Archive for Pathway to Profits – Page 3

Your Business and the Web: Getting Better?

How has your business been affected by the Web? Have you felt the difference like a Tsunami or a soft summer drizzle? I’m curious.

I know it’s completely changed my life and the way I work. Both the quantity and quality of my business are vastly improved in terms of marketing ease, deliverability and profits.

Yikes, …I feel an urge to create a new poll coming on! But hang on, I need to clarify my ideas first…

I know people who are still doing business without the Web, saying things like,

  • “My clients don’t spend time surfing the Internet.”
  • “I get all my customers from referrals.”
  • “I’ve got a local business, I use Yellow Pages.”

Others may have put up a crappy 1-4 page website and then wondered why it doesn’t bring in leads. And these people are all smart professionals, they’re not idiots, they’re all busy and profitable.  They’re just not web-savvy.

There are those who started a blog because they heard that would bring in business. And they want to know why they aren’t on the first page of searches.

So, no, the Web hasn’t changed the way most people do business. Just some of us. I know there are many who feel it’s just too overwhelming to learn, especially now with all the social media chatter. To them, it’s not a Tsunami but a giant sink hole of wasted time and energy. Read More→

Why Use a WP Sales Page Template?

Have you tried to create a landing page using WordPress? I have. And I know others have too. You can waste a lot of time and still not get a professional looking page that works to get people to buy or sign up.

Last Thursday, I interviewed Suzanne Bird-Harris, a programmer who developed the WP Sales Page template.

Now Suzanne is pretty tech-savvy and she’s also an expert in WordPress. So when she says this is next to impossible to create a good-looking sales page in WordPress without using a sales page template, I believe her. In fact, I tried to do this once myself, so I know.

I ended up paying someone to create a web page for me, in html. But since WP is so easy to use, I knew there must be a better way.

There is. If you’d like to know how to use a landing page template within your WP blogging platform, I suggest you read this page here, describing how the WP Sales Page template works: WP Sales Page… and yes, it’s an affiliate link because I love this product. It saves me time and energy.

Here are a few notes we discussed during the interview webcast… Read More→

Sales & Landing Pages Using WordPress: Learn How

If  you want to learn about formatting sales and landing pages using WordPress, please register for the free Webinar I’m hosting Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 4 p.m. ET.

I’m interviewing Suzanne Bird-Harris, developer of the WP Sales Page wizard. We’ll show you how to easily publish pages using your WordPress platform. The class is on the phone and on the Internet, your choice.

Can’t make the call? I’ll send you the audio file, plus any notes, but you’ll need to register:

Name
Email

Want to learn more about this great $37 product that makes landing pages easy to format and publish? Here’s Suzanne’s product page (affiliate link): WordPress Sales Page information.

There are a few drawbacks to using WP, if you are using it for product pages, affiliate product landing pages or email squeeze pages: Read More→

8 Ways to Use a WordPress Sales Page

Do you know how many ways a sales page can be used? I woke up thinking about this… because maybe you don’t think a “sales page” is something you need except once in a while for a product launch, when you’re trying to sell something.

Some people call them landing pages, or squeeze pages. I think the term was meant to squeeze your email address out of you, how weird is that? So let’s be clear about what kind of circus animal we’re going to be training to sit up and do tricks on our free teleseminar this Thursday.

Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 4 p.m. ET I’m interviewing Suzanne Bird-Harris on how to use a WordPress platform to create great sales pages. We’ll talk about format styles, different ways to use a page, and key elements that work to build trust. If you can’t attend, you will be sent the audio file and access to our power point presentation, if you register. You can register here:

Name
Email

Here’s my definition of the sales page beast: an attractive, compelling page published on the Internet that is optimized for search engines and designed to persuade a defined group of readers to take one specific action. Read More→

Rant: The Problem with Formatting Sales Pages..

Even when you’re giving something away, for FREE, you’ve got to write good “sales” copy that spurs people into action. In today’s info-crammed world, that means you’ve got to grab busy peoples’ attention, and get them to click, and get them so excited that they take the time to type in their email address in exchange for your offer.

Unless you’re Naomi Dunsford of IttzBiz and know how to skillfully weave obscenities into headlines or emails, what cha gonna do? There are Internet gurus who’ve made millions teaching us lowly common folk with Ph.D.s how to sell socks to centipedes.

Entire Web fortunes have been made. Bare with me, I’m just getting started with this rant…

You think you’ve written a fairly decent sales letter, you’ve got all your benefits, your “AIDA“… (you’ve remembered to grab Attention, gain their Interest, spark Desires, address objections and ask for Action – with a sense of urgency, of course  – but you’re far from done.

The fun is just beginning. Now you’ve got to format your sales letter landing page, with a dynamite headline, cool graphics, arrows, ORDER NOW! buttons, subheadings, testimonials, bonuses…

Ay, ay, Chihuahua! (as we say down here in my home town of Ajijic, Mexico.)

Creating Great Sales Pages Read More→

WordPress Beats Out Typepad 4 to 1 in Poll

Two-thirds of readers of this blog use WordPress as a blogging platform,  according to results of the poll set up 6 days ago. If you haven’t voted yet, please do so here.

Typepad users make up 14.5% of my blog readers, and the other platforms are in the single digits. Of WordPress users, 25.3% use a platform hosted by WordPress.com, 44% use a self-hosted WordPress blog.

Because of the overwhelming majority who use WordPress, my next teleseminar will be designed for WP users. Specifically, I’m going to interview an expert about how to create a sales page using WordPress. Stay tuned for a date, and… of course, a WP sales page where you can sign up for the free class and learn more WordPress tips.

As you probably know, I switched from a Typepad hosted blog a couple of months ago to self-hosted WordPress, with a Headway theme. So far, I’m very pleased with both the ease of posting, the design and widget features, and the SEO results. Read More→

9 Ways to Use LinkedIn for Smart Professionals

How Business Owners Can Benefit From LinkedIn’s Features, this week’s featured guest post, by Carol Tice, Make a Living Writing blog.

LinkedIn is a highly useful social-media site for business owners looking to connect with prospective customers, suppliers, partners, or other businesses in their town. If you haven’t already built a profile on LinkedIn, I recommend it. Get on, fully flesh out your profile, and start connecting with people you already know.

LinkedIn has a reputation as a social-media channel with a very businesslike “flavor,” and that’s one of the reasons I like it. People aren’t on there to talk about what their dog ate this morning…they’re there to grow their business.

LinkedIn offers many ways for you to make new connections. Each connection you make connects you to all of that person’s connections indirectly.

Once you’re on, you’ll get invitations to connect. There are different schools of thought about how to respond — some people only connect to people they know well, while others accept anyone who asks. I guess I’m somewhere in between: unless they’re really spammy or not remotely someone who would ever be a prospective client or good referrer for my business, I usually approve friend requests to keep my network growing.

Some of the features I like best on LI (in no particular order): Read More→

6 Ways Blog Formatting Engages the Reader’s Brain

What are the two most important parts of your business blog post? Most experts will tell you this:

  1. The headline
  2. The call to action

The headline is what gets read and spread. It’s your “shout-out” on social media sites, in feed readers, email updates. It’s the bait on your fishing hook which draws people over to your blog site to read your stuff.

Writing magnetic headlines is crucial. And you know yourself that a well-crafted headline gets more traffic than a bland one.

The call to action is what gets you business results and turns readers into clients. Even when it’s not a direct “go-buy-click-here” request, it’s part of your funnel process. It starts the participation process.

But hold on there, wait a minute. There are 6 ways to format your blog posts that will  help prime your readers for action. It happens before you ask readers to do something. It must happen, otherwise your readers won’t even read your complete post, they won’t get to the call to action part.

You must engage their brains. You must get inside their heads by triggering unconscious desires and thoughts.

Okay, that sounds a bit oowy-woowy and sneaky, maybe even dangerous. I’m not talking hypnotic suggestions or even tapping into Freudian drives of sex or fear…(although, heck, that sure works, too!)

But if your blog content doesn’t appeal to one of several persuasion triggers (reciprocity, social proof, etc.) then you’re not doing enough with your posts. Your readers may scan your post, without getting their thought processes going, and move on.

It’s not complicated. You’re probably already doing it (unconsciously)! How?

1. Every time you tell a story, you’re tapping into primitive drives to listen and pay attention. As humans, we’re wired to sit up, pay attention, and become alert when someone says, “Let me tell you a story…” Read More→

How to Convert Readers into Clients on Your Blog

If a blog is the best marketing tool on the planet, then how does it convert readers to clients?

It may seem like a stretch… like building a bridge over a river and leading readers across. Dare I attempt a pun … like, how do you lead them Over the River Buy? (Please don’t groan while I’m trying to entertain you…)

What’s the most important thing to remember when you’re writing for your business blog? I’m not sure I can answer that in a simple sentence, but let me try. I always say that providing solutions to problems is important, but then there’s…:

  • Write useful, relevant posts that exceed reader’s expectations
  • Educate readers, but try to entertain them while doing it
  • Engage readers, get them to think, stimulate new ways of looking at something
  • Enrich people’s lives, save them time, energy or money
  • Share resources that can help readers
  • Unravel the mysteries, make something complicated easy to understand
  • Provide a road map with directions on how to do something, including memory short-cuts
  • Build trust with readers so they ask for products and services Read More→

What Makes You Mad?

In a previous post about What Drives You, I explored some of the personal reasons behind my energy and drive in my business. This is important for you to do as well. As you work in any business, especially your own, you should know at the deepest levels where your fire is.

Keep asking yourself “why?” and “how come?” you are driven to do what you do. Where is your fire? What makes you angry? There is energy in anger, and when you uncover it, it will keep you motivated.

I’m not talking about the unhealthy kind of anger, the kind where you try to get back at someone for some real or imagined insult.

Look at your anger in terms of a higher purpose. How can you use your anger for a higher good?

Read More→