Internet Marketing Made Simple – Page 5

17 Hacks For Creating Viral Content That Sweeps Across Your Niche Like a Prairie Fire

Referral traffic is all about getting members of your market to share your content and marketing messaging with their friends and contacts. This is a really powerful form of marketing, because people who are referred by their friends come to your site as a warm lead, which leads to higher conversions.

There are multiple ways to get this referral traffic. The first method is to set up a referral program, where you encourage your satisfied customers to refer their friends. The second method is to create viral content which people share within your market. Referral programs tend to create a higher-quality traffic, but viral-content campaigns can produce a lot more traffic. That’s why you’re about to learn about both of these methods.

Let’s start with referral programs…

1. Choose: One-Way to Two Way Referral Program?

Many big companies – such as PayPal, Uber and DropBox – grew their business in the beginning with a referral program, where customers and users referred their friends. There are two ways to do this:

Create a one-way program, where the person who refers others gets an incentive for doing so.
Create a two-way referral program, where both the referral and the customer making the referral get rewarded.

You’ll find that a two-way referral program is much more effective, because the referrals have an incentive to become paying customers. For example, you can offer both parties a generous coupon (such as 75% off) once the referral makes their first purchase.

2. 6 Idea for Referral Program Incentives

There are plenty of ways you can reward your referrals and customers. Check out these ideas:

Cash incentives.
Free products.
Discount coupons.
Points that can be exchanged for your free products/services.
Points that can be exchanged for other peoples’ products/services.
Extra entries into a contest.

Which one will be most effective? It depends on your audience and niche. However, you’ll attract higher quality traffic if you offer incentives that are directly related to your business (such as free products or coupons for your offers).

3. Use These Tools to Simplify a Referral Program

The good news is that you don’t need to manually track referrals, as there are plenty of tools available to track referrals and unlock rewards. For example:

Rafflecopter.com lets you award extra contest entries when people share your content.
PerkZilla.com, which lets you award free products, coupons and other prizes for referrals.

If these tools don’t do what you need, just search Google for terms “referral apps” or “referral program tools.”

4. Give Customers Easy Ways to Make Referrals

Depending on the niche you’re serving, most of your customers probably aren’t marketers, so they’re not used to writing “ads” to refer their friends. That’s why you’ll want to make it easy on them by providing copy-and-paste emails, social media blurbs and other content that they can use to refer their friends.

5. Create “Brand Ambassadors”

Keep in mind that you’re not just looking for people to refer customers (as that would be little more than an affiliate). Instead, you’re looking to identify and cultivate “brand ambassadors.” These are the people who really LOVE your products, and they tend to talk about them even without incentives.

What you want to do is search for your product name in Google from time to time as well as on social media (using hashtags) to see what people are saying about your business. If you find people speaking positively about your business without any incentive, then approach them to offer incentives for their continued positive messaging. This makes the customer feel good and motivates them to talk about your business even more.

6. Where to Advertise Your Referral Program

The key to a good referral program is to make sure customers are well aware that your program exists. To that end, here’s where to advertise your referral program:

Inside customer onboarding emails.
Within other follow up messaging that you send to customers.
Inside products.
In members-only areas.
On download pages.

In short, whenever you communicate with customers, be sure to mention the referral program and what benefits they’ll receive by participating in it.

Now let’s switch gears and look at referral marketing that comes about when you create shareworthy content (e.g., viral content)…

7. Here’s What Makes Content Go Viral

Not every piece of content you create – no matter how good you think it is – will go viral. However, you can increase the chances it will go viral by understanding what makes content go viral. Specifically:

It Creates an Emotional Response

People are more likely to share if the content makes them FEEL something. For example, people experience joy when watching cute kittens, which is why cat videos are so popular. (I’m not suggesting you create cat videos, UNLESS you are in a cat niche! I’m just explaining how arousing emotions helps spur viral content.)

It’s Easy to Consume

Generally, this means the content is short, and takes anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to read or watch. It should also be a in format that everyone can access, no matter what device or platform they’re using.

It’s Easy to Share

Sharing should be as easy as clicking a button, which is why social media is a great place to place viral content. In other words, don’t put any hoops between consumers and your content (such as an opt-in form).

8. Offer Something Unique

People aren’t going to share the same tired, rehashed content. Give them something new, something that makes them say “wow,” and they’ll pass it on. Novel content actually lights up the brain with pleasurable chemicals, so showing people something unique makes them feel good – and that feeling helps spur the viral effect.

9. Provide a Positive Message

Shocking people, offending people, and even creating disgust all tend to get attention. However, the content that tends to get shared the most is anything that creates a positive emotion. That’s why you’ll want to focus on creating content that creates joy, happiness, love, inspiration, delight, pleasant surprise, and similar positive emotion.

10. 3 Questions to Ask to Uncover Ideas

A good starting point is to look at what type of content your audience is already responding to on Facebook, Twitter or other social media. Look for high engagement in the form of likes, shares, and comments.

Here are the questions to ask yourself:

What content format does your audience respond to? E.G., videos, infographics, memes, etc.
What topics does your audience respond to?
What emotional messaging seems to get the best response?

For example, maybe you notice that people in your niche really respond to short videos (30 seconds) that share inspirational messages about not giving up. You can then create something entirely unique, yet it has these characteristics that your audience responds to.

11. Launch Content at the Right Time

Another factor to take into consideration is when to launch your content. You need to find a time when your audience is not only online, but they have a few minutes to consume your content and then share it.

Here are ways to come up with a starting point:

See when your competitors are launching content, and gauge the response at different times and on different days.

Look at your traffic logs to see when your audience is online (paying particular attention to when they have time to take action, such as when they join your list or buy your products).

Again, these are just starting points, because you ultimately you need to test and track your campaigns to determine the absolute best time.

12. Boost the Viral Effect

You can’t drop your viral content on your blog and expect it to light itself on fire. Instead, you need to jump start the viral effect by promoting it in much the same way as you’d promote your paid products or anything else. Here’s where to promote it:

Your blog.
Via guest blogging opportunities.
Your social media pages.
To your mailing lists.
Ask joint venture partners to promote it.
Via paid advertising, such as Facebook Ads.

Next…

13. Get Your Viral Content in Front of Influencers

There are some people in your niche who are known for helping boost viral content, products, ideas and similar. Your job is to identify these influencers – who often have big social media platforms – build relationships with them, and then invite them to consume and share your viral campaigns.

14. Focus on Creating Compelling Titles

One of the keys to a viral content campaign is to create titles for your videos, articles, infographics and other content that’s sure to get your viewer’s attention.

To get a feel for what works, check out viral content on you competitors’ sites. You can also check out sites that curate viral content, such as Upworthy.com, as these types of sites often give new titles and headlines to content (which is then what kicks off the viral effect).

Be sure to also check the YouTube for inspiration, especially the “Popular On YouTube” section, which lists the videos that have received a lot of views and engagement.

For example, there’s a video called “4 Microwave Hacks You Need to Know.” Chances are, this video wouldn’t have been as popular if it was simple called “Tips for Using Your Microwave.”

Another example: “Women Try One Size Fits All Clothes,” which has over 1 million views. Most women who see that title know instantly the video is going to be funny, because they’ve had their own humorous experiences trying on “one size fits all” clothing.

This likely wouldn’t have had near that many views if it was titled something like, “Clothing Manufacturers Offer Inadequate Sizing Options.” Boring, right?

15. Make Your Content Mobile Friendly

Many of your audience members are going to be viewing your content on their phones, which is why you need to make 100% certain it’s mobile friendly. For example, if your content is on your blog, then be sure you’re using a responsive theme.

16. Create Something Visually Appealing

Many people prefer visual content, which is why videos tend to be so popular. However, if you don’t want to create a video, then look at other options for making your content visually appealing. For example, you can create:

Infographics.
Memes.
Illustrated articles.
Comics.

And finally…

17. Offer Practical Information

In general, people don’t get excited about generic ideas, and they certainly don’t get excited about ideas they’ve heard dozens of times before. That’s why you want to provide novel, practical ideas. Ideally, this should be content that you’ve simplified by breaking down into small, easy steps. When your viewers act on this information, they should get a quick win.

Let me give you an example…

There are plenty of lists floating around that show people new ways to use common items. For example, you can easily find a list of clever ways to use coffee filters (e.g., they work really well to clean glass without streaking). And these sorts of lists tend to go viral on social media, because they provide practical information that people can use instantly.

Now, obviously you don’t want to create a list about how to use coffee filters. However, you can create a practical list of new ideas for your own niche. Take a look at these similar examples, which arouse curiosity too:

7 Ways to Use Facebook That You Never Thought About Before
57 Niches You’ve Never Heard Of
17 New Ways to Use CBD Oil

Now let’s wrap things up…

Conclusion

As mentioned at the top of this guide, referral traffic generates some of the warmest traffic. This is especially true of referral programs. However, viral-content campaigns are also really effective in getting traffic to your site. Just be sure to capture this traffic on your mailing list so that you can then start building a relationship with these prospects via follow up mailings. (Note: don’t force people to join your list to view the viral content. Instead, entice them to join by offering them a related video, report or other valuable offer.)

Keep Reading: 17 Tips And Insights For Boosting Your Visibility In Google

Previous: 17 Tips And Tricks For Getting Your Content In Front Of a Warm Audience

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17 Tips And Tricks For Getting Your Content In Front Of a Warm Audience

Content marketing is all about getting your content in front of as many targeted members of your niche as you can. To that end, content marketing has two main steps:

Write content that your audience really wants to read.
Distribute this content as widely as possible.

This guide will offer tips, tricks and insights for both of these important steps. Let’s get started…

1. Find Out What Your Audience Wants

Before you write a single word, be sure you know what your audience really wants. One really good way to do this is by finding out what type of content they’re buying.

For example, go to ClickBank and Amazon, search for your niche keywords (such as weight loss), and then look for two things:

Bestsellers in your niche.
Topics that have multiple competitors.

Both of these are signs that a topic is in high demand. You can then peruse the sales letter and table of contents to get ideas for specific articles, reports, etc.

2. Create Content With a Fresh Angle

The previous tip is all about getting inspiration, but you certainly don’t want to write content in the exact same way as everyone else. Instead, you want to present it with a fresh angle.

One way to do this to do this is by comparing your topic with an analogy, simile or metaphor. For example, you might start with a theme such as “Dating is Like Trying to Land Your Dream Job.” You’d then compare each step of the dating process with finding a dream job (e.g., writing a dating profile is like creating your cover letter, the first date is like the interview… and so on).

Using this sort of fresh angle keeps people engaged, because it sure beats reading the same information everyone else is sharing (i.e., “How to Make a Great Impression on a First Date”).

3. A Simple Way to Keep Readers Hanging On Every Word

One it comes to keeping people glued to your content, arousing curiosity is the #1 way to do it.

For example, think of how 24/7 news networks arouse curiosity about what’s coming, so they keep you from switching channels during the commercials. E.G., “Coming up, you’ll find out what common ingredient in your kitchen cabinet is toxic to your family…”

You can do the same thing with your writing by sprinkling curiosity-arousing statements throughout your content (especially in the introduction). E.G., “You’ll find out which common puppy housetraining technique you should NEVER use because it makes your puppy afraid of you!”

4. Create Content for Easy Readability

If content is difficult to read – or if it simply LOOKS like it will be hard to read – people will hit the back button. That’s why you want to format any content you create for easy readability using these tips:

Use simple words that don’t require your audience to use a dictionary just to read your content. (Hint: write at a level that’s easy for an eighth grader to read.)

Utilize short sentences and short paragraphs. These guides are a good example of how to create a lot of white space with easy-to-read content.

Break up the text with graphics. These can be functional (such as an illustration to help people understand the content) or aesthetic (such as a relevant photo).

Next…

5. Format for Skimmers

Not everyone who comes upon your content is going to read every word. That’s why you’ll want to format it in a way so that skimmers will still get the gist of your content. The key to this method is to highlight the content’s main points with subheadlines, bolding, italics, underlining, bulleted lists, captions under graphics, and similar.

Take this guide as an example. Someone could skim the 17 bolded subheadlines to get the gist of what they need to do get better results with their content.

6. Add Value to Your Content

Check out these ideas for creating high-value content:

Insert useful graphics. For example, you can depict data-heavy information in an infographic (rather than inside a dense paragraph).

Share intermediate and advanced tips. This sort of information is valued more than beginner-level information.

Create multimedia content. Audios and videos have a higher perceived value than text content.

Provide tools such as checklists, worksheets, planners, swipes and templates. For example, if you’re sharing copywriting information, then you can offer a set of headline templates.

Here’s the next tip…

7. How to Find High-Quality PLR Content

As mentioned elsewhere in these guides, you don’t need to create all the content yourself. You can start with private label rights content as a foundation, which will save hours of time for each piece of content you create.

One way to find PLR content is to run a Google search for exactly what you need. E.G., “Dog training PLR” or “dog training private label rights.”

A second way to find PLR content is to go straight to the person who started the entire PLR industry. Here’s the link to Jimmy D. Brown’s current offers: https://www.earncome.com/

8. How to Make PLR Content Unique

In general, you don’t want to use PLR content right out of the box, no matter how well-written and well-researched it is. Instead, you want to tweak it to make it unique. Here’s how:

Tweak the introduction.
Rewrite the conclusion.
Insert your own unique tips, examples and stories.
Compile multiple pieces of PLR to create something totally unique.
Take an excerpt out of a longer PLR piece (such as an ebook) to create an article.

Here’s the next idea…

9. How to Syndicate Your Content

As mentioned elsewhere in this package of guides, guest blogging is a great way to get more exposure for your content. However, you can take this idea a step further by syndicating your content. Here are sites where you can place your content:

Medium.com.
LifeHacker.com.
HuffPost.com.
Outbrain.com

You can find additional sites by searching Google terms like, “write for us” (alongside your niche keywords).

10. Sharing Content Via Slide Shares

One way to get a bigger audience for your text content is to put it into another format. And one specific way to do this is by creating slide-share presentations. The key here is to create a high-quality presentation with a professional slide deck, polished graphics, and a minimal amount of text to keep people moving through the presentation.

Once you’ve finished creating the presentation, you can share it on SlideShare.net. Be sure to include descriptive keywords, which will help people find you in the search engines.

11. Distributing Info Via Webinars

Another way to distribute your content is via a webinar. The advantage of this strategy is that you can create a high-value presentation that you offer live to your guests, and then later you can offer the replays/recordings to visitors as a lead magnet, bonus product, or even a post on your blog. In other words, you create the content once and profit for months or years to come.

TIP: Be sure to use a reputable webinar platform such as GoToMeeting.

Next…

12. 4 Different Types of Videos to Create

Putting your content into video format instantly boosts the perceived value of that content. Check out these different types of videos your audience is sure to love:

Talking head videos, where you point the camera at yourself and you share the information.

Demo videos, where you point the camera at some task you’re demonstrating for the audience (such as how to teach a dog to sit).

Slide-share videos, where you give a PowerPoint-style presentation on video.

Animated or doodle videos, where you keep viewers entertained with animations as you share the content.

Now the next topic…

13. Creating Content for Others to Use

You know about syndication and guest blogging as methods for creating content for others to use. Now here’s another idea: create a product for other marketers to use.

Specifically, if someone in your niche is creating a product, then you can offer to give them a related bonus product for free to give to their customers. For example, if a marketer is creating an in-depth copywriting guide, you can offer a big set of headline swipes as a bonus.

It’s a win-win situation. The marketer gets free content, and you get your content in front of more people. To create even more benefit for the product creator, advertise their products inside the content using your affiliate link, or promote your products using their affiliate links. Either way, everyone makes money when someone buys something from inside the product.

14. Participating in Content Giveaways

You’ve probably seen those big product giveaways, where multiple marketers get together to offer valuable products for free in exchange for email addresses. The reason these events are so popular is because everyone who contributes a product also promotes the offer.

The key to this strategy is to offer something that’s in high-demand in your niche. Be sure you have a compelling title and professional cover graphics that will attract your audience. Point is, your product needs to stand out in the crowd in order to get as much exposure as possible.

TIP: Instead of joining everyone else’s giveaways, you can create your own. Be sure to come up with a unique theme so you can attract top-quality partners.

Next…

15. Licensing Your Content

Still another way to get broad distribution for your content is by selling the resell rights to it. For example, if you create a report and sell 100 resell rights licenses for $100, you make a quick $10,000. Even better, you’re going to have 100 other marketers selling and giving away your content all over the internet.

TIP: Be sure to offer resell rights and NOT private label rights, as you don’t want buyers to modify your content.

Here’s the next tip…

16. Turning Digital Content Into Physical Products

Ready to reach a bigger audience? Then turn your ebooks into physical books, and sell them both online and offline.

One good way to do this is by using Amazon’s CreateSpace.com service, which helps you create a high-quality print-on-demand book that you can then sell in the Amazon marketplace. You can also print off copies and sell them in offline venues, such as at a related trade show/expo.

Which brings us to the final point…

17. How to Establish Yourself as an Expert

One big key to successful content marketing is to establish yourself as an expert in the niche. When your audience views you as an expert, they’re more likely to read every word you write, share it with their friends, and buy the offers inside your content.

That’s not all. Being viewed as an expert makes it easier to distribute your content. For example, you can guest blog on the biggest blogs in your niche if you’ve got name recognition.

So, with that in mind, here’s how to position yourself as an expert:

Blanket your niche with content. This includes creating your own blog, doing guest blogging, syndicating your content, posting on social media, commenting on forums and social media groups, distributing lead magnets, placing paid ads and more. If someone sees your name every time they have a niche problem, they’re going to see you as an expert.

Align yourself with other experts. For example, do a webinar with some of the biggest influencers in your niche. Your name will appear alongside known experts, which will let you borrow their credibility and be seen as an expert too.

Write a hard copy book. People will view you as an expert once they see your name on the cover of a physical book. (Hint: it doesn’t even matter if you self-publish the book, as people will still view you as an expert.).

Now a quick summary…

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Conclusion

Content marketing is a good way to get your message in front of your audience, build relationships with them, presell offer, and establish yourself as an expert. That’s why you’ll want to put the above 17 tips, tricks and strategies to work for you to start getting more people reading your content!

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17 Insights For Creating a Blog That Attracts Targeted Traffic Like a Magnet

A blog not only helps you attract qualified traffic, it also helps you build relationships with your prospects and customers. That’s why you’ll want to use the following 17 insights for planning, setting up, and running your own popular blog. Take a look…

1. Choose Your CMS

Your first step is to choose your content management system (CMS) on which you’ll build your blog. Popular options include Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress.

Our choice? Use WordPress.org. This is a popular, supported and secure program with plenty of plugins and custom themes for you to install.

2. How to Choose Which Plugins to Install

Once you’ve installed WordPress, you’ll note that there are a lot of different plugins you can install to increase the functionality of your site. Your job now is to ONLY install the ones you actually need. If you install too many, you may slow your site down, and your site might even have problems the next time WordPress (WP) updates.

Here are the popular types of plugins many people tend to install:

A plugin to create a contact form.
A social media plugin, which makes it easy for visitors to like and share your content on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media platforms.
An anti-spam plugin (to reduce spam in your comments).
An SEO plugin, which structures your site in a way that’s friendly for the search engines.

Next…

3. 7 Ways to Monetize a Blog

Before you build your blog, you’ll want to think about how you’re going to monetize it. Here are some of the most popular ways to do it:

Sell your own products or services.
Promote affiliate products or services.
Insert Google AdSense ads.
Place pay per action ads (e.g., you get paid if someone fills out a form).
Sell advertising on the site.
Build a list (and then promote offers to the list).

You may use multiple methods to monetize your blog. Generally speaking, the best combination is to build a list and sell your own products or services.

4. How to Create a Blog That People Will Want to Visit Often

What keeps people in your niche coming back to a blog again and again?

For starters, you need to give your readers something they can’t find anywhere else. This might include unique tips or even strategies that you’ve pioneered. It also includes sharing “old” information in a new way, with a fresh perspective.

Secondly, give readers what they WANT. If you’re not sure what this is, then do your market research. Hint: if people are buying information on a particular topic, then you can bet they’ll eagerly consume the same type of information on your blog.

Finally, be sure your content is well-written and engaging. If it’s easy to read and entertaining, people will come back again and again to read more.

How do you create “fresh” and engaging content? See the Guide on Content Marketing for more information on this topic.

5. 20 Kinds of Content You Can Post on Your Blog

One key to creating a successful blog is to post a variety of content, being sure to keep track of what sort of content your audience responds to the best. Here are 10 ideas to get you started:

How to articles/tutorials.
Tips articles.
Lists (such as resource lists).
Podcasts.
Videos/webinar replays.
Infographics.
Mind maps.
Process maps.
Checklists.
Worksheets.
Templates.
Swipes.
Planners.
Product reviews/comparisons.
Buying guides.
Direct-response ads.
Memes.
Inspirational/motivational stories.
Case studies.
Interviews.

Next…

6. How to Create Article Titles That Get Clicks

Your title can make or break the success of your article, which is why you’ll want to take your time creating clever titles. Follow these guidelines:

Present a Big Benefit

Your title needs to give your readers a good reason to click on the blog article, which you can do by presenting the article’s biggest benefits. E.G., “How to Choose a Puppy That Will Grow Up to Be The Best Dog You Ever Had.”

Arouse Curiosity

Create an “itch” with your title that your visitors can only “scratch” by reading your article. E.G., “The #1 Little-Known Way to Erase Ugly Cellulite.”

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7. The Secrets of Creating Content That Gets Shares

Whenever you write an article for your blog, one of your goals should be to get your blog visitors sharing this article on social media and elsewhere. In order to do this, your blog article needs to be “shareworthy.” This means it should offer fresh content in an engaging way.

One way to do this is to create a “formula” around a how-to process, and then share your formula in a tutorial. For example, if you were teaching people how to write great sales copy, you might create a formula based on the acronym “S.A.L.E.S.,” where each letter corresponds to a step in your process. E.G., “S” is for “Specifying the Target Market,” “A” is for “Auditing the Benefits” … and so on, until you have five steps reflecting each letter in the word “SALES.”

For more information on this topic, check out the Referral Marketing Guide, which talks about viral content. Which brings us to the next point…

8. Integrating Your Blog With Social Media

One way to jump start the viral effect is to make sure it’s easy for visitors to share your content on social media. To that end, check out these tips:

Use a social media plugin on your blog (such as WP Social), which lets people share your content on their social media pages with a click of their mouse.

Post teasers with your blog content on your social media pages, and encourage visitors to share.

Work on creating compelling blog titles, which will get more people clicking on and sharing your viral content.

Next…

9. A Simple Way to Get More Traffic

Another good way to use your blog articles to get more traffic is by optimizing each article for the search engines. This means researching the keywords your audience is using to search for content in your niche, and then including these keywords in the blog article title, the page URL, the meta description, and within the content itself. Use these keywords sparingly to avoid being penalized for search engine spamming.

For more information on this topic, check the SEO guide in this package.

10. How Often Should You Publish?

One of the keys to a successful blog is to publish regularly. How often depends on your niche and what your competition is doing. However, in general you should post at least once per week. If your blog shares late-breaking news or similar content, then you should be posting daily or even multiple times per day.

The reason this is so important is because you want your visitors to get in the habit of checking your blog on a regular basis. If you publish sporadically, your visitors will bookmark your blog and come back… but if there isn’t anything new on the site, they probably won’t be visiting again.

The other advantage of publishing fresh content on a regular basis is that Google and other search engines favor new content. The more high-quality content you publish, the more often Google will drop by to crawl your site and index your new content.

11. Automating Your Blog Activities

Want to make your blog activities easier? Then look for tools to help you automate your blog.

For example, if you use WordPress, then you can upload content today and schedule it to publish it whenever you want. This feature lets you post content even when you’re nowhere near your blog, such as when you’re on vacation.

12. A Clever Way to Get Subscribers

One way to build your blog is to encourage your visitors to join your mailing list. That way, you can send out an email whenever you post new content, you can encourage subscribers to share your content, and you can invite them to join the discussion.

Now here’s a good way to get even more subscribers: put your best content on your blog behind a password. You can then put an opt-in form next to these password protected articles, and let prospects know they can get instant access to this “premium” content once they join your list.

13. How to Get People Coming Back For More

One of the keys to building a successful blog is to make sure you get a lot of repeat traffic. This sort of loyal readership is more likely to click on your links, buy your offers, and even tell your friends about your site.

Here’s how to get people coming back for more:

Create a user-friendly blog. Be sure you’re using a responsive theme, so people have a great experience no matter what device they’re using.

Offer regular features. This might be a weekly “Ask the Expert” column, or a weekly “Featured Product” that comes with a discount or other special offer.

Provide unique content. For example, offer case studies, which are always unique even if others do similar studies. You can also share unique stories, tips and examples.

Next…

14. Test and Track Your Blog Campaign

The only way to tell what’s really working on your blog is test and track the different parts of it. This means getting a tracking tool (such as the WP plugin MonsterInsights), and then testing the following:

Your blog titles.
Short versus long content.
Text content vs video content.
Different forms of content such as infographics.
The headline and call to action on your opt-in page.
Your ad placements on your blog.
Your ad titles, body copy, call to action and graphics.
The best time of the day (and best day) to post on your blog.

Once you know what your audience responds to, then you can create more of that type of content.

15. Where to Get Article Ideas

You’ll never run out ideas for your blog if you follow these steps:

Ask your audience what they want.
See what your competitors are writing about.
Using a keyword tool to uncover what people want.
Check Quora.com to see what people are asking about.
Read your blog comments to see what people want.
See what’s popular in paid products on ClickBank.com, Udemy.com and Amazon.com.
Check your own site to see what topics are popular.
See what’s popular on social media in your niche.
Find out what topics are popular on niche forums.
Browse magazine cover articles and tables of contents.

Next…

16. 3 Tips for Creating Content Faster

Once you start blogging, you’ll quickly find you need to create a lot of content. Here’s how to create all this content even faster:

Outsource It

Go to a site like upwork.com, freelancer.com or similar to find reputable writers who can create some or even all your blog content for you.

Start With PLR

If you start with high-quality private label rights content, then you can create an in-depth article in just a few minutes rather than several hours.

Use Technology

Most people can talk faster than they can type, which is why speech-to-text technology can speed up your writing. Check out Dragon Naturally Speaking, or any number of alternatives.

17. Get Free Content and Traffic With This Trick

Here’s a great way to quickly establish a new blog and get high-quality traffic to it: ask a notable influencer in your niche to write a guest article. Alternatively, you can ask to interview the expert and then post the interview on your blog. Either way, most marketers will help you promote the interview or article, so you’ll get the benefit of free traffic, free content, and a soft endorsement from a niche expert.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are a lot of good reasons to start blogging, from getting traffic to establishing yourself in your niche to building relationships with your audience. That’s why you’ll want to put these 17 ideas to work ASAP so you can start reaping all these benefits.

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17 Ways To Get More Affiliates And Get Your Affiliates Promoting More Often

In Guide #4 you learned about doing joint ventures with other marketers in your niche. Now in this guide you’re going to learn another way to partner with others for mutual benefit: namely, by setting up an affiliate program. This is where you offer affiliates a commission in exchange for every paying customer they send your way.

How do you set it up for maximum success? Check out these 17 tips, ideas and insights…

1. Pick the Right Platform

Your first step is to pick an affiliate platform that meets your needs. You can use a third-party system (like ClickBank.com, JVZoo.com or similar), or you can install an affiliate script on your website and run your program that way.

Which to choose? If you’re already well-known in the niche, then you can certainly run your own program. If you’re just getting started, then using a platform like ClickBank.com is great choice, because affiliates everywhere trust the company and know they’ll always get paid.

2. Understand the One-Tier Vs. Two-Tier Program

A one-tier affiliate program is where affiliates get commission for every sale they make. A two-tier program is where affiliates get commission for every sale they make, PLUS they also earn a smaller commission when affiliates they’ve recruited into their downline make sales.

What’s the difference? In a two-tier program, affiliates will help you grow your affiliate program. The problem, however, is that some affiliates focus on recruiting others, to the point where they never promote your offers themselves.

When in doubt, create a one-tier program, as doing so avoids potential legal programs as well as growing a program where no one is actually promoting your offer.

3. Decide Your Commission Rate

Your next step is to decide the commission rate for affiliates when they sell your product. A good way to do this is to research what others in your niche are offering. In general, you’ll pay 50% commission for digital products, and usually you’ll reserve even higher commissions for your best affiliates.

4. Determine Whether You’ll Offer Backend Commissions

If you’re offering upsells and other products on the order form, then it’s a good idea to offer commissions on these products as well to your affiliates. This gives affiliates an extra incentive to promote, as they have the potential to make even more money (without doing any extra work).

Which brings us to the next point…

5. Ask Yourself: Can You Set up Recurring Commissions?

One thing affiliates really love is recurring commissions, as it gives them a passive way to make money. All they have to do is sell an offer once (such as a membership), and then make money month after month for as long as their customer remains an active member.

As such, there are two things to note here:

If you have a recurring payment offer (such as a membership or subscription), then be sure to offer recurring commissions to affiliates.

If you don’t have a recurring payment offer set up yet, then plan to create one in your near future. It’s a great way for both you and your affiliates to enjoy effortless recurring revenue.

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6. Create Your Affiliate Agreement

If you’re running your own affiliate program, then be sure to create an affiliate agreement. This isn’t necessary if you’re running your program through a service like ClickBank, as reputable third-party services have their own affiliate terms that participants must agree to. It’s only necessary if there are other terms you want to include that aren’t listed in the third-party agreement.

An agreement should outline how and when affiliates will get paid, as well as what types of activities are prohibited (such as spamming). If you’re running your own affiliate program, then be sure to run your agreement by an attorney to be sure it’s fair, binding and that it protects you.

7. The 5 Factors Top Partners Look for in an Affiliate Program

If you want to attract the top affiliates in your niche, then you need to create a program that has all the characteristics these partners look for in an affiliate program.

High-converting sales letter. Be sure to test and track your sales letter so that you can showcase a high conversion rate when you approach partners.

Generous commissions. Your top affiliates will appreciate commission rates higher than 50%. Aim for 60%, or even 75% to attract the best partners.

Commissions on upsells. If you’ve got upsells, then be sure partners get a slice of these profits too.

High-quality product. When you approach partners, give them unlimited access to the product.

Marketing materials. While your top affiliates will generally create their own materials, most of them appreciate having access to your materials that they can rewrite or use as the foundation for their own materials. High-quality graphics are a must too.

Use the above list as a mini-checklist for creating an attractive affiliate program. You’ll learn more about each of these characteristics throughout this guide.

8. 10 Items That Should Be in Every Affiliate Center

As you learned in the last section, affiliates love having copy-and-paste marketing materials available to them. With that in mind, here are the materials you’ll want to include in your affiliate center:

A rebrandable report.
An autoresponder series (three to five emails).
Solo emails that affiliates can send individually at any time.
A blog series (three to five articles).
Individual blog articles.
Posts suitable for social media (e.g., shorter for Twitter, longer for other platforms).
A video or webinar reply.
High-quality ecover graphics.
Graphical ads (such as banners)
Extras such as infographics.

You don’t need to have your affiliate center fully stocked before you accept affiliates. You can start with the basics (such as a rebrandable report and an email series), and then add other items over time as you complete them.

9. How to Promote Your Affiliate Program

Once your program is ready to go, then you need to start promoting it in order to attract affiliates. Here are the best ways to do it:

Get Listed on Your Platform

If you’re using a third-party platform like ClickBank, then be sure your product is listed in the onsite affiliate directory.

Join Affiliate Directories

Run a Google search for “affiliate directories,” and then submit you program to these directories.

Buy Advertising

Still another way to recruit affiliates is through paid advertising. For example, you can buy ads on sites where affiliates congregate, such as affiliate forums. You can also buy targeted ads on platforms such as Google and Facebook.

Tell Your Network

Let your prospects and customers know about your advertising program by emailing them about, blogging about it, and posting on social media.

TIP: You can advertise your affiliate program as part of your new customer onboarding process. The idea is to encourage your satisfied customers to make money by telling others about your product.

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Advertise On Your Site

Still another way to promote your affiliate program is to be sure to include a link to the program on all your major pages (such as on your blog and homepage).

NOTE: Whether to include a link to your affiliate program on your sales page is debatable. Doing so can lower commissions, as any link on a sales page tends to be a commission leak. In addition, you never want to show an “Become an Affiliate” link on any page where current affiliates are sending traffic, as this can result in people joining the program and hijacking the original affiliate’s commission.

Bottom line: you can insert advertising the affiliate program only on a sales page where you send direct traffic, but be sure to test it to see if it’s negatively impacting sales.

One of the best ways to recruit affiliates is to directly approach them and invite them to join your program. Which brings us to the next tip…

10. The #1 Secret to Generating a Lot of Sales

In most cases, your very best affiliates won’t find you. Instead, you need to find them. Here’s an overview of the process:

Find potential affiliates. Search ClickBank for top vendors in your niche, use Google to locate top marketers, and browse affiliate leaderboards during contests to see who’s selling a lot of products.

Do your due diligence. Research each potential partner to be sure they’d be a reputable partner.

Recruit them to your team. It’s best to build relationships first, but you can also use a “cold approach” by sending an email to them with the benefits of your program.

For more details on how to complete the process, check out the Joint Venture Guide.

11. Spurring Sales With Training Materials

Some of your affiliates are going to be new to affiliate marketing. That’s why you’ll want to offer training materials, such as videos or guides that teach people how to build a list and start making their first sales.

12. How to Create a Contest That Gets Affiliates Promoting Like Crazy

One really good way to generate sales and motivate affiliates is by offering an affiliate contest. This is where you offer cash prizes to the top five affiliates who make the most sales during a specified period (such as one week).

The problem with this model is that affiliates who are capable of making a few sales aren’t going to be motivated to compete because they know they won’t win.

The solution? Create a separate “sweepstakes” style contest, where every affiliate who makes at least one sale gets an entry into a random-drawing contest.

13. Distributing Coupons to Boost Sales

Affiliates love distributing coupon codes to their prospects and customers, as coupons tend to generate a lot of sales. To make this tactic even more effective, you might offer coupon codes at the same time you’re running an affiliate contest.

14. A Surprising Way to Get a Lot of Sales

Here’s an idea: offer 100% commissions on one of your products (especially a tripwire offer or other entry-level product). The idea is to let your affiliates keep all the frontend profits, which means they’ll promote often. Meanwhile, you build a big customer and aim to make your profits on the backend.

15. How to Keep Affiliates Motivated Week After Week

You can’t build good relationships with affiliates and keep them motivated unless you stay in touch with them. To that end, email them each week to showcase other top affiliates in your niche, announce contests and new offers, give them new marketing materials, and generally inspire them to keep promoting.

16. Consider Outsourcing Affiliate Management

There is a lot of work involved in running a successful affiliate program, including recruiting affiliates, nurturing relationships with affiliates, creating marketing and training materials, running contests and more.

The good news is that you don’t need to do these tasks yourself, as you can outsource all or part of managing your affiliate program. For example, you can hire someone to run the entire program, or you can hire people to do pieces of it, such as creating the marketing materials and training materials.

TIP: One good way to get super affiliates into your program is by hiring a JV broker. This is someone who already knows and has a relationship with the top marketers and affiliates in your niche. This person can introduce you to these top partners and recruit them into your program in exchange for a cut of any profits these partners make. For example, you might pay the broker 10% to 20% of any sale made by the partners they recruited into your program.

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17. Keep Affiliates Happy With This Strategy

A lot of affiliates like to keep fresh offers in front of their customers. Likewise, you can keep these affiliates happy by creating new offers on a regular basis (such as monthly) and giving affiliates all the tools they need to promote these offers.

Conclusion

You don’t need to look further than a company like Amazon to know that an affiliate program is a great way to build your business. That’s why you’ll want to use the tips you just learned to start up and run your own successful affiliate program.

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17 Tips, Tricks And Ideas For Leveraging Other People’s Traffic

Joint venture (JV) marketing is another way to get really warm leads flowing your way. That’s because a good JV means someone who’s really trusted in the niche is endorsing you or working with you. In effect, you get to borrow their credibility. It’s a good way to get warm traffic, a great way to generate opt-ins or sales, and it’s also a really good way to establish yourself in a new niche.

So, with these benefits mind, take a look at these 17 tips, tricks and ideas for doing joint ventures with other people in your niche…

1. 17 Ideas for JVs

The different ways you can do a joint venture are only limited your imagination. However, here are several ideas to get you thinking about how to create a mutually beneficial joint venture deal:

Co-host a webinar.
Create a paid product together.
Co-endorse each other on your respective platforms.
Swap blog, newsletter or social media content (guest content).
Create a lead magnet together.
Co-write a blog post.
Host a contest together.
Interview each other for a podcast or webcast.
Promote each other’s products.
Promote each other on your thank you/download pages.\
Write a Kindle or hard copy book together.
Host an offline workshop together.
Do a postcard mailing together.
Create a giveaway event.
Create a product bundling event.
Raise money for a good cause together.
Purchase an ad together (such as magazine ad).

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2. How to Find All the JV Partners You Need

Potential JV partners are everywhere if you know where to look. Here are ten ways to find all the JV partners you need:

Run a general Google search for your niche keywords. E.G., “dog training”

See who’s buying ads in your niche (on Google Ads, Facebook ads, and niche sites).

Check social media to see who’s running popular pages and groups.

Look at affiliate contests in your niche to see who’s always topping the leaderboard.

Find out who has the most popular blogs in your niche. (Use Google, e.g., “dog training blogs.”)

Check sites like Udemy, ClickBank and Amazon to see who’s selling popular infoproducts.

Ask your audience what sorts of products they buy, whose blogs they read, and who they follow on social media.

See who your existing partners are working with in the niche.

Look offline at brick and mortar business owners.

See who’s doing writing columns in popular niche publications.

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3. Do This Before Proposing a JV

When you do a JV with someone, your name is going to be associated with them for a very long time to come. That’s why you’ll want to do your due diligence on a potential partner before you approach them. All you have to do is search for their name, business name and product names in Google. If you see any red flags (such as bad customer service or not paying affiliates), cross them off your list and move on to someone more reputable.

4. How to Get More Partners Saying “Yes”

The #1 key to getting lots of joint venture partners is to build relationships first before you ever even think of proposing a JV. At the very least, you want people to recognize your name when it crosses their desk.

Here are ways to get that recognition and start building relationships:

Become an affiliate and make a lot of sales and money for the potential partner.

Contribute thoughtfully on the person’s various platforms (e.g., social media, groups and blogs).

Visit the person at offline events, like expos ad conferences.

Volunteer to help (with anything) if the person requests it.

Create viral content which builds recognition.

Start a private dialogue with potential partners.

Retweet/share the person’s content.

Blog about the person (and tag them on social media when you do so).

Do JVs with other big names in the niche, which will get others to take notice of you.

Build popular platforms in your niche (again, so people take notice of you).

Be really good at what you do in your niche – people will start flocking to YOU.

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5. Using the “Foot in the Door” Technique

Even if you get name recognition or build a relationship first, your potential JV partner is still going to be cautious. That’s why you’ll want to use the foot in the door technique. This is where you request a small, easy JV first. Once that’s completed successfully, then you can ask for a larger one.

For example, you can a potential partner to submit a single tip for you to compile into a tips report, which will take them five minutes. Then later you can ask to co-host a webinar with them.

6. The “Cold Ask” Template

Sometimes you need to approach cold partners, or those with only a passing recognition of your name. Use this email template as a starting point for approaching these partners:

Subject Line: An invitation to [get some benefit]…

Hi [Name],

It’s [your name] here from [your business name/blog name/etc.] and I’m writing to invite you to [partner with you in some JV] that will make us both a lot of money.

Let me explain…

[Explain briefly what the JV is… e.g., swap blog content? Do a co-endorsement, etc.]

I think I’ve created an irresistible deal that’s going to be easy for you to say “yes” to. Here’s why:

[create a bulleted list of benefits of what the partner gets if they work with you. E.G., “You’ll get 75% commissions…” or “You’ll get access to my 35,888-member mailing list…”]

The bottom line is that this is a great way for you to [get some main benefit], and you only need to invest [some small amount of time] in order to reap these benefits.

Let’s set something up. Hit reply now to [do whatever it is you want them to do – e.g., get your affiliate link… tell me what topic you’d like to write about… tell me when you’d like to do an interview… etc.].

I look forward to hearing from you!

[your name]

P.S. If you prefer phone to emails, feel free to call me at [number].

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7. How to Create a JV Your Partners Will Love

No matter what sort of JV you’re doing, the key is to create one that’s mutually (and equally) beneficial to both you and your partner. Or, better yet, stack the deck in your partner’s favor (especially if you’re partnering with someone who has more assets than you). In essence, you do most of the work and let your partner reap most of the rewards.

8. How to Create a Successful Venture for Everyone

While this particular joint venture may be the most important thing you have going on right now, it’s not your partner’s top priority. That’s why part of creating a successful venture is to keep your partners motivated and remind them of what steps they need to take next. In other words, you need to manage the partnership and keep everyone moving forward.

For example, if the JV is going to take a month to complete, you may touch base weekly at first, and then several times per week in the last two weeks of the project.

9. What To Do With Your Best Partners

When you’re doing JVs, think long term. Specifically, you’ll want to create semi-permanent ventures with your best partners.

For example, you might put a semi-permanent link on your newsletter confirmation page that advertises your partner’s newsletter, and they may do the same for you.

Another example: you might co-endorse each other inside your respective lead magnets.

10. What to Do When Someone Says No

You are going to get far more “no” responses than “yes” responses. When someone says no, be polite and thank them for their time. Then work on building a relationship with them so that in the future you can propose another joint venture.

11. The Trick for Building Relationships Offline

One of the best places to build relationships is face-to-face at offline conferences, expos, trade shows and similar.

Here’s the key: get to know a prospective partner rather than proposing a joint venture. For example, if they just came back from vacation in Maui, ask them about it. When they get home, they’ll remember you, the person who talked about something that personally interests them (and they’ll forget about the dozens of others who just wanted to talk shop and propose JVs).

12. The Two Keys to Avoiding Misunderstandings

One key to a smooth JV is to avoid misunderstandings that can derail your project. Here are the two things you need to do to avoid these misunderstandings:

Create a written agreement. This should outline exactly what each of you contributes to the venture, and what benefits you’ll both get in return.

Set expectations upfront. For example, let the partner know what your work process is like, how (and how often) you’ll communicate with them, what you expect of them, etc.

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13. Do Your Homework

Before you approach a potential partner, do your homework first. Research them online, read their blog, look at their products, and browse their social media pages. The more you know about someone before you approach them, the easier it will be for you to do two things:

Send messages to them that really resonate with them.
Create JVs that are in their wheelhouse.

For example, if you notice that a person does a lot of webinars, then you might propose that you do a webinar together.

14. Capitalize On Success

You’ve just completed a successful joint venture with one or more partners. Now what?

Here are your next steps:

Be sure this JV is truly done. For example, if you need to pay commissions or uphold any other part of the bargain, do it now.

Send a sincere thank you. For a nice touch, you might send a handwritten thank you via the postal mail.

Capitalize on your success. Start thinking about the next JV you can do with this partner, and plant a seed while they’re still enjoying the benefits of the current JV.

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15. Taking Your Proposals Offline

Don’t limit yourself to doing joint ventures with online marketers, authors, coaches and business owners. Be sure to look offline too at your local business owners.

For example, if you’re in a dog-related niche, then you might think about JVs you can do with:

Veterinarians.
Groomers.
Boarders.
Trainers.
Doggy daycares.
Pet supplies businesses.

Which brings us to the next point…

16. 3 Ideas for Offline JVs

What sort of joint ventures can you do with offline business owners and other people? Check out these ideas:

Swap bags for a flyer. You buy shopping bags for the partner, and in exchange they insert your flyer into a shopping bag for each of their customers. They get free bags and you get to generate leads. Win win!

Do a talk or demo in their store. For example, you can do a free dog-training demonstration at a pet supplies store. You get to generate leads, and the store owner gets a surge of foot traffic that day. Win win!

Create an event together, such as a workshop. You can rent a hotel conference room for a few hours and put on a paid workshop with your partner (or partners). For example, in the dog training niche you might put on a workshop to talk dog training with a dog trainer, a veterinarian behaviorist, and a doggy daycare owner.

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17. Ask for Introductions

Want a quick way to build trust with a new potential partner? Then ask a mutual acquaintance to introduce you. A potential partner is going to be much more open to your offer if their trusted friend introduces you, or better yet, if that friend actually endorses/recommends you.

Conclusion

A single joint venture can easily bring you thousands of dollars (and even more as time goes by). That’s why you’ll want to seek out potential JV partners, build relationships, and start doing mutually beneficial JVs as soon as possible!

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17 Tips for Getting Your Content on Your Niche’s Best and Busiest Blogs

One really good way to get targeted traffic to your site is via guest blogging. The reason this works so well is because having your content on an influential site is akin to getting an endorsement from the site owner. As such, any traffic that clicks through tends to be warm and open to your offers.

So, with that in mind, check out these 17 tips for getting your content on the best blogs in your niche (and making the most of each guest-blogging opportunity)…

1. How to Find Guest Blogging Opportunities

The first thing you need to do is scour the web looking for blogs in your niche that accept guest content. You can do this by searching for your niche keywords (such as “weight loss”) alongside the following types of words:

For example: “golfing guest articles” (without the quotes).

2. What to Look for in a Guest Blogging Opportunity

The above search is likely to return plenty of guest-blogging opportunities, but not all these blogs are created equally. Do your due diligence by taking the following steps:

Check that the blog has high-quality content. Would you be proud to have your content appear on this blog?

See if the blog has active visitors. Do real people comment on the blog and share the content on social media?

Check that the blog isn’t inundated with advertising. You want to publish on blogs that focus primarily on good content with a minimal number of tasteful ads.

See if the blog is updated. Does the owner post frequently? Is the web design current and professional?

Research the blog and owner. A quick Google search will uncover any potential red flags with the blog, such as an owner with a lot of customer service complaints.

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3. Take These Two Steps Before You Submit a Single Guest Post

Once you find a good guest-posting opportunity, then take these two steps:

Step 1: Read the Submission Guidelines

Read them carefully, as some busy blog owners will insert obscure instructions into the guidelines just as a way to weed out guest authors who can’t be bothered to read the guidelines.

Step 2: Review the Archives

If you want to get a sense of what type of content the blog owner likes, then check what sort of content they post on a fairly regular basis. For example, if you see plenty of “Top Ten Tips” list articles, then you may consider submitting a fresh article using this preferred format.

4. How to Become a Repeat Guest Author

Your goal isn’t to land a guest author spot ONCE. Instead, your goal is to be able to publish multiple articles on the very best blogs in your niche. To that end, be sure that you create content that provides a lot of value to the host site and its readers. This means providing a unique article with a fresh viewpoint that solves a problem.

5. 3 Ways to Create Unique Content

When you guest post, you’re probably writing about many of the same topics that everyone else is writing about. So, how do you make your content unique? Here are three ways:

Create a case study. Even though others may do case studies, no two case studies are alike. You can create an article around a case study, or you can include information about a case study as part of a bigger article.

Share personal stories, examples, and tips. Not only does this build rapport with the reader, it also makes your content unique.

Develop a fresh perspective. For example, instead of sharing how to create a sales letter, instead you might compare a sales letter to a love letter. This is a fresh take on an old topic.

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6. 2 Tips for Create Titles That Get Clicks

The titles of your articles can make or break the success of your guest article. To get more clicks, follow these tips:

Create Benefit-Driven Titles

What will readers get if they read the article? Your title should answer that question.

E.G., “How to Housetrain a Puppy in 48 Hours or Less”

Arouse Curiosity (Whenever Possible)

Use your title to create curiosity, and people will have to click on it (and start reading the article) in order to satisfy their curiosity.

E.G., “The #1 Trick for Doubling Conversions (It’s Not What You Think)”

7. 5 Titling Templates You Can Swipe and Use Today

It’s a good idea to start creating a swipe file of titles from around the web. Then you can use them as inspiration for creating your own titles. Here are five templates to get you started:

How to [Get a Benefit] in [Short Amount of Time]

The Surprising Way to [Get a Benefit]

What [Type of Person] Doesn’t Want You to Know About [Some Topic]

The Top 10 Secrets of [Getting a Desired Result]

How to [Get a Benefit] Even If [You Don’t Possess Some Desirable Characteristic]

8. How to Create Content That Readers Really Love

You need to first impress the blog owner and then the reader in order to get good results with guest blogging. You can do this by creating engaging content. Check out these tips…

Write Using a Conversational Tone

Avoid stuffy textbook writing, and instead write as if you’re writing to a good friend using an easy, conversational tone. This guide is an example of how to write with that sort of light tone. J

Tell Stories

A good story builds rapport with the reader, draws them in emotionally, and makes your content more memorable. For example, if you’re writing about weight loss, share a story about how you struggled to lose weight for years (along with a tutorial of what you finally did to start losing weight).

Format for Skimmers

While we want everyone to read every single word of our article, it doesn’t always work that way. That’s why you’ll want to format your article for people who skim it. This sort of formatting gives skimmers the highlights, while also working to draw them back in. Here are three formatting tips:

Use bulleted lists instead of long paragraphs. This list you’re reading right now is an example. J

Insert benefit-driven subheadlines. Imagine a reader just read the subheadlines – would they get a good idea of what the article is about?

Highlight important text. You can use bolding, italics, underlining, different font colors, image captions and similar elements to showcase the most important parts of your article. Just don’t overuse this tactic, as if you highlight everything, then nothing will seem important (and your article will look like a mess).

Again, look at this guide you’re reading now to see examples of how it’s formatted for skimmers and highlights the important parts.

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9. The #1 Key to Creating an Effective Byline

A byline (AKA “author’s bio”) sounds like it should be about you, the author. However, if you want an effective byline, then you need to create a byline that’s about your prospect. In other words, it should be more like a mini-ad with a call to action.

E.G., “Now you too can lose the weight and keep it off for good. Click here to watch a free video that shows you how…”

10. The Secret to Getting Better Results With Clickthroughs

When someone clicks through to your landing page, you want them to take some specific action, such as joining your list. Here’s the secret to getting a better response: personalize the landing page.

This means two things:

Greet the blog visitors. For example, “An Exclusive Offer for John Doe’s Readers…”

Offer something highly related to what the visitor just read. You can offer “Part 2” of your guest blog article, or you can offer related content in a different format. For example, if you just shared golf drive information in an article, then you might offer a video that demonstrates the tips from the article.

Here’s the next idea…

11. A Simple Way to Add Value to Your Post

Both readers and blog owners tend to love high-quality content. And one good way to add value to your content is by insert relevant graphics.

For example, you can insert:

Photos
Illustrations
Infographics
Screenshots
Memes
Comics
Charts/Tables
Mind maps

For example, if you’re writing about how to create a PayPal payment button, then you’d include screenshots of each steps of the process.

12. Get Better Results With This Tip

Getting your guest article content published on a busy blog is an awesome way to get traffic. Here’s how to take it to the next level: create high-quality, emotionally driven shareworthy content that’s bound to go viral.

For example, if you’re writing for a runner’s blog, then share a really inspirational story of how a woman didn’t start running until 40, when she used running as a way to cope with her mother’s death.

13. How to Get on the Best Blogs

The very best guest-blogging opportunities in your niche get a LOT of article submissions in any given week. Obviously, you need to create really high-quality, fresh content to get published on these sites.

Now here’s another tip: develop relationships with the blog owners BEFORE you ever submit anything. For example, spend time commenting thoughtfully on their content and share it on social media. The blog owner will come to recognize your name (and they’ll have a positive association with your name), which makes it easier to get accepted as an author when you later submit guest content.

14. Return the Favor

When a blog owner publishes your content, return the favor by promoting this piece on your own platforms. In other words, send your followers, subscribers and blog readers to the guest blog to read your article. The blog owners will appreciate this, and they’ll remember it the next time you submit content.

TIP: When someone publishes your content, send a thank you note. When someone rejects your content, thank them for their time. These niceties all go towards developing a good relationship with blog owners, which in turn will help you get more content published.

Next…

15. Expand Your Reach

Here’s a simple way to get more mileage out of every piece you publish: optimize the content for the search engines.

You do this by finding out what words your audience is searching for in your niche, and then using these words in your blog title and within the content. Be sure these words appear naturally – don’t “stuff” them in, or the blog editor and Google will both reject you.

Bottom line: write for readers first, but sprinkle in keywords when you can do so naturally.

16. Test and Track Your Results

Be sure to keep track of your guest blogging campaigns so that you can determine which blogs get you the most clicks and warmest traffic. Once you know which blogs return the best results, then you can focus on getting more content published on these blogs. (See the Optimization Guide for more information on this topic.)

17. Don’t Limit Yourself

While we’ve focused on getting your content published on blogs that solicit guest authors, don’t limit yourself to these blogs. You can also approach blog owners who don’t solicit content and propose a joint venture where you provide free content for their blog. Alternatively, you can offer to swap content, where you each write an article for the other person’s blog. See the Joint Venture Guide in this series for more information on how to find and recruit joint venture partners.

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Conclusion

Guest blogging tends to produce high quality traffic, as being published on a high-quality blog is like getting an endorsement from the blog owner. That’s why you’ll want to create your guest-blogging strategy as soon as possible, being sure to put the above tips and strategies to work for you!

Keep Reading: 17 Tips, Tricks And Ideas For Leveraging Other People’s Traffic

Previous: 17 Ways to Attract a Targeted, Engaged Audience

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17 Ways to Attract a Targeted, Engaged Audience

It’s no secret that your audience is already on social media – and so are your competitors. That means if you’re not fully maximizing your use of social media in your marketing campaigns, then you’re likely leaving a lot of money on the table.

So, with that in mind, here are 17 tips for attracting and engaging your social media audience…

1. Consider These Top Social Media Platforms

When you think of social media, you may have one or two sites immediately come to mind. However, there are actually several popular platforms for you to consider. These platforms include:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
YouTube
Google+
LinkedIn
Tumblr
Reddit
Medium

And that’s not all…

2. Check for Niche Platforms

In addition to the top social media platforms named above, your market may also have niche social media platforms. For example, Dogster and Catster are well-known social media platforms for pet lovers.

How do you find these platforms? Search Google for your market keywords (such as “dog training”) alongside words like:

Social media
Group
Community
Forum
Network

Before you join, check out this next tip…

3. Choose Your Platforms Carefully

One big mistake many marketers make is to join all the platforms they can find. Problem is, you spread yourself too thin. And in some cases, it may be a complete waste of time to have a presence on a certain platform if your audience isn’t on that platform.

Here’s what to do instead…

First, do your research on the top platforms to find out if your unique audience is already on the platform.

Secondly, check if the platform is a good fit for your goals, business model, and the type of content you intend to post. For example, if you’re not going to post a lot of videos, then YouTube isn’t a good fit.

Finally, use the previous two steps to pick the top two or three platforms. Then put all your effort into having a big presence on these platforms (rather than spreading yourself too thin).

Here’s the next tip…

4. Make Use of Social Media Tools

Some platforms (like Facebook) have some tools built in, such as tools that let you schedule your content for later and tools that let you get some insight into your audience. That’s a start. However, it’s a good idea to also get a third-party tool such as HootSuite.com, which can help you with everything from scheduling, to posting across multiple platforms at once, to tracking your campaigns.

5. 4 Proven Ways to Use Facebook

How many ways are you using Facebook to grow your business? See if you’re overlooking any of these ideas…

Set up a Facebook business Page. This should be your first step when you start using Facebook.

Start a Facebook Group. The idea here is a to create a community for people to gather and discuss niche topics.

Schedule a Facebook Ad. You can boost you Page posts, or create an entirely new ad to send traffic to your website.

Start commenting in niche Groups and Pages. This helps build brand recognition and helps you start building relationships with other marketers in your niche.

Next…

6. 2 Best Practices for Using Twitter

If Twitter is the platform of your choice, then follow these two best practices…

Tweet Often, But Don’t Flood Visitors

Yes, you need to tweet regularly to engage followers, but posting every 10 minutes is likely to overwhelm them. (The exception is if you’re live-tweeting an event, where it’s expected that you’ll tweet regularly.)

Join the Conversation

If your niche is talking about something, then use appropriate hashtags and/or reply to individuals to join the conversation. Be sure to offer a fresh viewpoint, which will help you stand out.

7. The Social Media Mini-Checklist

You’ve picked a platform and you’re ready to get set up. Use this mini checklist:

Upload professional profile and cover photos. Be sure these photos look good and reflect your brand.

Fill out your profile. Don’t make it all about you. Instead, turn the spotlight on your audience and what you can do for them.

Link to your website. Give visitors a good reason to click through.

Link from your website. For example, put social media badges on your blog.

Consider your goals. What is your purpose in posting on social media? Your goals are going to dictate what you post and how often.

Create a publishing plan. Here’s where you decide the sort of content you’ll post and when you’ll post it.

Invite your current audience to join you on social media. Blog about your new page, send a newsletter letting subscribers know about it, etc.

Start posting. Be sure to post often, and make it a two-way interaction (it is social media, after all, so be social).

Next…

8. 3 Ways to Engage Your Social Media Audience

You’ll get the most benefits from social media if you’re able to engage your audience. Follow these tips…

Post In-Demand Content

Do your market research to see what sort of content your audience wants. For example, what sort of content are they buying? What sort of content are they showing a lot of interest in on blogs and other social media pages? Figure out the best topics, then create your own fresh take on them.

Encourage Readers to Interact

Whenever you post something, give your readers a reason to like, comment and share your content. For example, you might post about a somewhat controversial topic, and then end with, “What do you think?”

Interact With Followers

While you want your followers to interact with your content, it’s equally important that you interact with them. This means sharing their good content, liking their comments, and replying to the most thoughtful comments. In other words, show readers there is a human on the other side of your social media pages.

9. 20 Kinds of Content to Post on Social Media

The idea here is to post a variety of content to keep your readers engaged and to determine what sort of content they respond to best. Here are ideas for you to use:

Articles.
Tutorials.
Lists (tips lists, resource lists, gear lists, round ups of popular posts, etc.).
Videos.
Audios.
Webinar replays.
Memes.
Infographics.
Charts.
Comics.
Excerpts from products.
Product reviews/comparisons.
Case studies.
Checklists.
Cheat sheets.
Worksheets.
Templates.
Swipe files.
Planners.
Direct-response ads.

Next…

10. Grow Your Audience With Hashtags

One way to grow your audience is to identify trending topics and their associated hashtags, and then join the conversation using the same hashtags.

In order to find and monitor these hashtags, you’ll want to use a tool. The exact tool you use depends on the social media platform. For example, if you’re on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, then you can uncover popular hashtags using a tool like https://socialert.net/.

11. Utilize Facebook Tabs

Your Facebook Page already includes some common tabs, such as “About” and “Photos.” You can make the most of your Facebook Page by creating custom tabs. For example, you might create a tab advertising “free resources,” and then put an opt-in page on the other side of the tab.

To learn more about creating custom tabs, go to: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/pages/tabs/.

12. Post Frequently

It’s difficult to build relationships (and brand recognition) if you don’t stay in front of your audience on a regular basis. That’s why you’ll want to post frequently to help build that top-of-mind awareness.

How frequently? Check other popular social media pages in your niche to get a feel for how often they post. Some may post multiple times per day. You should aim to engage your audience at least two or three times per week, though daily posts are usually better. (Note: you can schedule these posts ahead of time.)

13. Think Beyond Customers

Social media isn’t just for building relationships with your prospects and customers. It’s also a great way to meet and build relationships with affiliates and joint venture partners.

For example, if a potential partner has a group on Facebook, you can join it and become a thoughtful contributor. Once you’ve built some name recognition with the potential partner, you can then start talking to him or her privately via direct message. Continue this, and you’ll build relationships that you can later turn into profitable ventures.

TIP: Don’t push a joint venture the first time you get in direct contact with a potential partner. Instead, build relationships first without expectation, and later you can propose a mutually beneficially venture.

Next…

14. Test Paid Social Media Advertising

Once you know which platforms your audience frequents, then you’ll want test some of the paid advertising offered on these platforms. Be sure to focus in on a narrow audience with targeted ads.

For example, you can post an ad on a sub-Reddit on Reddit that caters to your specific audience. Or you can use Facebook’s ad platform to select the narrow demographics, interests and behaviors of your specific audience.

Note: you may have heard that Twitter advertising is relatively expensive. For the most part that’s true. However, it’s not very expensive to promote a tweet, so you’ll want to try that route first.

15. Interlink Your Platforms

To help grow your audience and expand your reach into your market, cross-link all your platforms. This includes linking each of your social media profiles together (where possible), linking to your blog from your social media pages, and linking back to social media pages from your blog.

NOTE: You can use a social media plugin to create links and badges on your blog, which makes it easier for people to share, like and comment on your blog content via social media.

16. Track Your Results

If you’re not tracking your results, then you’re just guessing about what your audience likes. It’s much better to start tracking your campaigns. Once you discover the type of content your audience responds to the best, then you can start publishing more of what they love.

TIP: There are several tools available to help you track your content. HootSuite.com is a popular “all in one” tool that includes analytics.

What sorts of things should you test? Here are five ideas:

Test long versus short content.
Test text-based content versus image-based content.
Test other media, such as videos.
Test the best time of the day to publish content.
Test the best day to publish promotional content.

And finally…

17. 3 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid

If you’re just getting started with social media, then you want to make sure you’re not making any of the following three common mistakes:

Neglecting to Complete Your Profile

Your profile is an important piece of your account, as it gives you chance to let people know who you are and what you can do for them. To that end, be sure to create a profile that’s built on your branding, and one that focuses on how you can help your audience.

Engaging in a Monologue

A lot of online marketing consists of a “monologue,” meaning you push out content (like a newsletter) and your audience consumes it. Social media is different because it involves the give and take of a dialogue. If you’re not interacting with your fans on a personal level on your social media site, then you can expect to see lower response rates and engagement rates when you publish content.

TIP: Don’t have time to engage on this level yourself? You can hire people to handle your social media for you.

Next…

Buying Followers

While you can certainly purchase paid advertising to build your networks, one thing you’ll want to avoid is any company that offers to sell followers/fans to you. These “fans” are often bots or totally untargeted people. While they build your fan numbers, they do absolutely nothing to build your business.

Now let’s wrap things up…

Conclusion Social media is a great platform for attracting a targeted audience, building relationships with them, and promoting your lead pages and offers. Just be sure to follow the 17 tips and insights you just learned in order to get the best results!

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17 Keys to Creating a Profitable, Effective Traffic Strategy

Inside this set of Trafficome guides you’re going to get all sorts of tips, tricks and strategies for getting plenty of high-quality traffic flowing into your site. But before you start working on any individual traffic method, the first thing you’ll want to do is read this guide. That’s because you’re about to learn how to plan and optimize your overall traffic strategy.

Let’s get started…

1. Ask Yourself This Before Getting Started

There are a lot of different ways to get traffic, and seems like every other week someone is coming up with new ways to get web visitors. Some of these methods may seem pretty bright and shiny, and it’s easy to get distracted. That’s why you’ll want to ask yourself this one question before you pursue any traffic method:

Will this method deliver high-quality visitors who want what I’m selling?

If the answer is no, skip the method.

Seems obvious, and yet plenty of traffic methods are designed to get your “hit counter” spinning out of control, yet you don’t get any results because it’s low quality traffic. Don’t be fooled – focus on the numbers that count (conversions), not mere traffic “hits.”

2. 20 Ways to Generate Traffic

As mentioned, there are a lot of ways to get traffic. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the most common methods so that you know which ones to pursue. Here are the top ways:

Blogging.
Guest blogging.
Video marketing.
Distributing valuable content (like lead magnets, videos or slide share presentations).
Email marketing.
Starting an affiliate program.
Doing joint ventures with other people in your niche.
Paid advertising (e.g., Facebook ads, pay per click ads, etc.).
Distributing press releases.
Offline marketing (e.g., buying display ads).
Search engine optimization.
Social media marketing.
Commenting (on blogs, forums, groups).
Getting listed in relevant directories.
Referral marketing.
Viral campaigns.
Holding contests.
Participating in bundles and giveaways.
Host webinars.
Give interviews and talks.

We’ll talk about many of these methods inside these guides, so be sure to review all of the guides.

3. Get Better Results Using This Tip

Many marketers make the mistake of starting up several traffic methods at once, but they end up spreading themselves too thin. Here’s what to do instead: focus on one traffic method at a time. This means learning about the method, getting it up and running, AND fine-tuning it to get results. Once you’ve done all that, then and only then should you add another traffic method to your overall strategy.

For example, you might start with guest blogging. Once you have consistent results from that, then you might decide to start an affiliate program. Once you’re getting good results with affiliates, then you might add Facebook marketing to the mix. And so on.

4. How to Choose a Traffic Method

Your first step is to figure out which traffic method you want to get up and running first. In order to decide, ask yourself these questions:

What traffic methods appeal to you the most?
Which methods do you already know something about?
What are your strengths with regards to these methods?
What are your weaknesses?
Which methods would take the least time to start getting good results?

For example, maybe you really like writing, and creating content appeals to you. You might decide to start with guest blogging, because it plays to your strengths and you can get initial results fairly quickly.

5. Ask This Before You Design Your Traffic Strategy

Before you start building a single traffic method (much less an overall strategy), ask yourself this question: what are your goals with this method?

Be sure to choose specific, measurable and realistic goals. That way, you’ll be able to tell early on if you’re on track, or if you need to tweak your method to get better results.

6. Look for Ways to Leverage Other Peoples’ Assets

You don’t need to start from scratch in order to get traffic. Instead, look for ways to leverage other peoples’ assets (such as their quality traffic or even their reputation), which can give you a quick win.

For example, doing a co-endorsement joint venture with established people in your niche can help you quickly get established as an expert (as your name will be associated with the established expert’s name), plus you’ll get high-quality traffic coming to your site quickly.

7. Focus on Platforms You Own

One of your goals should be to build your audience on a platform that lets you reach out to your audience regularly. You can do this on a variety of platforms, but you should focus on the platforms you own. That way, you control it and don’t have to worry about losing your contacts because a platform changed its rules or even went out of business.

Your first priority should be on building your mailing list. Once you’ve got a good list that’s getting results for you, then you can focus on other platforms you own, such as your blog. Once that’s getting results, then you can add other platforms into the mix, such as a Facebook Page or Group.

It’s a good idea to send traffic from non-owned platforms to your owned platforms. In the example above, you’d encourage your Facebook followers to join your mailing list.

8. Build Relationships With Your audience

It’s not enough to build a platform, such as a mailing list. Your goal with this list is to build relationships with your audience, which in turn builds trust and boosts your conversions over the long term. That’s why you’ll want to send out high-quality content on at least a weekly basis, to keep your name in front of your audience and to let people get to know, like and trust you.

If you want to get started on the right foot with your mailing list, or if you want to get better results from your existing efforts, then check out the Emailcome set of guides. These guides will teach you exactly how to attract the right audience, encourage them to join your list, and then turn your subscribers into cash.

Learn more at [EMAILCOME LINK]

9. Start Small

It’s easy to spend a lot of time and money on a traffic method, only to realize you need to do something different in order to get better results. That’s why you’ll want to start small, tweak as you go, and then invest more time and money once you’re getting results.

For example, let’s suppose you’re buying ad space on a niche site. On paper, the demographics look good, so you expect to get good results. However, you’ll still want to start with a small ad buy just to test the waters. If you get good results, then you can reinvest your profits and purchase more ads on the site.

10. Look for Scalable Methods

Another thing you’ll want to take into consideration when designing your traffic strategy is whether the traffic methods are scalable. In other words, can this traffic strategy grow as your business grows? And if not, is there a way to make it scalable?

Let’s take guest blogging as an example. If you write all the blog content yourself, then this method isn’t truly scalable. There’s a limit to how many blog articles you can create in any given week, which means there is a limit to the number of guest-blogging opportunities in which you can participate.

In this case, you can start outsourcing the content creation as well as looking for new opportunities. By outsourcing, the method becomes scalable because you can take advantage of as many opportunities as you please.

11. Utilize Video Marketing

No matter what sort of content you’re sharing, see if it makes sense to create a video version of the content. Many people prefer videos to text, so offering videos helps you capture a wider swath of your market.

For example, you might do a product comparison article and a product comparison video, and then post both of them on y our blog.

12. Flash Your Credentials

People like to do business with those they consider experts in the field. However, no one is going to know that you’re an expert unless you tell them. To that end, be sure to showcase your credentials in your blog content, advertisements, sales letters, emails, social media profiles and other content on your site.

Note: this doesn’t mean you go on and on about yourself. Instead, it’s about telling people why they should listen to you and how you’re the best person to solve their problems. You can share these types of relevant credentials:

Higher education.
Work experience.
Internships.
Volunteerism.
Getting results for yourself in the niche.
Track record getting results for other people.
Awards/accolades.
Endorsements from other experts.

Here’s the next tip…

12. Give Away High-Quality Content

Sometimes those who give away content offer their lowest-quality content since it’s free. In order to attract and impress your audience, you should do the opposite. Namely, be sure any content you give away is among your best content. This is especially true when you’re posting on your own platforms, such as sending an email to your subscribers, distributing a lead magnet, or publishing a blog article.

13. Hone Your Calls to Action

Each advertisement, each sales page or opt-in page, and each piece of content you create should have a goal, and this goal should be supported with a strong call to action. This is where you tell viewers what to do next, along with a good reason why they should take that specific action.

E.G., “Click here to register for this free weight loss webinar – and do it now, because the seats are filling up fast!”

14. Use Retargeting Ads

People don’t tend to purchase your product or join your list the first time they see your ads or content. That’s why you’ll want to use retargeting, which shows specific ads to people who’ve visited specific pages of your website.

For example, if someone visited your sales page but didn’t buy, you can use retargeting marketing to offer them a coupon if they return to the page to buy.

There are several sites that offer retargeting. One good place to start is Facebook, which will show your ads to people who’ve visited your site or taken some other specific action (such as interacted with your app).

15. Take Consistent Steps Every Day

Building a good traffic strategy is all about taking small, consistent steps towards your goals every day. For example, you might:

Write a blog post.
Find a guest blogging opportunity.
Send an email to your list.
Contact a joint venture partner.
Upload a new ad to your affiliate center.
Post on Facebook.

And so on.

Ask yourself: what am I going to do today to grow my traffic and my business? Then take action.

16. Don’t Throw Good Money After Bad

Just because a traffic method (such as an advertisement) is generating some results for you doesn’t mean it’s generating GOOD results. The only way to know for sure if a campaign is effective is to test and track your campaigns, tweak them, and determine how to get maximum results.

For example, you might tweak a headline on an ad that’s generating some results, and suddenly you could double your conversions.

How do you optimize your campaigns and create higher-responding ads? See Guide #12 (the Optimization Guide) for more information.

17. Do This When You Get Stuck

Sometimes people get stuck with a traffic strategy, and then they give up because they’re not getting the results they expected. Instead of giving up or getting frustrated, outsource to a knowledgeable professional by visiting a site like upwork.com or guru.com.

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Conclusion

Before you go all in on a traffic method, it’s a good idea to plan your strategy, start small and use outsourcing to get unstuck. Now your next step is to use these tips alongside the other guides in this package to create and optimize a successful traffic strategy!

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How To Trace The Issues

Offer a Troubleshooting Guide

The idea here is to give people some way to diagnose the problem if and when they get stuck. For example, you can offer marketers a checklist of problems to look for that may cause a high cart-abandonment rate.

Give Top Members Responsibility

If you have a private group or forum, then give some of your most active members some responsibility, such as making them group moderators. Not only does this make the members feel special, but it also helps them take ownership of the site. As an added bonus, these extra moderators will help you keep your group active and engaged.

Schedule Live Events With a Global Audience in Mind

Whether you’re doing webinars or even live text-based coaching, be sure to schedule them with your global audience in mind. Your best bet is to schedule them on a variety of days as well as at various times of the day to accommodate different time zones and work schedules.

Do Exit Surveys

The only way to know for sure why people cancel their membership is to ask them. To that end, do exit surveys to find out how you can improve your site. You might also offer them something valuable for free (such as a free month in the site) if they answer your survey. (Though keep in mind that doing so could bias their answers.)

Win Back Customers Who Cancel

When members cancel, you have an opportunity to win them back. Here are a few ideas:

Give them the option to downgrade to a lower membership tier.
Offer a discount for the next few months if they remain members.
Provide a valuable bonus if they choose to join again.

Next…

Be Sure Your Site is User Friendly

You want to be sure that your members have good experience every time they log in. To that end, do these two things:

Train your customer service staff carefully so that you know members are receiving good care. You’ll also want to monitor exchanges to be sure the care meets your exacting standards.

Check that your site is performing well. From to time, check that all links, forms, and scripts work. You’ll also want to optimize page speed to create a better experience.

Next…

Encourage Participation Through Accountability

If you have a platform for your members, whether it’s a forum, group, or even just a blog with commenting, then create an accountability thread. This is where members check in, share their goals, and report their progress. This is a great tool for getting members to take action and start getting good results.

Encourage Success Stories

The idea here is to encourage members to share their success stories with you. Ideally, they can share their successes on a member platform, such as in a private group if you’ve set one up. Otherwise, they can send them to you via email, and you can then share them with other members in your regular newsletter. It’s a simple thing, but it makes members feel special, it inspires them, and it keeps them active in your site.

Recognize Successful Members

The idea here is to create a “Hall of Fame” on your site, where you showcase successful members. Not only is this inspirational for other members, but it makes the showcased members feel special. As an added bonus, if you make this page public, then it helps convert prospects to paying members.

Publish a Content Calendar

If you have an ongoing monthly membership site, then publish a content calendar for members so that they know what’s coming. Don’t just list topics, though. Build anticipation by sharing the benefits of what they’ll be learning about.

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Offer the “Pause” Option

Sometimes marketers try to scare people into not cancelling their membership, but saying they’ll need to start all over if they cancel. However, you need to recognize them sometimes life happens, and people can’t focus on their training for a month or two or more. That’s why you’ll want to give people the option to “pause” their membership… and when they rejoin, they can pick up exactly where they left off.

Conclusion

You just discovered 101 tips, tricks and best practices to build and grow your membership site. The key here is to start putting these tips to work for you right away – because the sooner you do, the sooner you’ll start seeing great results!

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How To Increase Member Retention In The Membership Site: Tips For Creating Group-Coaching Sessions

Two Tips for Creating Group-Coaching Sessions

Adding group-coaching tends to boost value and get members to be more active. Check out these tips for making the most of group-coaching sessions:

Do experiment. You might offer live video coaching and text-based coaching in a private group to see which one works best for your audience.

Do showcase your expertise. If you’re collecting questions ahead of time and answering them all at once, then insert your own questions that showcase your expertise. Sometimes members don’t know the best questions to ask, so you can help them by inserting questions that will help them the most.

Next…

The #1 Key to Boosting Retention

If you have an ongoing or fixed-term membership site, then you need to keep track of when people tend to drop out. Once you identify the point where people tend to cancel, you can increase retention by making membership content more valuable and offering delayed bonuses to keep members active.

For example, if members tend to drop out right before the fourth month, then offer one of your best bonuses at the beginning of the fourth month.

Why Live Events Make Great Bonuses

A live event like a webinar makes a great bonus for these reasons:

It has a high perceived value since it’s a live event.

You can record it an offer the replays as part of your bonus package.

You can offer regular webinars (such as one per month) that will keep members engaged, active and looking forward to the next event.

You can pitch a related offer at the end. Thus, this bonus pulls double duty – it keeps members active, and it gets members opening their wallets to purchase a related offer.

Which brings us to the next point…

20 Kinds of Bonuses Your Audience Will Love

When some marketers think of bonuses, they immediately think of reports. Those are great, yes… but here are other bonuses you might consider offering to your audience:

Bonus modules/lessons.

Videos.

Audios.

Access to a related membership site.

Access to a private group.

Apps/software/plugins.

Multipart ecourse.

Checklists.

Cheat sheets.

Templates.

Swipes.

Planners.

Done-for-you services.

Coaching/consulting.

Access to a live webinar.

Webinar recordings.

Access to your marketing partner’s products.

Discounts on popular products.

Physical products, such as a home study course.

And yes… you can also offer valuable reports and ebooks. J

2 Keys for Making Members Feel Special

When members feel special, they tend to remain members for the long term. To that end, here are two keys for making members feel special:

Greet members personally on webinars. If you spend a few minutes before and after webinars talking to people, as well as interacting in other ways (such as in a group), your members will feel special and valued.

Give members a special name. For example, members of the Wedding Bee forum are referred to as “Bees,” which makes them feel special and part of the group.

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