Rookie mistakes not to make during a summit

by | Blog, Telesummits

When properly executed, telesummits are able to quickly add value, credibility, and hopefully customers to your business. When done right, they increase your visibility, spread your brand, and build strong relationships that will greatly benefit your business in the near and far future – but what happens when they’re done poorly? 

Well, nothing good, as I’m sure you can imagine.  

 

Telesummits are online multi-speaker events, much like virtual conferences, that are meant to assemble multiple experts in order to educate a large audience on a specific subject. After selecting your topic, assembling your collection of speakers and properly interviewing them, the online event is scheduled and then launched, usually meant to last a few days for a substantial audience.

Most commonly, speakers and interviews (or classes) are recorded in advance in order to ensure a smooth summit, though occasionally a brave soul will volunteer to host one live in order to answer audience questions. Due to the speakers you’ve chosen and the topic you’ve advertised, your audience will likely be larger than you normally see on your own since it’s a compilation of all your speakers’ platforms and other “outsiders” interested in your topic.

What could go wrong with this?
Rookie Summit Mistakes To Avoid Making

  1. Not planning ahead.If you fail to plan ahead for you telesummit, then you’ll run into countless issues and miss out on multiple opportunities, including but not limited to:
  • Scheduling conflicts with speakers and recording interviews.
  • Upsell or down-sell opportunities.
  • Networking opportunities.
  • Landing pages and access page creation for your telesummit.
  • Promotion schedules, marketing materials, marketing campaigns, etc.
  • Autoresponder emails and connections.
  • Forgotten content, jumbled answers, unorganized schedules.

Telesummits take a lot of time and organization in order to proceed smoothly, without hiccups or glitches. It’s not something you can just pull together in a few hours or days, so be sure to take your time, consider all the details, and allow at least 2 months to plan a good, beneficial telesummit.

  1. Not asking for help.A telesummit is actually a huge investment of time and effort. They consist of a lot of details and require a great deal of organization. While you might be good at accomplishing these things, consider employing the help of:
  • A telesummit coordinator
  • A copywriter or editor
  • A coach

While these things might sound trivial and useless, you’d be surprised at how much it helps to have another set of eyes editing your content, scheduling your videos, and making sure all of your links work during a launch.

 

  1. Not testing everything before launch.This is a huge mistake that could be detrimental to the success of your telesummit. If you miss this step, then you’ll end up with multiple typos, faulty web pages, unpublished landing pages, failing emails, or more. Before you launch your telesummit, be sure to check:
  • Links. Watch out for broken links, placeholders, and 404 errors.
  • Buttons. Make sure the buttons that are clickable lead to where they’re supposed to.
  • Spelling or grammar errors. Proofread absolutely everything, including the names of all of your speakers, titles, headings, etc. Typos will present you as unprofessional.
  • All videos and photos. Make sure they load and show up where they’re supposed to.
  • Guest offers. Opt-ins for any of your guests should work as expected 

Remember that a telesummit should be fun rather than stressful, irritating, or overwhelming. Enjoy the process, talk about things that are enjoyable to you, and keep your content interesting and beneficial to your audience.
While these are some of the most common mistakes made for beginner telesummit starters, there are surely more. Be sure to consider your marketing and monetizing plan for the telesummit, be sure to network with your chosen speakers and be sure to give your audience good content.

Wanting to host a telesummit but not sure where to start? Overwhelmed by all the details? I can help! I’ve been helping online business owners run successful, lucrative telesummits for years! I know all the tricks and most effective strategies for running an enjoyable, empowering summit.

>>>YES!! I would love to chat about hosting a telesummit and get support!!

I look forward to meeting you soon!

Slash The Costs of Your Growing Business

by | Blog, Contributed Post

***Contributed Post***

When you are starting out in business it seems like there are costs at every turn. There are so many things that cost money and a lot of them are going to be necessary to spend. You often think that costs will slow down as things get established. But the truth is that business costs can get larger and large (up to 20% more) year after year. Hopefully, you have more revenue to balance it all out as the business grows, but small businesses really are going to be squeezed more and more for their expenses. So, with all of that in mind, here are some of the ways that you can reduce the costs of your business and improve the bottom line of the business.

Reduce Office Space 

As your business grows, so will the space that you need for your team. While an expanding team can be a really great thing, it can also mean that you need more and more desk space, which is going to cost more money. A lot of larger companies are taking an approach to flexible working these days, meaning that they don’t need to accommodate space for all employees at once, as they are all expected to work from home at least once or twice a week. This can be a good way to reduce costs, and has actually shown that it can help employees to be more productive. So, what is not to love? 

Freelancers 

The cost of having staff can be one of the largest costs that your business is going to have. So think carefully before you hire more and more. When you have a full-time employee, you also have to think about the cost of that, as there are things like vacation pay, sick pay, or pension contributions that you may have to make, as well as other benefits like insurance, for example. So instead, you could look to hire freelancers as a way to save money. They can work remotely (see point above), and can be hired to do a specific job, be paid for that specific job, and then that is that. It can be a good way to lighten the workload without it costing too much money for the business. 

Improve Software 

There are so many different things that can help us to run our businesses in the technological day and age that we live in. So, have you got the right kind of software that can help your business run at its best? Software solutions like human resources information software (or HRIS), is an example of just that. You may be wondering what’s included in an HRIS software? It can help your business with aspects like payroll, recruitment, compliance, overtime and employee expenses, all in one place. Software like that can save time, money, and could even mean that you don’t need a full HR team; again, cutting costs.

 This is only a short list of things that can help you to save. So just look at your business and audit your current spending. From there you can see what does or doesn’t need it and you can make changes accordingly.

 

Do you think telesummits are still popular?

by | Blog, Telesummits

Happy New Year! 

Are you excited about this coming year? 

I took some extra time off this past holiday season to recharge my batteries and it did me a lot of good. I had time to relax, spend quality time with family, read a good book (and binge watch When Calls the Heart on Netflix) and of course I took time to plan my business goals for 2019. 

 

One of the items on my to do list for this year is to host another telesummit. If you’ve never attended or heard of a telesummit before, then think of it like an online conference. There’s usually a theme for the entire summit, meaning that it’s abundantly clear who the conference is for and what the attendees will get from it. This not only helps your desired audience find your telesummit, but it also helps you provide excellent structure.  

For example, an online marketing agency might design a telesummit to talk about different techniques business owners can use to increase sales via strategic online marketing. The telesummit organizer will then find a number of speakers to participate in the summit, all of whom bring their own expertise and advice on the chosen topic, thereby enriching the experience for attendees and making the summit an irresistible buy.  

The organizer usually has a lot of helpful information to share, but by bringing in other experts, you not only network and collaborate, but you also offer a bigger incentive for people to attend your telesummit.  

A telesummit is often scheduled to last between 3 to 10 days with 1 to 5 speakers sharing information each day at predetermined times. All of this must be planned out, carefully organized, accurately scheduled, and properly timed before the summit can begin. 

Sound daunting? There are many details to organize, but with the right support, you can run a successful and effective telesummit to boost your online business! 

Why Host a Telesummit? 
There are a lot of good reasons for hosting a telesummit, but here are just 3 for you to keep in mind:  

Increase Reach & Visibility
This is a great way to reach a lot of people relatively inexpensively and comparatively easily. Think about it this way: there aren’t a lot of ways to reach thousands upon thousands of warm (or even hot) leads all at once, but a telesummit helps you do exactly that. Hosting a telesummit helps you grow your audience, due to the cumulative reach of all the speakers you’ll have involved. Not only that, but if you’ve focused your telesummit properly, then all the people attending your telesummit will actually be interested in the services you provide, making them warm leads looking for your help.

Give Great Value To Your Audience
Your summit will create a lot of value (and you will learn a lot!). With all of the speakers you’ll hopefully invite and all the information they’re bound to share, not only will your audience learn a boatload of golden information, but you’ll most likely learn some new things as well. By getting to know your guest speakers and listening to anything they have to share with your summit audience, you’ll likely come away with many ideas for how you can improve your own business. Not only that, but your audience will come away with such enriching information (which is the real goal here). Never underestimate the benefits of networking and collaborating with other like-minded people or sharing helpful information with a potential customer.

Become A Leader In Your Field
You’re positioning yourself as a leader in your field. By organizing an online conference like this, you’re not only putting yourself in a position where your desired customers see you as a leader, but where businesses much like yours see you as a leader as well. This opens the doors to collaboration opportunities, growing your email lists, growing your customer base, and much, much more. Who wouldn’t want that?

Organizing, scheduling, and making sure everything runs smoothly can be a lot of work, but working with an expert in telesummits can ensure you and your participants have a great experience. 

I have been helping online business owners run successful telesummits (over 200 last count) for over 5 years! If you’re ready to take the leap into this new experience, let’s talk! I’ve opened up some space on my calendar for consultations where we can create a blueprint for your telesummit and see if I’m the right fit for you. 

>>>Click here to register for a strategy call with me.

Spaces fill up quickly this time of year, so reserve your appointment now! 

How To Do A Digital Detox During The Holidays

by | Blog

It’s the holiday season, which is a truly spectacular time of year for many people but can often lead to overwhelming circumstances for others. It can be difficult to remain present among your family and friends or to enjoy the simple moments of the season, with all the stresses and pressures of daily life creeping up on you in phone updates and emails.

Perhaps you might consider taking a break from the abundance of sensory overload this holiday season! If you’re feeling the need to detox your brain and body, to break free from all the stressors and devices holding you hostage, or to simply have more time to spend with your loved ones, then consider a dedicated digital detox. 

Here’s how you can manage one this holiday season!

How To Do A Digital Detox During The Holidays

Spending time away from your cellular device, TV, or computer is going to be much more difficult than you might anticipate. Whether you decide to detox from digital devices for a few hours every day, a few full days at a time, or even the entire holiday season, be prepared for some difficulty ahead! 

The truth is that technology has brought human beings limitless opportunities to gain insight, understanding, and connection in the world today, which is honestly wonderful, but there are also endless distractions and side effects we forget that we rely on. You might find yourself far more attached than you originally realized when you make the attempt to disconnect, so be sure to set some rules, have realistic expectations, and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

Beyond that, here are 5 tips for getting through the holidays on a digital detox:

Remember that escaping noise and distractions is good for your health. If you’re like many of us you might find that you frequently check your phone for texts, social updates, emails, work notifications, and more throughout the entire day. You might find that you habitually check your phone without any real reason to, or that you spend multiple pointless hours on social media, reading news articles, or watching Youtube videos every day. Not only does staring at a screen for hours on end lead to digital eye strain, but it also uses up a lot of time that could have been spent on more productive, healthy, or family-oriented things. Giving your eyes a break from this strain will help your eyesight, but it will also boost your productivity and give you much more time to spend with people you love or on things you enjoy.

Relearn how to entertain yourself without the use of a digital device. In today’s day and age, we often think that television shows, video games, or social media surfing are the only ways to get real entertainment, but that simply isn’t true. Try playing some games, going for walks, picking up a hobby, or just enjoying time spent in other people’s company this holiday season. Read a book, or read multiple books! Spend some effort learning new ways to have fun and enjoy your time rather than resorting to a digital device to entertain you.

Hide your phone. Now, this doesn’t mean you should put it in a place you’ll never find it since you probably need your phone to be handy in case of any emergencies or just out of plain necessity. Instead of keeping it face-up and within reach, however, put your phone somewhere out of reach with the screen face-down or covered so every little notification doesn’t disturb you. You can be sure to keep the sound on high so you’ll know if someone calls or texts, but this way you won’t feel a desperate need to check every single notification that pops up.

Delete your social apps. Things like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are great for keeping up with distant friends and family, but they’re also really good at distracting you from the what’s going on in the moment. Consider uninstalling these apps for the holidays and re-installing them once the holidays are over. You can catch up with all your notifications and random Facebook suggestions later.

Mark a physical calendar with the rules of your detox. Whether it’s for a few hours every day, multiple days in a row, or the entire season, be sure you know how long your digital “fast” is and don’t leave it up to checking your devices for a reminder. Make sure you’re clear about the rules of your detox and let anyone you care about know that you’ll catch up with them after the holidays. Then prepare to relax, rejuvenate, and enjoy your time with family!

I hope you enjoyed these 5 digital detox tips!!

Have a wonderful week!

Robyn Bennett 

PS: If you’re looking to start the New Year on the right foot schedule a call with me now where I can help you make your next launch a success! Click here to schedule now!

How to Create Your Business Bucket List for 2019

How to Create Your Business Bucket List for 2019

by | Blog, Business Plan

As I’m sure you know, goals are incredibly important to set, not only in your personal life but also for your business.

When you specifically identify where you want to be in the future and how you’d like to grow, you’re able to create plans for achieving success. A bucket list of sorts is an enjoyable way to set goals, meet them, and also have a lot of fun along the way, all while keeping track of your progress.

So, if you’ve been looking for some New Year’s resolutions to get your business booming or even some fun accomplishments to add to your experience, then check out these tips! Here are 6 things to add to your Business Bucket List for 2019, as well as some suggestions on how to build your own personalized list.

Business Bucket List Making For 2019

First things first when creating your business bucket list: you have to undergo a combined time of dreaming and brainstorming. Take out a physical piece of paper or open a new word document on your computer and start writing down all of your ideas for the new year. Remove all limitations and focus on allowing your mind to be as free as possible, jotting down every idea that comes to you as a good goal for your business in this coming year. You’re allowed to edit for feasibility and reasonability later. For now, though, just write down a bunch of ideas!

If you’re having trouble coming up with your own fresh ideas, then consider these six ideas for inspiration:

Start a blog.

But not just any blog about random facts that halfway apply to you and your business. Start one that your desired customers want to read, will read and will want to do business with you because they enjoy the content you create. Make sure to provide good, helpful content. Present yourself as an expert and write about what kindles your passions and what fuels your business (if you already have a blog, then focus on creating better content that will help instigate {fill in the blank} amount of sales per month)!

Get (fill in the blank) new clients!

Look at how many customers you have now and pick a number that’s a lot bigger than that, then work for it! In order for your business to grow, you have to find more clients who will pay for your services, so set your desired number and start building up to it (if you already have the max number of clients you can handle, then start brainstorming ways to make your services even better)!

Beat last year’s profits.

Again, look at the revenue you made last year (you can even break it down month by month if that’s easier) and then beat last year’s numbers! You can do this a variety of ways, but increasing your client base will certainly help (so good thing that’s also on your bucket list).

Revamp your business.

Actually, do that website/branding/logo/etc. revamping you’ve been planning on doing for forever. All the to-do lists that have been piling up in your office and desk drawers actually need to be done, so pull them out and set goals for them! Figure out which tasks are priorities and determine a time they should be accomplished.

Go to a seminar or conference, learn more about your field, and be challenged.

Being a professional takes a lot of effort, especially when it comes to learning the latest trends, gaining new knowledge, and educating yourself in order to remain the professional. Learn from people who are better than you or who have different ideas and never stop challenging yourself to learn more.

Write a book.

Maybe you’re not a writer, but maybe you have a lot of good information to share with others anyway. While a book might sound daunting to write, remember that you have an entire year to accomplish this and that’s a lot of time to get things accomplished when handled correctly!

Once you’ve created a long, beautiful bucket list, it’s time to condense it, edit it, and narrow it down to items that are actually necessary for you to accomplish or beneficial for your business. You should create a timetable for completing these items, determining which of them need to be done by the end of the first month, by the beginning of the summer, by the start of the fall, and so on until you have your priorities and aiming straight for the new year.

For instance, “beating last year’s profits” should definitely have a role in every month’s earnings, but you won’t likely beat the entire goal until the end of the year, so break that huge goal down into manageable pieces and start creating a plan for conquering it. Additionally, if you have decided to initiate “X New Marketing Strategies” for the new year, then you should be sure to plan what they are and when to begin each campaign in order to get them all done at appropriate times

Once you’ve determined your bucket list items and also your timeframes, it might be helpful for you to partner with one of your business buddies in order to

a)) inspire goal-setting, and

b) get some accountability.

We all know how easy it is to completely forget about any and all of our New Year’s resolutions by the time March rolls around, but when it’s your business at stake, it’s important to do better.

After that, plan and start to implement!

If you are looking for ways to streamline and automate your business and add more hours to your day…let’s talk. >Claim your spot here.

Have a great week.
Robyn Bennett

Is Your Website As Secure as It Could Be?

by | Blog, Contributed Post

***Contributed Post***

If you are running a digital business, it is important that you keep your content, your sales funnels, and your clients safe. Unfortunately, hackers are usually a few steps ahead of software developers, and it is important that you pay attention not only the price of your site and hosting, but also the safety features that will keep your virtual shop window generate a steady income. Below you will find a few tips on what to check.

Software

If you are trying to get visitors for free, chances are that you have one or more SEO software installed. The good news is that these tools can be useful when you are trying to determine what your potential clients are looking for and what the most popular content is, but some of them will collect information about your users and your site, and you might not even know about this. Make sure that you read the user guide and documentation before you install any software.

Security Upgrades

In case you are blogging remotely through an app or even Google Docs, you might not log in to the site and update your software on time. Some of the updates are there for improving your site’s security, while others will just improve the user experience. However, before every major upgrade, you should create a backup of your files, or you might face disruption when your site crashes.

Encryption

Image via Pixabay

In case you are selling physical products or services online, you will need to ensure that all the information sent through your site is secure and encrypted. You will need to have an SSL certificate for eCommerce sites, and ensure that your subscription is renewed automatically. Your clients will look for the “https” before they hit the buy button/

Server

Next, you will have to check how safe the server where your site is hosted is. You might need to add further security software and create a scan for your site content to avoid having a problem in the future. If you are not confident that you will find the issue yourself, you can get in touch with Matrium Technologies network security services and get a professional assessment and identify your main risks.

Member Accounts

If you have implemented membership options in your digital marketing sales funnels, you will need to encrypt your clients’ details and personal information. Do you remember the scandals large companies had to face when their user data got compromised by hackers? Avoid having the same problems and always use a safe membership program that will help you maintain your reputation. Membership sites can be profitable, but if your users are not feeling safe or are facing technical issues, your retention rate will suffer.

Making your website work smoothly and keeping your customers and visitors safe is your responsibility as a business owner. Pay attention to the above areas, and you will keep your business assets safe from malicious attacks and prevent your site from crashing.

Featured image via PxHere