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How do I attract the first 1000 subscribers for a content website?

This question involves a few variables:

  • How fast?
  • Budget?
  • Do you have an audience elsewhere? Blog? Social media?

Depending on those variables my recommendations and answers will change.

So, how fast do you want it to happen? You can get there in a day if you leverage your resources correctly and/or have the budget for it. For example, if you have 50k fans on Facebook, it should be fairly easy and fast to get to 1,000 email subscribers.

If you don't have an audience elsewhere, it'll take more time and/or money.

Speaking of money … if you want to go the paid advertising route, for a QUALITY subscriber, you're probably looking at $1-$2 per subscriber … if not more, depending on your niche.

So, some simple math would tell you that it'll cost between $1,000 to $2,000 for a list of 1,000 QUALITY subscribers. Sure, you can get cheaper subscribers too, but you know what you get from them? Nothing. Obviously you'll want people who care about what you have to offer.

I don't know you, but $1k-$2k might be a bit out of your price range.

So, here's a tip. On your Thank You page, try and make some of that advertising money back by offering something for a few bucks. For example, if your lead magnet is a guide, can you turn that guide into a video and sell that video for $7? Whatever you come up with, try and keep it under $10.

If you're broke and don't have an audience elsewhere … depending how hard you grind it out will dictate how fast you can grow your list to 1,000 subscribers. Here are a few suggestions for your grind to the top!

  • Ask your family, friends, and work acquaintances. May any of them be interested?
    • Ask them to share it.
  • Get active on forums. Can you include a signature with a link to your opt-in form?
  • Guest blogging with a link to your opt-in form.
  • Get active on social sites. Start building relationships and making contributions.
  • Start a blog, podcast, etc. Get your name and business in front of as many people as possible.

It's pretty much the “generic” advice you'll usually see when looking how to grow your list … and that's because, that's how it's done.

Ultimately, my advice is paid advertising. Given the right funnel setup, you should be able to make your money back and be net positive in no time … I mean, that's the whole point of email marketing in the first place!

How do I attract the first 1000 subscribers for a content website?2016-10-14T18:29:36+00:00

What are some key elements to increase newsletter sign ups on a landing page?

There are several key elements to help increase newsletter signups on a landing page … and there's kind of an order to their level of importance … so, I'll try and present them in that order.

Before I answer this question, NOTE … where your traffic is coming from and that quality of that traffic is the most important element to increasing signups. If you send garbage traffic, it'll never convert.

Assuming your traffic source is good, the first thing I'd look at is the Lead Magnet. If you're unfamiliar with that term – a Lead Magnet is an incentive for someone to give you their contact information … it “pulls the lead in.” For example, discounts, checklists, whitepapers, videos, ebooks, etc are common Lead Magnets.

Having said that – if no one wants your Lead Magnet, it wont matter how good the rest of your landing page is … it'll never convert well.

Here's a hint: Many times, just changing the title and/or the picture (aka “hero shot”) of your Lead Magnet without actually changing it's content can help increase conversion rates dramatically.

The second thing I'd look at is the Headline and, if you have one, the Sub-Headline. Maybe it needs to be shorter. Maybe it's not all that enticing.

Hint: Not that I condone this type of activity as it's costly to other people and businesses … but, sometimes it's one of those things. But, take a look at other people's landing pages … especially ones you're sent to through a paid advertisement … like on Facebook or Adwords. If people are businesses are paying money to send potential leads to a landing page … there is a decent chance that they're using … at least … slightly optimized Headlines and Sub-Headlines. Try and see what they say, find the pain points their using or try and identify any underlying formulas.

The third thing I'd look at is the opt-in form itself. What information are you requesting? Just the email address? Or, are you requesting first name, last name, telephone number, address, and their pet's name? The more fields your form has, the larger the barrier to entry. Only use fields you ABSOLUTELY NEED in order to start the relationship. Don't ever ask for personal information, just because. The simpler, the easier, the better.

The fourth thing I'd look at is the Call-To-Action (CTA) button. This is the “Submit” button for the opt-in form. I'd make sure it stands out (color, dimensions) and the wording matches the offer. For example, “Submit” is a bad CTA. Rarely do people want to “submit” something. BUT, they do want to “Download The Guide!”

Finally, I'd look at the overall look and feel. Is there one objective on the page or are you leading people in many different directions? For example, are you asking for contact information, but also asking for people to share the page? Or to look at some blog articles, or to do anything other than opt-in.

Each landing page should have one specific goal.

I hope that answers your question!

What are some key elements to increase newsletter sign ups on a landing page?2016-10-14T18:29:38+00:00

Most eCommerce Store Suck At Email Marketing

I visited 32, top rated, eCommerce stores in an attempt to enter their email marketing campaigns … these are my findings.

The reason this all started is because I've been working with a few eCommerce stores in regards to their email marketing campaigns and I've seen quite a few similarities in regards to how eCommerce businesses are “using” their email marketing platforms.

Most suck at it.

In this post, I will take you through what I found vs what I expected.

Had Optin Present

Optin Forms
While I believe ALL eCommerce stores need to have an optin, only about two-thirds of this sample actually did.

Email marketing is used to build relationships, turn potential customers into actual customers, and keep actual customers coming back again, and again, and again.

By not having an email optin form on your site, you're hurting your business.

Lead Magnet

Lead Magnet
Of the stores that had optin forms, I took a few minutes to note their Lead Magnet. If you're unfamiliar with that term, a Lead Magnet is an offer that helps persuade individuals to join your email list – like a discount, a checklist, an eBook, a video, etc.

80% were offering a “Newsletter.” While most stated that they would send discounts and promotions, it was unclear as to when I would receive anything.

As a visitor to your eCommerce store, I want instant gratification – which is what a Lead Magnet should provide. Having to sit around, waiting for my discount … that's no fun … and spurs no action.

10% offered entry into a monthly contest for either a free product or a gift card. This isn't too bad, at least once a month I have a chance to win something!

5% offered nothing. Their optin form was literally a text box that said “Enter your email here” and a button that said “Subscribe”. I don't know about you, but normally I don't just pass my email address around for no apparent reason!

5% wanted me to “Join The Movement”. Whoa! I'm just shopping here … not signing up for a revolution. Tone it down, make it clear as to what I'm about to receive.

Double Optin

Double Optin

Double optin is where an individual inputs their email address, then has to go check their email and click a link in order to confirm their subscription. So, there are two steps – input email address, confirm email address (double).

While I personally do not like double optin forms, I get it … especially for eCommerce stores that get a lot of low quality subscribers and also take a lot of heat themselves as users report them as sending spam more frequently than most businesses.

Ultimately, in regards to eCommerce, I think double optin is the way to go in order to ensure higher quality subscribers and less spam reports.

Welcome Emails

Welcome Email
This is what really surprised me.

Only 20% of the businesses I gave my contact information actually said “Thank You”.

The other 80% – I don't even know if they got my information. It's just floating out there and if I get an email from one of those businesses, I'll probably forget that I gave them my information and report it as spam. Sad. (I won't really do this)

A Welcome Email is absolutely critical.

You need to thank people for giving you their contact information. You need to welcome people to your email list and your business. You need to set expectations. You need to start building that relationship and give people a reason to buy from you.

Not having a welcome email is severely disappointing.

If you don't have one – go write on now … or scroll to the end of this post.

Email Service Used

Email Service

MailChimp was the “top dog” at 55%. And, I kind of expected this. MailChimp is a quality email autoresponder service that interacts well with eCommerce.

For 35% of the eCommerce stores, I couldn't tell what service they were using. They may have been “in-house” services or something else. Either way, I couldn't identify them.

5% were using CreateSend.

And the remaining 5% were using Klaviyo. I've been hearing a lot of good stuff about Klaviyo recently in regards to how well they work with eCommerce stores. I haven't personally got my hands on it yet; however, it may be worth checking out!

Where To Go From Here

For those eCommerce stores that lack an optin and email marketing in general – here's a short video tutorial on how to get started:

For those that lack a Welcome Email … well, I'm going to give you one:

Welcome Series Email 1

 

That should help!

Most eCommerce Store Suck At Email Marketing2016-10-14T18:29:38+00:00

Top Converting Autoresponder Series Templates

You may have noticed over the last few weeks that we added a Shop and started to fill it with things.

It's been a slow trickle; however, today is the day!

Today's Our Shop's Grand Opening!

Of course, it wouldn't be much of a grand opening without an extremely awesome sale … would it?

So, until 1 October 2015 you can buy the store for $10.

Click this link to get this limited time offer.

This offer has expired; however, you can still grab the templates here. (the price is a bit higher; however, we've added several more templates!)

What's In Our Store?

Did I jump the gun earlier? My bad.

You probably want to know what's actually in our store … right?

We're selling Autoresponder Series Templates.

What's that?

It's probably best to start with a quick example and then I'll explain.

Welcome Series Email 1

Ok – back to the question of, “What is an Autoresponder Series Template?”

Simply put, it's a “fill-in-the-blank” series of emails that you plug into your email autoresponder service like ActiveCampaign.

The series are typically 3 to 4 emails long and they aim to achieve a certain goal.

For example, the sample above shows the 1st email in the Welcome Series 1 package. Its goal is to welcome people to your email list and work on segmenting those individuals.

Types Of Autoresponder Series
[Goals]

Welcome Series

The Welcome Series … get this … welcomes individuals to your email list and your business. It delivers the lead magnet, sets expectations, introduces your business, builds that initial relationship, and helps to segment your list based on interests.

Action Series

Action Series follow proven formulas that spur action. “Action” typically refers to a purchase – these are sales scripts. You use these when you're trying to make a sale.

Upsell Series

An Upsell Series is used after an individual makes a purchase in order to sell complementary products and/or services.

Cart Abandonment Series

A Cart Abandonment Series is used to help persuade individuals who have added a product to their cart, but didn't checkout – to checkout.

Re-Engagement Series

A Re-Engagement Series is used when a subscriber has not done anything (opened, clicked, read, etc) within the last 30-60 days. It helps to either “re-activate” or delete inactive subscribers.

Why Buy Autoresponder Series Templates?

Time baby, time.

And time = money.

Oh, and to keep from getting a headache.

Writing emails for an autoresponder sucks, plain and simple.

You can sit there for hours trying to figure out what to say, how you're going to map them out, and how to actually implement them.

Or, you can spend $6 on a 3 email series, or $24 (or $10 for the grand opening sale) on 8 email series (approximately 25 emails) … that's less than $1 per email.

Let me repeat that, $1 per email.

Even if, by some miraculous way, you can crank out 6 emails in an hour … you're still valuing your time at less than $6 an hour.

You're worth more than that.

Save time, money, and keep from getting a headache by using something that's already there … ready for you to take advantage of.

Click this link to go to the shop with the limited time offer.

Autoresponder Series Blueprints

Another reason why our autoresponder series templates will help your business grow are because we give you the blueprints for how to most effectively implement them.

Here's our most recent blueprint for eCommerce:

Email Marketing Strategy for eCommerce - sized

From there, it's pretty much just drag and drop!

Easy peasy.

Grand Opening Sale Ends 1 October 2015!

There you have it!

Hopefully I've addressed any questions or concerns in this article, if not, leave a comment below.

Otherwise, here's the link to the Grand Opening Super Awesome Mega Sale!

This offer has expired; however, you can still grab the templates here. (the price is a bit higher; however, we've added several more templates!)

Top Converting Autoresponder Series Templates2016-10-14T18:29:38+00:00

What are the best tools for email marketing automation?

This question is more a matter of personal preference, what you need, and budget.

Most “good” email marketing automation tools can handle very similar situations like tracking and reacting to clicks, on page activity, replies, and beyond. And, of course, they all have their unique ways to handle each situation. So, it becomes more of a question of … what makes sense to you and how your brain functions.

Figuring out which tool is the best for you also depends on what you need. For example, if you need a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool for your business … this can impact the email marketing automation tool you choose.

Finally, some email marketing automation tools cost thousands of dollars a month … and they might actually be “the best”; however, if you can't afford it … it doesn't matter. So, you'll need to find an email marketing tool that also fits into your budget. And, of course, utilize it so it pays for itself. These types of tools better pay for themselves, if not, you'll need to evaluate how your using it and if it's worth your time and money.

Needless to say, the “best” tool for you may not be the “best” tool for me.

For me, right now …. the best tools for email marketing automation are ActiveCampaign and Zapier.

ActiveCampaign feels “right” to me, it does everything I need, and it's affordable.

Zapier is a 3rd party tool that allows me to connect my sites to ActiveCampaign in a myriad of ways … it's super helpful!

In closing, most email marketing automation tools have free trials. Find a few that fit your price range and offer what you need, and test them out. Figure out which ones feel “right” to you!

 

What are the best tools for email marketing automation?2016-10-14T18:29:38+00:00

Email Marketing Strategy For eCommerce

While this strategy works well … there's now a “smarter” version I recommend you checkout by clicking here.

In this post, I layout an email marketing blueprint for nearly any eCommerce store to follow.

Let's get into it!

eCommerce Email Marketing Blueprint

eCommerce Email Marketing Blueprint

We will build this type of email series for you! Click here for more info!

1st Step

The very first step is to “categorize” your eCommerce store into 4 categories. More can (and should) be added later; however, let's keep it as simple as possible this first time through.

Go for 4, big, broad, categories.

For example, pretend you sell clothing – you can break it down to women's, men's, shoes, and accessories.

Sure, there are different ages, styles, types, etc within each category – but, you need to start broad.

Even if you don't do this step for your own store, the above example will serve well … I simply need you to understand the concept of segmenting your store before getting into the nitty-gritty.

Lead Magnet

The Lead Magnet is the “free gift” you give to someone in order to entice them into joining your email list.

I've already written plenty on the subject here.

Welcome Series

The Welcome Series is the email series that delivers the Lead Magnet and also introduces your business to the newly subscribed individual.

There are two purposes to this email series: establish a relationship and to segment.

It can introduce …

  • Your social media accounts
  • Picture(s) of your business and/or workforce and/or you
  • Facts about your business
  • Top products your business offers
  • Top posts on your blog
  • Testimonials

It can also ask for any questions the new lead may have – which can be a great conversation starter if you sell a more complicated product or service.

The point is to get people to understand you're a real business, with real people who truly want to take care of their customers.

All the while – the Welcome Series is “watching” how people behave.

What are their interests? What are they clicking on in your emails? How are they behaving?

Grab a Welcome Series Template from The Vault!

Example

The lead receives a “top products” email. The purpose of this email not only serves to introduce the lead to your products, but also to segment the lead based on which products they click on.

Back to the clothing example outlined in the “1st Step” – four categories: women's, men's, shoes, and accessories.

If the lead clicks on the top selling women's product – we now know that they have an interest in women's clothing – and we can segment them as such.

Did Segmentation Occur?

Yes

Great! The lead can go straight into an Action Series!

No

No problem, a welcome series is normally 3-5 emails long and maybe nothing piqued the lead's interest – it happens more often than not.

When the segmentation doesn't occur during the Welcome Series, you continue to send emails to the lead for approximately 60 days – coming from different angles via Broadcast emails.

Note: Many times, people join an email list to grab the Lead Magnet and are never heard from again. When this happens, don't feel bad about yourself, your email list, or anything at all – it's expected. Click here for the industry averages in regards to Open Rates and Click Through Rates.

Has Subscriber Been Inactive For More Than 60 Days?

Why ask this question?

When people are loitering on your list – it's costing you money in more ways than you can imagine.

Sure, it costs a few pennies a month to keep a user on your list – no big deal, right? Multiply that by a few thousand – and those pennies start adding up quickly!

But, that's not the “real cost”. Email services like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc. track how people engage with emails delivered from each email address and domain.

For example, if Gmail sees that huge amounts of people ignore emails from YourBusiness.com – they'll start sending ALL emails from YourBusiness.com straight to the spam folder … across ALL of Gmail!

And good luck getting back out of that spam folder.

Loiters are bad. Kick them out!

Again, has the subscriber been inactive for more than 60 days?

No

Cool! Send them Broadcast/Segmentation emails!

Yes

Initiate the Re-Engagement Series.

Broadcast/Segmentation

These emails are not in a series.

They're “one-of-a-kind” emails that are sent once.

Think of a monthly newsletter.

Or maybe a weekly update.

Something along those lines.

The whole point of these emails are to get a segmentation to occur.

You'll include links to certain product categories and/or blog posts and/or whatever else may help you better segment your lead.

You want a click.

You need a click.

You want to initiate an Action Series.

Initiate Action Series

Woohoo!

You got a lead to click!

Congrats!

Now, depending on what they clicked on, you'll want to send a corresponding Action Series to that individual.

For example, if they click on something to do with Men's Clothing – the “Men's Clothing” Action Series will automatically start.

Action Series #X

An Action Series is an email series of which sole purpose is to get the lead to take an action.

That's it.

9 times out of 10 – the action you're looking for is for the lead to make a purchase.

In order to do this, you'll send several emails all surrounding the same product (normally the top selling product in the category) and/or the product category itself.

Most Action Series follow a formula in order to approach the lead from various angles – with the hope that one of the angles makes a direct impact with the lead and they make a purchase!

We have several Action Series Email Templates in The Vault!

Did The Action Take Place?

Yes

Exactly what we wanted! Now take them through an Upsell Series!

No

Well shucks.

Don't worry though, it happens … the good part is, you'll get to try again!

Make sure the lead has been active within the last 60 days and then start sending them the Broadcast/Segmentation emails.

Upsell Series

The Upsell Series runs after a lead makes a purchase.

Each version of an Upsell Series can look wildly different depending on what product is purchased and your business model.

For example, if you sell a women's dress – fairly quickly, you'll want to recommend complementary accessories to that dress like a purse, jewelry, etc.

However, if you're selling a nutritional supplement, that runs out after 30 days of use, around day 23 – you'll want to start sending your Upsell Series in order to remind them to make a re-purchase.

You can have as many Upsell Series as you have unique products. Whatever makes sense for your business model.

Regardless, once the Upsell Series has taken place – it's back to the 60 day check and on to Broadcast/Segmentation emails.

Grab an Upsell Email Series Template from The Vault!

Re-Engagement Series

The Re-Engagement Series is the last-ditch effort for “re-activating” a lead.

The goal is to spur some sort of engagement – an open, click, reply … anything … even an unsubscribe.

This is normally accomplished through intense subject lines like “I'm going to DELETE you.”

Then, within the email explain that you're going to remove the person from your email list unless they click the link.

Sure, this may offend some people – but, you need to know if that person still exists, still has that email address, and still checks that email.

Because, if not – it's hurting your business.

Don't let people hurt your business.

Get a Re-Engagement Email Series from The Vault!

Did Re-Engagement Occur?

Yes

Initiate Action Series!

No

Delete Subscriber.

Cart Abandonment Series

While the Cart Abandonment Series is not in the diagram, it's still a critically important series.

It “reminds” people they have an item in their shopping cart.

For example, Susan goes to your eCommerce store and adds a pretty dress to her cart. However, she did this on her work computer and wants to make the purchase once she's at home. Of course, life gets in the way and Susan forgets she wanted to buy that pretty dress. No worries! A few hours later she receives an email reminding her that she has a pretty dress in her shopping cart and to resume checking out, all she has to do is “click here.”

Cart Abandonment Email Series normally convert at least 10% … most of the time, a LOT higher.

They're a must – do not neglect them.

Download an awesome Cart Abandonment Email Series straight from The Vault!

Did You Notice?

I've included quite a few links to The Vault!

We sell email series templates that help you quickly and easily write out your email automation sequence!

So … stop wasting time trying to write your emails from scratch and head on over to The Vault!

Email Marketing Strategy For eCommerce2016-10-14T18:29:38+00:00

Just Freakin’ Do It!

Are you a business owner or entrepreneur?

Have you tried to setup your own website, sales funnel, advertising campaign, etc. and stopped halfway through because you figured you were “doing it wrong?”

OR WORSE!

Did you not even try to setup what you wanted to do?!

You probably read a ton of information about how to do the task. You watched some videos, signed up for some guru’s email list, and even took a course.

And, by the end of the day – you had nothing to show for it.

Either you got overwhelmed, scared, intimidated … insert whatever emotion that held you back.

Good news! This article is going to teach you how to get past all that and just freakin’ do it!

The Concept Of The MVP

The Minimal Viable Product (MVP) term was made popular by Eric Reis in his book The Lean Startup.

Simply put, an MVP represents the least amount of risk (or work) vs the greatest amount of measurable results.

For example, when it comes to setting up an email list – it literally takes 5 minutes to create a list and add a signup form to a website or Facebook page.

5 minutes. It’s really that simple.

And, this would be an MVP.

You would be able to measure conversion rates.

Sure, they would probably be abysmal as the “standard issue” form probably wouldn’t look too good, and you wouldn’t have a lead magnet yet.

But, you would have something out there that can be measured.

You would have an MVP.

Take The VERY First Step

Now that you understand the concept of an MVP, it’s time to actually build it.

Nearly every single person I talk to with grand ideas of building X, Y, and Z … but doesn’t … every one of them has the same exact problem.

They do too much research.

We’ll go with the sales funnel example again.

People will read that they need to setup multiple email lists (one for free subscribers, one for paid subscribers, one for people who showed interest in product X, etc), that they’ll probably need to connect their email lists via a 3rd party tool like Zapier, that they’ll need to have multiple thank you pages and include One-Time-Offers (OTO) on each thank you page, that they’ll need lead magnets galore, and at least 15 emails in their autoresponder series … oh, yeah … and popup opt-in forms … gotta have those too!

And, oh my gosh! Don’t let me get started on actually advertising the sales funnel! SEO, PPC, affiliate marketing, blah, blah, blah!

Holy crap!

That’s a lot of stuff!

No wonder people don’t do anything … that’s an overwhelming amount of work.

My advice to you is …

STOP RESEARCHING.

Figure out what the MVP is. Remember, it’s the simplest thing you can do that produces some sort of measurable result (ie. A conversion).

Then, figure out the very first step to build that MVP.

Be warned, this very first step probably isn’t shiny or fun.

Back to the sales funnel example, maybe you read that you need awesome subject lines and you went down that rabbit hole, learning all kinds of formulas that increase open rates … and it's super exciting and fun.

Subject lines are not the first step to building an MVP for a sales funnel.

Your MVP for a sales funnel is an email list with a signup form on your site.

  • The first step is to create a list in your email autoresponder service.
  • The second step is to create a form for that list in your email autoresponder service.
  • The third step is to put that form on your website.

Boom! MVP.

Go!

I’m going to end the post here.

Stop doing research. Stop reading. Stop watching tutorials.

You already know you want to accomplish.

Now go figure out the MVP and the first step to building that MVP.

Then just freakin’ do it.

Just Freakin’ Do It!2016-10-14T18:29:40+00:00

How Does Retargeting Work?

If you’ve been surfing the Internet for about five minutes – you’ve probably been retargeted.

Have you ever been to a website, then gone to Facebook and seen an ad for the exact website you just left? That’s retargeting.

Or, have you gone to one website and then seen ads on other websites for that one website you just left? Again, that’s retargeting.

What Is Retargeting?

Retargeting, sometimes referred to as remarketing (Google Adword's name for it), is a type of advertising that helps a business keep its potential customers in arm's reach.

For example, you have a potential lead land on your website – and, unfortunately, they bounce (they leave after seeing the first page, they don’t commit any action, and they're gone forever!)

Instead of letting that potential lead get away, you can use retargeting to advertise to them again and again across different platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, other websites, etc). Each time, approaching from a different angle (maybe they didn’t like the first page they saw, but the second page you show them they may really like).

For example, if a potential lead lands on THIS exact page, and bounces – I can retarget them to introduce other articles they may find beneficial and/or I can advertise lead magnets like our Top Converting Email Series.

How Does Retargeting Work?

Retargeting is “normally” a combination of a cookie and JavaScript that allows people to be “followed” anonymously as they surf the Internet.

When a person who’s being “followed” with a retargeting cookie arrives on a website that’s part of the retargeting ad network, the JavaScript code is executed. The JavaScript code sends a signal to the retargeting advertising network which then performs a bunch of fancy calculations where they figure out which retargeting ad to display. Then, an ad is displayed.

One of the downsides with this is that if the user clears their cookies – you’ll lose them. Or, if they use another browser – you’ll use them. Or, if they’re on their phone at first, and then switch to a computer – you’ll lose them.

When retargeting on social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, retargeting works a little bit differently. A cookie may or may not be involved at first, but eventually, the users, themselves, are added to a retargeting list. This allows you to retarget individuals no matter what computer or device they’re on – as long as they’re logged in under the same user profile on the social network.

I know, this might be getting a little too “in-depth” for an intro to retargeting article; but, it’s an important concept!

Ideally, you’ll want to retarget across the web and social networks. The combination of the two will allow you to retarget across all devices and browsers – making your business ever present, no matter where the individual is browsing.

Where To Buy Retargeting

Retargeting Companies

There are various services to help you retarget your customers. Some of them are companies whose sole purpose is retargeting. Two of the top companies are AdRoll and Perfect Audience.

The great part about going through one of these companies is that they cover a wide range of retargeting options – they're essentially a one-stop-shop. They allow you to advertise on the web, on social media, and more … all from within their service.

Of course, these retargeting services cost a little more because they'll need to take their cut as well; however, it's a pretty low cost compared to the amount of convenience they provide.

Social Media

Pretty much all social media networks, that have advertising, have some form of retargeting available.

For example, Facebook has Custom Audiences. In simple terms, this allows you to place some code on your site that will “collect” your site's visitors and add them to your Custom Audience. You can then create an ad to be displayed to that Custom Audience, which, in essence, is retargeting.

Twitter has Tailored Audiences, which works in a similar fashion to Facebook's Custom Audiences.

Google Adwords (remarketing)

Of course Google offers their own retargeting service, which they've decided to call remarketing.

Their service allows you to display ads across their ad network – allowing you to display your ads on millions of websites.

It's a “beast” of a system because it also integrates with Google Analytics and can assist you in developing some crazy lists. Learning how to retarget with Google Adwords can easily become a full time job – it can be that intense.

Here's a little more information on it.

Retargeting Your Sales Funnel

Retargeting can be a powerful tool to help pull people through your sales funnel.

It’s true, emails are normally the first wave of sales funnel systems; however, emails can have abysmal open rates with even worse click-through rates.

Some of the best autoresponse emails only have a 20% click-through rate – meaning, out of 100 people that receive an email from your business, only 20 will actually click any of the links inside of it.

So, how do you stay in front of the other 80 people?

Retargeting.

Retargeting allows you to help “pull” and/or re-engage an individual in your sales funnel.

For example, when a user enters your sales funnel, you can begin retargeting them. Start showing them ads in the same fashion that you send them emails: value and action.

When they look at a particular page that’s full of valuable information, start showing them ads on where to buy the complementary product that that valuable information spoke about.

Continue following the Value/Action series with your ads, just like with your emails.

Finale!

Have you tried retargeting for your business? What were your results? Comment below!

How Does Retargeting Work?2016-10-14T18:29:40+00:00

How To Drive Traffic To Your Sales Funnel

This article is part of a bigger article that can be found by clicking here.

This Is The Most Important Aspect

Where your traffic is coming from is the most important aspect for the success of your sales funnel.

If the people visiting your website don’t care about you, your business, or your products, they will never convert into paying customers (the whole point of a business).

Needless to say, too many people go for cheap traffic. They’ll look at sites like fiverr that offer to send UNLIMITED people to your site for $5. Sure, that sounds like an awesome deal … but, you know it can’t possibly be true. There’s no way UNLIMITED visitors cost only $5.

Yet, time and time again, businesses are buying these gigs and are then in shock that their sales funnel isn’t working, or their squeeze page isn’t converting.

Here’s the deal, if your squeeze page isn’t converting … the first thing you need to consider is where your traffic is coming from.

Below you'll find two key rules to ensure you're getting the right traffic to your sales funnel.

#1 Rule – Hangout With Your Audience

If you read nothing else in this article, read this section because it will save you time, effort, energy, and money.

The #1 Rule for driving traffic to your website is to hangout where your audience hangs out.

If your audience hangs out on Facebook … be on Facebook.

If your audience normally finds you through Google Search … be heavy on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

If your audience hangs out on a forum online … be an active member of that community.

I know, this all sounds so simple and “duh” … but, so many people get caught up in what’s “hot right now.”

They’ll see that someone just made X dollars through LinkedIn. So, they’ll get excited and go over to LinkedIn to make X dollars too; however, they end up failing because their particular audience isn’t even on LinkedIn. They then get discouraged, figure their squeeze page isn’t working, and so they change the color of their subscribe button. I see it happen all the time.

Please, do not over think this. It really is simple. All you have to do is avoid the noise that Internet Marketers push down your throat of “what’s hot right now.” Learn to get through that noise, focus on where your audience actually hangs out … and hangout with them. It’s that easy.

#2 Rule – Set Expectations

The second biggest issue businesses have in driving traffic to their sales funnel is that they aren’t properly setting expectations with their marketing efforts.

For example, if you have an ad that says “Click Here for 10% off” … when a person clicks there, they should be presented with the 10% off coupon.

Duh … right?

This is called Conversion Coupling.

Conversion Coupling is “the bond that exists between the pre-click experience and the corresponding post-click landing experience. Conversion coupling means maintaining consistent messaging throughout your campaign.” [unbounce]

Too easy.

Whatever the ad says, should match what the landing page says.

Simple stuff, yet it’s overlooked all the time.

“Free” vs. Paid Traffic

There are already 39 million different articles on the various traffic sources, which one works “best”, and yaddy-yadda.

Remember, there is no single “best” source of traffic for all businesses. You must hangout where your audience hangs out.

But, I digress …

Most people break traffic sources into two types: Free and Paid.

The problem with this breakdown is that it’s deceptive … because, no advertising is “free” … it’s still going to cost you time.

Here are some common traffic sources with links to courses to help  you get started.

“Free” Traffic

Paid Traffic

Remember

No matter what type of traffic you’re sending, “free” or paid … remember these 2 things:

  1. Only advertise where your audience hangs out
  2. Make sure your ad matches your landing page

Once these two rules are followed unconditionally, you can begin to optimize your landing page.

How To Drive Traffic To Your Sales Funnel2018-03-27T13:39:52+00:00

How Much Should I Spend Per Click? [plus Calculator]

Many businesses struggle with figuring out how much money they should spend on advertising.

Some businesses don’t spend any money on advertising, other businesses spend too much.

Sure, the “free” advertising methods are great and if you’re generating enough money to make you and your business happy – then … good for you! Keep at it!

However, if you want to generate more sales, revenue, and profit … you’ll want to be sure that you’re spending your advertising dollars wisely.

How Much Should You Spend On PPC Advertising?

Believe it or not, figuring out how much money you should spend on your Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising campaigns is very simple.

Unfortunately, too many businesses don’t do the simple math to figure out how much they can and should spend on advertising. So, they wind up spending too much, or running away to cheaper, lower quality, sources of traffic.

You’ll need 3 numbers to calculate your PPC budget:

  • How much gross profit you make per product/service sold ($)
    • Gross Profit = Sale Price – Cost of Good Sold
  • Profit you want to keep per sale ($)
    • This is known as the Operating Profit
    • The amount of money, from each sale, that you want in your pocket
    • Conversely, what amount of gross profit you’re willing to spend on advertising to sell the product/service
    • Note: Don’t forget, operating profit is taxable and may incur other expenses
  • Conversion rate (%)

Bear with me a moment!

I know, those definitions may be a bit confusing at first sight, but after I run through a few examples, you’ll understand.

The PPC Formula

Here’s the formula the calculator follows … you can do your own math if you’d rather!

(Gross Profit – (Gross Profit * (Operating Profit / Gross Profit))) * Conversion Rate

The PPC Calculator

PPC Calculator Examples

Example 1 (Our Product)

We’re an eCommerce store that sells t-shirts.

We buy the t-shirts from the manufacturer for $2 per unit and sell them for $20 to our customers … resulting in an $18 gross profit.

We want to pocket $10 per shirt sold (Operating Profit).

We’ve determined Facebook Advertising traffic to our Sales Page converts at 5%.

Plug the numbers into the calculator …

PPC Example 1

Viola! We can comfortably spend $0.40 per click in order to pocket $10 per sale!

Example 2 (Affiliate Product)

We’re an affiliate for an online course that pays us $50 each time we refer someone to the course (Gross Profit).

We’ve decided we want to pocket at least half of that and spend the other half on advertising. So, $25 in operating profit is our goal.

Over time, we’ve figure out that the course’s sales page converts at around 3%, when traffic is sent via Google Adwords, for a few specific keywords.

Plug the numbers into the calculator …

PPC Example 2

Viola! We can comfortably spend $0.75 per click in order to pocket $25 per sale!

Profit Maximization

When you’re launching PPC campaigns, you may notice some people are paying ridiculous amounts of money per each click.

For example, the product for sale on the sales page is only $49, yet, people are bidding upwards of $15 per click! More than likely, their sales page isn’t converting above 30% to make it profitable.

So, how the heck are they able to bid so much and still turn a profit?!

Simple answer: The have a sales funnel.

That $49 product you see is just the front-end offer (sometimes called a tripwire). It’s what gets people in the door. Once they’re in the door, they go through upsell after upsell … which tend to have high conversion rates, thus making individuals worth way more than the original $49 they spend.

So, the average person may be worth about $200, making the $15 per click more practical, possible, and realistic.

Needless to say, if you find yourself surrounded by very expensive PPC ads, and you can’t compete … you need to spend some time building out and optimizing your sales funnel and sales pipelines.

Of course, if you need help with this … we’re here to help!

Ready For More?

Knowing how much you should spend per click is just one part of the equation.

Knowing how to decrease the cost and/or increase the profit is the other part …

The Sales Funnel Training Vault will teach you all the parts!

How Much Should I Spend Per Click? [plus Calculator]2016-11-17T17:29:52+00:00