How to Build a Conversion Funnel That Will Triple Your Profits

A conversion funnel is a visual representation of the stages in a buyer’s journey, from the moment they land on your page until they complete a purchase. How do you create a conversion funnel, though, and how do you get the most from this tool? Let’s take a look.         

Should I Use the AIDA Model to Create My Conversion Funnel?

The AIDA model is the traditional way to track the customer journey. It’s based on the four classic stages people move through during the buying process: awareness, interest, desire, and action.

• Awareness: First, a person discovers your brand and becomes a lead.
• Interest: Next, you build their interest in your product.
• Desire: Then, your goal should be nudging prospects from simply thinking they like something to actively wanting it, possibly by making proposals or carefully placing glamorous adverts for repeat exposure.
• Action: Finally, you encourage a prospect to take the desired action―turning them into a customer.

Realistically, not everyone who visits your website will convert to a paying customer, which is why we use a funnel shape. Based on the AIDA model, then, a traditional-style sales marketing funnel might look something like this:

The problem? This is a rigid and fairly unrealistic way to view how people move through the stages of a sales cycle.

Leads are human, and the sales process is rarely linear. Often, people loop back to different stages in the sales cycle before they’re ever ready to complete the sale. In other words, people need nurturing before they’ll buy a product. As a marketer, you must understand their behaviors, their personalities, and their needs to convert them into paying customers.

Rather than a straightforward sales funnel, you need a more flexible conversion-based funnel, which will look something like this:

Don’t let the graphic intimidate you! While you might be tempted to start with a simple sales funnel, you’ll increase your chances of success if you start with a more flexible conversion funnel. Let me take you through exactly how it’s done.

How to Create a Conversion Funnel

There are nine main steps to creating a successful conversion funnel, based on a blend of AIDA and less restrictive techniques.

1. Determine Your Ideal Buyer Journey and Map It Out as a Funnel

The point of a conversion funnel is to build an effective buyer’s journey and increase your conversions. To increase your conversions, you must first identify your starting point and your end goal. In other words, you must identify three things:

• what your typical buyer’s journey looks like right now
• what your end goal is, or what action you want a prospect to take
• how you can improve your existing buyer’s journey in order to increase the likelihood of leads becoming paying customers

Once you’ve identified what your end goal is, you can map it out as a conversion funnel. Visualizing or mapping out your funnel can help you stay on track further down the line.

2. Set Goals for Each Stage in Your Funnel

Think of your funnel in three separate parts: the top, middle, and bottom.

Decide what you want from each stage of the funnel; for example, maybe you want to increase your traffic at the top of the funnel, boost your engagement rate in the middle, and increase your conversions at the end.

Once you’ve set some concrete goals, consider using tools to track your progress and ensure you’re meeting those objectives. For example, you might use Google Analytics or email automation software to measure your success rates.

Unless you’re clear on what you need from each stage in your funnel, it’s impossible to know if you’re meeting your targets. Spend some time reflecting on your overall goal before you build a conversion funnel.

3. Make a Content Plan for Each Stage in the Funnel

Each part of the funnel (top, middle, bottom) requires its own marketing plan to keep prospects moving from one stage to the next.

Top

The first stage is all about building brand and product awareness. You’re trying to generate some buzz and encourage prospects to learn more about your company and how your products can help them.

At this early stage, use visually engaging content such as videos, short blog posts, and social media posts to introduce your company and emphasize your brand story.

Middle

You have a person’s attention, so now it’s time to gain their trust and show them why they need your product.

A prospect could ultimately be in this stage for a while, so the focus should be on creating valuable, informative, and reliable content such as case studies, video tutorials, and downloads.

Bottom

The final stage should be focused on giving prospects a reason to buy your product, sign up for your service, or take any other action you desire. Marketing strategies at this stage could include free trials, actionable emails, and CTAs, or calls to action.

4. Implement Strategies and Create Content to Generate Awareness

At this first stage in your funnel, you’re trying to build hype around your brand and product. Why should a customer care about your company? How do your products solve the problems they have? Answer these questions to help build a content strategy for this stage.

Do some competitor research, too. Consider what you can learn from their landing pages, social media channels, and blogs. How are they reeling in potential customers?

With all these questions in mind, here are some examples of ways you might generate awareness and create appropriate content for the first stage of a conversion funnel.

• Consider using PPC ads to increase traffic in the first instance.
• Optimize your content for SEO so it ranks high in the search engine results. This way, people are more likely to find you online.
• Get on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Post regularly and interact with followers to build some engagement.
• Set up a referral program to reward people for recommending your products and services to their social network.

Other ways you might build interest in your brand include, for example, trying influencer marketing, hosting interviews, creating informational guides, and designing printable checklists.

5. Generate Interest and Desire

While the AIDA model labels “interest” and “desire” as two separate outcomes, in real terms, they’re the same thing.

Generating interest, or building desire, comes down to one key thing: creating compelling content. You build some awareness around your brand, you show people why they “need” what you’re selling, and as a result they decide they “want” your product.

How do you create great content to nudge people along this stage of your funnel? Here are some ideas.

• Craft authoritative blog posts to educate your audience. If a user finds your content valuable, they’re more likely to trust you enough to spend money on your products.
• Show your product in action by creating a YouTube video. Video content helps people visualize how the product could benefit them, which in turn makes them feel like they “need” the item.
• If you have a prospect’s contact details, send them curated email content such as roundups of your top blog posts, customer testimonials, or and hints and tips that could benefit your reader.

There are some other ways you can generate interest, too, such as starting a podcast, creating some product guides, running a free trial program, or offering product samples.

6. Encourage Users to Take Action

At the end of the funnel, your goal is to convert a lead into a customer by encouraging the required action. While you could skip this step in the funnel if it works for your business, here are some ways you might optimize your strategy for this stage.

Create a PDF Download

Put together some valuable content in a PDF download and offer it in exchange for their contact details. Make sure your document promises to answer common questions your customers have, to encourage them to actually download it.

Here’s an example from LegalSuite, a legal services provider. Their customers typically want help with streamlining their operational efficiency. To help their customers, LegalSuite offers a free eBook with ways to make their legal operations run more efficiently.

The catch? Prospects must provide some contact details, which means that LegalSuite can follow up with them:

This is a great example of how to encourage an action without being pushy.

Add a Call to Action (CTA) to Relevant Resources

CTAs clarify the action you want people to take, so don’t forget to add them to the content you create.

At this stage of the funnel, you’re trying to entice customers to take a final step to complete the cycle, so give your CTAs a sense of urgency. Emphasize how your product can solve their problem and why they should act now.

Make it easy for customers to act by displaying the CTA somewhere prominent, like the top of a landing page, the end of a guide post, or in a colorful, clickable button at a strategic point in a YouTube video.

Finally, remember to test your CTAs to identify which strategy resonates most with your audience.

Send Actionable Emails

In many ways, great marketing is all about helping people help themselves.

Send them clear, concise, actionable emails emphasizing how they can solve their problems through buying your products or using your services.

Again, ensure there’s an obvious CTA so potential customers know what action you expect them to take.

Incorporate Customer Testimonials

Did you know that 72 percent of customers won’t make a purchase until they’ve read some reviews? Give those customers the reassurance they need to take the final step by adding some testimonials to your page.

You can either just ask customers for reviews, or you can take a look at your existing reviews on websites like Facebook and LinkedIn and ask for permission to share them in your content.

Where should you display testimonials?

It all depends on your audience, brand goals, and marketing strategy. You could, for example:

• include some quotes from positive reviews on your landing page
• embed a widget from a website like Trustpilot on your page so prospects can read your reviews before they buy
• link to videos of happy customers using your products (remember to thank them for trying out your product, too!)

Other Ideas

Finally, you might offer other incentives like free trials, competitor comparison guides, demo videos, and product samples to nurture leads into becoming paying customers.

7. Keep Customers

Great marketing is not just about finding customers. It’s about retaining them, too. Here’s why.

• Acquiring new customers can cost up to 30 times more than retaining customers.
• Your existing customers are, roughly, 50 percent more likely to try your new products.
• 40 percent of sales, on average, can be attributed to repeating customers.

Sounds great, right? Here are some strategies for retaining those all-important loyal customers.

Next-sell

Next-selling is when you follow up with a customer after a purchase and offer them a similar product with, perhaps, an attractive discount attached. Not only does this allow you to communicate with your customer and make them feel valued, but it’s a way to potentially increase revenue.

Say you want to know whether customers who buy coffee machines are more likely to buy a discounted toaster. You can send the customers who bought a coffee machine a discount code for toasters, and send a control group a full price ad on toasters.

Next-selling can provide you with helpful data to build effective funnels.

Create Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are crucial to any customer retention strategy, with 81 percent of millennials spending more money when they’re a member of a loyalty scheme. However, since loyalty schemes are nothing new, you need to get creative if you plan on building a winning program.

When you’re creating your own program, consider:

• using high levels of personalization
• giving customers flexibility around how to use their reward points
• offering extra perks and benefits to loyalty scheme members

Amazon Prime, for example, stands out because customers enjoy benefits like free same-day delivery, exclusive savings, and access to members-only shopping events.

With the Starbucks Rewards program, members pay through the Starbucks app, and they earn points towards perks like free food and drink. What’s really great about this scheme, though, is how it’s centralized through the app, meaning Starbucks can access large volumes of data about user behavior to inform their marketing strategy:

Make your loyalty program work for you by using it to monitor customer preferences and buyer behavior.

Product Updates

When you update your products, you’re keeping up with evolving customer demands and changing expectations. You’re showing your loyal customers that you value their continued loyalty.

For example, maybe you can update an app glitch, based on user feedback. Or, you could launch an add-on to improve a software download.

In short, product updates are a great way to improve the user experience.

Other Techniques

How else can you keep those all-important customers? Well, you can try marketing strategies such as:

• introducing member-only events
• sending out exclusive emails
• running contests or prize draws
• starting a customer service RSS feed

8. Grow Customers

Finally, don’t forget to capitalize on your existing customers by encouraging them to make more purchases. There are a few strategies you can try, so here’s a rundown of your best options.

Cross-sell

With cross-selling, you look at a customer’s most recent purchase and show them similar products they might be interested in. Or, during the sales process, you offer them other items which complement the item they’re currently buying.

For example, say someone buys a laptop from your website. As part of your sales funnel, you might also recommend a charger or laptop case to go along with their purchase.

Here’s a real example from REI Co-op. Say, for example, a lead decides to view a set of strength trainers. Under the product listing, there’s a “people also viewed” list, which highlights similar products the lead might be interested in:

It’s not a pushy strategy, but it nurtures leads in the right direction.

Upsell

Upselling means offering a customer a more expensive alternative to the item or service they’re interested in.

For example, if someone selects a free subscription to your service, you might highlight the cheapest paid subscription option to them.

• When you’re upselling, it’s helpful to compare products or services side-by-side.
• However, don’t try to upsell a product if it’s substantially more expensive than what the potential customer wants to buy. Otherwise, the strategy could backfire!

Just remember, though, to avoid being too pushy at all times when you’re upselling.

Here’s a good example from Best Buy. The customer views an entry-level MacBook Air. Above the product, they see other more expensive products from the MacBook range, one of which also has an enticing discount attached to it:

The products advertised aren’t massively different in price from the viewed product, and it’s a good, subtle example of upselling.

Other Strategies

There are a few other strategies you can try to grow your customer base and build your business, including:

• sending out discounts to loyal customers
• personalizing your marketing emails
• issuing more voucher codes

Test out a few strategies and identify which ones resonate best with your customers.

9. Address Funnel Problems

In reality, there’s no such thing as a perfect funnel. However, if your funnel is underperforming, it could be due to common errors such as:

• leaving out a strong CTA
• forgetting to start with a clear brand message
• using too many steps in your funnel
• misreading your funnel analytics data
• failing to follow up with leads

To find out why your funnel isn’t working optimally, you need to run some A/B testing or use an analytics tracking tool like Google Analytics (GA) or Hotjar.

Alternatively, you can perform some lead outreach. Send out surveys or ask for feedback about the website user experience, and always take negative comments on board when you’re refining your funnel. They’ll give you very clear insight on what your audience does or doesn’t want.

Conversion Funnel Tracking With Optimizely

Want to experiment with different funnel variations and track their performance? Give Optimizely a try.

It’s easy enough to use. Once you’ve registered, simply head to your “Experiments” dashboard, select “Create New,” and choose whichever experiment you want to run, such as A/B testing or a personalization campaign:

After you create your experiments, you can track them from your dashboard and make whatever changes best suit your marketing strategy. For example, you might refine your CTA or emphasize a new product. You can run multiple variations simultaneously, too, and track which one works best.

Whatever your conversion goal, Optimizely can help you realize it. Sign up for a free version, or choose a paid subscription with more advanced features if your marketing budget can stretch to it.

How to Track Your Conversion Funnel With Google Analytics

Google Analytics is another handy tool for funnel tracking. With GA, you can easily track customers from the moment they visit your page to whenever they decide to either abandon their journey or complete the purchase.

1. Once you’ve set up which website you want to track, set up some conversion goals.

2. From the “Admin” menu, go to “Views” then click “Goals:”

   

3. Click “New Goal” and work through the steps to generate the desired goal.

   Since we’re trying to visualize a funnel, you want to set a “Destination” goal such as registering for a newsletter.

4. You can view your funnel by going back to the “View” menu in the “Admin” section, choosing “Reports,” then selecting “Goal Flow” from the “Conversions” menu.

   From here, you can identify where people leave your funnel or where they loop back to different stages.

Conversion Funnel Frequently Asked Questions

What are the four stages of the AIDA model?

The four stages are “Attention,” “Interest,” “Desire,” and “Action.” You’re trying to attract attention, generate interest, encourage the customer to want the product, and have them take the desired action.

What’s the difference between goals and funnels?

The goal is the objective you’re trying to achieve e.g., a customer completing a sale. The funnel is the journey the prospect takes to reach this goal.

How do you visualize a funnel?

Start by checking out funnel visualization tools like Google Analytics.

What is the purpose of a funnel?

A conversion funnel shows you the paths people take on their journey from visiting your website to becoming paying customers.

Conversion Funnel: Conclusion

Think of your conversion funnel as an evolving process. Just as your customers want and need change over time, so should you adapt your goals and funnel strategy to match.

When you strive to give your customers the user experience they’re hoping for, you won’t just build a loyal client base: you’ll stand out from your competitors, too.

Have you built your first conversion funnel yet?

from Blog – Neil Patel https://ift.tt/3jaBafy
via IFTTT

A Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics

Are you making the most out of the data you can get about your website from Google Analytics (GA)?

The free tool gives you valuable insights into metrics like conversion rates, traffic sources, engagement, audience demographics, and more.

Let’s learn what GA is and how to use it to improve your website’s metrics.

What Is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free tool to track user behavior on your website. With a range of metrics to explore, you can start to get a picture of how people use your website and how you can make changes to increase sales.

On a basic level, you can track how many visitors you have, how they found you, the number of views a page receives, and more.

In many ways, Google Analytics is the portal giving you insider, back end, and real-time access to what your users want.

Why Should You Use Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is the most powerful tool to track website metrics, and it comes from the king of search engines. On top of that, it’s free.

Although it takes some work to get set up, there are plenty of online tutorials and resources to walk you through the process. Once you get Google Analytics connected to your site, you can head to the Google Analytics dashboard and start checking things out. It can’t go back in time, though, so you will have to wait for data to gather.

Google Analytics can free you from relying on gut checks and intuition and instead tell you what pages and which content hit the mark or fall short. In this way, you can make informed choices.

The Basic Google Analytics Interface

Once you set up your Google Analytics account, you can connect different URLs and choose which one to explore from the drop-down.

The first thing Analytics shows is basic traffic data, including dates. You can alter the dates based on your needs.

On the left side of the screen, Google Analytics provides a list of report options. This is where you can start to get into the details.

On the far right, there’s a blue box with real-time metrics showing how many people are on the site, how many pages are viewed per minute, and the most popular pages to view. You can then click on the blue box to learn more about the data.

If you’re looking for something specific, just type it into the handy search bar.

As you scroll down, you can check out different analytics, including where your users come from and what devices they use.

Common Metrics Tracked With Google Analytics

There are many metrics you can track using Google Analytics.

No matter which type you focus on, you need to choose a time frame for your data. This way, you can check a specific timespan against prior spans to see what’s changing and if what you’re doing is working.

As you analyze the data, try to remember what your marketing goals are. Otherwise, you may get overwhelmed by the whirlwind of numbers.

Let’s look at some of the most popular metrics just to get you started.

Tracking Visitors With Google Analytics

Tracking visitors shows who’s visiting, how many visitors you have, and what they’re doing on your website. This includes factors like bounce rates and session durations.

These metrics are anonymous and vague. You can’t gather personal details for specific visitors to your website.

To dig deeper, you can go to the “Audience” section of Google Analytics.

Tracking Traffic Sources With Google Analytics

Another powerful metric Google Analytics can provide is traffic sources. It answers the question, “how are people finding my website?” You can find this information under the “Acquisition” tab.

For instance, you can find out how much traffic comes from social media, Google Ads, and the Google Search Console. Knowing where your visitors are coming from and what they do once they get to your site can help you know where to focus your marketing efforts.

Tracking Content With Google Analytics

Google Analytics can help you understand how well different pieces of content perform by tracking user behavior. For example, are they visiting certain pages more often than others? Is on-page time higher on some types of content? This can help you determine what works and what doesn’t, which you can use to inform future content creation and marketing choices.

You can find this information under the “Behavior” section.

Tracking Conversions With Google Analytics

Let’s get down to brass tacks here. Are people buying (or doing whatever else you want them to do) once they land on your website? That’s what conversion metrics on Google Analytics can tell you.

These metrics are not automatically generated like the previous ones. Instead, conversion analytics requires you to set goals, typically using the pages visitors are directed to once they convert. Telling Google Analytics to follow users to these final pages can provide more specific information about how people are getting there, how many are converting, and more.

Track Mobile Performance

As mobile use becomes the norm, you may want to see how well your website performs on mobile devices.

These metrics can be found in the “Audience” section under “Mobile.” Here, you can see website metrics broken down by device categories. For example, if you find certain device users are spending less time or money on the site, look into how your site looks and behaves on that type of device.

Creating Custom Reports

As you get a handle on following your website’s metrics, you may find you need custom Google Analytics reports. Custom reports can help you check specific metrics more efficiently, using apples-to-apples comparisons between periods, campaigns, and more.

These custom reports may help when presenting information to your department, organization, leadership, or investors thanks to the hard numbers you can compare and the visual reports you can run. Of course, not everyone may fully understand what you do, but many are likely to understand the basics of what these numbers and graphs mean.

Other Common Google Analytics Functionality and Uses

Google Analytics is constantly rolling out new features that may help you meet your marketing goals. Let’s dive into a few.

Learn What People Are Searching for on Your Site

If you have a lot of content on your website, you may have a search function available to users. Knowing what people type into that search function can help you understand why visitors are on your site, allowing you to plan for and create more relevant content.

Under the “Behavior” area, click “Site Search” to view this information.

Identify Your Worst Performing Pages

Is there content on your website that’s just not performing? Then, you may benefit from optimizing those pages for SEO, deleting useless content, or creating entirely new work.

To learn which pages are not performing, go to “Behavior,” then “Site Content.” From there, click on the arrow to reorder the pages by popularity. This shows which pages get the fewest views. Do with that information what you will—though perhaps consider finding a cause before throwing the page into the abyss.

Find Where People Abandon Their Shopping Carts

People abandoning shopping carts while shopping is a typical e-commerce problem. If you can find where visitors are dropping off your website, you can make improvements to help convert them.

First, set up your goals using a sales funnel. Include each step of your check-out process, including cart, check-out, shipping, and confirmation, in the pages you plan to monitor. Then, click to “visualize your funnels” to see how people behave as they move through the funnel.

You may see a pattern regarding when people abandon carts begin to emerge and make updates accordingly.

See Your Most Important Analytics First

As we talked about above, Google Analytics places many of the most common analytics on the dashboard. However, you can set up a custom dashboard to see exactly what you need. Under the “Customization” tab, find the link for “Dashboards.” You can use a dashboard template or create your own.

How to Create Custom Reports in Google Analytics

Google Analytics makes it easy to create custom reports for your own use or presentations.

1. First click on “Customization,” then click on “Custom Reports

   

2. Click on “+ New Custom Report” to get started

   You can name your custom report, as well as each tab you want to create if you want different variables in the same report.

3. Choose what you want to create the custom report to report on, including overarching metrics you can choose from a dropdown, more specific dimensions, and filters to fine-tune your data thoroughly.

   If you scroll over the question mark in the dropdown, you can learn more about each choice.

4. Click on whether you want to see all views or limit them.

   Start with all, if you’re not sure. Now click “Save.” You’ll be taken to a page with the data automatically. From here, you can save, export, share, or edit the report.
   If you save it, you can find this report under “Saved Reports.”
   To rerun this custom report, go to “Custom Reports.”

Google Analytics Basics FAQs [wp editor: add schema]

What are some basic things you can do with Google Analytics?

Google Analytics can give you information about who visits your website, how many views your website receives, which content is the most popular, and more.

What is the best way to learn Google Analytics?

You can learn more about the basics of Google Analytics from Google themselves.

What is a Google Analytics tracking code?

Google Analytics uses a tracking ID, which you place in the code of your website or a plugin to allow Google to receive information about your website.

How much does it cost to use Google Analytics?

Most of the benefits of Google Analytics are free, though you can choose to purchase upgrades.

What is the benefit of using Google Analytics?

Google Analytics provides in-depth information on how well your website is performing.

Basics of Google Analytics Conclusion

Google Analytics provides nearly endless amounts of information about your website’s data. Once you set up Google Analytics on your website, you can access metrics covering nearly every part of your customers’ journeys.

You can create custom reports to analyze how well your strategies work. This may help you make informed changes to your website, which may, in turn, draw even more people to your brand and via your analytics-driven marketing strategy.

What’s your favorite Google Analytics feature?

from Blog – Neil Patel https://ift.tt/3rKXfF8
via IFTTT

7 Link Shortener Alternatives to Goo.gl

When you’re trying to drive traffic to your website and generate new leads, the goal is to make your content as attractive as possible. After all, with so much competition out there, it’s important you stand out from the crowd and grab someone’s attention right away, right? 

The answer’s yes!

Just like you spend time and energy creating visually appealing content for users to enjoy, you shouldn’t forget the finer details: namely, your links.

Yes, really. URLs matter. Let me show you why link shortening is worth your time and what link shoortening alternatives to Goo.gl are worth trying.

What Is Link Shortening?

Link shortening takes longer links, with their confusing combination of numbers, letters, and special characters, and turns it into a short, readable link.

Here’s an example from NASA’s Twitter feed. The link is only a few characters long, it contains the NASA branding, and it’s clear where the link redirects to:

Here’s another example. When you click the link, it takes you to a YouTube video. The destination is fairly clear from the short link (youtu.be) even though it’s unbranded, meaning there’s no mention of NASA’s name in the link:

The original “longer” link looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mqsd0ru_pc

Which one do you think looks more attractive on a website or social media post? Which one would you be more likely to click on?

Chances are, it’s the first option, and the reality is, your potential customers feel the same way.

Why Should You Use a Link Shortening Tool?

OK, so that’s how link shortening works, but is it worth your time? Here’s a bit more detail.

In most cases, URL shortener tools also track how many people click your links. You can track who clicked your link to calculate the success of ad campaigns or content marketing strategies you’re running. From a marketing perspective, link shorteners are invaluable.

It’s also ideal for social media posts, where you might have a limited number of characters to convey your message. Shortening URLs and focusing on content makes it easier to engage your followers.

Finally, short URLs are more attractive. They’re easier to read and make your content more user-friendly. You can also create branded links with URL shorteners to reinforce your brand message at the same time.

Since great marketing is all about creating a great experience for your customers and building awareness, short URLs are a crucial tool.

To be clear, it’s not always worth shortening URLs. For example, if you’re just linking from one page on your website to another, there’s no need to shorten the link.

If you need help figuring out which links to shorten and which ones to leave alone, check out my consulting services.

How Did Goo.gl Work?

Google’s own URL shortening tool, Goo.gl, launched back in 2009.

At first, it only worked with Google applications, meaning you could only shorten URLs for the Google toolbar. However, Google made the tool available to the public in 2010, which made it simpler for all website owners to access and use.

Goo.gl offered a simple means to create shorter, more readable URLs. All you had to do was input your long URL and Goo.gl generated a smaller URL without lines of extra characters:

You didn’t need a Google or G Suite account to create a one-off URL, either. However, if you wanted to keep track of all your custom URLs, you could create an account and view all your shortened links at a glance:

Website owners could also track how many people clicked the shortened URL, which helped with marketing strategy creation:

Why did Google shut down Goo.gl, though? Put simply, Goo.gl wasn’t designed for anything other than desktop browsing. As browsing habits changed and it became more common for people to access the web through mobile devices or apps, Google realized the tool just wasn’t flexible enough to stay competitive.

The answer? Firebase Dynamic Links, or FDL, which replaced Goo.gl back in 2019. As we’ll see in a moment, FDL improves upon Goo.gl in a few ways, although it’s not the only URL shortening tool worth considering.

7 Goo.gl Replacements

There are many other link shortening tools out there, so how do you choose the right one for your needs? To help you narrow your search, here are seven promising alternatives to Goo.gl you can try right now.

1. Firebase Dynamic Links

Since Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL) replaced Goo.gl, it’s a good tool to start with if you’re focusing on app creation and development.

Firebase works similarly to Goo.gl, since you’re still creating short URLs. However, these URLs are no ordinary links: they’re “smart” links, or Dynamic Links.

When a user clicks on a FDL link, they’re directed to exactly where you want them to go in your Android or iPhone app… even if they don’t already have the app installed. They simply download the app and the right page loads automatically.

Cool, right?

It doesn’t matter whether they click through from a desktop browser or mobile device, either. They will be directed to a compatible version of your website, so there’s no need for you to generate different URLs for each platform.

If you’re focusing on app-based marketing, definitely consider FDL. There’s a free plan available, although the paid plan has some nice features.

2. Rebrandly

Do you want to create unique branded links using custom domain names? Then Rebrandly could be for you.

Trusted by global brands like IBM and Shopify, Rebrandly is more than just a URL shortening tool. It’s a link management platform designed to help you build entire marketing campaigns around branded links in just a few clicks.

Without leaving your browser, you can create and share links across over 100 integrated apps including Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Plus, you can measure your campaign results from the dashboard.

It’s free to sign up, but paid packages start at just $29 per month, which gives you access to more detailed metrics and a larger number of branded links. If you’re looking for an enterprise-level solution for larger teams, reach out to Rebrandly for a custom quote.

3. Ow.ly

If you’re already using Hootsuite, Ow.ly is worth a look.

You can shorten any link posted to social media right from the Hootsuite dashboard. This lets you view everything from your campaign ROI to your link metrics at the same time. There’s no need to switch between different tools (unless you’re also using other platforms like Google Analytics.)

Ow.ly comes free with every Hootsuite account, too, so you don’t need a paid subscription to benefit from the tool. Sounds good, right?

All that said, Ow.ly’s only available to Hootsuite users, so it’s not the right tool for everyone, but it’s worth a try if you already use Hootsuite.

4. Bitly

For enterprise-grade link management, consider Bitly, one of the most comprehensive tools out there.

With Bitly, you’re not just creating short, branded links. You’re turning those links into valuable marketing tools. Bitly offers some of the most in-depth campaign management tools available to help you track everything from clicks to organic shares.

It’s a useful tool for tracking customer journeys without hopping between different CRMs, making it ideal for larger companies looking to track data and grow their campaigns efficiently. You can even generate QR codes to engage customers and drive sales.

What’s more, Bitly is trusted by the likes of Amazon, Disney, and Gartner, so you know it’s a platform that delivers on its promises! Packages start at $29 per month.

5. TinyURL

No roundup of link shortening tools is complete without TinyURL, the very first program of its kind:

You don’t need an account to shorten one or two short URLs. To get the most of the platform, sign up for a free account which allows you to create an unlimited number of URLs and track clicks.

The Pro package starts at $9.99 per month and offers advanced tracking options. For businesses looking to run high-volume ad campaigns, the Bulk package may be a better option at $99.00 per month.

If you’re looking for a no-fuss way to shorten your URLs and track some metrics, TinyURL is worth a go.

6. BL.INK

Are you a small business owner looking to launch marketing campaigns but don’t need a large-scale solution? BL.INK was designed for you.

With BL.INK, you can quickly share shortened URLs across social media channels and even send actionable links by SMS or messaging platforms. BL.INK seamlessly integrates with existing worktools and CMS, so you can easily track link performance and view the data alongside other metrics.

Packages start at $48 per month, making it one of the more expensive tools on the list. However, you can try it free for 21 days, which is a bonus.

If you’re not looking for an enterprise-level solution but want more than just a basic shortening tool, consider BL.INK.

7. Sniply

Do you want to add a CTA to every shortened link you create? Now you can, thanks to Sniply.

On the surface, Sniply works like any other link shortener. However, it offers a unique level of customization: you can embed a colorful CTA button with every link you share across social media.

Not only do your links look more appealing because they’re shorter, but they’re more actionable than ever:

Pricing is reasonable, too, with packages starting at $29 per month. However, if you want to add more than one team member, you’ll need to opt for a more expensive tier.

Link Shortener Frequently Asked Questions

What is link shortening?

Link shortening, or URL shortening, lets you change how a link displays to users. You can make a URL appear shorter or even add branding and still send users to the correct page.

What’s the point of link shortening?

A link shortening tool turns a long, rambling link into something memorable to share with prospects, which is handy on social media. You can also track the number of real people visiting your website, which provides more accurate analytics information.

Why did Google stop supporting Goo.gl?

Google made the changes in response to how people use the internet. Its new tool, Firebase Dynamic Links, is more flexible than Goo.gl and lets site owners redirect users on mobile apps rather than just desktop websites.

When should you not use link shortening?

Since one of the main reasons we shorten links is for tracking purposes, you don’t need to shorten links if you’re just linking from one page on your website to another.

Link Shortener Conclusion

Are the alternatives to the Goo.gl link shortener worth your time? Absolutely. With the range of link management tools out there, you can quickly generate short, readable links to showcase your brand and drive traffic to your website.

What’s more, there’s a link shortening tool to suit every marketing strategy, whether you’re looking for a no-fuss, budget-friendly option or want to invest in an enterprise-level solution.

Have you tried a link shortening tool yet? How has it improved your conversions or made it easier to track your performance?

from Blog – Neil Patel https://ift.tt/3l9vYes
via IFTTT

How to Craft Lead Magnets Your Customers Can’t Ignore

Getting traffic to your site is nice, but there’s not much of a point if those visitors don’t convert.

There’s one tactic I use above all others to generate new leads:

A lead magnet.

They aren’t some newfangled tech trend. They’ve been an essential marketing tool for decades.

With lead magnets, you give people something for free in exchange for an email address and permission to send them more offers—for example, a free ebook or an SEO checklist.

However, not all lead magnets are effective.

Let’s take about how lead magnets work and explore how to create one that drives leads.

How Lead Magnets Can Grow Your Business

The lure of ‘free’ is compelling, according to Predictably Irrational author Dan Ariely.

He proved this by giving groups of people the option to select from different Amazon gift cards. Respondents could choose from receiving either:

1. A $10 Amazon gift card for free, or
2. A $20 Amazon gift card for only $7

If you were to look at that objectively, based on cold hard math, you’d see that the second option was the better value ($13 vs. $10.)

Check out the third column on the far right to see which one won:

It wasn’t even close! Everyone sampled chose the free $10 option instead.

Ariely calls this the Zero-Price Effect because humans don’t see the downside to something that’s free.

Ariely ran a related experiment. They staged a promotion for free tattoos and had people line up outside the store.

These people were waiting in line with full knowledge of what they were doing.

Yet when Ariely asked them if they’d be waiting to get the same tattoo if it wasn’t free, 68 percent of respondents said no!

In other words, people took time out of their busy schedule to commit permanent ink to their skin simply because it was free.

Good lead magnets, when done correctly, have the same effect (albeit without the same long-lasting effects).

They pass along a useful ebook, webinar, or email course, asking for very little (if anything) in return from visitors.

You leverage the power of free to kickstart the first step in your customer value optimization process.

Lead magnets are nothing new.

They get a lot of attention today because of how persuasive and powerful they can be.

One of the best ways to incorporate them today is with a content upgrade. People are already on your site, seeking something out.

Think about it:

They went to Google and typed in something specific to end up on your blog post.

A lead magnet sweetens the pot by providing additional insight on the same exact topic they were reading about.

Brian Dean used the content upgrade strategy to boost his conversions by 785 percent in one day.

Brian Harris of Video Fruit is seeing a 20-30 percent opt-in rate from blog posts where he links not one, not two, but three times to his lead magnet.

For example, the first comes right in the introduction:

Then he follows up that up with another two more for good measure down at the bottom:

The blog post goes through an in-depth analysis of how content upgrades can get you more leads. Then it distills those insights and actionable tips down so that you can easily start implementing the same tactics on your site (after downloading the lead magnet, of course).

If you want to see the same results, your lead magnet has to abide by a few rules.

The form or medium doesn’t matter necessarily. Instead, success typically comes down to a few >key ingredients:

1. Does your audience care about it?
2. Is there value to it?
3. Does it solve a problem and/or give the audience something they need?

So how do you figure those things out?

Let’s dive into what the best lead magnets have in common to find out.

How to Create Lead Magnets That Drive Conversions

Now that you know why lead magnets are important (to get you more leads!) let’s talk about how to create one that drives conversions like mad.

Find Out What Your Customers Want

Saying you need to “know your audience” sounds obvious and trite. However, it’s one of those things that everyone talks about, but no one seems to know how to do.

The big clue is in the reception. If your digital copies aren’t flying off the shelf when it goes live, your issue typically comes back to a mismatch with your audience.

Thankfully, this can be an easy fix if you know where to look.

Start by looking for what people are already paying for.

That might sound counterintuitive because lead magnets are free.

However, if someone is willing to part with their hard-earned cash for something, it’s a sure sign that they’re committed.

For example, one of my favorite places to start is the Kindle Marketplace.

Let’s say I’m about to create a lead magnet in an industry I know nothing about: cooking. (Seriously, nothing.)

I could guess or make a few assumptions about which cooking lead magnet would work best. Or I could head on over to the Kindle Marketplace and see what’s already working well.

It’s not just the topic you’re looking for at this point, but also the ‘format’ that resonates with an audience.

Here’s what I mean.

Go to the Amazon Kindle Marketplace look at the sidebar on the left-hand side. There, you’ll find all the book categories and then subcategories upon subcategories upon subcategories. (In other words, drilling down to find your niche and your audience.)

Here’s what the bestsellers look like in European cooking and food:

Ok, now we’re getting somewhere.

Most are unsurprisingly recipe books. However, that first one is especially interesting.

It’s a “cooking for two,” book which means the people buying it are looking for quick, no-fuss meals in smaller portions.

See?

That tells you a lot about the audience and what their preferences are. The Mediterranean one on the far right is another indication — those meals tend to be easy and healthy.

So these people might be looking for a new recipe cookbook, but that doesn’t mean they want some haute cuisine that requires working for hours in the kitchen.

Instead, these (presumably) busy people want something relatively quick and healthy.

Next, the trick is to put something together that’s like these examples but somehow different, better, or unique.

For example, let’s dive a little deeper into books reviews to see what they say.

Here’s a positive review to kick things off:

Awesome! Two of our assumptions are already being proved correct.

People like this example because it provides recipes that are “quick to prepare. “

Busy moms might be foodies. However, foodies probably aren’t going to be buying this book.

That completely changes how you might create, package, design, and even promote this ebook already.

Positive reviews are helpful to start with, but many times you can learn more from negative reviews. Check this out:

First, this book’s organization and table of contents aren’t up to snuff for this reviewer. They’re even giving you the answer here, too: “… organizing the dishes into categories or even providing an index.”

Good ideas! These are the little details that you or I wouldn’t have thought of because we might not be experts on cooking already.

However, a little bit of research has already revealed a few nuggets of wisdom.

Then, this reviewer goes on to complain about some of the editing and attention to detail towards the bottom.

Easy — let’s also have a subject-matter expert help edit this work to ensure accuracy (critical in cooking) is on point.

Use Audience Feedback to Refine Your Lead Magnet Idea

Now let’s take this one step further by simply asking the audience which versions of our idea they’d prefer.

For example, write up a simple blog post that explains what you’re thinking about creating and ask for ideas or improvements.

This does two things at the same time:

1. It helps you get feedback to incorporate into the creation of your lead magnet.
2. And it helps you ‘seed’ the market so that people are already primed to download it when you push the lead magnet live.

Soliciting feedback from people who aren’t yet on your email list can help you better understand how to get them on the list eventually. Here’s what I mean.

Take this post on how an Instagram user-generated more than $300,000.

If you take a close look at the comments section of the post, you’ll find a couple of readers asking about how the Instagram user made her lists.

Multiple people are now requesting the same information in the comments, which means there must be built-in demand for this information.

Lead magnets are ‘free,’ but users still have to part with their precious contact info. They won’t do that for just anything.

So you need to create content that interests the audience.

Let’s check out Google Analytics to see which pages (and topics) are performing best:

Start by segmenting all your posts into categories.

Sometimes your site already has this done if you included categories in your URL string. For example, Unbounce uses the category “PPC” in this blog post:

So you can search for URLs in your most popular content that feature PPC.

You’ve now painstakingly compiled insight into what your customers want. Your next job should be insanely easy at this point: Give them what they’re asking for!

Being Specific About The Value

Picture someone on your site reading your perfectly crafted blog post about the latest trends in European cooking when a pop-up appears offering a printable “Be a Better Cook” guide.

Huh? That generic printed piece of paper is going to make them a better cook? How?

No, thank you.

What if it was a printable checklist on the “Ten Top-Rated Dinner Recipes from France and Italy?”

Now imagine you visit the landing page for Digital Agency Day because you want to see when the upcoming date is to make sure you don’t miss any of the great information.

You’re hemming and hawing about signing up for the live event because you’re not sure if you’ll be able to make it.

Then an exit overlay catches you before leaving, suggesting you sign up to receive the recordings when ready:

Ok, that’s something you can get behind.

It’s specific and relevant, so it immediately makes sense.

So you’ll probably hand over your email.

It’s no surprise that this example resulted in a 19.03 percent conversion rate increase.

People aren’t going to sign up for something they don’t think is useful.

For example, check out this 9-part lesson from Brennan Dunn:

It targets a massive pain point for freelancers (“charging what you’re worth”).

It’s incredibly detailed and in-depth (“9-lesson course”).

There’s social proof that proves its value (“20,000 other freelancers”).

Brennan could easily charge for something like this, and people would still buy it.

It’s that good.

Checklists or cheat sheets can provide immediate value by giving people something they could put to use right now.

A longer multi-part course (like this example) or in-depth ebook can provide that long-term value people will reference for weeks (and months) to come.

Side-step these three issues, and you won’t just churn out another cookie-cutter lead magnet.

Instead, you’ll create a marketing asset that kicks off a long, profitable relationship with a new customer.

Design A High-Quality Lead Magnet

Remember the complaint on the first cookbook a few minutes ago? The poor organization and presentation detracted from the content and overall experience for that reviewer.

Now imagine what happens if you gave your email to get a downloadable guide filled with poor image quality and lots of typos. Same thing, right?

Unsubscribe.

The goal here is to get these users to move on from the freebie and eventually make a purchase. You can’t do that without attention to detail. You also need to show your value.

Check out this checklist from Bryan Harris of Video Fruit.

Looks pretty snazzy, right? Not just another boring rundown filled with typos.

Don’t have the design skills or staffing to get this done? Hire a professional from Dribbble or Behance.

If you need a little extra help to enhance your own work, check out Beacon.

You can even hire a pro on Fiverr to do this for you, or you can do something similar by using a simple Google Doc.

Lead Magnet Frequently Asked Questions

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a free offer businesses offer in exchange for contact information from prospective leads. Examples include an ebook, discount code, free course, or checklist.

What makes a great lead magnet?

A great lead magnet must be valuable to your target audience. Aim to solve a problem or make their job or life easier in some way. For example, a business coach might offer “10 things to do before your next job interview.”

How much does a lead magnet cost?

They should be free to your leads. For businesses, the costs should be for research, creation, and distribution. These consts can vary widely based on the lead magnet and resources available. For example, if you have an in-house marketing team and graphic design person, the costs would be minimal.

What are the best types of lead magnets?

The best lead magnet is one your users find valuable, which can vary by industry, business model, and target audience. Common examples include ebooks, white papers, webinards, checklists, work sheets, coupon codes, and short courses.

Lead Magnets Conclusion

Lead magnets are one of the best ways to gather audience insight, generate leads, and even start the nurturing process to make the ultimate conversion (to revenue) easier.

Once they’ve signed up for the useful, relevant, and high-quality freebie, you establish yourself as a thought-leader on that topic and create a new customer relationship.

This means they’ll think of you when they need more information. They’ll come back for more. And they’ll come back to buy.

The good news is that these aren’t difficult to create, either. You need to take the time to dive deep into what your customers want and what they don’t want.

Then all you have to do is give them exactly what they’re already asking for.

What is your favorite lead magnet example?

from Blog – Neil Patel https://ift.tt/3leX6sr
via IFTTT