Top 2 Ways to Enter the Conversation Already Happening In Your Prospect's Head

You've heard that adage before, haven't you? It's akin to walking over to someone, standing beside them, making them feel very comfortable with you, and then gently, subtly, asking them to walk with you.

They'll go along with you quietly and in agreement almost every time.

Contrast that with standing far away from someone and shouting to them that they need to come stand where you're standing or else... Or else they're stupid, or else they're missing out, or else they're making a mistake, etc.

This is the point where most prospects dig their heels in and say, “Oh yeah? I don't think so!”

Can you blame them?

This is why you want to start where they are. What do they already think or know about your niche, about your product or service, or about you?

If prospects routinely believe your offer is too good to be true, lead with that. “I know what you're thinking... this is simply too good to be true. I thought the exact same thing myself, but then I discovered that...”

They might think this isn't the right solution to their particular problem. “You might feel that in your case, our product won't make the difference you need and want. I felt the exact same way when I had this problem, but what I found was this product not only ____ and ____, it also ___...”

You might start with the problem itself. Your prospect is in financial difficulty, so talk about what that feels like, how it affects them, how it makes life difficult, etc.

Check out our blog for even more top notch info

And here's an entirely different way to start where they are in their minds, and that's to begin with whatever it is that everyone is talking about right now.

For example, let's say you're sending out an email and the big story today is the revolution in another country, or new photos from space, or some crazy thing the government is doing. Whatever it is, the story is plastered all over the news. You can lead with that and gracefully tie it in with your marketing message.

Celebrities are fantastic for this. People love celebrities: Movie stars, rock stars, sports stars, etc. Start out talking about the latest celebrity news and tie it into what you want to say.

For some inexplicable reason, celebrity is frequently confused with credibility. Thus when you tie a celebrity in with your product, even when it's perfectly clear that they are not actually related in any way, it elevates the status of your product in the customers' eyes. Strange but true.

Using the news or celebrities necessitates creativity on your part. Make sure it's in good taste, and that it makes sense. Also, when possible, make it entertaining. In fact, always strive to be interesting and entertaining – your customers will love you for it.

One last thing – if you don't know what's going on in your prospect's minds, it's time to find out. Hit up social media to find out what's being talked about, or go to the forums to see what problems people are having. You'll discover enough in 15 minutes of research to craft a half dozen marketing messages that all begin with you entering the conversation in your prospect's head.

Why You Need to Specialize

A hundred years ago a shop might have tried to be many things to most people. In fact, big box stores still do that today, with good success. Walmart is everything and all things to those looking for the cheapest price. But even they repel customers – namely those people who value service and quality over price.

These days it pays to specialize. Rather than trying to be most things to most people, you want to do one thing and do it really, really well. If you teach gardening techniques, rather than teaching everything to every gardener, pick a focus such as organic vegetable gardening. If you teach marketing, teach it to a very specific audiences, such as chiropractors or coffee shops or contractors.

Yes, you'll be repelling the vast majority of customers, but you'll also be attracting the exact prospects you can help the most. And in so doing, you can also charge accordingly.

After all, who commands the highest price – the person who teaches generic marketing techniques to anyone and everyone? Or the specialist who teaches plumbers to build their businesses to seven figures? Every time, it will be the specialist. If you don't believe it, look at the health care industry, one of the biggest businesses of all. Who makes more – a general practitioner or a heart surgeon? Specializing pays, and it pays big.

One more benefit of specializing and perhaps the most important of all is this: You become the ONLY choice. When a dentist wants advice on building his practice and he's faced with 10 choices – 9 of whom do marketing for any kind of business and 1 who works exclusively with dentists, there simply is no competition. Even if your prices are double or triple of your so called competitors, because you are the specialist you will win the business nearly every time and almost without trying.

Bottom line: Know exactly who your target audience is, become their ONLY choice, and repel everyone else who is not a good fit. You'll attract better customers who appreciate you more and are happy to pay for your specialized service and products.

Why Should I Bother Publishing Content?

If you're currently working at something other than publishing – affiliate or CPA marketing, perhaps – then you might wonder why you would want to bother publishing your own content. Publishing isn't for everyone, but there are several very good reasons why you might want to consider it.

1. You can be the good guy. People are looking for answers, for help and for solutions to their problems. You and your content can make a real difference in their lives. And by making that difference, you become....

2. The expert. The go-to person. The big kahuna that people respect. You're the trusted authority and now opportunities are coming to you in the form of free advertising on social media, affiliates, joint venture proposals and so forth. Which brings us to...

3. A greater income and additional income sources. You're now monetizing your expertise by selling products and courses.

So what kinds of content can you create and publish?

• Blog Posts
• Websites
• Short Reports
• eCourses
• eBooks
• eMails
• Kindle Books
• Actual Books
• Workbooks
• Resources Lists
• Infographics
• eNewsletters
• Print Newsletters
• Magazines
• Interviews
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Webinars

• Podcasts
• Slide Shows
• Video Courses
• Audio Courses
• Home Study Courses
• Step-by-step Tutorials
• Templates
• Presentations
• Screencasts
• Cheat Sheets
• Buyers Guides
• Membership Sites
• Member Forums
• Top Lists
• Stories
• Mindmaps
• Live Events
• Apps
• Software

More ideas...

• You can publish content everywhere – your site, your blog, your member's area, your newsletter, etc.

• You can give away content – such as an ebook or ecourse – to build your email list

• You can record audio and / or video versions of your book and sell it.

• You can hold live webinars or in person workshops, then sell the recordings.

• You can build traffic by sharing great content such as infographics and top lists on social media.

• You can create video courses to sell and promote your video courses by giving away snippets of the course, or a 'lighter' version.

• You can interview experts and use the interviews and the transcripts as products or giveaways or as content on a paid membership site.

• You can combine your articles and blogposts into Kindle books.

If you're not yet creating and publishing content, you might be missing out on a world of opportunities. And if you are, you might want to consider adding new types of content to further expand your reach, your business and your bottom line.

Check out more great information to help you get your online business moving forward at LakesideProfits.com

How to Find Affiliate Marketing Offers

There are many different sites that you can use to find affiliate marketing offers. 

Clickbank is one of the most well-known and also very popular and it focus on digital informational products. Clickbank is a great place to start if you are new to affiliate marketing because it has a wide variety to choose from and it's very easy to get started. Clickbank lets you, as an affiliate, sell electronic products even if you do not have a merchant account and the commissions generally range from 50% to 75% of the sale. Right now, Clickbank boasts over 100,000 affiliates that are selling over 10,000 products. 

In order to choose the right products, most people look at the "Gravity" and popularity score which is assigned to each product. The easy definition of gravity is a measure of how much competition there is for the particular product - however, the actual measurement is derived by a more complicated formula. In general, you do want a comparatively high gravity when looking for a product to promote, but not so high that it is too hard for you to compete. 

Commission Junction (CJ) is another popular site that has many affiliate marketing offers from which to choose. The merchants that put their products and services on Commission Junction tend to be bigger and more established companies who are experienced in product development, marketing, and promotion. CJ also offers many types of promotional links for its affiliates. So, you can promote the products and services that you choose with banners, text links, product links, and search boxes. 

Amazon was one of the founders of the affiliate movement and it is a noteworthy affiliate network to join if you want to sell products from your site or blog. While the commissions with Amazon are generally lower, it is extremely easy to get set up with promoting products on your blog or website, and it is much easier to make sales with these products. And you can even choose to set up what is known as an Amazon aStore. Another handy feature of Amazon is that it offers context link ads and Widgets. 

If you want to take your analysis a step further, you can take a look at OfferVault.com. This site allows you to search for the type of product or service you would like to promote and then gives you a list of all of the platforms that offer these products and services. Offervault offers both CPA and affiliate network offers and it is completely free for affiliates and publishers alike which makes it accessible to everyone -- even the newcomers to the affiliate marketing game. This site can save you lots of time in searching for the right product or service to promote and comparing various products/services and networks. New affiliate marketing offers are added daily to this site.

Content Marketing Tips

With so much emphasis being made on quality content for search engine placement, there has been a rise in the interest of content marketing. But a lot of questions still remain as to how to create an effective content marketing strategy. Here is a strategy that focuses on the three main concerns of content marketing – findability, shareability, and convertability.

FINDABILITY

Previous SEO strategies included keyword stuffing and keyword density, but those strategies do not work anymore, in fact, will even get your site penalized in the search engines. The best way to create search engine friendly content is with a combination of the following methods.

Create High Quality Content

There are several factors to be taken into consideration in order to create quality content. The content must be directed toward a specific audience and address a concern they may have. The information included in the article must be detailed and perhaps even present a new or unique solution to the problem. It is also recommended that you have mapped a visitor’s journey toward a specific goal (a purchase) and know where on the map the content you are creating will be.

Use Relevant Keywords

Is the content you are creating informational or transactional? Know what kind of keywords searchers use when looking for these types of information and use them in your content. The content should provide an answer to the search phrase.

Create Meaningful Interactions

Once a user has clicked through to your site from the search engine, what they do or how they interact with the page is the engagement metric that the search engines will use to determine your content’s relevance to the search term. Content that answers the search query will grab the visitor’s attention and keep them on the site for a while. If the visitor doesn’t immediately see what they are looking for, they are likely to hit the back button, which is called a “bounce.”

Stay Fresh

It’s not just important to have high quality content on your site. It’s important to be consistently adding new high quality content on your site. Search engines love to see new content on a site and new content will bring viewers back to consume your new content.

Consistently providing new quality content on your site will also help brand you and your site as an authority on the subject.

SHAREABILITY

Visitors that find your content useful, insightful, unique, or funny are going to be more likely to share your content with others. When others share your content, it not only helps generate traffic and increase your search placements, it builds other’s trust in you.

But just what makes content share-worthy? According to the NY Times study, “The Psychology of Sharing,” key factors that influence sharing include:

·         People need to trust you and the accuracy of your content in order to want to share your content.

·         Content that is simple is more likely to be shared.

·         Things that are funny, convey urgency, or connect people to a cause are thought to be share-worthy.

Check out our website (which is full of make money online tips) at http://LakesideProfits.com

The study also revealed a few motivations that people have for sharing:

·         To bring valuable or entertaining content to others

·         To define themselves to others (by sharing things that reinforce an image they would like to present)

·         To connect to other people that share their interests

·         To get feedback and interact with others

·         To get the word out about a cause or brand

Keep these key factors and motivations in mind when creating content. Spark people’s interests by providing a different take on the subject or an opposing point of view. Bring new issues to the forefront and share new tools and resources.

The most important part of shareability is to make it easy to share! Don’t forget to include share buttons for all the major social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc.

CONVERTABILITY

You can create great content that gets shared or even goes viral, but all the views in the world will not do you much good if the content doesn’t convert. Whether you want to make a sale or gain another subscriber for your list, if your content isn’t compelling readers to take some kind of action, your content isn’t working.

The first step in creating content that converts is to know your audience. Create profiles of kinds of people to visit your site and consume your content. What are their needs and desires? Know what step of the buying process are they on and provide information geared for that step and provide a path to drive them forward to the next step until they reach a purchase.

Quality content that no one sees doesn’t do you any good. Quality content that gets lots of views but doesn’t generate any sales is equally as useless. You have to strive to create quality content that people want to share and will convert visitors into customers.

3 Things that Matter in SEO

Organic search results are the goal for your SEO efforts and it’s likely the greatest source of your site’s traffic. But with Google’s algorithm constantly changing and updating, it’s difficult to know what to do.

Searchmetrics conducted an analysis of the top 30 placements for 10,000 keywords and discovered three common factors for the pages that ranked highest in Google.

Quality Content

Gone are the days of keyword stuffing. It is also a poor strategy to target a certain keyword density within your content. It is more important to provide relevant, high-quality content that is easy to understand and provides a comprehensive explanation of the topic.

In fact, the average word count on the top ranking pages increased by 25 percent from 2014. Another factor that is weighing heavily today is the Flesch readability of the content, which measures how easy or difficult it is to read an article. Longer quality content comes from an in-depth and comprehensive explanation of the topic at hand that not only delves deeper into the subject, but is also clear and easy to understand.

Semantic analysis of the top-ranking pages also provided evidence that the content not only gave in-depth explanations, but also touched on related subjects. By giving deeper explanations and touching on closely related topics, the content naturally has more related keywords with which to rank and possibly provide more traffic. These keywords came naturally from the text and not artificially inserted for a higher keyword density.

The content of these pages had a proportion of “proof terms” that were closely related to the subject of the article of around 78 percent and a proportion of “relevant terms” more loosely connected to the subject of around 51 percent. Following this example, it would not be unnatural for an article discussing “wedding plans” to have key terms of “bridal gown” and “wedding reception” and secondary terms of “catering” and “floral arrangements.”

User Experience

Websites that rank higher also tend to provide a better user experience for the visitor as well. The sites tend to make use of bullet points and other features to make content easier to read. They also use more menus, buttons, and other interactive features to make the site easier to use.

With a high percent of searches coming from mobile devices, it’s no surprise that over 30 percent of the highest ranking pages come from websites designed to automatically optimize pages for mobile users, tablets and computers.

These high-ranking pages also include more internal links to other articles for users to find additional related material. Links to other articles must point to relevant articles that adds value to the user’s experience.

Backlinks

SEO experts have known for a long time that a variety of links from other sites will help increase a site’s rankings. However, this method has been abused in the past and Google will penalize sites for links it considers false or unnatural. Recent changes in Google’s algorithm have been somewhat successful at weeding those links out.

Backlinks still seem to have a fairly high impact on a site’s rankings, but that impact is declining as Google has made greater advances in understanding user behavior and content semantics. However, backlinks do still carry weight in a site’s rankings.

The best way to get these backlinks is to provide quality content that other sites will want to link to.

It is clear that if you want to rank high in the search engines, the best way to do so is to provide good quality content, a good user experience, and the backlinks will follow.

If you would like us to assess the SEO capabilities of your website visit us at http://TorquaySEO.co.uk

Keeping it Stupidly Simple!

Keep it Simple Stupid

The main principles behind the Keep It Stupidly Simple System are speed and simplicity.   

Far too often in IM, people will create grand plans for their business… 

…Plans that include every single thing they have read and learnt.   
Plans that incorporate all the elements of every successful marketer they have come into contact with. 
On paper these plans look fantastic, but unfortunately the vast majority never get any further than the page. 
I know this for a fact because this is something I experienced time and time again when I was starting out; lots of good intention and effort and zero to show for it. 
The thing is the initial motivation and excitement that creates the grand plan doesn’t last that long for most of us.   
Before very long the ‘Doubt Gremlins’ poke their noses in.  They provide that inner dialogue that usually sounds something like: 
‘Who do you think you are, thinking you can make it online’ 
‘You’ve never done anything like this before, you’re bound to fail’ 
‘You’re tool old/young/fat/skinny (delete as applicable) to succeed’  
etc, etc.   
I’m sure you could add your own ‘Doubt Gremlins’ inner voice favourite! 

So the idea behind my KISS System is to strip things down to the bare minimum and use the blitzkrieg principle on your ‘Doubt Gremlins’  (blitzkrieg : meaning lightening war). 
Get something up and running before the ‘Doubt Gremlins’ have even pulled their undies on. 
Although the KISS System, in itself, is not going to make you rich, it WILL create momentum for you, which in turn creates motivation and it will also create the foundation from which you CAN create a significant online income. 
So in summary, as you read the current steps, DON’T try to create the prefect version or over think it, just follow the steps one at a time and get it done…quickly 
You are not looking for perfection, you are looking for results.   
Good enough will do and then use the learning points to improve later versions. 
The system itself takes for granted that you understand the importance of building a list of individuals who all have an interest in a particular niche or topic. 

Grab the Keep it Stupidly Simple Report

Pop your best email in below and get instant access.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Email Address

I'd like to receive the free email course. We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit