October 29, 2014 Creating a Converting Landing Page

Making a gorgeous landing page is no longer a task for the dark arts of the web designers. Nowadays using one of the easy available landing page creators, which can be drop dead easy to use, you could have a professional-looking page done in minutes.

But what happens if you want it to actually convert customers into sales or other actions? That’s somewhat more involved, and has a few indispensable steps connected to it. Let’s see what goes into a highly converting landing page.

6 Ways to convert visitors to your landing pages

  • A killer headline – You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and this is the element your visitor sees first. You need to make this headline not just get them to read on, but also understand that they need to take action on this offer.
  • Use compelling images and videos – There’s no doubt about it: videos on your landing pages convert far better than those without, so don’t ignore this!
  • Emphasize the benefits – People want to know what it will do for them, not what it will do. See the difference? Make liberal use of bullet points to point out this, as opposed to a long block of text.
  • Use a clear call to action – If you tell people in no uncertain terms exactly what you want them to do next, you’ll find that much more of the time they will do it. Don’t be shy about this. Also you’ll want to make your buy or download buttons stand out from the rest of the page, using color and persuasive text.
  • Use customer testimonials – Using terrific testimonials from previous customers is a great way to use social proof to make it easier for people to click that button. You don’t need a ton of them either; one or two will do.
  • Employ scarcity – Like it or not, scarcity tactics work, and folks will click on your offer versus missing out, if you have done a good job telling them why they need this now! Word of caution however: be truthful. If you use false scarcity, they won’t trust you next time around.

March 18, 2014 Why Social Media Ads are Worth a Look!

Love the concept of making use of social media to reach a huge pool of consumers, but are just not sure how to make this happen? While building social media presence that is vibrant and well-known takes a lot of time and effort, reaching a multitude of highly targeted people on social media can be done using paid advertising on these networks.

Where you might struggle along for months working to create or find an audience, you can get one in minutes from the likes of Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Twitter, and to a smaller degree, Tumblr, Vine, Pinterest and YouTube. Each has a distinct following, and it’s better to plan your ads in conjunction with your target demographics.

What are the advantages of using paid social ads?

There are a number of benefits to using social media advertising. Let’s examine just a few of them.

  • Incredible targeting tools – It’s quite simple to target unbelievably small segments of your audience using highly relevant ads.
  • Immense audiences – Your message in front of millions of people fast.
  • Opportunities for cheap ads – In contrast to Google Adwords, social media ad platforms are usually far less expensive.
  • Fast results – Your ads can be up in minutes. Setup and approval times are quite short.

Maximize the performance of paid social ads

  • Test relentlessly – Testing helps increase your CTR and reduces costs. Test images, colors, copy and punctuation. Every little thing matters! Merely a single percentage point improvement could tip the balance between success and failure.
  • Target carefully – The great thing about social ads is the opportunity to target minutely. Optimize your targeting.
  • Tie in a sound content marketing strategy with your social ads – Great content is essential to not only build your audience but also encourage them to follow you, if you don’t wish to pay for an audience that is simply gone once your campaign ends.
  • Tracking is vital! – Each one of these platforms offer some sort of tracking, but make sure you’re using the best solution you can. Different platforms may necessitate a different solution.
  • Try retargeting – Retargeting works. Yes, it might seem somewhat creepy to have your ads following people around the internet, but numbers don’t lie.

Cheap ads, immense reach and easy implementation. What’s not to like?

March 6, 2014 How to increase the chances of your content getting shared

Social sharing is an excellent way to make sure that your content has exposure to audiences you might not have had access to, and can build your business far faster than in the past. What’s more, it’s very simple to set up and implement!

A few fantastic reasons for getting your content shared!

To illustrate how social media enmeshed we all are in social media, studies show that Americans are spending about 37 minutes a day on their various social media accounts, even more than their email! And, it looks like about 60 percent of us are doing that from our mobile device of choice.

With so many making purchasing choices based upon recommendations from friends and review sites, having your content shared socially in a positive manner only adds to the attractiveness of your products and services.

And we’ve saved the very best for last: the incredible reach offered by social media, that enables you to instantly get your brand in front of literally millions of eyeballs you never had a shot at before, at last for free!

4 Ways you can ramp up the social media sharing!

Give them the tools to share your content! – Making sure that your content is fully sharable by supplying working, easy to see and use social sharing options goes without saying. One thing to do to help them to click these though, is to make sure you include a strong call to action within the content itself!

Seek out relevant social media groups – Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn plus some of the other social media sites have rather large groups of enthusiasts in just about every conceivable niche. Find these and join those that seem to be most relevant to your business. This can be a virtual goldmine!

The shorter the better – Kissmetrics tells us that Facebook posts shorter than 80 characters are acted on a full 66 percent more than the ones that run longer. Save the longer content for your blog, and don’t forget that call to action!

Use lots of images and videos – This is the visual era, and visual content is being shared a significant 40 percent more than that which has no imagery. Make your visuals stunning, provocative and needless to say sharable. This can be a difference maker!

March 4, 2014 Merge Your Social Media with Your Email to Increase your Reach!

The promise of social media entices all online marketers, and the reach and scope of this medium can be breathtaking. So why not integrate your social media inside your email marketing strategy?

One great way to do this in a fraction of the time it might normally take is to incorporate your social media channels within your email marketing campaigns. This lets you cast your net to a far larger audience, and build your email lists quickly and with some regularity. Let’s have a look at some of the ways we can do this.

3 Tips for integrating your email marketing with social sharing!

  • Announce your emails via your social media – Make it a regular part of your email routine to let your social media channels know that you have a new email going out. Post a quick message on your social media channels saying “Look out for our newsletter landing later today, and tell us what you think!” Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ all shorten your entry to the first 300 characters or so, with a link to read more . So make sure you put your most important text near the beginning, along with a call to action.
  • Encourage your subscribers to share socially – Set up your email template to include social sharing buttons, and encourage readers to connect with you on your social channels. This can all become part of your email template, and look innocuously. Getting your readers to share your great content on their own social networks is a great way to significantly increase the viewing audience of your email, many of whom may not yet know you.
  • What kind of content is most likely to get shared? – Tips, lists, videos, and intriguing infographics or images top the list of most shared content. Don’t be overly promotional to this audience, as they are new and don’t yet trust you. Supplying your subscribers the tools and great content to share will ensure your email messages enjoy a life far beyond the borders of your subscriber lists!

February 26, 2014 Marketing Orchestration – How You Can Benefit from It!

Tips for Using Marketing Orchestration in Your Small Business

This may be a term you haven’t heard of yet, but you will soon. Marketing orchestration means leaving behind standalone, “siloed” campaigns for an approach that utilizes multiple channels in concert with each other, offering an individualized customer experience.

What this means is we can utilize all of these various channels we are currently marketing with, and have them act in concert with each other, delivering a unique experience to the customer. There are hints of this now, as what Google is trying to do with its suite of web tools and services, even so is just the beginning of what promises to be a tsunami of options in regards to orchestrating your marketing.

Why marketing orchestration is an idea worth its salt!

Some of the reasons why marketing orchestration is a good idea will be obvious to you. Others; not so much.

First is the promise of a wider reach and exposure via social sharing through various channels working together. Your email is tied in with your social media, your video also and social media along with your content marketing efforts, and mobile with all of the above. It becomes a potent combination that generates leads faster and in greater quantities than ever before.

You’ll also benefit from enhanced abilities to build and authoritize your brand. Whenever you show up where your customers are hanging out via their preferred communication, you’ll be way more likely to be shared socially. All things considered, marketing orchestration will also be a time saver, as a great deal of this will be automated. (Think IFTTT)

Some ideas to help you begin marketing orchestration

Here are a few ways to begin utilizing marketing orchestration.

  • Look into ways to cross promote via your various social media channels. Mention blog posts and videos through social media.
  • Encourage social sharing. Some individuals who view this may well have significant social channels of their own, that you’ve not yet been exposed to.
  • Set up any email templates, blogs, videos and other content to include ways to socially share your content.
  • Meet your people where they are, and don’t try to fit them into the same box. What your Facebook people want might not be identical to those reading your LinkedIn posts.

Jump on the marketing orchestration bandwagon today, and start making your marketing plan less of a siloed experience, and more of an individualized formula for success!

February 20, 2014 How to Jumpstart Your Social Media Marketing in 2014

You can’t escape it: there’s that nagging truth haunting you as you go about marketing your business on the Web. In a nutshell, it’s the fear that you just aren’t doing enough with social media.

It’s difficult to blame anyone, as the dang thing changes just about every day. With new sites and techniques coming around so frequently, unless you are regularly participating in it, there’s hardly any way to keep up.

So since we know we have to get this social media thing done, let’s check out 4 ways we can set ourselves up for a awesome start in 2014.

4 Tips for a fast start in social media this year!

    Use Google+ – Opinions have varied about the efficacy of Google+ as a marketing tool. Although many complain that it will never eclipse Facebook as the primary social media network, the point that marketers need to acknowledge is that there are different uses of each. Google+ can, among other things, help with indexing and SEO, fuel YouTube, make significant business connections, and connect via Google Hangouts. It’s time to get onboard!

  1. Make videos and spread them around! – Okay, you are finally committed to making more videos in 2014. Great! Now go a step further and make plans to get them to go viral by making use of your own social media channels to build up your YouTube channel. This can have an exponential effect on traffic!

  2. Identify and engage your primary social networks – I’m not going to tell you which social networks to use; it’s often different for each and every business, but be sure you identify the ones you’re going to use and make a plan to use those to their full potential.

  3. Make a commitment to consistency – None of this matters if you aren’t willing to make a commitment. Posting once a week to your Facebook page or making one video a month isn’t going to accomplish it. Social media thrives on brands and people who are actively engaging their followers, and people won’t follow inconsistency!

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