Saturday, April 30, 2016

Rainmaker Rewind: How to Book Engaging Podcast Interviews

Rainmaker.FM rewind


According to The Showrunner hosts Jerod Morris and Jon Nastor, there is one path that stands above all others as the simplest way to build an audience of responsive and loyal listeners.


It's a path that removes the burden of constant content creation, places you at the forefront of a brand, and harnesses the power of experts and their audiences.


This path is an interview-based podcast.


showrunner-056


In this week's episode of The Showrunner, Jerod and Jonny thoroughly discuss the essential steps necessary to book engaging interview guests for your podcast - from tips about finding guests, to crafting your pitch to increase the odds of getting a “yes,” and all the way to tools you can use to make the process simple and effective.


Listen, learn, enjoy


Here are two more episodes you shouldn't miss this week:


elsewhere-018


Brian Clark and The Side Hustle Show host Nick Loper dive into the details of monetizing a blog, what it's like to start a blog today, and what it means to be “unemployable.”


Elsewhere:

Brian Clark on The Side Hustle Show


pink-059


Sonia Simone has a short episode for you this week, honoring the life of Prince and sharing some ideas about leadership, community, and building something that matters.


Confessions of a Pink-haired Marketer:

Leadership, Categories of One, and Purple Rain


And one more thing …


If you want to get my Rainmaker Rewind pick of the week sent straight to your favorite podcast player, subscribe right here on Rainmaker FM.


See you next week.


The post Rainmaker Rewind: How to Book Engaging Podcast Interviews appeared first on Copyblogger.


How A Trio Of Immigrants May Dominate The Background Check Business

Onfido is leveling the playing field for migrants.

Friday, April 29, 2016

The $100,000 Challenge: March Update

march update


We finally finished the last month of the $100,000 challenge. March was an awesome month for Nutrition Secrets. Not only did the traffic grow to 218,811 visitors, but revenue did too-it went up to $121,492.65.


It wasn't hard to hit the revenue goals as we had enough fish oil in stock, plus we started to generate money from affiliate sales.


So let's dive right in…


Traffic


Compared to February, the traffic went up to 218,811 visitors and 269,814 pageviews. The increase was only 18,102, which isn't much.


But considering that the popularity of nutrition and fitness sites is cyclical (January and February are most popular) and that Mike didn't blog much on NutritionSecrets.com in March, it wasn't too bad.


Overall, Mike has slowed down on the blogging front. Over the next few months, he wants to try a few fun content formats such as infographics and wants to see what happens if we were to dump a few hundred grand into the blog. It won't be much of an experiment at that point, but we are just curious to see if we can get the blog to a million visitors a month.


traffic sources


Nonetheless, the traffic isn't performing too badly. Even in April, the traffic has been on an upward trend while little to no effort has been put into the blog since the challenge has been over.


Revenue


The revenue is a bit more complicated to breakdown as it is coming from two sources now: Amazon and affiliates.


In March, revenue from Amazon hit $112,573.30.


amazon revenue


There are a few key elements to growing Amazon sales:



  1. Reviews – the more people you can get to leave a review, the better off you are. Most people don't even read the reviews, but if they are high in ratings and you have tons in quantity, you are in good shape. If you have a blog that's driving sales, a great way to get more reviews is through marketing automation. You can promote the product to your email list, and then after a few weeks of promoting your product to those people, you would send an automated email asking them to leave a review. You won't really know who bought the product, but you would still put the review email-applicable to a portion of your list-in your sequence.

  2. Keywords – with Amazon, you can add keywords. Most people add basic ones like “fish oil,” but as you know, it is all about the long tail. Amazon opened it up so you can stuff hundreds of keywords now, and with the use of Google Keyword Planner, you can come up with popular variations. You'll then start ranking for tons of keywords on Amazon.

  3. Combating negative Amazon reviews – similarly to what happens when people employ negative SEO, competitors sabotage your Amazon listing by taking up your front page with terrible reviews. They do this to tank your sales so they can generate more income. You fight this by building up your email list on your blog and continually blasting out to your list when you have bad reviews, asking your readers to up-vote the positive ones.

  4. Ads – Amazon allows ads on its platform. Whether it is profitable or not, ads help you generate more sales. And if you can increase your sales velocity, you'll find that your listing climbs up higher and starts to stick-it stays up there even after your ads stop showing. Sure, other people can do the same thing, but most don't.


As for affiliate income, we started to push stuff by the Truth About Abs guys. We started doing email blasts to our list in order to generate the sales, and it has been working out well. The copy isn't too bad, but there are two reasons it's working out well.


aweber



  1. We collect a lot more emails – we are generating 300 to 400 email sign-ups a day. It's much larger than our previous numbers for one reason: we turned off double opt-in. Aweber usually requires double opt-in when you use third-party software to collect emails, but Mike called Aweber and got them to disable double opt-ins.

  2. Good copy – our copy converts well. You can see an example email below. And we have many more emails like this in the sequence. So, we continually send you affiliate offers over time, which helps.


Here is the email copy we have been testing:


Email – This plant food HARMS your metabolism & heart


Hi {!firstname_fix}


Sometimes it's not the enemy you know that's the problem, but the friend you think you know.


In this case, I'm talking about nutrition in foods. It's common knowledge that stuff like sugary drinks are just plain bad for you. The best you can say is that your body can absorb the bad effects if you only have them occasionally.


But what about foods you thought weren't bad, and you heard were actually good for you?


I have some bad news, and some good news. The bad: some so-called “healthy” foods may be the cause of why you work so hard to eat healthy and haven't seen the results you expected. The good news: There's a solution I read about from best selling author Mike Geary.  Read on… (removed affiliate link)


Email – 2 Simple steps to REMOVE visceral belly fat (the DEADLIEST type)


Hi {!firstname_fix}


People often refer to past times as “the good old days” with a nostalgic tone. At least when it comes to many nutritional and health practices, I think of them more like the “bad old days.”


For example, people thought the wonders of science had delivered new, healthy products called “trans fats” that were featured in margarine, to replace that nasty butter. We now know that trans fats are about the worst thing you can coat your innards with.


People also thought they could do “spot reducing” of unattractive belly fat by using those jiggling-belt machines, or some other gimmick.


Well, belly fat certainly is still unattractive, and research says it's also a danger sign. But research has also identified more-effective ways of getting rid of that spare tire. Here's how. (removed affiliate link)


Email – 7 “fatty” foods for a flat stomach


Hi {!firstname_fix}


I spend full time on nutrition- and health-related activities. That's the business I'm in.


I'm also an improvement junkie, always looking for the latest, best information. So you can imagine that I've pretty much seen it all: Every product, every supplement, every type of exercise.


Most of them are underwhelming. Yawn.


I'm writing you today because I recently came across something that made me sit up and pay attention. It's a short-term blueprint for eating the right foods to burn substantial fat, and it's all explained here… (removed affiliate link)


You can find high converting offers on sites such as Clickbank. They even sort the offers by popularity. I need to get a screenshot of our Clickbank revenue and our other affiliate income sources from Mike as he created the accounts and has the logins. Once I do, I will update the post with a screenshot (we use three networks).


The total affiliate revenue was $8,919.35.


Profit


As for monthly profit, it was high…but for a different reason than you might think. When you sell tangible products, you buy tons of inventory and then sell it over the following few months. We didn't want to be out for our last month, so we spent a good chunk of money in the previous month, and, of course, we bought more in March.


Here is a breakdown of the expenses:



  • Fish oil – $68,492.52 (including Amazon fees, shipping to Amazon for Prime, coupon-related expenses, and producing more inventory)

  • Aweber – $149

  • Designer – $375 (continually tweaking the site)

  • Hosting – $249

  • Mike – free (Mike doesn't get paid, but he owns a percentage of the blog)

  • Accounting – $290 (we are now paying a bookkeeper to help out with the books)


Total expenses came out to $69,555.52.


That brings the total profit to $51,937.13.


Of course, to maintain the growth, we would have to keep buying fish oil, but after awhile, we would cap out on sales, and our margins should be a healthy 30% plus. As for March, I didn't spend much on buying tons more inventory as I wanted to show that selling supplements can be profitable.


Conclusion


Overall, the $100,000 challenge was fun, but I wouldn't do it again. It's just too much work with everything I have going on.


It was still a good learning experience. One thing I realized is how much harder it is to rank on Google today compared to 5 years ago. Almost all of my sites are old, so it is much easier for them to rank.


And although NutritionSecrets.com generated good traffic, if it were 5 years ago, the blog would have been at a million visitors a month with the same amount of effort.


So, what do you think of the $100,000 challenge?




The 5-Step Process that Solves 3 Painful Writing Problems

writing tips - how to write clear, clean content


I once asked the Copyblogger community to name their biggest writing challenges.


From the many responses, a pattern developed:



  • How to get started

  • How to cut the fluff

  • How to finish


These three issues are really symptoms of the same painful problem, which boils down to not clearly understanding what you're trying to accomplish with your writing. Don't worry … it's a fairly common ailment.


There's a five-step process you can work through that will help clarify your objectives, which leads to greater clarity in your writing.


This method also helps you kick-start any writing project (and finish it) with only the necessary elements, because you'll know exactly what you're after and how to make it happen.


Step #1: Begin with the end in mind


The most important step in the process happens before you even write a word.


You must understand your objective for the content.


You have an idea, but what's the goal? From a content marketing standpoint, you're usually seeking to educate or persuade (often both, and as we'll see in the next step, they're actually the same thing even when intentions vary).


Having a “great idea” and sitting down to write can often lead to a half-finished train wreck.


What's the “why” behind the idea? Figure this out first, or move on to another idea.


Step #2: Identify questions


Okay, so now you have a goal in mind - a mission, if you will.


What's standing in the way of your mission?


The obstacles you face are the concepts your audience does not understand yet, but must accept by the time they're finished reading. These are the questions you must answer before you can achieve the goal you've identified in Step #1.


In copywriting circles, we say an unanswered question (an objection) is a barrier to buying.


With education, an unanswered question is a barrier to learning. Education is persuasion (and vice versa) when you realize this fundamental truth.


Step #3: Write the headline and subheads


With your goal in mind and the questions you must answer identified, now you start to put things down on virtual paper.


Some people open a word processor during Step #2; I do everything up until now in my head. Do what works for you.


What promise are you making to your audience with this piece of content? What will you teach them? And why should they care? That's your working headline.


Then, each of the major questions you must answer to achieve your mission (and the promise your headline makes) becomes a subhead. Your subheads don't ultimately have to be phrased as questions, but this technique helps you compose a focused draft.


Take some time to decide if a particular question is its own subhead or part of the content below a subhead. It's simply outlining at this point.


Step #4: Fill in the blanks


Want to write lean copy?


Answer the questions designated by each subhead, and answer only that question.


Do not digress. Do not go off on a tangent.


Just answer the question. Do it as simply and clearly as possible.


Step #5: Now … edit


If you've followed these steps, you're not likely suffering from fluff.


Rather, you might find that you need to add more details or rephrase for clarity.


This is also the time to refine your language. Experienced writers can often pull the perfect turn of phrase in some places of a first draft, while in other places there are opportunities for better, more precise word choices.


Finally, review how the piece of content turned out:



  • Does your working headline still reflect the fulfilled promise?

  • Does your opening keep the momentum going?

  • Can you revise the headline, opening, and subheads so that they are even more compelling?


Over to you …


Everyone's approach to the writing process is different. This process works for me, and I wrote this article fairly quickly using the process as a demonstration.


What works for you?


Any tips you can pass along that might help your fellow content marketers?


Let us know in the comments.





Are you a writer who wants to become a Certified Content Marketer?


We open our Certified Content Marketer training to new students periodically. Click the button below to find out more.


Join the Copyblogger Writers List

Editor's note: The original version of this post was published on October 6, 2011.


The post The 5-Step Process that Solves 3 Painful Writing Problems appeared first on Copyblogger.


Thursday, April 28, 2016

Cornerstone Content Defined in 60 Seconds [Animated Video]

content marketing glossary - what is cornerstone content?


Cornerstone content is vital for both seasoned bloggers and anyone launching a brand-new website because it can help you accomplish many of your content marketing goals.


Goals like:



  • Getting links to your website

  • Finding new readers

  • Attracting subscribers

  • Ranking in search engines for competitive keywords

  • Highlighting archived material


But what exactly is cornerstone content?


Watch our short video for cornerstone content


With help from our friends at The Draw Shop, we whipped up 12 definitions from our new Content Marketing Glossary into short, fun whiteboard animated videos.


Here's our video for the definition of cornerstone content:


Animation by The Draw Shop


And for those of you who would prefer to read, here's the transcript:


Online, cornerstone content is the basic, essential, and indispensable information on your website that answers common questions, solves problems, entertains, educates, or all of the above.


The key is creating compelling content that's worth linking to and then finding ways to get the word out. A page hosting cornerstone content helps readers by pulling all of your content about a specific topic together in one place.


You'll often link to your cornerstone pages in your everyday content because they help define common topics you talk about on your website.


Each cornerstone content page is a home for related content. It groups basic, essential, and indispensable information onto one page.


Cornerstone pages let you highlight your most important archived content. They also help you attract links, get subscribers, and increase traffic.


And that's the goal of every profitable website.


Share this video


Click here to check out this definition on YouTube and share it with your audience. You'll also find 11 additional Content Marketing Glossary videos.


Additional cornerstone content resources


More in-depth cornerstone content education can be found in these articles:



Learn more from the Content Marketing Glossary


We'll feature the other videos soon, but if you don't want to wait, you can watch all the videos now by going directly to the Content Marketing Glossary.


By the way, let us know if you have any definitions you'd like us to add to the glossary! Just drop your responses in the comments below.


The post Cornerstone Content Defined in 60 Seconds [Animated Video] appeared first on Copyblogger.


Wednesday, April 27, 2016

How to Write Subheads that Hook (and Re-hook) Your Readers

lead your readers with smart subheads


Have you heard about RADD?


(I doubt it, because I just invented it.)


RADD refers to a purely made-up syndrome called Reader Attention Deficit Disorder, and almost every adult I know suffers from it.


The symptoms of RADD are:



  • Inability to read one page of a book or magazine without the urge to “look something up real quick” on a digital device

  • Extreme fidgeting whenever several pages of text must be read in one sitting

  • Aversion to fully reading and absorbing any content longer than 500 words


RADD is a result, I believe, of the excessive time we spend reading on screens and devices. Even though RADD is a made-up syndrome, the struggle to read better online is real.


As content creators, we can help make online reading easier. And one of the most powerful tools of our trade is the humble subhead.


Subheads: big results from a little line of text


In the grand scheme of your piece of content, a single subhead might not seem very important. After all, it represents a tiny percentage of your overall word count.


But I like to think of subheads as signposts.


When you're on a long road trip, it's comforting to see signs along the way that confirm you're driving in the right direction.


Subheads do this for your reader. They draw them down the page and through your content, letting them know they're moving toward a conclusion.


If you're not currently using subheads in your online content, it's time to start adding these signposts that will help make your content easier to read.


There's more - subheads actually have three jobs to do at the same time. Read on to learn how to make them work for you.


1. Subheads invite skimmers to read your content


Readers suffering from RADD appreciate well-crafted subheads because they help them decide whether they should commit their precious attention to reading your information.


To get distracted online skimmers to engage, write subheads that shamelessly promote your piece of content.


For example, let's say you're writing an article about how to design a perennial garden.


 


Instead of this subhead:


There are thousands of perennial plants available today


 


Write this subhead:


How to save money and choose the right perennials for your garden plot


 


And instead of this subhead:


Available colors for perennial flowers


 


Write this subhead:


3 tips to easily pick the perfect perennial color scheme


 


In the examples above, the second subheads promote the content better because they explain how the reader will benefit from consuming it.


If the distracted skimmer is about to start a perennial garden and she's looking for help, these subheads will convince her that this content will deliver the information she needs right now.


2. Subheads that “sell” each section keep readers engaged


Congratulations: you've hooked a reader on your piece of content.


Now use compelling subheads to “re-hook” them all the way down the page they're reading.


It's no wonder readers feel distracted while reading online. Between links that invite them to click away and read something else, to ads, notifications, and invitations to check out another part of a website, readers have to force themselves to stay on track all the way down the page and through your content.


Well-written subheads can help.


If you write them carefully, your subheads will “sell” the section they're sitting above. They serve as “ads” for each section that convince the reader to consume it.


To write subheads that invite your reader to consume each section of your content, remember to:



  • Highlight the benefit of the knowledge offered in each section.

  • Use your best headline writing skills to craft compelling subheads that inform and intrigue.

  • Focus your reader's attention on how she'll use the information that follows.


There's one more thing to remember about subheads - an extra layer of information to consider.


Read on to discover how to write subheads that become their own standalone content.


3. Subheads that tell a story make non-readers want to share


Let's face the ugly truth: sometimes trying to get RADD-afflicted readers to consume your entire piece of content is a losing battle.


Some readers simply won't read all the way through your content, despite all your best efforts to make it easy to read and to write subheads that pull them down the page.


But all is not lost. Even non-readers are valuable.


You see, even non-readers share your content. And compelling subheads that tell a story all by themselves will help convince those non-readers to spread your content to others who will read it and act on it.


The key here is to have established natural authority with your content. If these non-readers trust your site and perceive it as a reliable resource, they will share your content without even consuming it themselves.


After you've written your subheads, go back through and look at them again. Ask yourself:


If I only read the subheads, would I think this content is valuable?


If you can't answer “yes” to that question, edit your subheads until you can.


Eradicate RADD with subheads that hook your readers


If you're interested in improving your subhead-writing skills, you're in the right place.


We have a wealth of information here on Copyblogger that will help you polish your subheads until they hook those distracted readers and encourage them to read, consume, and share your content.


Here are my favorites:



What's your favorite subhead advice?


What's the best advice you've heard about writing compelling subheads? Enrich the information on this page by sharing your best subhead-writing techniques below.


The post How to Write Subheads that Hook (and Re-hook) Your Readers appeared first on Copyblogger.


Sugar – I Had No Idea

1fae7__64162-620-282 I'm writing this to tell you about beliefs, and how dangerous it can be to believe something. I'm not writing this to tell you to make any kind of changes in your eating habits. I want you to know this because I love sugar, things made with sugar, and I love all the fake sugars out there, too. No, friend. This is about belief. Oh, and I'm not selling anything. This is just a story.

Sugar – I Had No Idea



My buddy and business partner Rob Hatch recently did his first run through the Whole 30 diet and lost like 25 pounds in a month. Being that I needed to re-jumpstart my weight loss efforts (depression gave me back 50 pounds absolutely free!), I was motivated to give it a try.

Continue Reading

The post Sugar – I Had No Idea appeared first on chrisbrogan.com.




Tuesday, April 26, 2016

3 Surprising Stages of Successful Landing Pages

cover your bases and make your landing pages work


Landing pages support content marketing.


The tricky thing is … landing pages are not home pages. They're not blog posts, cornerstone content, white papers, case studies, product description pages, or even sales pages.


And you can't treat them like they are.


High-converting landing pages consist of three action-driving stages: before, during, and after.


Tragically, when many content marketers build landing pages, they focus on just one stage: during.


But if you don't invest effort into what happens before and after you present your landing page, it doesn't stand a chance of achieving the results you want.


1. The “before” of landing pages


While landing pages are not about you - your company, your product, or your service - the “before” stage is because you first have to establish your goal.


As Demian Farnworth said:


“[Landing pages] force readers to focus on one thing - and one thing only.”


Determining that one thing is the only time you get to be self-centered in this process. The best way to set your goal is to complete this sentence:


I want my visitor to …



Naturally, there are plenty of other actions that might be the goal of your landing page. Whatever you select, your goal should be singular: the one desired action will guide everything else.


For example, let's look at InvestorCarrot's landing page for their SEO Keyword Bible.


The crucial thing to notice isn't what's on the page, but what's left off the page.


There's no header navigation, no footer, no social media icons, and even their logo in the top left corner isn't clickable.


Essentially, there are two roads out from this landing page: “Get My Free Report Now” or “No thanks, I'll pass on this opportunity.”


investorcarrot-landingpage


InvestorCarrot knows exactly what they want their visitor to do and they eliminate every other navigation option.


The result of this singularity - along with other factors I'll address in the next two stages - is a whopping 45.89 percent conversion rate.


Take heed: when it comes to planning your landing page - the before stage - select one goal. Remove anything that doesn't support that goal.


2. The “during” of landing pages


The “during” stage of your landing page consists of five on-page elements.


1. Headline


The headline of your landing page is arguably the most crucial on-page element. Why?


Because while 8 out of 10 people read the headline, only 2 out of 10 will read the content that follows.


So, how do you create a headline that grabs, compels, and drives action?


Easy. You don't.


Instead of trying to create the perfect headline, steal it.


First, steal the heart of your headline by building it around your audience's own keywords.


Whether you drive visitors to your landing page with paid advertising (PPC) or organic search, your headline must include the words your audience uses.


This is precisely what makes our previous example so compelling. Instead of including vague keywords about SEO, the headline targets a specific audience: Simple SEO 'Hacks' To Help Real Estate Investors Get More Traffic & Leads.


Next, steal successful headline templates.


Copyblogger's How to Write Magnetic Headlines ebook is a great place to start.


You can also steal from my own 25 heaven-and-hell-themed headline formulas or go even more in depth by diagnosing your audience's “state of awareness” and then systematically crafting breakthrough headlines from inside your market's mind.


For instance, Yoobly's webinar landing page - “The $100K Case Study: How to Generate New Rockstar Prospects & Explode Your Downline Without Selling Friends & Family” - leverages a host of proven headline ingredients:


yoobly-landingpage


The landing page:



  • States the big benefit (“$100k Case Study”)

  • Appeals to those who want to learn (“How to”)

  • Offers useful information enlivened by verbs (“Generate” and “Explode”)

  • Uses direct language (“Your”)

  • Makes contrasting statements against common approaches (“Without Selling Friends & Family”)


2. Subheads


With all the information that bombards us on a daily basis, most of us scan content.


Enter the subhead.


The subheads on your landing page should not only structurally guide your reader through your major points, they should stand alone and relentlessly focus on the benefits of your call to action.


Remember that what the headline does for the page itself, subheads do for each section.


This means making your subheads enticing, bite-sized nuggets of “I just gotta keep reading” copy.


A fantastic strategy for building compelling subheads is to make a list of all your product or service's features … and then transform those features into audience-centered benefits.


Henneke's A Simple Trick to Turn Features Into Benefits (and Seduce Readers to Buy!) makes this transformation process easy by asking one question, “So what?”



“The oven preheats quickly.


So what?


It's quickly ready to start cooking your lasagna.


So what?


Your food is on the table sooner.


So what?


Life is less stressful. There's less hanging around the kitchen waiting for the oven to get ready. And you don't have to worry you might forget to preheat your oven.”


3. Body copy


Just like every other on-page element of your landing page, effective body copy does not come from you … it comes from your visitor.


Your aim should be to unearth the very words your audience already uses when they talk about your product or service.


How? By digging into user-generated content from:



  • Amazon reviews

  • Comments on blog posts

  • Customer FAQs

  • Email responses

  • Social media posts

  • Forum sites

  • Question and answer sites

  • Qualitative surveys


4. Proof


I'm sure you've heard the old saying “People buy with their hearts, then justify it with their heads.”


So while you must speak to the heart of your visitor, you also need to provide proof for their heads.


Testimonials are the primary way you provide that proof. Unfortunately, testimonials are often too general and fail at providing proof in one of two ways:



  1. They aren't framed in a problem-then-solution format.

  2. They don't highlight measurable results.


A shining example of the problem-then-solution format is Chris Brogan's testimonial for the Rainmaker Platform:


chrisbrogan-rainmakerplatform-testimonial


Brogan's testimonial nails exactly what's wrong with most content management systems - the problem - and then explains exactly how the Rainmaker Platform addresses those deficiencies for him - the solution.


How do you generate your own proof-producing testimonials?


Ask for details.


Instead of just soliciting bland reviews (or waiting for them to roll in), reach out to your customers and clients and ask them to tell you about:



  • The problem they were facing

  • How you helped them find a solution

  • The results (real data) that back up that win


5. Call to action


The call to action (CTA) is copy that asks your visitor to take your desired action. CTAs will commonly appear throughout your landing pages and at the very end.


To write your CTA buttons, you can follow Joanna Wiebe's masterful advice.


Put yourself in your visitor's shoes, and your call to action button should state how they'd finish the following sentence:


I want to _____.


That little trick is how we design buttons that say unique phrases like “Find Out How to Ride a Bike” and “Make Sense of My Finances Fast.”


3. The “after” of landing pages


So far, we've covered quite a bit of ground. However, we're not done yet.


Why?


Because even if you create a high-converting landing page with all the right on-page elements relentlessly driven by your own all-consuming and singular goal … and even if people are actually taking the action you want them to take, the job of your landing page isn't finished.


In fact, if you stop there, all your work could be for nothing.


The most neglected element of every landing page ironically isn't even on your landing page itself.


It's what comes next - the “after.”


When standard “Thanks for signing up” pages and “Click here to confirm” emails are off-putting, they squander the momentum you've worked so hard to create.


What should your follow-up look like? Here are two examples.


Let's look at InvestorCarrot's landing page again. After signing up for the SEO Keyword Bible, the new lead is redirected to the page featured below, which offers immediate access to the report itself.


investorcarrot-access


Immediate access is vital to keep the landing page's momentum rolling.


In addition to offering immediate access, the page also presents the user with two videos about the report as well as the opportunity to deepen her relationship with InvestorCarrot by signing up for a live webinar.


Your own follow-up doesn't need to have as many options.


Whenever someone signs up for my Content Creation Checklist, I send him this conversational follow-up that includes tons of white space, one link to click, and ends with a question.


iconicontent-followup


Whichever method you adopt for your own follow-up:



  1. Give your visitors immediate access to whatever they've just asked for.

  2. Write to them like one human communicating to another.


Don't ignore these two landing-page stages


When you build landing pages with these three stages, they are hinges that transform visitors into actual leads: real people with real problems in search of real solutions.


Don't make the mistake of just focusing on what's on the page: the during.


Start by selecting one goal and one goal alone: the before.


Then, don't drop the ball after all your hard work. Customize your follow-up and keep it rolling: the after.


Oh, and be sure to share in the comments if you've got a tip or landing page of your own you'd love for me to check out. However, be careful … I just might actually take a look.


The post 3 Surprising Stages of Successful Landing Pages appeared first on Copyblogger.


When You're Tapped Before Age 30: 6 Behaviors That Burn Us Out

Common burnout prescriptions?like rest, medication and vacation?can temporarily relieve our symptoms. But until we permanently alter the behaviors exacerbating our exhaustion, we?ll remain rutted

Monday, April 25, 2016

Get Your Voice Out There

Happy is the New Rich I got back from my fourth trip out to Social Media Marketing World (run by Mike Stelzner and team) and had a blast. I also came back quite inspired. Though I rail against “social media” quite often these days, I caught the thread of what it should REALLY be doing for us. It's about making sure you're out there serving, and part of that, is getting your voice out there to help. If you're not down for reading, here's a podcast episode that covers it a slightly different way, but gets the gist of it.

Get Your Voice Out There



I was reminded at this event by my friend Gary Vaynerchuk that the real value, the real opportunity, the VICTORY you can seek, is to use your voice to help others. You can connect and share and help people do amazing things in your world. It wasn't any specific thing Gary said. It's the fact that he built a huge media business around himself that continues to generate more and more business opportunities for him and the organization. And I'm not saying to clone what Gary does (you CAN'T be Gary – he's singularly a force!), but instead, to think about how YOUR voice can serve others.

Continue Reading

The post Get Your Voice Out There appeared first on chrisbrogan.com.




I Hope You Had A Good Tax Season, Because Next Year Is Going To Be A Nightmare

Busy season is over. Last Tuesday, tens of thousands of tax preparers simultaneously emerged from their months-long social cocoon in desperate need of nap, a tan, and a treadmill.

The Complete Guide to the Google Analytics Add-on for Google Sheets

google analytics


SEOs and marketers always have a lot on their plates.


That's why we care so much about tools that save us time.


Any chance you get to automate some of your work is one that you should take.


That's why when I first came across the Google Analytics add-on for Google Sheets, I knew I had to share it with you in a post.


What exactly is this add-on, and why is it useful? I'm going to assume you know what Google Analytics is.


But you may not know what Google Sheets is. It's essentially the free spreadsheet competitor to Excel that Google has developed over the years.


The best part is your spreadsheets can live in the cloud and be worked on by multiple people at the same time.


The add-on I'll show you how to use allows you to pull data from your Google Analytics account using the API and create reports with it.


Not only that, you can re-run these reports at any time.


That's really powerful because once you create a report, you don't have to spend time remaking it.


Whether you work for clients or do marketing for an internal team, you can generate these reports on a regular basis for your meetings and progress reviews.


Why would you want this? If it's not clear yet, it will be soon. Playing with data in Google Analytics is fine, but it's not the most usable interface.


Compare that to a spreadsheet, where you can use a ton of different functions (like filtering, custom graphing, etc.) on the data you retrieve.


Additionally, it's really easy to generate those reports on a regular basis and make improvements whenever you'd like.


At this point, you should know if this add-on is going to make your life easier or not. If you know it will, keep reading on, and I'll show you the ins and outs of it. 


Step 1: Install the add-on


Installing the add-on is easy.


Start by opening a new Google Sheet.


Then, click on the “add-ons” menu option at the top, and choose “get add-ons.”


A new window will pop up. Type in “Google analytics” into the search box at the top right side, then press “Enter.”


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There should be one obvious add-on with the Google Analytics name and symbol. Click it, then press the “+free” button on the next window to install it.


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The add-on should now be installed for use with all your future sheets.


Click on the “add-ons” menu again, and you should see a new listing for “Google Analytics.”


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If you don't see it there, you may have to refresh the page.


Finally, you should get a pop-up at some point, telling you the link to the support forum, but if you didn't get it, here's the link. If the add-on is not working correctly, that's where you should post your questions.


Step 2: Create your first report


This add-on, while it should simplify your life, can actually be a little overwhelming if you dive right in.


In this section, we'll create an example report and go over the basic settings and options you have.


Start by going back to the Google Analytics option in the “add-ons” menu, and this time, click on “Create new report.”


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Once you do that, a menu like the one below should show up on the right hand side of your screen:


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In order for this to work, you need to be signed in (in Sheets) to the same Google account that you use for Google Analytics.


The first few settings are obvious: give your report a title, and choose the website (property) that you want to analyze.


The metrics and dimensions are where things get interesting.


Metrics, or key performance indicators (KPIs), are the heart of most marketing reports. I wrote a detailed post on the 14 most common metrics for SEOs that you might want to refer to now.


Many of those metrics can be found in Google Analytics:



  • Traffic

  • Average time on page

  • Pages per visitor

  • Bounce rate


When you click on the “metrics” field, a list will appear with a huge variety of metrics. You can choose any metric you'd like for now, but I'm going to start with “users.”


While you'll probably want to choose more than one metric for your actual reports later on, one is fine for now.


The last field is the dimension field. In Google Analytics, you can filter data based on things like source, referral path, keyword, and so on. That's what dimensions are here-they allow you to segment your reported data.


For our example, pick any dimension you want, or leave it blank.


Then, finish off by clicking “create report.”


After a few seconds, you should see something like this:


image00


Here's the confusing part: This didn't actually create the report that most people would expect. Instead, it just created the instructions that the add-on needs to run the report and pull data from your Analytics account.


Let's actually run the report: Now go back to the “add-ons” menu, but this time, click on “run reports.”


This will run all the reports you set up in the active spreadsheet, but since we only have one for now, it'll do just that one.


A few seconds later, you'll get a confirmation box, saying the report was run. And at the bottom, a new tab will appear:


image01


Click the tab, and you should see the data in the report, as expected:


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This will match your Google Analytics data, but feel free to double check.


You can create as many reports as you'd like. The settings will all be stored in the main tab. When you run your reports, you'll get a tab for each report (you won't get a new tab if the report has already been run before).


Editing reports: On the original “report configuration” tab, your report settings will always be available to be edited.


You can change dates, add and remove metrics or dimensions, and even add things like filters, which I'll go into next.


To add more than one metric to a report, you'll need to select the metric box, put the cursor at the end, and then press “alt + enter” to create a new line. Then type in the new metric as usual.


Step 3: Understand all the different options


Congratulations, you've run your first report!


But that's just the tip of the iceberg because there are a ton of different combinations and options in this add-on that you should be aware of.


Let's go through all the fields in the main report configuration tab, one by one. You need to know what each of them does and how you can use them:



  • Report name – Just a quick note: if you delete the name in this cell, the report will not be run when you run your reports. This name will show up at the top of each report, but it will also be the label of the report sheet at the bottom of your spreadsheet.

  • View (profile) ID - That's the ID of your Analytics property that data is being pulled from. It will be pulled automatically when you create the report. However, you could duplicate reports for multiple sites by copy/pasting the rest of the cells and changing this value.

  • Start date/End date – You can specify the date range that the data is pulled from.

  • Last N days - You can also specify to just pull data from the last “N” number of days, where N is any number you input into the cell. Note that you can use either this option or the start/end date option-not both.

  • Metrics – You can add multiple metrics for each report. You can get a full list of the different metric labels here so that you can just edit the configuration instead of creating a new report every single time.

  • Dimensions – You use these to segment your traffic to get metrics separated for each type of user. However, dimensions need to be compatible with the metrics in your report; otherwise, they won't work. If you're just typing in dimensions, go to that list of metrics, and select either a dimension or metric to see which ones are compatible.


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  • Sort - You can set up the report to automatically sort the results if you find yourself wasting time doing that manually. You'll have to manually input the metric or dimension here that you want to sort by (e.g., “ga:sessions”). You can sort in reverse by putting a minus sign in front (e.g., “-ga:sessions”).

  • Filters – You can use filters to remove certain parts of your traffic that you don't want to see. For example, if you didn't want to include referral traffic in your report, you'd enter “ga:medium%3D%3Dreferral” in this box. Refer to the “filter syntax” and “filter operators” on this page to see what's available.

  • Segment – This is true segmenting, allowing you to look at a specific section of data. To use this field, you'll need to enter a value like “sessions::condition::ga:medium%3D%3Dreferral.” You can find more examples here.

  • Sampling level – There are three acceptable values here: “DEFAULT,” “FASTER,” or “HIGHER_PRECISION.” For most metrics, the default value (of “DEFAULT”) is fine. If the report is taking too long, choose “FASTER” to sacrifice accuracy for speed.

  • Start index – If for some reason you want to ignore the first “X” results, you can do so by specifying a start index. For example, if you type in 5 here, the first 4 results will not be shown.

  • Max results – You can choose the number of results to be returned in your reports, up to 10,000. By default, you'll get 1,000.

  • Spreadsheet URL - If you want your report data to be sent to a different spreadsheet for any reason (e.g., if you have a sheet for a specific client already), you can just enter the URL of the file where the report should go.


I know that was a lot, but struggle through it, and you'll have everything you need to get going.


When you consider all these different fields, you can create just about any custom report you want. Be prepared for reports to fail if you're adding many values to them. Just add them one at a time, and tweak them until they work (test each time you add one).


Step 4: Create reports that are actually useful


At this point, you have a pretty solid understanding of what the add-on is all about and how to use it.


It's time to create reports that you'll actually use on a regular basis-that's the whole purpose of this exercise.


Although you might be good from here, let's outline the general steps:



  1. Decide which metrics you want to measure

  2. Decide which segments you want to analyze

  3. Create the report

  4. *Run the report periodically

  5. Manipulate the results (sort, filter, graph) as needed


I put a star by #4 because there's an alternative. If you haven't noticed yet, you have a third option when you go to the add-on in the menu called “Schedule reports.”


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With the scheduling feature, you can have reports run automatically every hour, day, month, etc.-basically, whenever you want.


Conclusion


Saving time and being able to create consistent reports from your analytics data are both important things for marketers.


If you create reports from Google Analytics on a regular basis, you'll likely benefit from giving this add-on for Google Sheets a try.


Once you've created a report, you can then make charts from the data or share the data directly with your client (if you don't want them messing around in Google Analytics).


If you have any questions about this add-on or tips on using it more effectively, please share them in the comment section below.