Getting traffic and subscribers don’t have to cost you anything. You can get plenty of free traffic by following the tips below…
Create Your Funnel
Make an opt-in gift. This doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated. Your freebie could be a short PDF guide, a workbook, or a printable.
Publish a landing page for your opt-in. Your copy doesn’t have to be lengthy. You can go with a paragraph or two and a few bullet points. Then paste in the code for your mailing list sign up form.
Schedule a few autoresponders. Write a short series of emails (three to five is good) and set them up in your mailing list service to go out to new subscribers.
Launch a low-cost product. Use done-for-you content to create a low-cost product so your subscribers have a product they can buy from you.
Guest Post on Other Blogs
Find popular blogs in your niche. You can start your search by going to a search engine and typing in “Top 100 Blogs on [Niche]” without quotation marks.
Research the guidelines. Most popular blogs have publishing guidelines on their website and will tell you about their submission process.
Engage with the blogger. Before you submit a guest post, take some time to interact with the blogger behind the scenes. Comment on an Instagram post or two. Respond to a topic in their Facebook group.
Publish a relevant opt-in gift. When you do a guest post, come up with another opt-in gift that you can offer readers of the post.
Design a landing page. Make sure to put your opt-in gift on a landing page so there’s nothing to distract your viewers.
Promote your landing page. Use the author bio section of your guest post to link to the landing page. This lets you capture the traffic and add it to your sales funnel.
Boost Your Brand’s Visibility with Facebook Live
Respond to comments. When you’re on Facebook Live, connect with your viewers by answering their questions and replying to their comments.
Brainstorm content. Ask your viewers what type of content they’d like to see more of on your blog or website. Take notes and use them when you’re creating more content later.
Make a content upgrade. If you know what topic your Facebook livestream will be about, go ahead and create a content upgrade. Make it something valuable your viewers will appreciate.
Promote your upgrade. Use the comments section of your stream to post a link to your latest opt-in.
Tell viewers to share. During your livestream, ask viewers to share your video with a friend or colleague.
Make a list. Begin listening to podcasts regularly and write down the ones that you enjoy listening to the most.
Interact with the podcaster. Take a few minutes to get to know the podcaster by following them on social media. Comment on their posts so they’ll recognize you later.
Ask about guests. Once you’ve gotten to know the host, ask them if they’re looking for guests. If they are, get contact information right away.
Send a pitch. Use your email to share why you would be a great guest. Tell the podcaster about your own journey and why his or her audience would be able to relate to you.
Follow up. Sometimes, emails get lost on their way to the recipient. If you haven’t heard back in a few days, reach out to the host and see if they received your message.
Use Pinterest to Get Traffic
Describe your pin in detail. Pins with longer descriptions (think 2-3 sentences) get more interaction that pins with shorter descriptions.
Get a business account. Pinterest’s business account comes with free analytics that can help you learn when the best time to post is. Convert a personal account to a business one here.
Join group boards. When you contribute to group boards, more users can discover your pins and your website.
Leverage Instagram
Add your link. Put a link to your most recent blog post in your bio area. This makes it easy for followers to find your blog.
Use hashtags for your niche. A website like TagBlender can help you find popular hashtags so you don’t have to brainstorm them on your own.
Make a call-to-action. When you post on Instagram, include a CTA with your caption. Ask viewers to like your post, comment on it, or tag a friend.
Create a branded hashtag. Branding your own hashtags lets even more people discover your brand on social media.
Email Your Subscribers
Write a great subject line. It should make them curious but also be short (40-60 characters) so it’s easily viewed on a mobile device.
Personalize the email. Subscribers are more likely to open a message if you include their name in the subject line.
Make a link. You should link to your blog post in the body of your email. Do this in the text, because subscribers trust contextual links.
Include a button or image. Subscribers like clicking on buttons and pictures. Pick one or the other and add it to your email. Be sure it links to your blog post.
Create a signature. You can use a free signature tool like the one from HubSpot or WiseStamp. Add a link back to your website in your signature.
Study Your Results
Consider your most popular content. If a page is getting a lot of views, think about how you could create more content like it.
Look at the stats for your traffic sources. Try to track your traffic sources each month so you can see what marketing activities give you the biggest return on investment.
Make sure your site is optimized for different devices. Your stats program should show you what tech like smartphones and tablets your visitors are using.
Glance at search terms. The keywords that people use to find your site can give you ideas and insights on how to serve your community.
Imagine you’re driving down the freeway and see you a sign that Del Taco is just off the next exit. You remember how hungry you are and decide to pull off to quickly grab a bite.
To your dismay, when you pull off the freeway searching for Del Taco you realize it is inside of a massive mall and to get tacos you would have to park, walk in and search for it… probably taking you a good 15-20 minutes before you get back to your car.
You were hoping for a drive-thru. Do you go in, or turn around and hop back on the freeway? Or zip over to the nearby Taco Bell drive thru that has no wait and is on your way home…
Some people might be loyal enough and hungry enough to go searching for Del Taco. But most people probably would take the easier option and go somewhere with a drive thru.
If the mall could magically take customers to exactly where they wanted to go, they probably would. Unfortunately for them, teleportation hasn’t been invented yet!
Every day, online marketer pay for clicks that send leads into generic website pages, where potential customers are left to figure out how to get where they want to go.
You can bet that a huge percentage of those potential customers click right back out of that website and move on with their lives. Or worse, go straight to competitors who have better landing pages.
When you pay for clicks from specific keywords, it may seem like an easy way to get people onto your website. But when people type something into a search engine they are often asking a specific question and looking for a specific answer.
Which is why they don’t give your website a second glance when they realize you’re not giving them exactly what they want right away.
The Solution? A Dedicated Landing Page.
Here are the most important things to remember when creating a landing page:
It should be crafted as an answer to an inquirers question. Provide them with exactly what your ad promised.
You should seek traffic from those searching with very specific keywords. For example, if you make artisanal bread for a living, you want to target people who are looking for “where to buy artisanal bread”. This will bring you more targeted leads than keywords like “bread”, “artisan bread”, “cheap artisan bread”, etc.
It should be a SINGLE page with only ONE possible action for the reader to take. Don’t let your reader get distracted with other places to click, too much to read, or multiple pages to choose from. Keep it simple and with one goal in mind. This might be purchasing a product, giving them your email, signing up for a webinar, etc. Whatever it is, it should be the only option.
All of these strategies are for conversion rate optimization (CRO) or turning more of your visitors into leads and customers.
Want professional help in creating killer landing pages that convert? Let’s talk. I’ve generously open up a few spots in my calendar this week for complimentary strategy sessions. They always fill up fast- click here to claim your slot!
Have a great week. Robyn
P.S. If you’ve already got great landing pages but are struggling with another area of your business, we can talk about that too. Grab a 30 minute spot on my calendar here.
On-Page SEO today is a lot different than it was just a few years ago. Today, Google’s robots can recognize things like ad-heavy websites, poor navigation or low quality content. Social media has become an increasingly important ranking factor. All of this means it’s probably time to update your on-page SEO.
Here are the changes you should make to bring your on-page SEO up to date. Use these best practices moving forward.
The Basics: Title Tags and H1 Tags (plus others)
Your title tag is still by farthe most important tag on your page. Your title tag should have your keyword inside the title tag. If you have a brand name, make sure it’s after your post title, not before. Your H1 tag is the second most important tag. If possible, have a keyword in your H1 tag as well.
Other tags found on the page have decreased in importance. Meta Keyword tags, image alt tags and so on don’t make as much of a difference anymore. It’s still good practice to have alt tags on your images, but it may not affect your SEO.
Internal Linking: Categories, Related Posts, You Might Like
Your internal linking helps keep people on your website. That reduces your bounce rate, increases time on site and boosts your overall website quality, which in turn boosts your rankings. Also, good internal linking will help spread your “link juice” and PageRank throughout your site.
In general, you should build 3 to 5 categories of content. All your content should fall into these 3 to 5 categories. Your category pages should link to your content pages, and your content pages should link back to your category pages.
Additionally, each page of content should have related posts and/or “You Might Also Like” sections. WordPress plugins can make this very easy to build. While there are automated options, you’re usually best off hand picking which articles should be featured at the bottom of your content.
Finally, link to other places within your site from within your content, not just in your sidebars or at the bottom of your posts. Google places far more importance on in-content links.
SEO Best Practices for Content
Google prefers in-depth, meaty content. Generally all your content should be above 1,000 words. Keyword density no longer matters, so don’t try to optimize your keywords in your content. Instead, try to provide high quality content. Solve a problem and create a resource that people want to read.
Don’t stuff your site with ads. Google now measures the content space versus ad space as a ranking factor. Make sure you have social media buttons on your site, for both SEO reasons and for social media traffic. Finally, add an image or two – it helps improve your site quality, as well as keep people on your site for longer.
SEO is changing. Update your on-page SEO and make sure to incorporate these best practices in your content moving forward.
Starting with the top 5 or 10 pages of your website that get the most traffic, check your title and H1 tags to ensure they have your keyword(s) in them. Continue to work on your existing content to improve their SEO.
If you use WordPress, add a plugin to generate “related posts” within your pages. While you’re checking your title and H1 tags, look for ways to add in-content links to your pages.
If you have an abundance of categories, look for ways to combine topics to cut back on how many categories you have.
By updating your on page SEO you will lead more targeted traffic to your website which will help you build your list and grow your sales.
Podcasting is a great way to increase sales and profits. If you are willing to be a guest, or tackle a little technology, you can offer podcasts to those people in your niche who enjoy listening to radio shows, audiobooks, and audio how-to information.
What is a podcast?
A podcast takes the name from the iPod portable audio file player, but you can listen to podcasts anywhere. Think of it as online radio on demand. You can listen to a podcast live, or download the recording onto your computer or any device that plays audio files such as MP3 files.
Why podcast?
Around 70% of people are visual learners, it is true, but a lot of people are busy and don’t always have time to sit at their computer and watch instructional videos or news broadcasts. Some people love radio. Others prefer audiobooks. Podcasts downloaded onto a storage device are highly portable and can offer exactly the kind of information a person wants and needs a they drive to work, jog, and more.
The secret of online marketing these days is to go where your audience is, which means marketing in multiple channels. Podcasting is also ideal for people who might struggle to write well or type quickly enough to get all their thoughts down to share with their target audience. We can all speak a lot faster than we can type.
Podcasting Needs
In most cases, you can use the equipment you already have, namely, a computer with a built-in microphone to record your voice. However, most built-in microphones don’t offer the best sound quality or suppress background noise. If you choose to use a built-in mic, make sure to podcast in a quiet room, away from appliances and noisy outdoor areas, such as roadways. Your laptop or computer fan may also contribute to the noise.
A quality digital microphone that plugs into one of your USB ports is highly recommended. Depending on your needs and preferences, the cost can be around $100 or more.
If you are accustomed to speaking to groups, you might be able to keep “Um” and “Uh” to a minimum. However, if you’re like everyone else, you’ll definitely need access to an audio editor to remove some of the pauses or other annoyances that detract from the audio. But you can also add music, promos, and intros with the editor, as well.
Audacity is one of the most popular and full-featured editors available. It is well maintained. It has a variety of plugins and features. And best of all, it is completely free.
Podcasting Storage and Sharing
Audio files can be quite large, so having a place to store them online is a good idea. Google Drive gives you 15MB of free storage to start with so you can archive all your work without filling your hard drive.
Because the files are large, it is a bad idea to host them on your website for visitors to enjoy. The files can eat up a lot of bandwidth on your hosting server and the playback can be very poor. Uploading the file to a popular audio sharing site is a much better idea. SoundCloud is an affordable option, with unlimited uploads for one low annual fee.
Think of SoundCloud as the YouTube of audio files rather than video files. People share files on SoundCloud because it is safe, secure, and is easy to link to. Listeners are also able to share and comment on the files.
You can also create an embed code that will create a little player in any webpage, or on your blog, so all they have to do is click on the Play arrow to start listening. Because the file is hosted at a professional sharing site, your audience should have a great listening experience.
Useful Podcasting Features
SoundCloud allows you to publish your content on popular sites such as iTunes. If you create regular weekly podcasts, people will be able to subscribe to them, which helps to grow your audience. Podcasting allows you to position yourself as an expert in your niche. If you are a guest on a podcast, for example, giving an interview, you can use the embed code at your site to marketing yourself as someone worth paying attention to.
We are judged by the company we keep, so appearing on the show of a big name in your niche can get you the attention and traffic you’ve been yearning for.
Those who love your show might even syndicate it, that is, put your embed code at their site because they are sure their niche audience will be so interested in what you have to say.
Podcasting as a Marketing Tool
Podcasting gives you the chance to talk about your latest book, your newest product launch, and more. It helps you connect with your target audience through the spoken word, so you don’t have to spend hours creating articles at blogs and websites.
However, there will be some writing, which is essential for marketing effectively. The goal is to build your brand and online presence to get subscribers and make sales. The first thing you will need is a great title.
Title
Your title should speak to the needs of your target audience, offering them helpful how-to type information.
Description
What keywords related to your niche will help your target audience find you and want to listen to what you have to say?
Length of Time
Lots of people on the go want “snackable content” they can consume quickly. Decide whether 15 to 30 minutes makes sense for you, and how many topics you plan to cover.
Introduction and Sign Off
Every podcast should introduce you and your show. Every sign off at the end should remind them to look out for your next podcast. Record these and splice them onto the beginning and end of every podcast you create.
Frequency and Consistency
If you are going to commit to doing a podcast, you need to commit to it and create new content on a regular schedule, such as once a week. This will help your target audience start to look forward to your next show.
Content Sections
If you are very good technically, you might be happy adding introductory jingles and other fancy features, but they will take more time to edit. There is nothing wrong with a spoken, word-only podcast, as long as you’ve got some interesting things to say. However, adding other sections can be beneficial to listeners and more profitable for you.
Music and Jingles
Remember that most music you find online is copyrighted unless otherwise stated. But there are people who release short, royalty-free tracks without expecting any money. It would be nice to give them a link back in the program credits.
Business Profile
Create a robust profile related to your business at the podcast sharing site, such as SoundCloud, in the same way you would at any other social media site. Include a logo, header image, and content that shows you or your business are worth paying attention to.
Podcast Cover Art
Your podcast will be given a thumbnail image similar to a CD cover, so create an attractive one that captures what you are going to be talking about. Use one of your own photos, or create your cover image using royalty-free photos from sites like Pixabay. It should be square and around 1000 x 1000 pixels. Smaller ones will usually get distorted when they appear on your podcasting home page.
Content Creation Ideas
The content should be interesting enough to hold the listeners’ attention and keep them coming back for more. Brainstorm things you wish you had known when you were first starting out in your niche. Include topics specific to different segments of your audience, such as beginners, intermediates, and advanced members.
You can use previously written blog posts and other content. Since it will be in audio format, you won’t have to worry about getting hit with a duplicate content penalty from Google.
Being a guest on a podcast is fun. Once you start to master the skills, there’s no reason you can’t invite people to return the favor. This will keep things exciting for your audience, and you should get an increase in listeners, if you encourage your guests to tell their followers to check out the show.
Show Notes
Your show notes can serve as marketing material that entices people to listen. They should have keywords that will make the notes searchable and entice listeners to tune in.
Every page should also have a link to a landing page at you site that is related to the topic of the podcast. This will drive more traffic to your site, so they have a chance to get to know you better.
If the landing page is a squeeze page, where visitors can sign up for a free item, make sure the freebie is something worth having, and worth telling others about. A free e-course via email is always popular and is one of the best ways to get your listeners onto your email-marketing list. Once they are on your list, you can build a relationship with them over time.
The e-course you offer should be useful and provide solutions or additional knowledge on a topic of interest. Each email should have a call to action link at the bottom directing the reader to a product related to something mentioned within that email.
You can also make sales via the podcast by briefly discussing an item like ads on the radio. If you are launching a brand-new product, take a few minutes to introduce it as well as discuss features and benefits. This is an excellent way to boost sales and keep your target audience updated about beneficial products and services.
Quiet Work Space and Time
Try to cut down background noise as much as possible, such as kid yelling and dogs barking. It might be a good idea to record when no one else is around. A dedicated workspace also means you won’t have to set up from scratch every time you want to create a new show.
Interactive Opportunities
This will be more complicated, but might also give you big results. Let them contact you via email with questions and program suggestion. Include a little Q and A spot every week. It makes them feel you care about what they want and need. It also gives you lots of ideas about what the people in your niche are interested in and can help inspire you if you’re not sure what you should podcast about next.
Some podcasters also have people phone in to contribute. However, when you are first starting out, you won’t have an audience, so this is something you can consider much later down the line if you feel you need more interactivity and can set a day and time you will be in the studio taking, replying to and recording the calls.
Driving traffic to your website is important, but you need a way to measure that traffic. After all, if you’re using several methods to drive traffic, how will you know which one is working if you’re not tracking? How will you know which methods aren’t working without stats to go by?
The good news is that tracking your website traffic is now easier than ever before. You can use a tool like Google Analytics (free) or Clicky (free trial) to see your stats. You’ll want to pay attention to four key metrics…
Look at your most popular content. This gives insight into what content your visitors are consuming and what pages they enjoy the most. It can spark new content ideas and show you which pages on your site could use some sprucing up.
Note your traffic sources. Use this metric to determine where you’re getting the most traffic from.
Are your Facebook Live videos sending a lot of traffic? Are your Instagram posts delivering new visitors to your site daily? Once you know which social media networks give you the most traffic, you can focus most of your marketing energy on them.
You should also look at what other sites are sending you traffic. Are you still getting traffic from that podcast interview you did ages ago? Is your blog post on a friend’s website still sending you plenty of fresh traffic?
Check the tech. Most analytics software can show you what device and which browser visitors used to access your site.
Pay attention to this data. You might be surprised to learn a lot of your traffic is coming from mobile gadgets like tablets and smartphones. With this knowledge in mind, it might be time to make sure your landing pages and blog posts load quickly across various devices.
Peek at search terms. Some analytics software will also show you what keywords users typed into a search engine to find your site. This data helps you see what your visitors are hoping to find when they arrive.
If you see a certain search term repeated frequently, you may even want to consider building some content around it.
For example, if you run a website for new moms and discover that most people are using the keyword ‘how much formula’ then you can create a blog post about how much formula to give a baby as they grow. This is a simple way of giving value back to your users and capitalizing on the traffic you already have.
Traffic is the lifeblood of your website. It’s what allows you to build an amazing online business. But don’t be fooled into thinking that you can only get paid traffic. The truth is there are plenty of legitimate ways to send traffic back to your website for free.
Today is a little different, we’re going to cover another way you can build your list, it’s different only because it’s not online.
We know you’re doing all the behind the scenes marketing work, like blog posts, email marketing, creating your own marketing graphics, recording videos, and connecting on social media. That’s great, we know there are lots of wonderful opportunities doing these things but would you believe that you can also build your list and market your business attending live events and conferences?
Attending live events is a major marketing opportunity that many business owners shy away from for a variety of reasons. But remember that in your overall business plan, you shouldn’t be planning ONLY for the quick sale. Ultimately, you want people to remember you and you should develop relationships with others both online and in real life so they will refer you to their circle of friends. Forming that relationship is also how people will get to know, like, and trust you, which will lead to sales and other referrals.
Yes, you can develop relationships online via social media and videos but why pass up the opportunity to meet people in real life? You never know who you will meet; your next big client may be somebody who lives in your home town. Or maybe you’ll meet your favorite icon at a conference and become inspired to achieve more. Or maybe you’ll meet someone who offers services you can use in your own business. You can never predict who you’ll meet at different events.
Working an online business can also become very lonely, so attending live events is simply a way to get out of the house! Start off easy by attending a business networking meeting or a simple Meet Up in your area. If you enjoyed the experience, you can certainly expand your horizons with a BNI membership or joining a local networking club. Once you start researching, you’ll discover a whole variety of opportunities, from those local events that meet weekly or monthly, to conferences that last for multiple days.
Live events also offer the opportunity to learn new things through classes or workshops held during the event. For example, the Beachpreneurs event is held annually in Florida for 3 days where the women attendees listen to the guest speakers but also break into workshop groups to work through what they’ve learned from the speakers. This also allows the attendees to share their business stories and experiences, which is also perfect for learning how to handle certain tasks or situations that may arise in business.
Another example is the WPPI photography conference held annually. Those four days are crammed with classes in which experts teach different photography techniques. Not only can attendees ask specific questions but they get hands-on practice in class and then can develop the technique to use in their business. Even though you can watch a video tutorial on how to perform these same photography skills, there’s just something magical about being in the same room as the teacher. Live conferences make the instructors more approachable than when you’re watching their video online. At live events, they welcome questions and enjoy engaging in conversations with attendees. You never know what valuable snippet of information you’ll learn from an instructor just by having a private conversation with them.
Which Events Are Right For You
When choosing events that will benefit you and your business, first think about your personality. Are you an extrovert who thrives on big gatherings or an introvert who prefers conversations in smaller groups? While there’s something to be said about stepping out of your comfort zone, how beneficial is it for the introvert to walk into a huge event, alone, on the opposite side of the country? Likewise, will an extrovert get bored at a local event with 100 people or less?
Another crucial task when determining which events are right for you is to set up a budget. How much expendable income do you have for plane fares, event tickets, hotels, food, taxis, entertainment, and babysitters for the kids or pets? Obviously, traveling will be more expensive than going to a local event but you’ll need to weigh the benefits of traveling vs staying local and determine which event will give you more ROI.
Now, let’s explore the pros and cons of each type of event:
Big vs Small
Social Media Marketing World boasts an attendance of 5,000 social media managers, bloggers, podcasters, and industry leaders and is held in San Diego, CA in February. That huge number of attendees means you’ll have plenty of people to network and socialize with but you’ll only meet a small fraction of those attending. Big conferences like these also boast the more well-known guest speakers, names you’ve likely heard before and probably follow online. But…because the speakers are more well-known, and it’s high priority travel season for San Diego, the event ticket prices will also be more expensive.
On the other hand, a smaller event, such as Exposure and Profit, will have a smaller venue, smaller attendance, and the speakers might not be as well-known. However, you still have the opportunity to mingle and network with other attendees and you’ll have a better chance of meeting everyone in attendance. You’ll also have a better chance of meeting the speakers because of having fewer attendees. The event ticket will also be less expensive so it will likely fit into your budget.
Niche vs Broad
A niche conference is one that focuses on one particular group of people or one particular type of business. It’s very specific and will have very specific goals for that niche. One such event is Beachpreneurs. This event caters to female business owners and aims to create a sisterhood or camaraderie among its attendees. A benefit to a niche event is you’ll be among other like-minded people who belong to this niche. While your experiences won’t be identical, though networking and mastermind workshops, you can learn new skills or strategies from the speakers and attendees. At Beachpreneurs the speakers also participate in the mastermind workshops, making themselves very approachable to the other attendees.
The Traffic and Conversion Summit is considered a broad event because under the broad title of “traffic and conversion” there are many different ways to attract traffic to your site and to convert those visitors into buyers. You could probably hold a niche event for each of the topics they will cover at their next summit! A benefit to attending a broad event is you’ll get more of an overview of the subject matter with speakers adding in their more detailed viewpoints but a common downfall to this format is it can be extremely overwhelming to have SO much information thrown at you at once. Knowing how to determine what information you need and how to implement it properly is key to making broad events beneficial to your business.
Local vs Out of Town
For obvious reasons, sticking with local events will be easier on your budget because you won’t have to pay for hotel, cabs, or airplane tickets. All you’ll need to spend money on is your event ticket, food (if not included in the event ticket), parking, and gas money. If you’re in the San Diego area, Traffic and Conversion as well as Social Media Marketing World would be considered local events for you, so don’t equate “local” as meaning “small”.
So far, all these events we’ve mentioned are days-long events but those are not the only types of events to attend. Have you visited a BNI chapter yet? BNI has over 8,000 chapters worldwide and they meet on a weekly basis, usually early morning hours before most businesses open. You have to apply for membership and they usually limit the types of companies they accept so members aren’t competing against each other. Some chapters are large while others are small but the object for all chapters is to learn what the other members do and to refer prospects their way.
Look for other networking events through your local Chamber of Commerce. They usually hold quarterly networking events that include a guest speaker, networking time, and possibly dinner. They also have different committees on which to serve, thus meeting even more local business owners on a regular basis. The biggest benefit to staying local is you meet other business owners in your community, which is great for passing along referrals or asking for sponsorships or gifts for charitable events.
Look on Facebook for other local niche groups, such as professional women networks or other local networks specific to coaching. Most of all, no matter what event you choose to attend, don’t be afraid to interact! If you’re excited about your business, others will be drawn to you.
