Flickr, Picassa and Photobucket to showcase my photos, but I don't spend every waking moment promoting them.  I also still Tweet, Facebook & have rediscovered the joys of online conversations on Google+.  What I discovered, was people are always looking or reading my creations, they just don't say anything until it is necessary.  I have had videos discovered by the Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers television show that I wasn't working at promoting.  My photography was discovered by a travel brochure when I wasn't promoting them.  Yes, good work stands out without shouting from every social network in the world. 


Social networks serve as an outlet to share the things you do.  Many have taken sharing things to sharing products and services; that's okay too, but all things in moderation. 


Thanks for reading, what are your thoughts?

Sunday

At Least We Know In Advance


I posted this graphic o Google+ (G+) a couple of days ago as a joke. Making fun of presidential hopeful, Herman Cain and his '9-9-9' tax reform proposition.  In the beginning (after a few hours) I had one comment from Shawn Smith who stated, "I could go for a flat tax."  Within a few hours, a lively discussion developed, on whether a flat tax or a value added tax (VAT) would be the solution for our country's financial woes.
I wanted to share this with you as an example of social networking really is.  

As business owners, sometimes we get caught up in numbers, and results; forgetting that websites like G+, Facebook, & Twitter are for making connections.  We are allowed to share ideas, opinions and persuade others using these social networking forums.  However, many times we forget that simple thing of sharing.  Instead we look at Facebook, Twitter and others as one big shouting-outdoor marketplace to sell our wares. Reminds me of some kind of flea market on the weekend.

I'm not trying to tell you how to run your social media marketing business, but I want to share with you is a better way to do it.

Thanks for reading.  What are your thoughts?  How do you view social media marketing?

Saturday

Facebook Changes Are Not Always Bad

People really love to share photos!  It's actually easier to get people to share a picture than it is to share content on Facebook.  Maybe sharing photos has something to do with our basic human nature.  That is, our eyes like to look at pretty things that are interesting.

I've been sharing lots of photos since joining Facebook over 3 years ago, and have noticed my pictures get shared 90% quicker and more frequently than my content.  Now if I add some interesting content with my photos, then it is a guarantee people will continue to share it.  Just this week, I've been sharing lots of photos with interesting quotes pertaining to God, relationships and motivational stuff.  My shares have increased 200%.  My Facebook friends have been even asking me permission to tag their friends using my photos with the interesting quotes. (SEE BELOW)



People like to share things that are beneficial to them.

If you're using Facebook as a marketing tool, don't complain about the changes, instead, use the changes to your advantage.



What do you think?  Leave me a comment and let's discuss it.

Friday

Medicare Open Enrollment Begins Tomorrow!

What is a Medicare Supplement?

Medicare Supplement, also called "Medigap" and "Medicare Supplemental Insurance", is a form of additional health insurance coverage for Medicare enrollees that pays for out-of-pocket expenses not covered by Original Medicare (provided by the federal government). It is an insurance policy that you would buy on top of the Medicare coverage you already have and it covers the three things that the government doesn’t cover. It covers your deductible, co-payments and co-insurance. All of this can add up very quickly, and this is why supplementary coverage is necessary for most Medicare enrollees. This is where we come in.


Think of it this way:
Original Medicare does an adequate job of covering eligible medical expenses for Medicare enrollees. It provides primary coverage for hospitalizations and doctor services. While Medicare is subsidized, it is not completely free and so you share in the cost of the medical expenses you incur. In most years, Original Medicare will provide adequate coverage if your medical expenditures aren’t over a certain amount, say $10,000 per year (hypothetically, depending on your financial situation). However, say one year you need to go through a surgical procedure, along with an extended outpatient rehab state. And say that the overall bill of for the combined treatments comes to over $100,000. While Medicare will cover most of the bill, your share could still end up being $20,000. A Medicare Supplement plan is a true form of insurance that lessens the risk and financial burden against such situations.


You’ll need to decide for yourself whether or not a Medicare Supplement plan is right for your needs. While you should consult with a licensed agent to evaluate your situation at a deeper level, you’re benefited by having a basic understanding of how Medicare Supplement works.   


  


Open Enrollment for Medicare begins tomorrow.  If you have loved ones receiving Medicare, make sure they know their choices. Help them make informed decisions. There is a web site which contains the highest rated Medicare plan providers and you can compare them all in one place. Choosing a Medicare health plan can be confusing, most seniors and those needing the medical benefits have a hard time making sense of it. Because I work for a provider I can not tell you which one to choose, but I can show you how to make an informed decision for yourself or your loved ones. The link below is a comparison site for Medicare health plans. Your loved ones can select a Medigap Supplement plan, a Medicare Advantage plan or a Prescription Drug plan.  This is to help you be informed and be a wise consumer.  Go to the link below it will lead you to the website so you can make an educated choice.  I hope this helps.

http://ow.ly/6Xp7K

Sunday

How To Provide The Ultimate Social Media Experience

The social media customer experience is equivalent to the types of customer reviews your brand gets.  What I mean is, the behavior of your followers on Twitter, your friends and fans on Facebook, will indicate what they think of your company or product.  The question you should be asking is, 'do my customers really get me?'

In case you haven't noticed, consumers are now in control of the marketplace.  They choose which brand relationships to engage in.  New social networking technology allows consumers to voice their preferences to you, the business owner.  They tell you what they want, and how they want it.  If you are a savvy marketer, you can capitalize on social media opportunities by listening to what your customers are saying and doing.

If you want to get in front of the social networking trend, stop focusing on selling and focus on the conversations that are occurring about your product.  Develop relationships that will promote trust, and loyalty.  One way to do that is to tie your social media marketing with email marketing.

Email marketing when combined with social media marketing creates a well rounded marketing attack.  When you use email marketing with blogging, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, your email responsiveness will increase astronomically.  The industry average email open rates are 23% according to the 2010 Email Marketing Benchmark Survey (Marketing Sherpa).  Just include your social media links at the end of the your email so people can connect with you.

People want to get to know you better, allow them that opportunity.  Tomorrow I will offer 5 tips on how to integrate email marketing with the ultimate social media experience.  Chat later.






Saturday

Mobile Marketing Tips You Can Use

The other day we talked about getting into mobile marketing the right way.  Mobile Marketing, QR Codes, etc. are going to revolutionize your marketing.  If you don't know that you should.  Right now you should be researching mobile marketing to make sure you do it right the first time, so you don't have to do it over a second time.

Some other ways to use mobile marketing is to make use of those wonderful QR Codes.  Whenever I see them, I find myself being curious so I just scan it to see what's under them!  As a marketer, you should satisfy your customers' curiosity by offering coupons (the most popular reason consumers scan a QR Code), contests, conduct surveys.  Anything that will engage your customer. 

Another tip is to use a "text to win" contest under your QR Code.  These mobile contests are very popular and quickly becoming the number one tool in mobile marketing.

Mobile marketing is great and as I stated before should not be used as a tool for spam.  Doing that is the quickest way to get people to hate you and cause you to lose credibility.  Your reputation will be ruined, and your business will suffer.  As always, develop a relationship with your customers, offer value and benefits to your messages and they will share them with all their friends and family.  (there are a couple of tools in this post such as "Mobile Marketing for Dummies"  & the QR Code Barcode FAQ & Tutorial that will shed some insight into this hot new marketing tool. You should check them out if you're serious about grasping a complete understanding of mobile marketing.)







Wednesday

Thinking of Mobile Marketing?

Thinking of adding mobile marketing to your make money mix?  Before you get excited, make sure you have their permission to send them mobile text messages.  People don't like spam emails nor will they enjoy mobile messages they didn't solicit.  Once you get their opt-in you are on your way to building another type of relationship with your customers.

Here is a short list of ideas you can implement to get you going!

  1. When your customers sign up for products, make sure to get their cell phone numbers so you can offer them shipping detail updates and confirmations.  If you want to use mobile marketing as a network marketer, get their mobile number so you can inform them of webinars, seminars as well as local and national company networking events.
  2. Send them product status updates and alerts on new network marketing programs or sales products.  Occasionally you should send marketing driven (or sales messages) to your customers.  The one thing you don't want to be guilty of is overkill.
  3. Use QR Codes to lead them back to your website.  Create your QR Code and embed it with links to landing pages, product sales pages or even product information.  This drives brand management to a higher level.
As stated before, most importantly make sure you receive mobile opt-in!  Never, ever spam a customers' mobile number.  Treat this form of contact like gold, because mobile opt-in is the new marketing gold for businesses.



Saturday

How I Make Money on Facebook

As of writing there are:

·          More than 750 million active users
·         50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
·         Average user has 130 friends
·         People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook
 People on Facebook install 20 million applications every day but only a very small number of those applications were developed with the intent of earning revenue.

I have created a couple of Facebook apps that generate an income.  My most recent app is "Daily Inspiration."  It is a simple app that gives the user daily motivational and inspirational quotes that shows up as their status each day.  I make money when the user installs the app.  I've only been running it for about two weeks, and each day I watch as the amount of users increase.  I went from 78 users on the first day to 10,996 on this past Thursday.  It is slowly gaining popularity as I have only made $6.82 so far.  However, this app is going to go far.

This is just one way to monetize Facebook.  Do you know any others?  Let me know.


Stop Giving Your Traffic Away For Peanuts!

If you run any sort of content based website or blog, you are about to discover how you can instantly start making more money with it, without advertising!

Its already been proven that putting Viral Keywords relevant ads on your site can mean BIG bucks. And this fact has been made all the more obvious with the success of programs such as Google AdSense.




But how many visitors does it usually take before your site makes even $50 from Google ads? And how much do you think the advertiser makes off YOUR traffic? You can guarantee its a lot more than $50!

Stop Giving Your Traffic Away For Peanuts &
Finally Start Getting The Commissions You Truly Deserve!



This brand new, revolutionary program combines two of the most powerful income opportunities on the internet, pay-per-click advertising and affiliate programs. And creates a new hybrid breed of website monetization, that simply blows everything else out of the water.

One of the best ways of making more money with AdSense is by making your ads blend in with the rest of your content. Simply put, by making your ads NOT look like ads. However, doing this is against Google's terms and might even get your account banned. Besides, they've made this practically impossible by placing the words 'Ads by Google' on every one of they're ad units.

Now what if you had a way to automatically and seamlessly embed relevant affiliate links directly into your content, so they just look like regular links to other related articles on your website?

Do you think they would receive more clicks?

... you bet they would!!


Not only will these links get clicked more often, but every click can give you the opportunity to earn $100's... per click! Compare that with the measly few cents you earn on your AdSense ads. Now I'm not saying you should abandon AdSense altogether, its a great way to earn a passive income online. But with this brand new software, your potential affiliate income will instantly shoot through the roof!

Viral Keywords turns your content into an instant profit magnet by dynamically transforming keywords on your site into affiliate links for literally any affiliate program you choose to promote.

(This is a sponsored post)

The Power of Networking And Sharing

          I wish I could capture and bottle all my Facebook, Twitter and YouTube relationships.  I would only unleash them when I needed to get the word out for my latest blog post or my latest affiliate offer.  But, that would be selfish wouldn't it?  That's what I tried to do when I first started networking using social media.  I thought that the more friends and followers I had, the more impact I would have in the world of social media.  But, with experience, I've learned that the power of networking lies in sharing your friends, sharing your knowledge, and just enjoying good company of like-minded people.


                Networking is about meeting people and discovering if you have something in common.  I've recently learned the power of networking and sharing through the Facebook groups application.  Many people find the Facebook groups instant message and constant email notification features annoying.  The email feature as well as the instant message feature can be managed by going into your Facebook account and setting how you want to be notified.  However, I love the group feature because I get to talk to people in real time, they get to know me, who I am and vice versa.  That is the true power of networking, developing relationships.


                 When you write good content that people enjoy, they don't mind sharing it, and you don't have to ask them.  They share it because they see the value of the information you present.  It's important though when you network and share content that you don't become a pest.  You don't want people to give you the cold shoulder on the internet because it's lonely out there when no one online will talk to you!


                If you're not using StumbleUpon, you are missing out.  StatCounter just released a report indicating that StumbleUpon sends more traffic to websites than Facebook.  I've been using StumbleUpon for the last three years and one thing I have noticed about the traffic I get from the site is that: (1) the traffic is sticky, that is, people stay around longer to read your content thus reducing your bounce rate; (2) Google regards referred traffic from StumbleUpon as credible, so if you only shared your content on StumbleUpon you could benefit from quicker page rank increases like I have.


                I'm not knocking Facebook, I'm just suggesting that when you are looking for a dance partner, then you want one who has rhythm; and clearly StumbleUpon has the power to make your content go further than Facebook.  The power of networking and sharing is how many eyeballs will enjoy your content.  The more people who share your work, the better off you are.  There is power in social networking, make sure you utilize it appropriately.


10 WAYS TO GROOM YOUR FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

  1.        Fill it with multimedia content of current events.  Only if you're Anderson Cooper from CNN!  Nevertheless, videos, photos will always grab the attention of your fans.  Give the people what they want!!
    2.       Leverage your brand.  Don't just duplicate your website; But dig out photos or videos of past events and share them with your audience.  People enjoy humor, and human interest stories.  Treat your fans to engaging, entertaining content daily.
    3.       Give them freebies, tell them about promotions, do anything to get more fans!  They love giveaways anyway, so give your fans what they want. Get together with a company that provides promotional items like coffee mugs, ink pens, t-shirts, anything you can think of and give them to your fans.  They'll love you for it!
    4.       Change it up!  Keep it fresh!  New content everyday will get you the most new fans.  If not every day, every other day.  Just dedicate two hours a day to keep your Facebook marketing up to date.  Fans will leave you in a hurry if you don't.
    5.       There is a hidden feature in the new Facebook Fan Page design: Featured People.  Located in the upper left hand corner of your page directly beneath your profile picture, you can add a Facebook Group here or create one or more lists to display here.  A great way to give 'shout-outs' to people you are connected to.
    6.       Create a crazy contest!  I just ordered a bunch of gift certificates to give away for an upcoming contest I'm sponsoring.  I'm just working on a crazy, cool contest to base it on.  Think about Easter, St. Patrick's Day, or even your birthday.  Have fun with it and your Fans will too!
    7.       Ask your fans what they want to see or read about.  Just post a question, asking, what is your favorite thing about this page?  They will tell you.  Be prepared for the responses though!
    8.       Don't forget the human dynamics in all this.  Remember there is someone sitting on the other side of that computer, they are real, so treat them like it.  Facebook is another marketing tool, but one that allows interactivity and real time engagement.
    9.       Learn from others.  Watch what the successful people are doing and mimic their behavior.  Facebook is a beast just like other social media marketing efforts, manage it or it will manage you (and you might not like the results!)
    10.   Court your fans like a man you want to get with (or a lady for the fellas!)  Recognize that there is a cycle to the relationship you are embarking on, and take it slow and go with the flow.  Don't rush it or they will run away.


    Want more social media success tips?  Join me on Facebook and learn what social networking is really about!