Internet Marketing Made Simple – Page 2

How To Drive Traffic Using Repurposed Content

You may have noticed that a significant chunk of your traffic strategy involves content. Examples include your newsletter content, blog content, social media content, lead magnets, webinars, content you optimize for the search engines, content for guest blogging opportunities and more. And that doesn’t even include the content you’re creating for paid products.

Point is, you can easily spend all your working hours creating content (or spend your entire budget having someone else create it). And that’s why you need to save time and money whenever you can.

So, here’s an idea: start repurposing some of your existing content. In other words, you don’t need to always start from scratch every time you want to create a new piece of content. Instead, use some of your existing content to give yourself a head start. This takes less time than writing from scratch, and it doesn’t cost you a dime (unless you hire someone else to tweak it).

How do you repurpose content? Check out these ideas…

Freshen Content and Republish

Sometimes your content is a bit outdated, but it’s certainly useable with a few tweaks. You can remove the outdated parts of the content, freshen it with new content, and then republish it. This works particularly well when you’re using content that was quite popular when you originally published it.

TIP: You can republish the content on its original platform or a new one. For example, maybe you originally posted it on your blog. You can publish the freshened piece on your blog, or you can use it for something different (such as a guest blogging opportunity).

For example, maybe you have a weight-loss article with five tips. Perhaps you remove one of the tips because it mentions an outdated product or strategy that’s no longer in favor, and replace that tip with something that’s fresh and known to work.

Turn Regular Content Into Optimized Content

Another way to repurpose content is to take a piece of content, such as an article from your blog or a post from social media, and tweak it to optimize it for the search engines. This includes:

Inserting keywords into the article. Don’t stuff your keywords, as the search engines will penalize you. Instead, insert the keywords only if you can do so naturally.

Lengthening the article (optional). Google likes long content, so if you can lengthen the article naturally – meaning you’re adding value and not fluff — then do so.

Polishing the article. Google really likes high-quality content, so you may further polish the content so that it’s something your readers really enjoy reading and using.

Here’s another idea…

Expand on a Piece of Content

There are two ways to use this particular approach…

The first method is to take a short piece of content, such as a tip you posted on social media, and expand it to a full-length article or report.

For example, maybe you posted a short tip on Twitter that simply says, “Make your favorite foods healthier using ingredient substitutions, such as by replacing white rice with brown rice.” You can take this one tip and create an entire article listing popular ingredient substitutions and other ways to make regular recipes healthier.

The second method is to take a piece of content and turn it into multiple new articles by excerpting and expanding on various points.

For example, let’s suppose you have an article with ten tips. And let’s further suppose that you could expand on five of those tips. Take these five tips and expand on them to create new articles. Now you have five new pieces of content to use.

Pull an Excerpt

The idea here is to take a larger piece of content and pull excerpts to create smaller pieces of content. For example:

Pull an excerpt out an ebook to create a report.
Chop up an ebook or report to create an autoresponder series.
Take excerpts out of blog article to create short snippets to post on social media.
Use a module from a video training course to create a lead magnet.

And so on.

One advantage of doing this is if you’re excerpting (or splintering) a piece of content from a paid offer, then it works naturally to help you promote the paid product.

Compile Multiple Pieces

Here’s where you can create something unique by combining multiple pieces of content. For example:

Compile a set of blog articles to create a lead magnet.
Compile a set of social media tips to create a guest blog article.
Pull a chapter from an ebook, a couple blog articles, and a couple tools (such as checklists) to create a rebrandable report for your affiliates to use.

This method does require a little tweaking to make it all flow smoothly, but it’s much faster than crafting something from scratch.

Convert to Another Format

Finally, take a look at your existing content to see if you can create something fresh in another format. For example:

Turn a lead magnet into the basis for a webinar.
Use a set of articles to create a multipart course.
Use the transcripts from a video to create a blog article.
Turn a digital ebook into a physical book (using CreateSpace.com).
Pull the audio from a video to create a podcast.

And similar ideas – it’s only limited to your imagination!

Now a few parting thoughts…

RECOMMENDED! Click Here To… GET FREE TRAFFIC

Conclusion

Yes, sometimes you need to create a fresh piece of content from scratch. But for those times when you don’t, you can save yourself a lot of time and money by repurposing existing content using the tips above.

Now let’s change gears and take a look at how to improve your offers…

Keep Reading: The Secret Of Adding Value To (Almost) Any Product To Create Uber-Satisfied Customers

Previous: How To Create CTAs That Get Results

Or… Click Here To Get Our #1 Recommendation To Start Earning Today.

How To Create CTAs That Get Results

When it comes to growing your list and your profits, one thing you need to master is the art and science of crafting CTAs (calls to action). This includes creating a call to action for a lead page, as well as calls to action in pretty much every email you send.

Sure, you can put a link in front of someone and cross your fingers that they’ll take action. But researchers have found again and again that using a specific call to action – which is where you tell people exactly what to do next – tends to create a higher conversion rate. So, if you want more clicks, sales and other action, then you too need to start creating powerful calls to action.

Here’s how to do it…

Step 1: Define Your Primary Goal

Before you can even think about creating a call to action for a piece of content, you need to determine the primary goal. Don’t stuff your content with multiple calls to action, as your readers are likely to get overwhelmed and not take any action at all.

TIP: Longer pieces of content, such as a course, may have multiple CTAs. However, they should have just one primary CTA per section (e.g., per lesson).

Here are examples of the most common CTAs:

Take action on what the reader just learned.
Read/watch a related piece of content.
Request a lead magnet (join a list).
Register for a webinar.
Purchase a product.
Request a free quote.
Enter a contest.
Share a piece of content.

And similar.

Next…

Step 2: Plant a Seed Early

A call to action is most effective when it doesn’t seemingly come out of nowhere. That’s why you want to construct content that naturally leads to your call to action. This means “planting a seed” early on in the content.

For example, let’s suppose you have a newsletter article about the keys to crafting a good sales letter, and you intend to sell sales letter templates at the end. Somewhere in the middle of the article you might include something like this: “Just a bit later you’ll discover the quickest, easiest way to create a sales letter. But first…”

Not only does this teaser plant a seed, it also arouses curiosity. And that means your subscribers will keep reading in order to satisfy that curiosity.

Step 3: Create Your CTA

At this point, you’ve planted a seed in the content. Now what you want to do is construct your call to action.

Remember, your content needs to naturally lead to your call to action. That’s why as you approach your CTA, you want to start building the benefits of taking the desired action. How much benefit-building you do depends on the action.

For example, if you want people to implement what they just learned, you don’t need to write a page of content. You can simply say something like this:

“You just discovered five scientifically proven tips for boosting your metabolism. If you want to kick your own fat-burning furnace into high gear, then be sure to put this info to work for you immediately. In fact, you can start right now by [insert specific advice]! Remember, the sooner you do it, the sooner you’ll start seeing a leaner, healthier you!”

On the other hand, if you’re preselling a product, then your copy may be longer (especially if it’s an expensive product). In that case, you may use a paragraph of introduction followed by a bulleted list of the top benefits, and finally followed by the call to action.

TIP: You don’t need to write this copy from scratch. Instead, you can copy information directly from the sales letter, such as the top three to five benefits. If it’s not your sales letter, then be sure to acquire permission first, or look in the affiliate center for “copy and paste” ads and emails you can use.

Generally, your call to action will have two parts:

Part 1: Tell people exactly what to do. Be specific here (e.g., “Take out your credit card and click the link now to get started…”).

Part 2: Give people a reason to do it. If that reason has some urgency built in (such as a limited-time offer), that’s even better.

For example:

Your next step is easy – take out your credit card and click here to join the net’s best dieting membership site. And do it now, because you deserve to be the best version of yourself!

Now all you have to do is take out your credit card and click here to get started. And do it now, while you can still snag the $50 discount! Hurry, this offer ends soon…

Now a few parting thoughts…

Conclusion

As a newsletter publisher, you need to have calls to action in every email you send as well as on your lead page. For best results, plant a seed early, construct the content around your goal, and then tell people what to do and why they should do it. It’s also worth testing and tracking your calls to action to see which ones deliver the best results for you.

Now let’s take a look at today’s Traffic topic…

Keep Reading: How To Drive Traffic Using Repurposed Content

Previous: How to Quickly Create a High-Quality Product – Without Writing It Yourself

Or… Click Here To Get Our #1 Recommendation To Start Earning Today.

How to Quickly Create a High-Quality Product – Without Writing It Yourself

Elsewhere in these newsletter issues we’ve talked about how to use joint ventures to grow your list and generate traffic. The ideas you learned about included activities such as doing free webinars with other people in your niche.

However, you don’t need to limit yourself to creating free products with your JV partners. Indeed, creating paid products with others is a great way to establish yourself in a niche (by associating yourself with other experts), as well as create a product fast without doing hardly any work.

Ready to put this strategy to work for you? Then follow these steps…

Step 1: Decide What Sort of Product to Create

Your first step is to decide what sort of product you’d like to create with your partners. If you want to create a relatively big product without doing much of the work yourself, then I suggest you gather together one or two dozen partners and ask them to all contribute something to a product.

There are a couple ways to do this:

Ask people to contribute a tip or instructions based on their specialty. For example, if you’re creating a dog training product, you might have one person share five tips for teaching a dog to sit, ask another expert to share five housetraining tips, and so on. In this example, you’d end up with a product with dozens of tips across all the popular training topics.

Ask one question and have a variety of experts answer it. For example, you might ask a group of marketers the best way to get 1000 targeted visitors. Your SEO experts is going to answer based on optimizing for the search engines. Your social media expert may talk about Facebook. Point is, every expert will have a different answer, which will make for a valuable product.

Next…

Step 2: Search and Research Potential Partners

Once you decide what sort of product to create, then you can go in search of suitable partners. You can find them in the following ways:

Search Google for your niche keywords (such as “dog training” or “golf”).

Check paid ads on Google as well as on niche sites.

Search social media (such as Facebook) to see who has large, active audiences on their pages and in their groups.

Look at marketplaces such as ClickBank.com to see who has the bestselling products in your niche.

Research recent affiliate contests in your niche to see who was at the top of the leaderboards.

Ask your audience who they follow in the niche, what products they like, which blogs and newsletters they read, etc.

Check the list of niche blogs and newsletters you read to see if you forgot anyone.

The key here is to research each potential partner to be sure they’re honest, trustworthy and have a great reputation in the niche. To that end, research each person by searching for their name and business name in Google. Cross off anyone who shows red flags when you research them, and then take your newly shortened list to the next step…

Step 3: Approach Potential Partners

It’s best to build relationships first and then approach partners with a joint venture. Whether you use this recommended method or approach cold prospects, be sure to focus on what benefits the partner will receive if they participate in your venture.

Check out this sample email…

Subject line: [Big name] is in – are you?

Hi [Name],

It’s [Your Name] from [Your Website], and I’m writing to give you an opportunity to enjoy massive exposure in exchange for small investment of your time.

Let me explain…

All you have to do is [explain JV – e.g., “write a 500-word article…”]. In exchange for this [short amount of time, e.g. 15 minutes] task, you’ll get:

[Insert bulleted list of benefits – e.g., a link inside the product for backend sales, exposure to approximately X number of people, get your name alongside other big names in the niche such as [Name] and [Name], etc.]

As you can see, you get a lot of benefits for a tiny investment of time.

We’ve already got [two or three known experts] on board – can I count you in too? Hit reply now and let me know…

[sign off]

P.S. Please let me know if I should hold your spot or give it to someone else. You’re my first choice to [teach some topic], so I hope you can reply now with a “yes!”

Step 4: Manage the Project

Once you have your partners on board, then your job is to manage the project so that all partners have a great experience. If they have a good experience and enjoy a lot of benefits from your JV, then they’re sure to say “yes” the next time you propose a JV.

Keep these tips in mind:

Remind partners of deadlines. While this is the most important project on your plate right now, it may not even crack the top 10 for your partners. As such, remind them of deadlines and encourage them to finish their contribution in a timely manner.

Offer a “last chance” to people who don’t get it in on time. Let them know you understand how busy they are, and then give them a few more days to send you their contribution.

Thank everyone. Let them know how much you value their contribution and how pleased you are with it (and them).

Create a professional-looking product inside and out so that your partners will be proud to be associated with it.

Ask your partners how you can help them once this JV is over, such as endorsing one of their offers on your platforms.

Now a few parting thoughts…

Conclusion

Doing joint ventures with other notable people in your niche is a really good way to establish yourself in the niche, create a valuable product without doing much work, and creating something that your audience will really love. That’s why you’ll want to put the above strategy to work for you!

That’s it for this issue of “Three to Thrive.” Keep an eye on your inbox for your next issue, which is coming your way soon!

Keep Reading: How To Create CTAs That Get Results

Previous: How To Find Influencers To Help You Promote Your Site

Or… Click Here To Get Our #1 Recommendation To Start Earning Today.

How To Find Influencers To Help You Promote Your Site

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: getting referral traffic ranks up there as some of the warmest traffic you can get. That’s because you have a trusted person in your niche who’s telling others to come to your site. When this recommendation comes from a well-respected person, you can bet the traffic is going to come stampeding to your virtual front door.

Now, there are a few different ways you can get this traffic, including:

Starting a referral program, where customers refer their friends.

Creating an affiliate program, where other marketers recommend your products in exchange for a commission.

Distributing viral content so that members of your audience share this content with their friends.

We’ve talked about (and will be talking about) some of these strategies elsewhere in these newsletter issues. For this issue, however, I wanted to focus on one particular method: finding influencers and getting them involved in sharing your content and promoting your site.

An influencer isn’t necessarily another marketer in your niche, though it can be. Sometimes an influencer is someone within the niche community who seems to have a lot of respect and a lot of “pull” in a specific corner of the community, such as a blog or social media page. In other words, this person may be either a member of your audience or a fellow marketer.

For this particular lesson, we’re going to focus on the influencers who are actual members of the community (i.e., they’re prospects more than they are marketers). If you find a few marketers using this strategy, that’s perfectly fine. Just know that you’re not necessarily looking for marketers.

NOTE: Elsewhere you’ll learn influencers who are marketers, and how you can recruit them as joint venture partners and affiliates.

So, let’s take a look at how to find, identify and recruit these influencers….

Step 1: Identify Influencers

Before you can go in search of influencers, you need to know how to identify them. Basically, these are the people in your niche who are well respected on forums, Facebook groups, and blog communities.

Here’s how to recognize these folks:

They may own the platform. This could be a niche blog, forum, Facebook group, page with a large following, or other social media community. Owning a platform isn’t a requirement, but owners tend to have the most influence.

They may be respected members of someone else’s community. Generally, these are folks who’ve been members of a community for a long time (at least a year, but often three, five or even ten years or more).

They may have a large following. If you find them on a social media platform – such as Twitter — they often have a large network of followers. When they post, they get a lot of likes, shares and comments.

The influencer is often the first to talk about/share a new product, a new strategy or even breaking news. The influencer enjoys being the first to know about trends and news items in the community.

The influencer is usually aware of their position in the community. This means they tend to be particular about what they promote (even if they’re not affiliates).

That should give you a pretty good idea of what an influencer looks like. Now let’s go find them…

Step 2: Search for Influencers

You may already have a list of names in mind of people you know to be influencers (such as people whose blogs or social media posts you already follow, or influential people who visit your platforms). Write those names down, and then expand your list using the following steps:

Search Social Media

Check the top social media platforms (such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter) to uncover the biggest and most active groups and Pages. Take note of the people who own each group or Page, as well as people who seem to get a lot of respect within the community.

TIP: Facebook offers “badges” to top Page fans on their site. Look for people with these badges, as that indicates they’re active in the community.

Next…

Run a Google Search

Your next step is search Google to uncover the top niche blogs, forums and other communities. For example, you can run a search for “dog training forum.” Again, take note of who owns the platform, as well as the established influencers within the community.

Ask Your Audience

Finally, ask your existing audience about the blogs, forums and social media accounts they regularly follow.

In all cases, be sure to research each potential influencer. For example, if they’re in a Facebook group, then research their past posts, visit their personal page and even run their name in Google to be sure the person does indeed have a good reputation.

Then move onto the final step…

Step 3: Recruit Influencers

Now that you’ve identified a variety of influencers, the final step is to recruit them to your team. In other words, you want to encourage them to help spread the word about your content or offers.

If this person works as an affiliate, then you can send out an invitation to them to join your affiliate program. You may even want to give them special perks, such as a higher commission rate than the public gets or special perks for their customers (such as bonuses or discounts).

If this person is influential but doesn’t promote anything with affiliate links, then you’ll need to take a different approach. It’s a good idea to develop a relationship with this person first, as that will make him or her more receptive to any requests you extend.

One good way to bring an influencer onboard is to simply invite them to be a beta user in your business. Remember, many of these influencers are early adapters, so they actually enjoy being the first to know about anything that’s new in the niche. They’ll appreciate having the chance to offer early feedback on products as well as other content (such as lead magnets).

Once an influencer is part of your beta user team, then encourage them to share their reviews of your products and content on their platforms or in other communities they frequent. If you want to reward them for sharing, then you may set up a “perks” program where they get points for sharing that they can exchange for things like gift cards or products. (See PerkZilla.com for an app that automates this process.)

RECOMMENDED! Click Here To… GET FREE TRAFFIC

Conclusion

While creating an affiliate program and/or a customer referral program are good ways to generate viral/referral traffic, don’t overlook the other influencers in your niche. Invite them to become a beta user, and be sure they always have your latest content and offers so they can share information about them on their platforms.

Speaking of offers, let’s turn our attention towards creating high-quality products with very little work. Take a look…

Keep Reading: How to Quickly Create a High-Quality Product – Without Writing It Yourself

Previous: 7 Ways To Open a Newsletter

Or… Click Here To Get Our #1 Recommendation To Start Earning Today.

7 Ways To Get Your Newsletter Opened

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in these issues, your email subject lines are critically important. If they don’t capture attention and get the click, then the rest of your email is wasted since no one will read it.

Another piece that’s almost equally important to your subject line is your email’s opener (i.e., the first few sentences or paragraph). Here are two reasons why it’s so important:

The first couple lines are shown as the email preview. This is what the recipient sees before they decide whether to click on your email. As such, this preview is also a big factor when it comes to open rates.

The first few lines determine whether someone will keep reading. Your subject line (and preview) persuaded people to click. You got their attention. Now your email opener needs to sizzle in order to hold the readers’ attention and keep their eyes on your content.

You can see why it’s so important to have a good opener. So, with these factors in mind, let’s take a look at seven ways to open your newsletter.

Arouse Curiosity

Here you get people curious and build anticipation for what’s coming up later in the email.

For example: Nearly 1000 years ago, the Chinese discovered an herb that seemed to turn back the hands of time and improve health. This herb has been a closely kept secret – until now…

Tell a Story

One really good way to engage readers and keep them glued to your email is by telling a story. This works particularly well when you can tell a story that they can relate to. For example:

Share an inspirational story of someone who’s a lot like the reader who overcame a problem. For example, if you’re writing to people who want to be public speakers, you might share a story of how someone who used to throw up before speaking went on to become a confident, highly paid and sought-after public speaker.

Share a story of how bad things were before you solved a problem. For example, if your niche deals with car restoration, you might talk about the expensive mistake of buying a car with an unsalvageable frame because you didn’t know what to look for.

Share a story about an embarrassing moment. This helps build rapport with the reader. For example, if you’re writing to dog owners, you might share an embarrassing story about your agility dog running off the course and into the audience.

Next…

Ask a Question

What you want to do is engage someone and get them thinking about their problem or the topic at hand. That’s why opening with a question can often be an effective way to hook readers.

For example: Do you dread trying on summer clothes under the harsh and unforgiving lights of your favorite store?

State a Relevant Fact/Statistic

This works particularly well if the fact is surprising. For example, if you’re talking about longevity, you might refer to the Greenland shark that lives an average of 272 years – and then go on to discuss how we can take what we know about these creatures and apply the information to human health to extend our own lifespans.

Share Something Surprising

For this opener, you might go against convention wisdom or do a little myth-busting.

For example: You don’t need to give up chocolate in order to lose weight. In fact, you SHOULD be eating chocolate every day.

Offer a Related Quote

Still another way to open your email is with a powerful, related quote, especially from a famous person.

For example: Mark Twain once said, “There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded…”

Get Straight to the Point

The last method is to simply elaborate on the subject line (or provide a payoff) by getting straight to the point.

For example, let’s suppose your subject line said something like this: Housetrain a puppy in 72 hours?

Then you might open with this: If you’ve ever housetrained a puppy before, then you may think I’m absolutely bonkers to say you can train a puppy fast – in just 72 hours or less. But it’s true. And all you have to do is understand how your puppy’s nose is always looking for the next place for him to urinate, and how you can break the cycle of cleaning messes indoors if your sweet pup can’t smell his last mess. Let me explain…

Conclusion

You just discovered seven ways to open a newsletter in order to get people to open your email and get hooked so they keep reading. Just remember that no matter which opener you choose, it should reflect the subject line and provide a payoff. In other words, avoid using clickbait in your subject lines or email previews, as that will just upset people and get them clicking your unsubscribe button.

Keep Reading: How To Find Influencers To Help You Promote Your Site

Previous: How To Create Bonuses That Boost Conversions

Or… Click Here To Get Our #1 Recommendation To Start Earning Today.

How To Create Bonuses That Boost Conversions

One of the keys to boosting conversions with any product is to offer in-demand, high-value bonuses.

Most marketers know this, and indeed they do it. But very few know how to create bonuses that are maximally effective in boosting conversions. And that’s exactly what you’re going to learn how to do inside this lesson.

Let’s get started…

The Basics of Creating Bonuses

Before we talk about different ways you can maximize your bonuses, we need to make sure you have the basics down. To that end, your bonus should have the following characteristics:

Valuable

In order for your bonus to be effective, it needs to be valuable. Indeed, this should be an offer that you could easily sell as a standalone offer. (In some cases, you may even sell it for a brief amount of time to prove that it’s valuable, and to establish that it’s worth what you say it’s worth.)

Generally, you can figure on creating a bonus that’s worth 25% to 100% or more of the main offer. For example, if your main product is worth $100, then you can create a bonus that’s worth $25-$100 (or so).

The key is to be sure you offer something valuable, but don’t pile on so many bonuses that you actually cheapen your offer. For example, if you’re selling something for $50 and offer $500 worth of bonuses, your prospects are going to cock a skeptical eyebrow at your offer.

In-Demand/Desirable

There’s no sense in creating a bonus if no one in your market even wants it. That’s why you need to do your research to find out what people are already buying. You can then create something similar (yet better) to offer as a conversion-boosting free bonus.

Fresh

Some marketers know they need to offer a bonus, so they just pull some old resell rights off their hard drive and include it on a sales page. Problem is, if the product has been around forever – and perhaps it has even saturated the market – then that’s not going to be much of an enticement to prospective buyers.

That’s why you want to offer something fresh (unique) that hasn’t saturated the market. Ideally this should be something you create, or even PLR content that you’ve modified to make unique. If you do offer a licensed product (resell rights), be sure it’s still fairly new and hasn’t flooded the market.

Looks Professional

People really do judge a book (or any other bonus) by its cover. That’s why you want to make a great first impression with professional ecover graphics. It’s also a good idea to get the interior professionally designed and proofed/polished. If you’re unable to do these things yourself, then you can outsource them to a professional on Upwork.com or even Fiverr.com.

Now that you got the basics down, let’s take a look at getting the most out of your bonuses…

Maximizing Your Bonuses

You want to create a bonus that not only boosts conversions, but also provides a lot of benefit for your customers. Here are two ways to do this:

Create a Bonus That Works Well With the Main Product

The idea here is to create a bonus that makes it faster, easier and/or better to complete a process or achieve the goal as detailed in the main product. In other words, you don’t just want to create a related bonus – you want to create something that works with the main product.

For example:

You’re selling a course on search engine optimization for bloggers. You can offer an SEO plugin to make it easier for bloggers to achieve good rankings.

You’re selling a diet guide. You can offer bonuses that make it easy to apply the principles of the diet, such as a package of meal plans, shopping lists, ingredient substitution lists, and recipes.

You’re selling a golf guide. You can create a bonus video that demonstrates the grips and swings detailed in the main guide.

Here’s the next idea…

Create a Bonus That Handles an Objection

Your prospect comes to your sales letter with reasons why they shouldn’t buy your product. Your job is to raise and handle these objections within your sales letter. To step your game up a notch (and boost conversions), you can create bonuses that specifically address common objections.

For example:

“I don’t have time.” You can create a bonus – such as a tool or app – that makes the process faster. E.G., you can offer a set of copywriting templates alongside a copywriting course to make if quick and easy to create a sales letter.

“I can’t afford it.” You can create a really valuable bonus that raises the value of the entire product and turns it into a great deal.

“This won’t work for me.” You can offer a bonus – such as group or individual coaching – that guarantees prospects will get the best strategy and advice to fit their particular situation.

These are just a few examples. You’ll need to consider your specific product, and then think about what sort of objections your audience is likely to raise, and how a bonus could handle that objection. If you’re not sure about your audience’s objections, then you’ll want to pull together a small focus group to learn more about what excuses people will make to avoid purchasing your offer.

Now a few parting thoughts…

Conclusion

You already know you should be offering free bonuses alongside your paid products in order to boost conversions. And now you just discovered proven tips and tricks for really making the most of those bonuses. So, before you create your next product, be sure to figure out what type of bonus will help you get the best results!

That’s it for this issue of Three to Thrive. I’ll see you in another lesson soon!

Keep Reading: 7 Ways To Open a Newsletter

Previous: 5 Joint Ventures You Can Do Starting Today to Generate Red-Hot Traffic

Or… Click Here To Get Our #1 Recommendation To Start Earning Today.

5 Joint Ventures You Can Do Starting Today to Generate Red-Hot Traffic

One really good way to drive targeted traffic to your lead page (and other pages on your website) is through the use of JVs (joint ventures). This is where you work together with someone else in your niche for mutual benefit. For example, you and a JV partner might swap endorsements inside your newsletter, which generates traffic and subscribers for both of you.

So, with this in mind, we’re going to cover two things in this lesson:

What to look for in potential JV partners.
A variety of JV ideas you can start using to generate traffic.

Let’s get started…

What to Look for in a Prospective JV Partner

Not all partners are created equally. If you work with the wrong partner, your name could be associated for an eternity (or close to it) with someone with a bad reputation. That’s why you want to carefully research each partner’s website, products, and their overall reputation to be sure this is someone with whom you want to be associated.

TIP: Search for the person’s name, business name, and name of their most popular products in Google to uncover any potential red flags.

Ask yourself these questions:

Does this person have any red flags, such as poor customer service or not paying affiliates or similar?

Has the person been established for at least a year or two (longer is better)?

Does the person consistently put out high-quality content and products?

Does the person have big, active platforms (newsletter, blog, social media)?

Once you go through each of the above points with each prospective partner, you’ll get a short list of partners with whom you’ll be proud to be associated. For best results, build relationships with this person first, and then later ask them to do a joint venture.

Five Types of Joint Ventures You Can Use to Generate Traffic

The types of joint ventures you can do with other experts in your niche is really only limited to your imagination. The key is to create something where you and your partner get maximum benefit for minimal effort.

NOTE: If you’re working with a partner considerably more established than you, then you’ll want to structure a JV so that you do most of the work – just being associated with this person is going to be the big benefit for you.

Check out these ideas…

Swap Content

The idea here is to be a guest author for each other’s respective platforms (newsletter, blog, and/or social media). You each get free content for your platforms, and you also each get exposure by publishing guest content on your partner’s platform. Be sure to create a really high-quality article that your partner will be proud to publish, and include a link and call to action pointing back to your website (such as to your lead page).

Do a Webinar Together

Doing a webinar with one or more fellow experts in your niche provides multiple benefits, including:

Helps you grow your list.
Showcases multiple experts, which tends to be a big draw for prospects.
Lets you promote offers on the backend so that everyone can make money.
Gives you a product (a recording) that you can use over and over again as a lead magnet, bonus, or even a paid offer.

Here’s the next idea…

Co-Create a Lead Magnet

As you just learned, you can use a webinar as a lead magnet. But that’s not the only type of lead magnet you can create with a partner. You can create tools (such as gear lists or checklists), reports, videos or more.

The idea is to share the work (which means you can create it very quickly), and each promote a related product from within the lead magnet. When you use each other’s affiliate links to promote the products, then you’ll both make money no matter what someone buys from within the lead magnet. You can then promote this lead magnet on your respective lead pages, which will give you a much further reach (bigger exposure) than either of you could have obtained on your own.

Co-Write an Article

Still another way to do a mutually beneficial JV is to create an article with one or more partners, and then distribute this article across your respective platforms.

If it’s you and four partners, you might each write about one method for achieving something. For example, you can create an article called “Five Proven Ways to Drive Targeted Traffic,” with each partner assigned to writing about one of the ways (e.g., paid advertising, guest blogging, SEO, JV marketing and social media). Obviously, you’d assign the topic to each partner according to their expertise.

Co-Promote Each Other

The idea here is to simply swap endorsements or ads with your partners. For example:

Promote each other on social media.
Recommend each other from within your newsletter.
Put your partner’s link on your thank you/download page.
Promote a partner from within a lead magnet.

…And similar endorsements and promotions.

You can set this up as a one-off activity, where you each recommend each other to your respective platforms, such as sending out one email. Or you can do it on a more permanent basis, such as maintaining an ad for your partner in the sidebar of your blog.

RECOMMENDED! Click Here To… GET FREE TRAFFIC

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a lot of good ways to work with others in your niche for mutual benefit. The best part is that these methods tend to create highly targeted traffic, since you’re getting endorsed by someone whom these visitors trust. And it doesn’t hurt that these methods are all free (except when you pay commissions, but even then there is no upfront cost).

Now let’s turn our attention towards creating high-converting offers…

Keep Reading: How To Create Bonuses That Boost Conversions

Previous: How To Establish Yourself As a Niche Authority With Your Newsletter

Or… Click Here To Get Our #1 Recommendation To Start Earning Today.

How To Establish Yourself As a Niche Authority With Your Newsletter

Just about anyone can publish a newsletter. And since it’s so easy to get started, a lot of people do indeed do it. But many of these people struggle to make money with their list, even if they’re able to grow it to a good size.

Let me share a little secret with you: one of the big differences between those who make money with their lists and those who don’t is that the profitable publishers have established themselves as experts/authorities in their niche.

Makes sense, right?

Let’s suppose you wanted advice on golfing. Who would you be more willing to listen to: Tiger Woods, or some guy you’ve never heard of before named Gary Golfer?

Yep, you’re going to pay attention to the known golfing authority. And your prospects are the same way. They’re much more likely to open emails, read them, and buy from links when those emails are coming from an authority/expert in the niche.

Now, this doesn’t mean you need to be the Tiger Woods of your niche. You do NOT need to be a household name. You do NOT need to be on TV, print magazines or anywhere else.

Instead, you just need to develop relationships with your list, build their trust, and showcase your expertise. While the average person on the street won’t know your name, your audience WILL – and that’s all that matters when it comes to establishing your expertise, building a bigger list, and building a more profitable list.

So, with these benefits in mind, check out these tips for establishing yourself as an authority…

Prove Yourself

If you want to establish yourself as an expert/authority in your niche, then every piece of content you send out needs to prove that you deserve these respected titles. This means ensuring every piece of content you put out is high-quality, polished material.

The other thing you need to do is send out something fresh to your audience on a regular basis. If you’re saying the same thing as every other newsletter publisher, then it’s going to be much more difficult for you to stand out. That’s why you’ll want to send unique case studies, little-known tips, and even little-known strategies (all the better if you pioneered these strategies).

TIP: Even if you’re sharing the same information as others, you’ll want to put a fresh spin on it. For example, develop a “formula” and share your proprietary formula (rather than sharing regular how-to information like everyone else). I like to create acronyms where each letter of an acronym corresponds to a step in a process.

E.G., A “S.A.L.E.S.” formula would be a five-step process. Even if the info is similar to what others are sharing, it’s presented in a fresh way that gets peoples’ attention and helps establish authority and expertise in the niche.

Next…

Tout Your Credentials

When your new subscribers start reading your newsletter, they’re going to wonder, “Why should I listen to this person?” You need to answer that question by touting your credentials, where appropriate. This includes:

Related work or volunteer experience.
Relevant degrees.
How long you’ve been doing this.
Relevant awards you’ve won.
Results you’ve gotten for yourself.
Results you’ve gotten for others.
Strategies you’ve pioneered.

And similar credentials.

Touting these credentials can be as simple as slipping them into your regular newsletter content. E.G., “I’ve been making my living online for 20 years now…” or “My latest book just hit the New York Times bestseller list, so it’s safe to say I know how to create a bestselling novel.”

Borrow Credibility

If you’re just getting started in your niche, one way to elevate yourself is by doing joint ventures (JV) with the “big names” in your niche. When your name appears alongside a noted expert, you get to borrow their credibility, meaning others will see you as an expert too.

For example, you can co-create a lead magnet or even just an article with another expert and distribute it to your list.

Stay in Touch

It’s extremely difficult to establish your expertise if you’re only touching base with your list sporadically. That’s why you’ll want to create a regular publishing schedule where you send out an email at least once per week.

Write With Authority

People want to follow leaders and authorities, but only if these leaders are confident in what they’re teaching. That’s why you need to eliminate weak, passive language from your newsletters.

E.G., “You might consider trying this” is weak. A more direct/confident way to say it is, “Try this.”

Think Outside the Newsletter

You’re not creating your newsletter in a vacuum. That’s why you want to make sure you establish your authority outside of your newsletter as well. This includes:

Blanketing your niche with content, so that your name becomes associated with the solution to a particular problem. You can post on your blog, on guest blogs, on social media pages and other platforms.

Publishing a book. Even if you self-publish, people have the perception that those who publish physical books are experts.

Doing interviews. Find others to interview you, which will help establish you as an expert.

Specializing in one narrow topic. You want to specialize in something that no one else in your niche is yet specializing in. You’ll then become the “go to” expert for this specific topic.

Now a few parting thoughts…

Conclusion

If you want to start making more money with your list, then you need to establish yourself as a trusted authority. The tips you just learned will help you do exactly that!

One of the tips you learned about is working with other experts in the niche to borrow their credibility. Which brings us to the next article in this issue…

Keep Reading: 5 Joint Ventures You Can Do Starting Today to Generate Red-Hot Traffic

Previous: The Five Keys To Creating a High-Ticket Offer

Or… Click Here To Get Our #1 Recommendation To Start Earning Today.

The Five Keys To Creating a High-Ticket Offer

As you already know, you’re not going to get rich from just one product. And here’s something else for you to consider: you’re not going to build a thriving business just selling $10 items.

Sure, low-cost products certainly have their place in your sales funnel. They make great tripwire offers to quickly turn a browser into a buyer. They also work well as upsell/cross-sell offers and backend products. But if every product you’re selling is a low-ticket item, then your sales funnel needs some work.

Consider this: if you want to make $100,000 per year (which is a very reasonable goal), and you’re only selling items worth around $10, then you’re going to have to sell 10,000 products in order to reach your goal.

Now let’s suppose you have a $100 offer. Now you only need to sell 1000 products to reach that same goal.

And if you have a $500 offer? Now we’re talking just 200 products.

Go ahead and crunch your own numbers using a variety of price points, and you’ll see that the quickest way to your goal is to install at least one (but preferably multiple) high-ticket items into your sales funnel.

At this point, some infoproduct creators may be saying, “But I don’t think I can create an offer worth $97, $297, $497, $997…”

And I’m here to tell you that yes, you can – and it’s probably easier than you think. All you need to do is wrap your product idea inside a high-value format, and you’re going to have your own high-ticket offer.

So, with that in mind, let’s look at the key factors that go into a high-ticket offer…

Capture the Advanced Segment of Your Market

The first thing you can do to create a high-ticket offer is to design a product for the intermediate and advanced users in your niche. While selling beginner information is great (and you can make a lot of money doing it), advanced information tends to carry a higher perceived value. In other words, you can charge more for it.

Consider the Problem

When people have a really pressing problem, they’re going to be willing to spend a lot of money to fix that problem. Likewise, if there’s a topic that provides a LOT of benefits to someone (such as how to invest money), then users will pay more as compared to other topics.

For example, people who are looking to learn how to invest in real estate will likely pay a higher price than people who are looking to learn how to do quilting.

Another example: someone with excruciating backpain will be willing to pay a high price to get rid of that pain fast, versus someone who has a problem that’s not as pressing (such as someone who wants to improve their putting on the golf green).

Choose the Right Format

Another way to boost the value of your offer is by choosing a format with a high-perceived value. This includes live events, videos, audios and courses.

Note: the infoproducts with the lowest perceived value are ebooks, and this is particularly true if you refer to your product as an “ebook.” If you are selling ebooks – even if they are part of a bigger package – do not refer to them as ebooks. Instead, use a name with a higher perceived value, such as:

Guide.
Book.
System.
White paper.
Blueprint.
Course.

Even referring to the item as a “book” is preferable to ebook. Just make it clear that it’s a digital product (without actually using the word “ebook”).

Next…

Create a Package

The next idea for boosting the perceived value of your infoproduct is to create a package. In other words, you can add value by including relevant bonuses.

A good bonus should work alongside the main offer to enhance its benefits. If you can offer a bonus that makes it faster, easier, less expensive or better to complete a process or achieve a goal, then you have a bonus that’s going to add a lot of value to the offer.

One thing to keep in mind is that creating a bonus using the tips we’re discussing here we’ll ensure both your bonus and your offer as a whole is valuable. So, for example, you might offer videos, courses, apps/software and other tools as bonuses.

Let me give you a few examples of how a highly related bonus can enhance the benefits of the main product:

Example 1: Your main product is a dieting guide. You offer a meal-planning app and a cookbook as bonuses, both of which make it easier to get good results from the main guide.

Example 2: You’re selling access to a membership site that helps people train their puppies, including curtailing problem behaviors. You can offer a bonus video that demonstrates how to deal with the most pressing problem behaviors, such as inappropriate chewing or resource guarding.

Example 3: You’re selling a copywriting course. You can offer a valuable bonus such as group-coaching or even personal coaching (if your course carries a high enough price tag to justify you spending time coaching people).

Consider the Aesthetics

Yep, people really do judge a book – and any other product – by its cover. That’s why you need to make a great impression with the cover graphics, the interior design of the product, and the overall quality of the product itself.

Take note: if you can’t create a professional look and feel to your products yourself, then this is definitely something you’ll want to outsource. For example, if you need professional cover graphics, then post a project on a freelancing site such as Fiverr.com, Upwork.com or similar. Just be sure to do your due diligence so that you end up selecting a reputable freelancer who’ll do great work for you.

Now let’s wrap things up…

Conclusion

As you can see, it’s probably a lot easier to create a high-ticket product than you think. Often times it’s more of a mental block than anything else, as product creators think no one will want to buy the knowledge they possess. If you put it in the right format and position it correctly in the market (as a high value offer), then you’ll be surprised at how many people line up to buy your premium product! So, put these tips to work to start creating your own offer.

Meanwhile, I’ll see you soon in the next Three to Thrive issue!

Keep Reading: How To Establish Yourself As a Niche Authority With Your Newsletter

Previous: How To Create Content That Boosts Your Visibility In The Search Engines

Or… Click Here To Get Our #1 Recommendation To Start Earning Today.

How To Create Content That Boosts Your Visibility In The Search Engines

You probably create and post plenty of content (or you plan to), especially on your blog, on social media platforms, and even via your guest blogging opportunities. If you want to maximize this content, then you can optimize it for the search engines. For example, you might post a video on YouTube and optimize the description to help bring in Google traffic. Or you post an article on your own blog that’s designed to attract high-quality traffic.

How do you do that? That’s what you’re about to discover. We’re going to focus on creating optimized content that you post on your own website

Step 1: Choose Your Keywords

The first thing to do is determine what keywords your audience is already typing into various search engines. You can do this by using a keyword tool, such as WordRecon.com, WordTracker.com, or your favorite tool.

What you’re looking for are highly targeted longtail keywords. While these keywords may not have a lot of volume (searches), they also don’t have as much competition (which means it’s easier for you to rank well). When you rank well for several of these words, then collectively you can get an impressive amount of traffic.

The other benefit of choosing these types of targeted keywords is that you’ll end up with higher conversions.

For example, let’s imagine you could rank for a word like “dog training.” It’s not targeted, because you don’t know if the person is looking for obedience training info, problem training, hunting training, trick training, information, supplies or something else.

SIDE BAR: Take note that this is an exaggerated example for illustration purposes. The big players in the market have cornered the rankings for these top words – and they’ve done so for years – so someone who’s new to search engine optimization wouldn’t be able to effectively compete on this word or others like it.

Instead, you’d do better to rank for a longtail keyword such as “tips for housetraining a poodle.” It’s targeted and you know exactly what the audience wants, so you can deliver it in your content.

Which brings us to the next step…

Step 2: Create Your Content

Now what you need to do is create content that includes your keywords. Generally, you’ll include these keywords one or two times for every 100 words of content. You can include your keyword in the title, in the body of your article, as well as in any captions you attach to graphics.

But take note: this needs to be done completely naturally. If you wouldn’t write out the keyword naturally when creating a specific piece of content, then don’t try to force it in. And whatever you do, don’t overuse the keyword, as that sort of stuffing (or spamming) could get you penalized in the search engines.

Instead, write for your human readers FIRST. Focus on creating high-quality content that solves problems. If you’ve created something that humans want to read and share, then the search engines will view your content more favorably.

The second reason it’s so important to create high-quality content is because good content gets shared. This too is important to your search engine rankings, as many search engines view a backlink from a high-quality site as a “vote” that says yes, this content is good.

Don’t try to game the system by securing backlinks in artificial ways, such as by buying links or even swapping links with other marketers. Google can detect these sneaky tricks, and will penalize you accordingly.

Instead, your job is to focus on creating high-quality content that other people will naturally want to share. You can help this process along by developing relationships with people in your niche and helpfully sending them links to your content when you publish it (so that they can then share the link with their audience if they so choose).

Step 3: Check the Page

When you’re posting on your own site – such as on your blog — then the final step is to check the page as a whole.

For starters, you can insert your keywords throughout your entire page, IF you can do so naturally. Some of the places to include your keywords include:

In the page title.
In the page link (e.g., yourdomain.com/your-keywords.html).
In the meta description.
In the alt-image tags that you attach to graphics.
Within internal links (including navigation links).

The second thing you want to do make sure your site as a whole provides a good experience for visitors. That’s because search engines such as Google tend to favorably rank sites that load fast, are mobile friendly, and overall provide a good experience, as they too want to provide a good experience for their users.

Now a few parting thoughts…

Conclusion

Since you’re already creating content for your blog and other platforms, it only takes a little extra time to optimize this content for the search engines. The benefit of doing so is that once you start ranking for your chosen keywords, you can get traffic coming into your site for months or even years to come.

RECOMMENDED! Click Here To… GET FREE TRAFFIC

This is particularly true if you keep creating high-quality, useful content on a set of related topics that fall under a bigger topic umbrella. For example, your main topic might be “dog training,” in which case you’d create content on the topics of obedience training, housetraining, problem training and more. The key here is to focus more on topics rather than specific keywords. To learn more about this strategy, you can read up on SEO topic clusters.

Now let’s switch gears again and take a look at how to create a high-ticket offer…

Keep Reading: The Five Keys To Creating a High-Ticket Offer

Previous: Why Creating a Multipart Course Is Such a Powerful Lead Magnet

Or… Click Here To Get Our #1 Recommendation To Start Earning Today.