mktpractice

3 Simple Tips to Begin Blogging

By mktpractice on September 29, 2016

Is blogging a good idea? In a word, YES!

Ok, Why Is Blogging So Great

Blogging is a way of building up your authority, your authenticity, and your audience. It allows people to get to know you and see how you can help them before they commit money.

There are a number of different reasons to start and maintain a blog including revenue generation, promoting a product and providing useful training information. The key is consistency. I’m guilty of that myself. One smart way of getting consistent blogs once you’ve gotten over 30 posts is to go back and update some of your first ones. That way you continue to provide new information for the search engines, and you’re able to update what you’ve already created.

But I’m jumping way ahead of myself.

How to Start

First, choose your platform. Are you going to use an existing one or will you be setting up a blog on your web pages?

Free options can be great when starting out because, well, they’re free. You don’t have to set up a domain or manage the back end. All you have to do is log in and write. You also get visibility on the web without having to be technical or a web designer. Some free sites have options for downloading your content as a backup.

The downside is that your content is not yours. The provider could disappear and take your hard work with them. You will be limited by their resources, so if your blog gets big, some people may not be able to access it and those that do will have a very slow experience. And sadly, Google tends to look down on free sites.

Typepad is still available but it’s a paid site. You’ll get better SEO because you’re paying for the service.

You can set up your own domain with a major hosting site like HostGator. They have a one click install of WordPress. They will also try to upsell you on templates and having someone set up the site for you.

Google Rewards Fresh Content

A good blog will also help you with SEO and showing up in organic search results. And as I mentioned, you can update old blog posts and post them on a current day and Google thinks it’s new. Blogging allows you to target keywords. You’ll hear about that frequently when discussing search engine optimization and search engine marketing. (SEO is optimizing your site for certain keyword phrases so Google knows to recommend your site when someone does a search on that phrase and SEM is finding the right keywords for paid traffic).

Blogging allows you to expand your keywords. For example, if your main website is targeting people who want to buy digital cameras, your keyword is probably going to be “digital camera.” You can write a blog post focusing on models and include the keyword “review” as well as “for sale” and make money on affiliate commissions (that’s when you get paid for helping someone else sell a product. Amazon has a good affiliate program for beginners). And don’t think that’s just for small time. I used to work at large companies that had affiliate links.

Next week, I’ll talk about video blogging. Leave a question in the comments and I’ll address it.

I’ve published a new Udemy course with my friend Boomy. You can sign up for 50% off here. There are 250 coupons available and this expires on 12/31/16, so go sign up for Blogging for Noobees at half price.

Resistance versus Persistence

By mktpractice on September 16, 2016

Have you ever looked at your to-do list and thought “I really don’t want to do any of that.” And you know that it will help you further your business, But you just can’t bring yourself to actually do the work? Yeah, I’m guilty of that.

I know I need to write blogs regularly about internet marketing for this site so you can have fresh and exciting things to read when you visit. I’ll get five ideas while I’m figuring out something like setting up LinkedIn ads. But how to get it out of my head, through my fingers, and into this blog.

Voices In Your Head

So what really stops me from writing? I know that I can write 500 words in fifteen minutes if I’m inspired. One of my most popular rants on lodestone-cs.com was after I’d gotten really annoyed at two large companies. Another popular post took three days to write and polish.

I think the voices in my head stop me the most. You know those delightful thoughts….

“Why would anyone read what you wrote.”

“You’re no expert in that.”

Yeah, lovely thoughts.

Time to Stop the Bad Thoughts

But here’s the thing. You have to find a way to silence those thoughts. You really do have important things to say. And while you may or may not be an expert….your viewpoint could be just the thing to help someone else. How many times have you read three or four different things on the same subject, and it was one that really opened up your mind. You could be the key for someone else. And isn’t that why we do this? To help others?

Also, to a 1st grader, a 3rd grader is a genius.

You don’t have to know everything. You just need to know more than your target audience. And I hope that’s a key for you. You don’t want to target people who already know what you do. You want to target those who don’t.

I mean, would you argue physics with Dr. Stephen Hawking? (well, I probably would but I don’t have a lick of sense sometimes when I get a bee in my bonnet).

So what do you do?

Here’s what I do. Figure out something that works for you.

Set a timer and say you’re going to write for 15-20 minutes. Write an outline. Write thoughts. You can always edit.”I
Thank the voices and then say you appreciate the thought. And then go back to planning your blog.
Pretend that you have a dual-cassette tape deck in your head (this is for we older people). Pretend that one STOP button is on the left side of your forehead and a PLAY button is on the right hand side. Press the STOP button to turn off the negative tape. Then press PLAY to start the positive tape that says “I’m so interested in this. I know it’s going to help others.” Then start writing.
Breathe in and say “I calm my mind” (in your head…I can’t speak when I have lungs full of air that I’m holding onto). Then breathe out and say “I smile”. And then smile. Then go write.

The bottom line is no matter how you reset your brain, you then need to start writing.

But I’m Waiting for Inspiration

Inspiration happens when you’re actually in the middle of what’s happening. Don’t let the blank page syndrome get you. You know what you want to write about, so start writing something. Anything.

In college, when I’d have a term paper to write, I’d type in “A brilliant and witty opening sentence followed by some awesome thoughts.” and then would start writing my main points. I forgot to delete it once and my Philosophy prof wrote “We’ll see about that.”

As I always say to my daughter (who is now away at University in another state and I miss her quite a bit)…..You got this.

Facebook Ads and Landing Pages

By mktpractice on July 22, 2016

Crafting a Solid Facebook Ad Campaign

Your Facebook Ad needs to work hand in hand with your landing page with the ultimate goal of getting that person into your sales funnel.

Cliffhanger ads can work very well. However, you need to be certain that you deliver on the promise when they hit the landing page or else you’ll have a high bounce rate. Plus it’s possible that Facebook won’t approve the ad.

You need to have similar messaging and branding. Avoid clickbait which is when there’s a headline like “Celebrity X is shocked that people found out she’s using this.” And then when you click through, it’s trying to sell you encyclopedias.

The image at the top of your page should match the image in your ad. Facebook may not approve the ad if it doesn’t.

Plus, it has to make sense. Always be sure you deliver on your promise. So that means you need to have a clear goal for your ad. Where are you sending people? What do you want them to do next?

Landing pages are often set up as squeeze pages. A squeeze page is where you squeeze an email address out of someone in exchange for something of value that will solve the problem from your ad.

Ideas for Landing Page Gifts

Email training
Ebook
Video training
Free samples
10 minute phone call
First two chapters of a book
Worksheets
Audio meditation
Webinar
Infographics

What do you offer your potential clients to get into your funnel? I usually offer an ebook or special report.

What Are Facebook Ads Useful for Anyway

By mktpractice on July 20, 2016

Are Facebook Ads Useful?

Let’s take a step back and ask ourselves why would we want to use Facebook Ads. How useful are they compared to the search engines. Shouldn’t we just use Google Ads since everyone is searching on Google and YouTube?

And the answer is no. Why? Facebook ads are extremely well targeted and inexpensive. They’re also a great way of testing out new targets. You may find a segment that you didn’t think about all because you were testing with look-alike audiences.

Quick Example

Let’s say you’re targeting people who love Christmas. You can learn what demographic likes your page. You then can move on to research their interests and set up ads targeting those in order to pull in new potential customers into your sales funnel. It’s called a look-alike audience.

Plan Your Goal

Generally you want to build up a Facebook page full of engaged people. Then you can start driving people to your landing page on your website to sign up for your newsletter in exchange for something special. Most often, people are offering a special report or ebook. Other people have offered a ten minute call, a video course, or email training.

Using ads speeds up this process. You can pay to have more people learn about your Facebook page. Then hopefully they will like it. Once you’ve built up to a certain size, you can advertise to encourage them to go to your website. It’s a great way to fill up your sales funnel.

The best part is that it’s very easy to limit the amount you spend per day as well as the entire campaign. You can spend $20 to test a simple ad for four days, make adjustments, and then try again. Even the smallest of businesses can afford that.

6 Tips for a Healthy Facebook Ad Campaign

By mktpractice on July 18, 2016

Crafting a Great Facebook Ad Campaign

Facebook is still the top dog for social media and is a great place for you to be advertising. They have very reasonable click through rates, and better demographics. You can create new audiences based on what your current audience likes. That’s known as a “look-alike” audience.

So today, I thought I’d give six quick tips for a healthy Facebook ad campaign.

#1 Include Images

Always include images with your ads. Studies show it strengthens your Facebook updates. We’re a very visual community. Using good images in your ads will increase the engagement with it.

#2 Use Contests and Giveaways

Contests and giveaways are wonderful for getting people to sign up for what you have, and Facebook ad campaigns are the best way of letting people know about it. Plus it’s helpful for market research.

#3 Tailor Your Facebook Ads

Have one big ad set for the campaign and multiple ads that are laser targeted to a specific audience. Separate out the different age ranges as well as gender. Try different text and images.

#4 Provide Just Enough Information In Your Ads…But No More

Entice the viewer to click through. Make use of all the space that you have. But beware of clickbait headlines. You don’t want them to report your ad as spam. Plus, you want people genuinely curious about what you’re offering. Try to get it down to the bare minimum.

#5 Respond to comments on your ad

You want your page to seem like it’s active. So if you’re boosting a post, you want it to look like a regular Facebook post so more people will get engaged.

#6 Regularly schedule content to your Facebook page.

That way there’s fresh stuff there when people click through to the page. You can still boost an older post if you know it’s got a great response. But when people decide to go to your page, you’ll have a lot more information for them to hang out and review.

So there you have it. What’s your favorite tip?

Choosing Images for Your Ads

By mktpractice on July 4, 2016

I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Unless you’re doing text only ads, you’ll need to pay attention to images.

1. People like to click on the image of a person. Often, both men and women like to click on pictures of women. Women will click on images of children more often then men. Now, this is just in general. You need to test your target audience to find what resonates with them.

2. People like to click on the video play button and watch a video.

3. Never ask a lot of questions in your image. Not only will people not really be able to see what’s written but it will confuse them.

4. Don’t go for overly clever. Witty or funny, yes, but be careful of making obscure jokes that make your target audience feel stupid instead of smart.

5. Keep your ads simple. Choose one main color. It shouldn’t look like a clown threw up all over your ad.

6. Don’t use all caps. Ever.

You can easily create images in Canva and add in text. Make sure you test that the text is not more then 20% of the total space or Facebook will reject the ad.