editor, Author at Mediastreet

In News

7 Copywriting Elements That Drive Sales (Even if You’re Not a Great Writer)

April 20, 2018 No Comments

No one is born knowing how to write great sales copy. Copywriting is a skill that can be learned – by anyone. So, if you have just started a business and you’re wondering how to write the words that will get people to buy your product, just know that you can learn copywriting elements that will drive sales.

I’m going to share with you seven copywriting techniques that the pros use. Before I do, though, I want to explain the difference between copywriting and content writing. They are often confused. And, while there is some overlap, and good copywriting is helpful in content marketing, it’s important to know the purpose of each.

Copywriting vs. Content Writing

Copywriting and content writing are both used as a way to connect with your audience online. But they have very different purposes.

Copywriting is writing the advertising or marketing copy that is intended to drive sales or drive a specific action. Common uses are in emails, landing pages, sales letters (or sales pages), and ads

Content writing is writing the content that is intended to entertain, educate or inform an audience online. Common uses are in blogs, eBooks, white papers, and informational web pages.

The two types of writing involve different skills and techniques. While it is possible to be great at both, a good copywriter is not necessarily a good content writer and vice versa. Incorporating elements of copywriting into your blog content will help your articles stand out, be read, and convert subscribers.

Great Copywriting Will Turn Your Idea Into a Successful Business

You have a product or service. It’s not a business until someone buys it. How do you get them to do that? Tell them a story, in words that produce an emotional connection. That story is told through your sales copy.

Words have the power to turn your idea into a successful business. Delivered to your audience at the right time and in the right format, impactful sales copy drives sales.

7 Copywriting Elements That Drive Sales

1. Know Exactly What You Are Selling

In his book, How to Write Copy That Sells: The Step-By-Step System for More Sales, to More Customers, More Often, Ray Edwards calls this knowing your Big Idea. Get so crystal clear on what you are selling that you can articulate the following in one sentence:

who your product is for
the problem it solves
your product
the benefits to your audience

Using our Simplified Search course as an example, here is our big idea statement: Any online business owner can understand and implement SEO best practices by using Simplified Search because it demystifies the search engine optimization process and teaches simple strategies anyone can use.

When you can state precisely what you are selling, who it’s for, the problem it solves, and the benefits to your target customers, it becomes easier to write your sales copy. To keep your copywriting on track, refer to your big idea statement often.

2. Know Your Audience

When you know who your audience is, how they think, what they need, and what they are passionate about, it makes it easy to talk to them like a friend. Friends always have their best interests in mind. You know their pains, and as a trusted friend you recommend only the best answer to their problems. When you write from that vantage point, your message will come through as authentic, honest, and persuasive.

3. Write Compelling Headlines

An effective headline stops readers in their tracks and draws them in. It gives the idea of what the article, email message, or offer is about, but it leaves just enough unsaid to make readers curious. But how do you take boring topics and create exciting headlines?

Effective headlines have one or more of these elements:

Make a promise
Elicit an emotional response or curiosity
Appeal to your specific niche
State a promise or proposition
Establish credibility or authority
Communicate benefits

4. Use Bullet Points

Bullet points synthesize ideas into small easy-to-digest bits. They make sales copy and web content easy to read. They tell the reader, “If you get nothing else out of this article, at least I’ve given you the best information right here.”

Bullet points are effective because people typically don’t read an entire article. They skim or scroll, looking for clues to what the article or page is about before they invest their precious time.

They look for headlines, subheadings, and bullet points to get to the heart of what they are about to read.

Bullet points are surrounded by white space, drawing the reader’s eye toward them like a magnet. They tell readers at a glance what the benefits are and why they should buy your product.

Again, I’ll refer you to Ray Edwards’ How to Write Copy That Sells. He offers templates for 21 types of bullet points and suggests that your sales copy include a mix of each type. Some bullet point types that you’ve undoubtedly seen in great copywriting include:

The “wrong” bullet – stating a commonly held belief and stating that it’s wrong, followed up by stating that your special offer will explain why.
The “themed sequence” bullet – listing pain points or stumbling blocks that are holding your reader back from achieving their goals. Or, listing hints about the solutions your product offers without going into details.
The “reverse hook” bullet – states a fact such as a statistic that is impeding the reader’s success and then states how they can use that information to meet their goals. Often the latter part – the solution – is in parenthesis.
The “truth about” bullet – states that you are going to tell the truth about something controversial and then states how you are going to shatter their beliefs.
The “probing question” bullet – asks the reader questions about whether or not they know something.

5. Limit Your Reader’s Choices

A confused mind says “no.” When writing sales emails, landing pages, sales pages, and even blog articles, guide your readers toward conversion by limiting the possible actions. In sales emails, include links only to the landing page you want to direct them toward. Don’t include links to follow your blog or follow you on social media.

Landing pages by definition should contain no other places for the reader to click other than to opt in to your offer. Sales pages should only contain a button to buy your product or service and a “no thanks” option. In blog articles, it’s a little trickier because a blog page has many options to click. However, make the main call-to-action bold or in image form, so it draws the reader’s attention.

6. Risk Reversal

When you take the risk of purchasing your product off the shoulders of your buyer and assume all of the risk yourself, you eliminate most of their objections. People want to be guaranteed that they are making a good decision. A strong guarantee tells your buyers that you are so confident in your product that you are willing to pay them back (maybe even double their money back).

There are techniques for creating an irresistible guarantee. They include restating how the buyer is to use the product, the offer’s benefits, and what they can expect. Essentially, you continue to sell in the guarantee and then end with your risk reversal. An example is “Order my Simplified Search course, watch every module, download the worksheets, join my SEO community, and put the tactics into practice for 90 days. If it doesn’t improve your understanding of SEO, then I refuse to keep your money.”

7. Ask for the Sale

Never assume someone will buy just because you’ve laid out the offer, the benefits, and your guarantee. You have to ask them for the sale. Connect the dots for your reader.

You’ve told your story, you’ve laid out the product and its life-changing benefits, and you’ve assumed the risk. Now tell them to make a decision. Tell them you know where they are in their decision and the pain they feel by remaining in limbo. Then tell them how it will feel after they make the right decision to purchase your offer.

Examples of closing statements that drive sales:

Make the decision now to get different results.
I’m waiting to support you on the other side.
It’s time to make a decision, what will you do?
If you stay the same, nothing changes. Where could you be a year from now?

Put These Copywriting Tips to Use

Now you see how writing sales copy for your specific audience and addressing their pains is easier when you keep a few copywriting elements in mind. Grab their attention with curiosity-invoking headlines, use bullet points, limit their choices, offer a rock-solid guarantee, and ask for the sale. How will you use these tips in your copywriting? I encourage you to not only use them in future sales copy, but go back to your landing pages, emails, and sales pages and see how you can drive more sales with compelling copywriting.

By Rhonda Bavaro

Sourced from Business 2 Community

In News

How to Survive the Social Media Midlife Crisis

April 19, 2018 No Comments

By Joshua Nite

Time moves faster on the internet. Last month’s memes are about as relevant as a 1920s vaudeville show. Even a bona fide viral phenomenon from just a few years ago seems quaint and dated.

Twitter and Facebook are only 12 and 14 years old, respectively. But they’re aging at internet speed. And right now they’re having a midlife crisis. Instead of buying a sports car and taking up craft brewing, though, that crisis is manifesting as existential dread and intense soul-searching.

The people who run the platforms are publicly examining their purpose and societal impact. More importantly, the people who use the platforms are asking tough questions:

What am I getting out of my time spent here?

Who is this platform structured to benefit?

Should I be trusting my data with this platform?

Is this a positive or negative thing I have let into my life?

As marketers, we have to ask ourselves the same questions. And we should add one more: Is our social media marketing valuable to our audience?

If we’re not adding value, we’re adding to the problem.

Social media is in crisis right now. But that doesn’t mean marketers should abandon ship. It means we have to do our own soul-searching. We need to take our social media accounts off of autopilot and approach them mindfully. Here’s what marketers should consider as we weather the social media midlife crisis.

How Does Your Social Media Marketing Make People Feel?

A recent Hill Holliday report found that a majority of 18-24 year olds were at least considering abandoning social media. Over a quarter said that social media hurts their self-esteem or makes them feel insecure. Thirty-five percent said there was too much negativity, and 17% said they were considering quitting because social media makes them feel bad about themselves.

Connecting with your brand on social media should make a person feel better. They should feel that your brand shares values with them, is paying attention to them, can help meet needs and solve problems.

It’s worth evaluating what your brand is posting on social to make sure it’s helping spread positivity. The old days of scaring or shaming people into buying a product are more than over. The overarching message of any brand on social media should be some variant of: “This is what we’re like. If you’re like that too, you’re awesome. Here’s some help you didn’t even know you needed. Here’s something to make your day a little brighter.”

Connecting with your brand on #socialmedia should make a person feel better. They should feel that your brand shares values with them, is paying attention to them, can help meet needs & solve problems. – @NiteWrites Click To Tweet

Is Your Brand Using Social Media to Be…Well…Social?

Let’s be honest with ourselves, shall we? No one opens their Facebook app saying: “Gosh, I hope I have some satisfactory brand interactions today.” People use social media to connect with other people — you want to see if your high school best friend had her baby, check out your uncle’s kitchen remodel, or see pictures of your parents’ second honeymoon.

Most brands on social media have been pretty lousy at giving people that type of person-to-person interaction. Which explains why people are moving their conversations out of the public eye, into private groups in apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

How can brands be more social on social media? It starts with transparency and honesty. I love Wendy’s’ sassy Twitter account as much as the next jaded Gen X’er, but snark only takes you so far. Use your social media posts to introduce the people behind your brand and the values they stand for. Then aim for meaningful interaction: When someone reaches out to the brand, make sure the reply is prompt, personal, and useful.

How can brands be more social on #socialmedia? It starts with transparency & honesty. – @NiteWrites Click To Tweet

Is Your Brand Connecting with People Your Audience Trusts?

At the heart of it, there’s a limit to how well your brand can connect with individual people. Even when you’re honest, transparent, and engaging, a brand is still not a human being.

The relationship dynamic will always be a little strained.

That’s one of the many reasons why influencer marketing works so well. Influencers can co-create content with you and amplify it to their audience on a much more personal basis than your brand could manage on its own. Find the people your audience already follows — in other words, the ones they want to interact with. Then work with these influencers to bring their audience great content that only your brand could have helped create.

Working with influencers helps put the personal, social touch back into social media marketing. It puts the emphasis of your brand interaction where it belongs: person to person.

Working with influencers helps put the personal, social touch back into #SocialMediaMarketing. – @NiteWrites Click To Tweet

Getting Beyond the Crisis

When social media platforms first launched, most of us jumped right in. We found our high school classmates. We connected with friends from college. We added co-workers and family members and friends of friends, and we shared everything. Over time, we developed routines. Now, people are finally starting to analyze just what social media means to them. Most will keep their accounts open — but the majority will change the way they interact with the platforms.

Sound familiar? Most brands jumped headfirst into social media, developed routines, and then many of us went on autopilot. Now it’s time to question what we hope to get out of social media, and whether our tactics are getting us closer to those goals. And most importantly, making sure our goals match what our audience wants from us.

By Joshua Nite

Sourced from Top Rank Marketing

In News

Google Lets Businesses Post Offers to Organic Search Results

April 19, 2018 No Comments

By Matt Southern

Google has been spotted testing a new feature which allows Google My Business pages to publish offers directly to search results.

This feature is built into Google Posts, which has been available to all businesses with a verified GMB profile since last summer. Google Posts lets businesses publish short messages, which appear in Maps and search results when the business name is searched for.

Until now Posts were limited to plain text, multimedia, or events. In the example below you can see Google is testing a new type of post for offers.

An offer includes the following components:

A photo
Up to 300 words of text
Post title
Start date/time and end date/time
Optional coupon code
A link to the offer

What businesses may appreciate most of all is that it doesn’t appear to cost anything to post offers. Of course, they will not be shown as widely as paid ads, but they still give businesses the opportunity to push sales in search results without having to pay Google for it.

Not everyone is able to replicate this feature, which indicates it’s still in the testing stages.

By Matt Southern

Sourced from Search Engine Journal

In News

24 Email Marketing Stats Every Business Owner Should Know (Infographic)

April 19, 2018 No Comments

By Kimberly de Silva

Email marketing is the cornerstone of many marketing programs.

Email marketing is the cornerstone of many marketing programs. It can make engaging with and retaining customers much easier with high-powered tools like automation and personalization. And using mobile-friendly email templates ensures that no matter what device your customer uses to view them, your emails will always look great.

Campaign Monitor has created an infographic, “24 Email Marketing Stats You Need to Know” to help you understand just what value email marketing brings to a small business. For example, for every $1 spent, email marketing brings in $44; for one of the highest ROIs of any marketing tactic.

Personalized messages bring results

A high ROI is fantastic, of course, but with a powerful marketing tool like this, there are even better reasons for email marketing. By using an email service provider, you can create emails that are personalized for each customer, helping them to connect with your business.

The more your customers engage with your business and emails, the more likely they are to purchase from you. Emails with personalized subject lines are 26 percent more likely to be opened. And personalization doesn’t stop at the subject line.

You can add images and content that are specific to each reader to keep them interested in what your business offers. The more you can send emails that your customers want to see, with information that they’re looking for, the more likely they’ll stay your customer. Using data you already have about them can help you to personalize emails a little bit more. Keeping your data updated, by using signup forms or surveys, can help you collect the information you need to do this.

Automation saves time and engages customers

Automation, creating a series of emails once and sending them out automatically when certain criteria are met, can help keep customers coming back for more. Sending out welcome emails, reminder emails, VIP emails or even birthday emails can help to hold your customer’s attention, and lead to sales.

As a matter of fact, automated emails can generate 320 percent more revenue than non-automated ones. Using automation and personalization together can make marketers’ lives a little easier since they need to only create an email once to have each person get the version they need, and sent when they need it.

Since email open rates increased to 68 percent on mobile devices in 2016, it’s important to make sure your email can be read on any device. Just about everyone has a mobile phone and reads their emails on it these days. The easiest way to do this is to use a template that’s already set up to work on mobile devices. This way no special coding is needed and your customers will have an easy-to-read and useful email. Plus, you’ll still be able to use personalization and automation, the end device won’t change how they work.

Email marketing stats worth knowing

From personalization and automation to a high ROI, email marketing can make staying in touch with customers a breeze. And, it will help to not only convert leads to customers but help retain the customers you already have. For more useful and fun email marketing stats and tips, check out the infographic below.

Feature Image credit: juststock | Getty Images

This story originally appeared on Bizness Apps

By Kimberly de Silva

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

Google Knows Literally Everything About You – Here’s How To Delete That Data

April 18, 2018 No Comments

By Thomas Tamblyn

Take back control of your information with these easy steps.

Google, just like Facebook, collects a lot of personal data about its users. While many of us might have put that thought to the back of our minds, this week one web developer reminded us of the true extent of Google’s great data grab with this eye-opening Twitter thread.

The post went viral, unsurprisingly, given that the details it contained: Google tracks every journey you make, it logs every video you watch on YouTube, and it even knows your tastes.

It doesn’t actually send any of this data outside of its own four walls. Instead, Google hordes it all so it can learn more about you, and better target the adverts you see and the services you use.

If the thought of a single company having all that information in one place makes you uncomfortable, then not only can you stop Google from tracking your every move, but you can also delete all the previous data it has been collecting on you. (Alternatively, you could download it (although we wouldn’t recommend it).

How to see everything Google collects on you

Since 2016, Google has allowed every user to see all of this information through a privacy website called My Activity. This will show you a timeline of every interaction you’ve made through one of Google’s apps – whether it’s watching a video on YouTube or asking for directions through Google Maps. Prepare yourself, it’s a bit scary.

Click here.

Stop Google saving every search you make

Google uses a lot of the data it collects to help it work faster – that’s why when you start typing in Google Search, it seems to instinctively know what you’re looking for. This can be useful, but comes with a tradeoff: Google records and remembers every search you make through Google, Google Now or even Google Maps. It doesn’t share this with anyone, but stores it for its own services.

To stop Google recording every search head to My Activity by clicking here. Now click on Activity Controls on the left-hand side of the screen.

You’re now in the main settings screen. The first setting is called Web & App Activity. Turn this off and then click on the word Pause. Also untick the box below that says Include Chrome browsing history and activity from websites and apps that use Google services.

Stop Google tracking your location

Google tracks everywhere you’ve been either from devices where you’ve signed in to Google Maps or through an Android device. Users with iPhones or Apple devices will find that Apple automatically limits this tracking considerably so you won’t have the same terrifying map of locations as Android users.

Head to My Activity by clicking here. Now click on Activity Controls on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down and you’ll find Location History. Turn this off and then click on the word Pause.

Stop Google tracking which smartphones you use

Google stores information about every Android device that you sign into, the idea being that it can better recommend apps and services the next time you have a new device.

Head to My Activity by clicking here. Now click on Activity Controls on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down and you’ll find Device Information. Turn this off and then click the word Pause.

Stop Google recording your voice

Every time you say ‘Ok Google’ to your phone or smart speaker Google saves that request so you can go back and review it or delete it. Google says that it saves these in order to improve the way your devices respond to you.

Head to My Activity by clicking here. Now click on Activity Controls on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down and you’ll see Voice and Audio Activity. Turn this off and click Pause.

Stop Google tracking every YouTube video you watch

When you’re using YouTube Google is recording every search and every video that you watch. The idea being that it can better recommend videos you might enjoy watching.

Head to My Activity by clicking here. Now click on Activity Controls on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down and you’ll see YouTube Search History and YouTube Watch History. Untick both of these boxes and click Pause when each box appears.

Stop Google creating a profile of you for advertisers

Google shares surprisingly little with advertisers in terms of your personal information. Rather it uses all of that information to create a rough anonymous profile of your interests. It is this info that is then used to target ads for products you might like. To see your advertising profile click here.

You can also turn off ad personalisation or tweak your own interests if you’re not happy with the adverts that you see. You can also scroll down and change your profile which will usually be a gender and a rough age range.

Download all your Google data

Soon to be everyone in the EU’s legal right, Google already lets you download all the data about you that it currently holds. While this might make interesting reading, once the data is on your computer it is now arguably less secure than it was before, so treat it with care.

Start by clicking here.

You can now pick and choose the type of data you want to download and in what format.

Delete all the data Google currently has on you

This is, remarkably, pretty easy.

Head to My Activity by clicking here. Now head to Delete activity by. Simply click on the date range and select All time. Now click Delete.

To delete all the location data Google has on you head to your Timeline by clicking here. In the bottom right-hand side you’ll find a rubbish bin, click on it and then click I understand and want to delete all location history.

To delete all the device information being collected on you click here. Now on the right-hand side click Delete All.

By Thomas Tamblyn

Sourced from HUFFPOST

In News

Importance of Email Marketing in Mobile App Development

April 18, 2018 No Comments

By Harnil Oza.

Email marketing creates awareness for your app leading to downloads

You’re reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

There is no doubt you have created a mobile app with fascinating features! But what is the essence of such app if it fails in the market? Truth is; you saw a need and created an app to provide solutions to such need. There is no way you can meet this need without app downloads by its supposed users. Hence, the need for result-oriented strategies targeted at driving app downloads and use. To do this, you must include these strategies right into the app development process. This is a key strategy for most top app development companies in the world.

Many factors are responsible for the failure of an app in the highly competitive app market. With these result-oriented strategies, you can surmount the challenges posed by these factors. The right audience and ad campaigns are some factors that promote app downloads and use. The truth is; even with the right audience and robust marketing campaign, you can end up with a failed app.

An amazing result-oriented strategy that can drive app success is email marketing. With the internet, email marketing has become an important tool in mobile app development. For most top app development companies, it is a key tool used during app development to drive app success.

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is a unique type of direct marketing. Here, you communicate with potential app users via electronic mail. The truth is; any email you send to your existing or potential app users is email marketing. It is sending emails to potential app users to convince them to download and use your app. More so, it entails sending emails with the aim to building relationships between your app and its users. Thus, it encourages continuous app use which leads to app user’s loyalty. Today, most top app development companies use email marketing in driving app downloads. This has helped such developers churn successful apps into the market.

Today, beliefs are that email is on the verge of collapse due to social media. This is far from the truth as it is one of the most used marketing tools in the world. Here are a few advantages email marketing offers your app over conventional marketing:

-Trackability of the exact ROI of your email campaigns

-Ability to reach massive potential app users from all over the world

-Opportunity to segment your mail list and emails

-Reach out to current and potential app users via personalized and self-motivated content

With email marketing, you can be creative in churning relevant content at the right time.

Why Email Marketing in Mobile App Development?

Email marketing should be a key component of your app development process. Today, with the rapid increase in using mobile phones, you can reach a wide audience via emails. Here are few reasons to integrate email marketing into your app development process.

1. Low-cost With Huge ROI

It does not cost you much to use email marketing in app development to raise awareness. The truth is; email marketing is cheap. There are printing costs, advertising or postage fees. Whether you do it or you hire an agency to do it, it cost nearly nothing. Hence, the need to use email marketing during your app’s pre-launch, launch, and post-launch. With this, you can reach thousands of potential app users at low-cost with outstanding results. Studies show that for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you get about $40 equivalence of ROI.

2. Has Immediacy

Email marketing has immediacy. It produces meaningful results within minutes once sent to potential app users. An app pre-launch mail is a unique marketing strategy you can use for the awareness of your app. More so, a launch mail is an excellent marketing tactic you can use to drive app downloads and use. A post-launch mail is relevant to keep app users updated about changes in your app. Such emails will create a massive sense of urgency for both current and potential app users. Thus, convinces them on the need to take immediate actions to download and use your app. This is why most top app development companies cannot do away with email marketing.

3. Easily Targeted

Email marketing creates awareness for your app leading to downloads. The truth is; this unique marketing strategy solves all the intrinsic troubles of non-target campaigns. With email marketing, you can send emails to your chosen audience. In fact, by segmenting your email contact, you have control over who sees your mail. You can easily target potential app users using relevant demographics. With this, your messages get across to the right potential app users with ease. The truth is; you can send personalized messages to a target audience for app downloads and use. Thus, results in a higher conversion rate in form of app downloads and use by your target audience.

4. Highly Easy to Share

Emails are highly easy to share. Using email marketing gives you the privilege to send messages that can be shared with ease. With emails, app users can share your emails to convince loved ones to download and use your app. All this can happen at the click of a button by app users. Today, most top app development companies use email marketing because it’s easily shared.

5. Global Access

Email marketing gives your app campaigns access to a global audience. With emails, you can reach thousands of potential app users across the globe in seconds. Although social media can help you reach a global audience, it does not show who reads your content. Most top app development companies fancy email marketing because it gives access to a global audience.

6. Ease to Measure Results

You cannot ignore the role of analytics in measuring the success of your marketing campaigns. Unlike email marketing, conventional marketing tools give uncertain and estimated results. With email marketing, you get accurate and helpful metrics. It gives metrics such as open rates, retention rates, and click-rates. This gives you insights into the interests and behaviors of app users. Email marketing helps you to monitor and fine-tune information derived from app users. This is why it is an integral part of app development for most top app development companies.

How to Maximize Email Marketing for Mobile App Downloads and Use

It is possible to maximize the performance of email marketing for your app. To achieve this, you should do the following;

1. Fine-tune your email so it gets delivered to and opened by potential app users.

2. Fine-tune your email so potential app users can read and act upon it.

Feature Image credit: Shutterstock

By Harnil Oza

CEO, Hyperlink Infosystem

Sourced from Entrepreneur India

In News

6 Email Metrics You Have to Track

April 18, 2018 No Comments

By Robert W. Bly

If you track nothing else, be sure to track these numbers to find out how effective your email campaigns are.

The following excerpt is from Robert W. Bly’s book The Digital Marketing Handbook. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | IndieBound

There are half a dozen key metrics that you should keep track of to determine how well your email marketing messages are working and how much money you’re making from them.

Bounce rate

A bounce is an email that doesn’t get delivered to the recipient because the email address you sent it to isn’t valid or active. The cause can be a typo in the email address, a change in the recipient’s choice of internet service provider (ISP), or closing down a domain, server or email account.

On a well-maintained email list, the bounce rate should be small — ideally, about one percent or less. MailChimp, a large email services provider, tracked millions of emails and found the typical bounce rate was around a little under one percent. A bounce rate of eight percent or above means either the list is old and outdated, or you have a quality problem with the list or possibly your method of email distribution.

Opt-out rate

Every time you send an email to your opt-in list, some of the people on the list will decide they no longer want to get email from you and will opt out or unsubscribe, which simply means they’ll ask you to remove their name and email address from your list and send no more emails to them. For this reason, unless you’re constantly and proactively building your elist, these opt-outs can cause the size of your elist to shrink by as much as 25 to 30 percent a year.

So, in addition to continually building your opt-in elist, you must work to reduce your opt-out or unsubscribe rate, defined as the percentage of your subscribers who opt out of the list each time you send an email to it. Ideally, your opt-out rate should be 0.1 percent or below. That means if you send an email blast to your list of 5,000 subscribers, a maximum of five and preferably fewer will opt out from that single email.

Open rate

The open rate is the percentage of people receiving your email that click on and open it. According to Constant Contact, open rates can range from five percent to 20 percent, with the average being around 10 percent to 15 percent. Mine varies from eight percent to 25 percent depending on which of my lists I’m sending to.

Some marketers feel the open rate is very important. For each email I send out, I’m much more concerned about the next three metrics: clickthrough rate, conversion rate and gross revenues.

Clickthrough rate

The clickthrough rate (CTR) is the percentage of people receiving your email marketing message who respond to your offer by clicking the hyperlink to reach your sales page for more details and possibly to order. Typical CTRs range from one percent to five percent and sometimes more for each email blast. And a study from Marketo found that text emails on average produce 17 percent higher clickthrough rates than HTML emails.

Conversion rate

The conversion rate is the number of prospects who reach or land on your sales page and accept the offer, whether it’s to download a free special report, register for a webinar or buy a product.

Depending on whether you’re trying to generate a lead with a free offer or sell a product, the conversion rate on a landing page can be anywhere from one percent to as high as 80 percent or more. If you’re selling a $29 ebook and get a five percent conversion rate, then for every 100 people who clicked on your email hyperlink and went to the landing page, five bought the product and 95 did not.

Gross revenues

The gross revenues are determined by four factors: the size of your elist, the price of your product, the clickthrough rate, and the conversion rate. Let’s say your elist currently has 10,000 names on it and you’re selling them a $39 product; for today, the list size and product price are both fixed.

You could increase your gross sales by improving either the CTR or the conversion rate, but if you boost both, it has a multiplying effect that can take your revenues from modest to spectacular. For instance, if you send an email to a list of 10,000 subscribers with an offer of a $39 product, when the CTR and conversion rate are each one percent, we get only 10 orders for $390 revenues on the email.

If we can boost either CTR or conversion tenfold from one percent to 10 percent, our sales from the email go from $390 to a respectable $3,900. But, if we boost both clickthrough and conversion from one percent to 10 percent each, we multiply our results a hundredfold and make a whopping $39,000 in sales from a single email.

Feature Image credit: PeopleImages | Getty Images

By Robert W. Bly

Sourced from Entrepreneur

In News

Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Google’s ‘Speed Update’

April 18, 2018 No Comments

By Tony Palazzo

Website loading speeds on mobile devices will now be used as ranking factors in Google search results. Here’s how to take action and protect your ranking.

Earlier this year, Google announced a big change to the way they factor search rankings. For the first time, website loading speeds on mobile devices will be used as ranking factors in search results.

Of course, anytime the Google wizards announce an algorithm update, search professionals like myself scramble to learn all the ins-and-outs so we can preserve our clients’ hard-earned search real estate. While the so-called “speed update” isn’t as earth-shattering as previous Google changes, you should be aware of ramifications that could begin July 2018, and be ready to take appropriate action if you value your Google ranking.

What is the speed update and what does it mean for businesses?

Site speed has always been a Google ranking factor, because Google knows web users will quickly abandon a page if it takes too long to load. So what’s new about this speed update? Previously, site speed was based only on a site’s desktop version. With this update, speed will now be a ranking factor for your mobile site as well. This means that mobile sites delivering slower load times may see a decrease in mobile organic rankings on Google.

While this may not sound like a big deal, remember that more than half of all search traffic occurs on mobile devices and consumers are increasingly making major purchases from their phones and tablets. So even if you don’t see major traffic from mobile yet, you will soon.

It’s also possible that this change won’t end with mobile organic rankings. Google could roll this same methodology out to Google AdWords mobile ads at some point in the future. This would mean that a slow mobile site may hurt your quality score, and you’ll have a harder time getting your ads to rank at the same cost. Therefore, if your site relies on Google traffic and AdWords campaigns, you’ll definitely want to pay attention to this update.

How can companies avoid punishment for a slow-loading site?

If companies want to avoid punishment for a slow-loading site, they should first start by testing the existing version of their mobile site. Google’s testmysite tool will scan a mobile site and test it against a standard 3G connection. Then it will grade the site’s loading speed time and provide a report on other factors affecting the test results.

If your mobile site performs poorly, you should make adjustments based on the testing feedback. The easiest place to start is by compressing site images using tools like tinypng.com. You can also minify Javascript and CSS and leverage browser caching to reduce site load times.

Other methods of improving mobile site speed include removing unnecessary plugins, hiding unnecessary videos or images on mobile, and reducing server response time. Developers can also use Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project, which is an open-source initiative enabling the creation of mobile pages that load nearly instantly across devices and distribution platforms.

If improving a site’s mobile speed isn’t possible before the July update and businesses start seeing organic rankings decrease, they may want to focus on Google AdWords, using mobile-specific ads. However, this may only be buying time, as Google Adwords could follow suit in the future with increased weight on mobile site speed.

Other considerations

It’s important to remember that this latest update will only affect a small percentage of sites and won’t have any effect on current algorithms or rankings for desktops. But, designers and developers should always be thinking mobile-first regardless if you’re B2B or B2C. This update serves as an excellent reminder of that principle.

In my day-to-day work with Logical Position, I’m often reminded of the old saying, “the only constant is change.” Even minor updates like this speed change require adjusting our methods to ensure we’re continuing to deliver great results for our clients. It’s a method towards success no matter what industry you’re in.

By Tony Palazzo

https://www.logicalposition.com

Tony Palazzo is Vice President of Operations & Marketing of Logical Position, an Inc. 500, Premier Google Partner headquartered in Oregon with offices nationwide. The agency offers full-service PPC Management, SEO and Website Design solutions for businesses large and small, and was ranked as the third best place to work in America by Inc. Magazine.

Sourced from business.com

In News

Do bloggers need to do everything? Blogging Update

April 17, 2018 No Comments

Sourced from An Historian About Town

I try not to blog too often about blogging, as it is for an incredibly small audience, and I don’t think that I am an authority on what you should or should not be doing on a blog. However, sometimes a question strikes me and if it sticks for long enough, I will share it here to hopefully open up a discussion. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the proliferation of bloggers that have a store on their blog, and a course, and an e-book, and a YouTube channel, and services, and this, and that, and and and- is this becoming the norm for bloggers? And are we expected as bloggers to have all of these things?

I know, I know, the first instinctive response is “Your blog is what you want it to be”, which is theoretically true but if you are at all interested in growing your blog isn’t actually the truth. I would guess that you have to be incredibly lucky to only have your blog with no social media (and no participation in groups) to grow with any steady rate. (Sidenote: I, like 98% of bloggers, like to see growth with my blog. I don’t care if it’s only 0.2% growth, but if we are going to put 20+ hours a week into this, I think we would all like to see a little something in return.) So, if we do need to diversify, what is it that we need to be doing?

I’ve noticed more and more and more bloggers starting YouTube channels. To me, a blog and a YouTube channel are two distinctly different mediums, and get at very different audiences. But am I going to appear like I am lacking to general readers if I slowly become only one of a few who hasn’t started one? I still don’t feel incredibly comfortable appearing physically on my Instagram or in Stories, but I am trying to push myself in that area. However, a full blown YouTube channel is much out of my comfort zone, and quite frankly, far out of my monetary and time budgets. The pride I have from my little only community is amazing, and has gotten me through some very tough times as of late, and I would hate to think of it slowly dying off because I didn’t evolve as a blogger. However, is blogging to YouTubing a natural evolution? And is YouTube even as big as it once was? (Is anything, really?)

I also don’t know where to draw the line for social media, right now. I’m actively working on Pinterest, and I’m actually seeing growth. Not a ton, but enough that it feels like I’m doing some things right (and actually enjoying using Pinterest like I used to)! I’ll probably never pay someone to run my Pinterest, or one of those boosting services, but maybe I can build more of my own traffic through it. I also feel like I’m still okay with Instagram, even though most people rage about the new algorithm more than Canadians gripe about snow. I’m never going to have an entire feed of the same “theme” but I enjoy what I post, and that’s what is most important to me. Realistically, I can’t dedicate the time needed to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Stumble Upon, and Flipboard to truly succeed- do I just stop using them altogether or sporadically share and post on them as I have been?

One of the most difficult parts of blogging for me is the lack of feedback- I can get a sense of what people like (or dislike) from the number of views, comments, likes, emails, messages, etc, but that is just a feeling. I do put up a poll every so often to see what readers what to see on the blog but that’s more for when I have too many ideas and just need help deciding which direction to go in. I’m determined to give more feedback to bloggers when I enjoy their post or series, because I think that is feedback we can all use.

This also leads me into my blogging goals for the next few months! I don’t share on Twitter anymore, because unless you are a magical unicorn, you probably aren’t actually getting traffic from there. I’m going to try and thoughtfully share the post to the best network (ie, Pinterest for recipes, Stumbles for style tips, Flipboard for more conversational pieces, etc). I also am going to continue trying to interact with and share posts from bloggers that I might not normally converse with- in every blogging group I’m in, it seems that most people continue to interact with the same few people. I might not be interested in a parenting guide but maybe someone who follows me on Pinterest is! I also am going to be working on diversifying my traffic away from blogging groups. I very much enjoy blogging groups and I think that the bloggers I have met in them are some of the best people on the internet, but strictly traffic-wise, it’s not sustainable. The day you stop participating is the day that your traffic will fall, and I’m okay with that at this point. It’s lovely to see higher traffic on the blog but if people are only going there because it’s in a thread and they have to, is it genuine traffic?

Cute puppy because… just because!

I know that there are a lot of thoughts in questions in this post, and that most people will skip it! Bloggers, how do you feel about all of the expectations of blogs nowadays? And what are your spring blogging goals?

Sourced from An Historian About Town

In News

Conversations and Email Marketing: What’s the Relationship?

April 17, 2018 No Comments

By Courtney Sembler

As humans, we’re always having conversations: with our co-worker, friend, partner, or even with our leads and customers. The conversations we have shape our professional and personal lives.

Having great conversations is what inbound marketing is all about: attracting the right visitors to your site, engaging with them, and nurturing them through their customer lifecycle. Your emails shouldn’t be any different. Having a great conversation is as much a part of email marketing as your subject line. So how do you create a relationship between your email marketing and your conversations?

What Are Conversations?

Conversations are everywhere. Think about the last conversation you had and where that conversation took place. There aren’t many places in our world today where we don’t have conversations. We communicate through multiple channels, such as phone, email, Facebook Messenger, and text.

So what exactly is a conversation? Generally, a conversation is defined as an oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or ideas between two or more parties.

But as technology is evolving, there are more ways we are communicating. So the conversation definition needs somewhat of an expansion. A conversation is an interactive communication between two or more parties.

You might think conversations only occur in newer technology such as messenger and chatbots. But never leave email out of the equation. To send highly engaging emails your contacts want to interact with, those emails need to be human. There is no better way to be human than to have a conversation.

So what are the ways you can create great conversations with your contacts through email?

Want to learn more about conversations? Check them out here.

How Do You Create Conversations in Emails?

Two ways to have great conversations in your emails include:

Send email based off behavior.
Create conversational email copy.

Send email based off behavior

Behavioral email means sending targeted emails to your contacts based on their actions and behaviors.

Behavioral email focuses on the idea that every interaction a user has with your company should have an expected and appropriate reaction.

By looking at all the interactions and your prospects’ responses, you can start to develop a sense of your contacts’ behavior. Each person in your contact database will tell you, by their actions, how often you should send them email.

Create conversational email copy

The biggest piece of advice I can give for creating conversational emails is to be human. This means keeping it real and sometimes uncomfortably honest, using words you’d use in everyday language. Write copy that sounds like it came from a human.

Remember that your email is going to a human, so the language you use should reflect that.

Instead of trying to sell your products or services (which you know are great), spend time in your emails giving recommendations, interviews around subject areas that you have, or tips and tricks of how to do something you know your contacts will love (based on their behavior).

Sign your email with a name that your contact might recognize. It doesn’t have to be “xoxo,” but a simple “Thanks, Court” will go a long way.

Want more tips on writing email copy? Check it out here.

What Are HubSpot Conversations?

So how can you organize your conversations in HubSpot? One of the most important aspects of email marketing is understanding that your emails don’t live in a bubble.

Your contacts engage with all types of content you create on every channel you use. It can become overwhelming to keep track of and understand all the types of conversations you are having.

And because email marketing continues to be a powerhouse in your inbound marketing strategy and continues to evolve, understanding where your emails fit into the conversations will be extremely important. A well-positioned conversation will be more engaging than a well- designed email with tons of bells and whistles.

This is where HubSpot comes in.

HubSpot Founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah states:

“With Conversations, we’re going beyond a single solution, like site chat, to build something that centralizes all of a business’ communications with customers and prospects into one collaborative environment.”

He is referring to the new HubSpot conversations tool. The tool is designed to help you organize and keep track of all the conversations you’re having across multiple channels.

What can you expect from the product? Conversations will be different from the other conversation tools on the market today. The key difference is that you’re going to be able to tie all of these conversations directly to your CRM.

Multi-channel: Conversations unifies conversations from Facebook Messenger, onsite chat, social media, email, and other messaging outlets into one shared inbox.
Tied into a CRM: Rooting messaging into a CRM enables companies to have the full context of past interactions wherever and whenever they may have taken place.
Scaleable with chatbots: Conversations will enable companies to build chatbots without needing technical skill and scale responses to match high- volume inquiries.

Your inbound marketing strategy should focus on being human, helpful, and holistic. There is nothing more human than having a great, contextual and timely conversation.

Want to learn more about HubSpot Conversations?

Check it out here.

By Courtney Sembler

Sourced from HubSpot