Today I’d like to talk about the list we’ve built so far and some actions you need to take. And if you’re worried that your list is too small for these actions, remember no one opens up their brand new email management system and sees thousands of prospects from day one. We all start with a single subscriber, and we grow our list from there, so no matter your list size this applies to you.
What you do while your list is growing is critical to your future success.
It’s never too early to start promoting. This is the number one mistake those with a small list make. They believe—wrongly so, it turns out—that there’s no point in promoting to a small list.
There are two reasons this is a mistake. First, when all you send your list is information, and you never make an offer, you’re training them that there will never be an offer. Then the first time you send out an email promoting something, they’re not happy.
The second issue with not promoting to your list is that you’re creating a bad habit. Yes, it’s important that you offer value to your list. It’s just as important to present offers regularly.
It is possible to promote too much. Despite what I just said, it is possible to burn out your list with promotion after promotion. If all you do is send your subscribers offers to buy, watch your unsubscribe rate grow.
Instead, remember to set up a system of nurturing your list by providing them value. Teach them to open your emails by striving to always include information they want and need. Share your stories with them. Tell them what you’ve learned. Interact with them. Promotions are necessary, but they’re not the primary way to connect with your list.
Make good use of segmentation. Not everyone on your mailing list will benefit from the same information or promotions. Some subscribers may be at the beginning of their journey and just learning about the topics you cover. Others will be more advanced and in need of different advice. Some subscribers will be active buyers and jump on offers quickly. Others may not.
By creating segments in your mailing list software, you can offer your subscribers exactly what they need when they need it. This targeted approach will result in more sales and happier subscribers.
Whether your list is 50 or 10,000, these strategies will help keep your list profitable, active, and responsive. And a responsive list is one of the most valuable assets you’ll have. Take good care of it, and it will take care of you.
It’s getting harder to get people to come to your website and stick around long enough to see what you’re offering. In fact, most people spend less than 20 seconds on a website before they click away, never to return. Thankfully, there are solutions to that problem. The way to attract more prospects, engage viewers, get more email subscribers, and make more sales is with video and specifically, YouTube videos.
Create a niche YouTube channel, with lots of great information. You don’t need thousands of subscribers to make it work. You just need to target and market to your viewers effectively on your YouTube channel, as well as other places. Let’s get started by looking at how to create your channel.
Create a Targeted Niche Channel
The first thing you need to do is create your YouTube channel. Give this a lot of thought because you want the name and branding of your channel to describe what your viewers can expect.
Design – YouTube allows you to create a cover photo, backgrounds, and other branding that will make a lot of difference for spreading brand awareness.
Watermarks – Use a watermark for your videos to help keep your branding there along with the YouTube branding. In your dashboard, under channel, you’ll find a link to “branding” that will help.
Intros & Outros – Create a standard intro and outro for your videos. That will also help a lot with the branding of your channel. You can use your video editing software to pop your newest video into the middle of the intro and outro.
Keywords – When you create your “about” description take the opportunity to include as much information as space allows using keywords that your audience will use to find you. Look for keywords under your dashboard, channel, advanced.
Cross Promote – Include a link to your website as well as your social media accounts. This gives visitors the ability to choose what works best for them. You’ll find this information under the dashboard, channel, advanced.
Contact Info – Just in case someone wants to use you as an influencer (that can mean a big payday) include plenty of contact information.
Use keywords and information that helps anyone know exactly why you’re on YouTube and what you’re promoting. Keep it friendly and valuable. Avoid hard sales tactics because visitors are coming to you for information and solutions, not ads, links, and annotations that distract them from getting the info they want.
Create Videos that Get Views & Shared A lot of people do have videos “go viral” by accident but you can, with planning make sure that you have a bigger chance of a video going viral. Going viral can be defined as being shared a lot more than other videos but how much depends on your niche. For some niches, that can mean a million views. For others that might mean 1000. It just depends on your niche. However, you will have more of a chance of going viral if you follow the tips here.
Lighting & Sound Matter If you really want a video to go viral, invest in the tools necessary to create high quality videos. Don’t worry about perfection. Just concern yourself with ensuring that people can see clearly and hear what you’re saying. The more professional the video appears and the better the information you provide, the higher your rating will be.
Add in Some Background Music When Appropriate For some videos, adding a little mood music can be helpful. However, don’t make it too long or loud. Background means that it’s more like subtle white noise. Also, make sure that you have the right type of royalty free music. If you use music that is not approved for this use, your video will be taken down for copyright infringement. YouTube has music you can use but you can also do a search for “royalty free music” to find more options.
Create Custom Thumbnails The best way to get attention for your videos is to create custom thumbnails that draw attention to the topic you’re going to talk about. You can pick a thumbnail that YouTube snaps from your upload or you can upload a special thumbnail. Branding will be increased if you use custom thumbnails that help the viewer determine what’s inside.
Be Authentic That might seem like an obvious statement but a lot of people get so nervous doing any type of video that they start sounding like a robot. The best thing you can do is know your topic very well and just keep an outline in front of you about what you want to talk about, then just talk about it without memorization. It’s okay to look down at notes, share your screen, or look away from the camera. However, it’s very important to talk to the people as if they’re in the room with you and are your friends.
Keep Them Short YouTube videos work best if they cover only one point of action. This means that a video less than 10 minutes is ideal. If you can get your videos down to two minutes, it’s even better since those tend to do best on YouTube. You want to cover one point, one “how to,” and one call to action in each video.
Interview Others When you can involve other people in your videos, it makes for something more exciting than one person talking to the screen. Interview successful people within your industry, a customer who has had success with your products, or even a famous influencer that you know your audience will enjoy hearing from.
Keep Posting When you first start posting YouTube videos try to stick to a schedule. Usually, it’s best to post one short video a day than it is to post one long video per week. After you’ve gained momentum, you can slow down, but at first plan on posting one video a day for 30 days for the best results.
Finally, make sure that you appear in your own videos. You can make plenty of videos that don’t include you but the ones that include your face will get a lot more results than videos that only include products or screen shares. With over 1.5 billion active YouTube users online watching videos, you’re sure to find your audience.
Pinterest is a virtual pin board service. Users can create boards that they pin content to. This content is usually in the form of pictures but it can sometimes be video. A user can have multiple boards spanning different topics.
Marketers love Pinterest because it sends customers to their websites. In fact, Pinterest is one of the best social media platforms to use if you’re trying to sell a digital product. Here’s how to use Pinterest to get more traffic which will in turn help you build your list…
Think of boards as categories. Some marketers struggle with the concept of Pinterest boards. That’s why it can be helpful to consider boards as categories for your content.
If you’re in the health and wellness niche, you may have content on topics like ‘healthy meal prep’, ’10-minute workouts’, or ‘weight loss success stories’. Take each of these categories and turn them into a board on Pinterest.
Describe your pin. It isn’t enough to just grab an image from your website or blog and add it to your Pinterest board. Take a moment to describe what the content is that you’re linking to.
Tease readers about what they’ll get and make them eager to clickthrough. Don’t share something boring like, “Learn 5 Tips for Clean Eating”.
Instead, spice it up a bit. Try using this instead, “Discover the 5 Secrets All Clean Eaters Must Know to Succeed. If you’re struggling with clean eating, these tips will motivate and inspire you. Be sure to download the free eating plan mentioned.”
Sign up for a business account. If you’re using Pinterest to send traffic back to your website, you should make sure you have a business account. This will give you access to statistics about your pins. You’ll know when the best time is to pin, what keywords your audience loves, and which pins get the best traction.
If you’re already created an account, you don’t have to lose your pins. You can simply convert the account by going to Pinterest Business Accounts and filling out a short form.
Use group boards. Some Pinterest users create a group board and allow other members to contribute pins to it. Often, the group board is built around a theme that other users may find helpful like ‘Best Weight Loss Tips for New Moms’ or ‘Styling Tips for Petite Women’.
Group boards usually get thousands of followers, so pinning to one is a great way to increase your traffic. But you need to read the owner’s rules before you attempt to pin. Some owners will want you to email them so they know you’re a real person. Others may ask you to follow them on social media before you contribute.
Pinterest is a great source of traffic, but it can also be a huge distraction if you’re not careful. To keep this from happening, try to schedule your posts and only login when you have a few spare minutes. Otherwise, you may find your productivity goes down when using the site.
Webinars are one of the most effective ways to drive prospects and sales for your business. Webinars take time and effort to plan, and you do need some technical skills. However, if you want to get more prospects and sales, webinars are at the top of the to-do list when it comes to lead generation and making a profit.
What is a webinar? A webinar, also called a teleseminar, is an online event designed to offer useful information to the audience. It is often live but can be pre-recorded. There might or might not be interactivity with the audience, such as question and answer. The webinar service used can offer various useful tools to the webinar host, including a shared desktop, whiteboard, polls and more.
Webinars are most effective when they are related to a particular niche or topic, and offer solutions to “pain points,” or problems, within that niche. Webinars are educational but also promotional. Think of them as an infomercial for your brand, or a product you wish to sell.
Why should I use webinars? Online education is growing. According to the latest statistics, 70% of people are visual learners. In general, they love to watch videos and participate in webinars that teach them what they need to know. Webinars are useful if you plan to launch a new product and want to make it an attention-grabbing event.
Some webinars are free, while others require payment to attend. Paid webinars usually offer more exclusive information opportunities to prospects.
However, in general, a free webinar is best, and is a powerful tool for email marketing list building.
Why use a webinar to build my list? Webinars can grow your list rapidly because people like to be the first to share a good deal or “news” with their friends. Announcing the webinar on social media makes it very easy for them to share your news. However, you’ll need to use free and paid channels.
You may already have a good following on Facebook or Twitter but running a paid ad or event listing can give you highly qualified traffic. When you prospect this way, create a separate email-marketing list for each webinar you plan to host. Then, use it to market to prospects before, during, and after the event. You can also enlist the help of participants by getting them to continue to spread the word.
Before the webinar Once someone joins your new list, send them a welcome email with the event date, start-time, time zone, and how to join. Continue to send reminders until the show begins. Even after you have started, you can still send out email reminders to get people to join in. If you have a virtual assistant, have them check your Inbox or the chat for questions or other issues. Also, consider creating a hashtag (#) for your webinar so you can spot their questions and comments easily.
During the webinar In addition to looking for questions during the event, you might also run a contest or give prizes. It adds fun and interest to the live event.
After the webinar The follow up after a webinar can be just as important as the planning and presentation stages. Those who have not purchased can still receive information about the product and the special offer. Those who are on the customer list can be given extra content that adds value, making them feel like they really got a great deal. Send a surprise thank you gift for attending. Make sure it is something of value and is branded with your logo and URL.
Selling on your webinar Building your list of prospects via your webinar is great, but sales are better. Present a webinar on a particular topic and offer one of your existing products as a useful solution. If you are launching a product, show all its features and benefits in relation to one or more common problems.
A product-based webinar is your chance to show off your new item and create buzz about it. Set up a special webinar-only price for it. The information you provide shouldn’t be a glorified ad for the item. It should give your target audience information they really want. The context will drive the sale.
As most of you know Instagram is a picture-sharing social network. Users can upload pictures they take and share them on their profile. Instagram has a fan base of over 800 million users that are eager to interact with the brands they love.
You can harness the power of Instagram to send traffic back to your website. Like all social networks, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind before you get started…
Include your link. When you’re signing up for Instagram, make sure you include a link to your website in your bio. Instagram doesn’t make links clickable on the website or through their app, except for the link on your profile.
This means if you want to get free traffic from Instagram and potential subscribers you’ll need to use your bio for that. Many brands put a link to their most recent blog post or content piece in their bio. They update this link each time they add new content.
Once you share a photo and you want to direct users back to your website, say something like: “Link in bio” or “Read in bio”. This lets your followers know to click on the link in your profile if they want to read your latest content.
Use hashtags. Hashtags are one of the most popular features on Instagram. It’s how users find content they enjoy and the social network allows you to use as many hashtags as you’d like.
Just make sure the hashtags you’re using are relevant to your post. Otherwise, you may get flagged as a spammer and have your account shut down.
If you’re not sure what hashtags to use, there are plenty of websites that can help you research this information. Try a site like TagBlender or Hashtags for Likes.
Include a call-to-action. When you’re creating a post on Instagram, ask your viewers to take the next step by including a call to action. This is where you’d say something like, “Visit our website to read the full post.” But you don’t want to just ask viewers to do that or they may stop noticing your CTA.
Mix it up sometimes by asking viewers to double tap your photo (this signifies a ‘like’ on the platform), tag a friend, or leave a comment. All of these activities create engagement, which drives the post higher in the news feed, leading to more views.
Create a branded hashtag. Since hashtags are a huge part of Instagram, use that to your advantage. Come up with a branded hashtag for your product or service.
Tell followers to use this tag when posting about you. For example, if you sell planners, then encourage your customers to share a peek into their weekly planning session with the hashtag you chose.
When their followers see the hashtag, they’re likely to click on it and discover your brand. Then they’ll be more likely to follow you on Instagram and click through to your website and want to learn more about you and sign up for your list.
I don’t know about you but I love to do online quizzes and I think they are a great way to bring in potential subscribers and they help you get to know your subscribers better, not only that, quizzes are also great for your online business.
One of the keys to understanding your subscribers is knowing what it is that they like. If you can learn more about your potential subscribers personality that’s even better. This allows you to market to your potential audience with an in a way that will grab their attention because you’ll know them and what it is that they need.
Here are a few benefits of using quizzes in your business:
You Get to know your subscriber better, what they like.
Understand your audience’s personality
Get the feedback you’ve been looking for in your business
Grow a strong email list
Earn money by up-selling your sign-ups to your next paid offer
When you add quizzes to your business, get ready to earn more money and monetize your potential clients’ interest.
When you roll out quizzes in a fun and creative way, you’ll be able to:
Become the go-to person in your niche
Boost your authority and build visibility
Capture the attention of your ideal client market
Build your following and increase traffic to your website as well as social media platforms
Sell your services, courses, and programs to anyone who signs up!
So not only do you build your list but you have fun doing it too and remember create your quiz with your potential client’s personality in mind, after all like attracts like.
