by Staff Writer | Sep 7, 2016 | Compliance, Marketing
Did you know the FTC is taking a serious look these days at online businesses? Small businesses, like yours and mine. The fact is, they are, and you don’t want to be in the cross-hairs, and…when it comes to the FTC, unless you happen to be an Internet attorney…
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
Play along with me, take this quick quiz… Take out a pen and paper and answer a simple YES or NO for each of the following:
Are you a digital publisher?
Do you market to, or offer products or services to consumers in the US? (FYI: People who work from home are considered consumers in the eyes of the FTC)
Do you provide coaching services?
Do you have a membership site?
Do you make “free” offers on Facebook or other social media platforms?
Do you use squeeze pages or have some type of optin page somewhere?
Do you use Click Funnels, Lead Pages, or *any* of these type systems?
Do you do *any* advertising online?
Do you own a blog?
Are you a publisher?
Do you hire outsourcers?
Do you have images on your website?
If you answered yes to even ONE of these, you are potentially in real danger… No BS!
I’d like you to meet my friend and 4-time NAMS instructor, Chip Cooper, Internet Attorney.
He’s been practicing Internet Law since the beginning of the Internet, and was even an adjunct professor at Wake Forest Law School specializing in Internet Law for many, many years. He is also the attorney for, and the CEO of FTC Guardian, an online training company.
Don’t stay in the dark on this, your business and personal
assets could depend on it…
Online business owners like you and I simply can’t
afford to keep our heads in the sand on this and I
want to protect you, your business and your livelihood.
Don’t stay in the dark on this, your business and
personal assets could depend on it…
Visit his site here or click on the banner and you can be compliant for 2017
by Staff Writer | Sep 4, 2016 | Content, Marketing
Connecting with your target market is the second step in a great marketing campaign. The first obviously is knowing your target market, and your customer avatar. In this post my goal is to talk about the four best ways to connect with your target market. In another post we can go into detail on the best ways to identify and find your customer avatar.
STORIES –
People will remember a story far longer than facts because we are emotional beings and a good story will relate more and deeper if it is told to the right audience.
There is a lot of information about how to tell a good story that you can find online. One place that keeps the process simple is theartofcharm.com. They posted an article that helped me narrow down the four areas of good storytelling here.
Inject emotion into your stories
Know your narrative
Create rapport
Practice what you preach
For more details please visit thier article at theartofcharm.com.
NARRATIVES –
Putting a story together in order can mean the difference between quality or crap. A story that is in a logical sequence of events is easier to understand. So by crafting your message with a timeline or purpose (more specifically a call to action or lesson) the reaction will result in a more clear and concise result.
Examples of good narratives can be found at this website. literarydevices.net.
POSITION –
Knowing what point of view your audience has helps when you are looking for a reaction. Telling your story using the language of your audience makes a big difference. Especially when the story is short or you have a limited outlet such as just a picture or a few words to express your message.
A few years back a savy marketer named Graeme Newell revealed seven story plots that can change a brand from an impersonal pitch to a transcendent human drama. Feel free to watch this short video to get a better idea and examples of how to position better.
PURPOSE –
Stephen Covey coined the phrase “keep the end in mind” many years ago. When the result of your story is clearly defined you will be able to craft the story around the result. This is critical in marketing because it helps to set expectations subconsciously and prepare themselves to make a choice and react to your call to action.
A great example of a company that is built around defining their purpose upfront consistently is HSN. This company is pitching products 24 hours a day. If you watch the video below you can see this how they are focused on the end result of the story they are telling. There is a fine line between begging and asking. Look for this if you decide to watch the live feed below.
by Staff Writer | Dec 2, 2015 | Landing Page, Marketing, Website
One of the pet peeves of marketing is seeing a local business owner with an outdated site. I don’t know why most business owners can’t get a website built that’s functional or they spend an arm and a leg getting one designed.
While we try and avoid designing websites there is a science to making a website functional at a reasonable price. The three main factors that 90% of business owners miss are 1. Be straight forward 2. Be mobile friendly 3. Be SEO friendly. With eCommerce sites the simple thing a business owners will miss is using an updated simpler system to collect money.
While our team will focus on designing landing pages for ad campaigns we get requests all the time on what the best solution for selling stuff. Based on our research and feedback Shopify is the best solution. In the past a custom solution was the best, but with all of the new security standards and requirements for receiving money using an all in one solution is the least expensive and easiest to manage.
Shopify is helps you be 1. Be straight forward 2. Be mobile friendly 3. Be SEO friendly. and for an affordable price. Now while this post is not intended to be just about endorsing Shopify. The goal is to help identify a common issue in web design that is missed by most local business owners.
To keep us on point going over a few key points of these three principles should help you if you are considering a website remodel or the key points of a landing page.
1. Be straight forward
When making a website or landing page for a local business including the About Page, Phone, Location, Services, and FAQ. Everything else is a bonus for a visitor of a page.
2. Be mobile friendly
While many local business owners have not updated their website in years and it doesn’t load right on mobile devices the problem is that 50% plus of web browsing is done through a mobile device. Also in the near future google will index all websites based on being mobile friendly. Making the change is easy depending on if you have a wordpress site or html site. Plus redesigning a new modern website isn’t as expensive as most business owners think when they shop around.
3. Be SEO friendly
From experience and testing 70% of SEO success is setting up your site the way google wants you too. There are posts that go into detail on how to do this.
For more info on improving your website download this free report from this link
by Staff Writer | Sep 15, 2014 | Marketing, SEO
I have a friend that does SEO very well. What separates him is his passion for selecting the right keywords. He spends hours looking for keywords using multiple tools and strategies to identify the perfect match for his client. I personally think that he is old fashioned in his approach, but I have mad respect for him because he is extremely dedicated to getting this part of SEO just right for his client.
The reason why keywords are so important for my friend are that they are the foundation for any successful seo strategy. Keywords are the language of internet search. When we know the words that people are using we can get our information in front of our target audience.
Now I am more of a believer that you can make some mistakes when starting if you have the right tools. Ever since google made the keyword search tool a pay to play option it has changed the keyword game and required marketers like myself to be more creative and dig deeper to find the right keyword. Now we can get keywords from other places but finding the right keywords is more of a challenge when you have a huge selection and the values are not listed next to the words.
Because there are so many options for finding keywords and understanding all the different methods for finding keywords that people will react to I wanted to run through the quick methods I use and reveal the tools that I use when I am getting started and need a place to start (which usually is all you need).
Again these are non traditional methods and are great for getting started on a project.
Method #1
Google “Search Suggest”
The quick explanation
Go to google search > Type in first keyword > Collect suggested keywords from google
Watch this video that goes into detail for more info.
Method #2
Non Google Keyword Tools
So we know that google will only give you their keywords if you have an active adwords account, this was a super smart for google and a great way to make keywords valuable again. With that said the google keyword tool is awesome but does have two limitations that I wanted to point out before I share the newest tool I reccomend. Limitation number one is that you didn’t get LSI keywords, or Buyer keywords similar to what you would find on Amazon. Limitation number 2 the keyword planner is complicated and the amazing stuff like the suggestion tool in the planner is hard to find and use. I am sure that I can find a few other issues but all I have to say is that there are tools that are available that collect all the data you need from multiple sources and drill down to get you the best keywords to focus on for your various projects.
The tool that just came out recently that compiles keywords from multiple locations and then arranges them based oin value and relevance is the one that I really like, because for a small one time price you have everything you need plus this tool will verify with numbers why you should use the keyword you suggest. For more info visit the link to Serpinatr and watch the demo below:
Method #2
Youtube Tags
This method is one that is awesome for ranking videos. Basically you get keyword tags from high ranking youtube videos. Because youtube has tags in every video you can see what someone is trying to rank for, and see if google picked it up. It used to be a tedious process to find these tags as explained below, but thanks to my friend Derral Eves he created a google extension that helps you get these tags quickly bypassing the steps listed below. check out his tool called tubebuddy. Or you can watch this video that explains the long way and has another extension you can use.
Best of luck finding those keywords. If you need help choosing the right keywords contact us and we can certainly do our best to answer your questions.
by Staff Writer | Sep 14, 2014 | List Building, Marketing
Earlier this year I went to a networking event where the guest speaker was an email list building specialist. I was so board by his presentation that I left after 15 minutes. However I learned some things that I took for granted.
While I am a believer in building a list and I think email marketing is still the best list building tool I learned that most business owners have no idea how powerful email can be let alone a list. Now while I would like to go over email list building tactics in this post I will refer you to Peter Sorensen’s training on this at soundslocal.tcdmcs.com/building-a-loyal-trible-with-your-emails so I can focus my attention on 2 non traditional list building strategies that can be just effective.
Strategy #1
SMS Text Lists
Text messaging is the most powerful messaging system on the planet, this is probably why governments around the world have very strict Text Messaging Regulations. Download this details of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act here.
Now while SMS marketing can ruin you if you do it wrong, you can benefit from building an SMS list if you use the right tools and you follow the rules. Uses for SMS marketing include but are not limited to birthdays, special events, and seasonal promotions. The strength of a SMS message comes from LIMITING the use of a text message to your consumer because it’s so personal.
Before you start up your SMS message campaign remember that you must have explicit permission to send a SMS message to sell your service or product always have the correct legal documentation, and the right tools for SMS optins. Now while there are many different platforms to use to get SMS leads there are a few service providers you can use to send your SMS texts at an affordable price. One that I prefer is Twillio. Read up on what they have to say about the services that they integrate with here.
Strategy #2
Social Groups
Building a following on social media is a risky strategy but one that can provide excellent results if you use the opportunity to move your list to multiple locations.
For example creating a Facebook group around your brand or your product can be extremely effective if you have engaging content that you are sharing. The reason for this is that facebook groups push notifications while fanpages do not.
Moving your group to a slack group, a special twitter handle, youtube channel, or linkedin group you can work out. If you are sending your message to multiple marketing channels your increasing your chances of getting a positive response.
The key to making your list effective is to have engaging information to share, and be consistent with your message.
By developing and nurturing your list through non traditional avenues your email list will expand and you will find that your opportunities to profit will grow.
by Staff Writer | Sep 13, 2014 | Marketing, Mindset
Having the right mindset for building your business or anything in life is important for finishing a project or achieving the goals you set for yourself.
Starting with the right mindset will set a strong foundation for future marketing campaigns. While I want to write my book on how your mindset can 10x your online business, I am going to hand over the heavy stuff over to Peter Sorensen who made a two hour training that you can look over after you contemplate the two tools to help you stay in the right mindset.
soundslocal.tcdmcs.com/mindsetmasterytrainings
Mindset Tool #1
Mindmapping
The key to keeping your thoughts together for a big project is mindmapping. My favorite tool to use is called bubbl.us On there website they define a mind map as
“a graphical representation of ideas and concepts. It’s a visual thinking tool for structuring information, helping you to better understand, remember and generate new ideas.”
In other words with this tool you can organize your ideas more clearly.
Mindset Tool #2
Google Calendar
A term called brain chunking suggested by Neath & Surprenant, 2003 is vital to completing projects and maintaining concentration. Using tools like Google Calendar to manage your “brain chunking” time slots you will be able to accomplish your goals and finish projects more often.
I am sure that by using these tools and listening to the training that you will find yourself with a better mindset and hopefully 10x more business.
