How To Really Connect With A Digital Audience (FS287)

How do successful businesses capitalize on their contacts? Do you want to resonate with each individual in your audience? What is the best way to communicate with your mailing list?

All of these questions pertain to the same issue, running a profitable online business in the contemporary climate. Achieving this might sometimes seem like a mountain but we are here to show you that the mountain is not unscalable and that mountain climbing can be fun!

In this episode we break down the fundamentals of digital communication and connection with an audience as individuals. We get into some examples of emails and promotions and which methods work in certain situations. The discussion also takes time to unpack the idea of offering a transformation to a potential customer as the basis of selling.

We also talk about welcome sequences, bridging emails, the know-like-trust principle and setting aside perfectionism and getting started. All of these ideas are pretty vital to being able to stay afloat as a digital entrepreneur. So for all this and many more inspiring ideas, be sure to tune in!

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Key Points From This Episode:

• Individualizing the way you communicate with a group. [0:10:02.5]
• How Aubrey Marcus wrote a sales email that connects with the reader. [0:14:50.2]
• Why take email seriously? [0:21:37.7]
• The moment that someone subscribes to your email list [0:29:12.3]
• Remembering the two basic lessons of email marketing. [0:36:35.2]
• Bridge emails instead of the usual welcome sequence. [0:40:20.8]
• How to communicate and facilitate a transformation. [0:43:40.7]
• The progression of connection and education with your audience. [0:54:56.4]
• Leaving alone the perfectionist inclinations and getting started. [0:57:44.3]
• And much more!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Fizzle — https://fizzle.co/
• Joe Rogan — https://www.joerogan.com/
• Tony Robbins — https://www.tonyrobbins.com/
• Aubrey Marcus — https://www.aubreymarcus.com/
• Onnit — https://www.onnit.com/
• Fizzle Essentials of Web Design Course — https://fizzle.co/library/essentials-of-website-design-for-business-builders
• Fizzle Website Tune Up Curse — https://fizzle.co/courses/tuneup
• Fizzle Roadmap — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/small-business-roadmap-1-clarity
• Tim Ferriss — https://tim.blog/
• Courage and Clarity — https://www.courageandclarity.com/
• 15 Minute Planner Method — https://www.courageandclarity.com/plan/
• Squarespace — https://www.squarespace.com/
• MailChimp — https://mailchimp.com/
• Drip — https://www.drip.com/
• ConvertKit — https://convertkit.com/
• Al Gore — https://www.biography.com/people/al-gore-9316028
• Steve Jobs — https://allaboutstevejobs.com/
• Corbett Barr on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CorbettBarr
• Chase Reeves on Twitter — https://twitter.com/chase_reeves
• Start A Blog That Matters Course — https://fizzle.co/start-a-blog-that-matters
• Fizzle 80/20 Copywriting Guide — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/writing-copy-for-web
• Fizzle Toolkit — https://fizzle.co/toolkit
• Fizzle Goals Course — https://fizzle.co/courses/goals
• Fizzle Journaling Course — https://fizzle.co/courses/journal
• Fizzle Craft + Commerce — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/craft-commerce
• Fizzle Project Management for Entrepreneurs — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/project-management-for-entrepreneurs
• Fizzle Try 5 — http://fizzle.co/try5

Fizzle Hosting — https://fizzle.co/hosting

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A Blog Isn’t a Blog, It’s a Business

I wrote my very first blog post on July 24, 2005. That blog post is no longer live because it was terrible.

The post was called, “Winning the Search Engine Marketing War.”

It was 412 words long, contained no images, no external links, and it didn’t provide much value because it didn’t teach you anything.

But you know what, back in 2005, the blog post was pretty darn good.

See, I wasn’t competing with a lot of blogs back then. Currently, there are well over 440 million blogs and back in 2011, that number was 173 million. And in 2005, the web was still so small that there were only 64 million websites (with only a small portion of them being blogs).

In other words, my first blog post was pretty darn good because something is better than nothing. People were just happy to get some information, even though it wasn’t great.

But over the years, blogging has changed. What it used to be in 2005, isn’t what it is today.

What blogging used to be

A blog used to just be a blog.

It was a place where you would share your personal experiences with the world. From photos of the places you traveled to and blogging about the food you ate to even sharing personal information about your family life…

In 2005, social networks weren’t popular. Facebook launched in 2004, but it wasn’t what it is now. And sites like MySpace focused heavily on music.

As social networks evolved, people realized it was easier to share personal stories on Facebook and Instagram than it was to write a whole blog post.

Over 250 million people share what they are doing in their personal life each day just on Instagram. All you have to do is talk (or look) into your phone for just a few seconds. It’s really that simple.

And that’s why more of you use social networks on a daily basis than a blog.

Just think of it this way… if you wanted to update your friends on your life, is it easier for you to just upload some pictures to Facebook or is it easier for you to write a blog post?

Of course, it’s easier to just upload some photos to Facebook. It’s why Facebook is so popular.

For that reason, people started to focus their attention on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Snapchat over blogging.

So why do people continually create more blogs?

There are many reasons why blogs have grown in popularity. As I mentioned above, there are well over 400 million blogs today.

The biggest reason why blogs have grown in popularity is that you are an end user and continue consuming the content that blogs put out.

Just in the United States alone, 42.23% of people from the ages of 18 to 49 read blogs.

And because people want to read blogs, Google has no choice but to rank them. The average page that is listed on page one of Google has 1,890 words:

There are many reasons you may want to create a blog, but from someone who blogs on a weekly basis and has been for 13 years, here are the main reasons to have a blog:

1. You control your own destiny – social networks have restricted how many of your friends actually see your content. With a blog, you have more control over your destiny. You can collect emails to get people back to your site, you can build a push notification subscriber list, you can rank your content on Google… overall, it’s just easier to get a consistent stream of traffic from a blog than it is from a social profile because you aren’t relying on 1 traffic source. This is more important than ever because the top referring sites on the web are starting to send less traffic out to other sites.
2. Paid ads are expensive – Google generate 6 billion dollars in ad revenue in 2005 and that number shot up to 95 billion in 2017. With ad costs continually rising, you have no choice as a business but to find other traffic channels. A blog is an obvious question as Google loves ranking text-based content. Just look at Wikipedia, they rank for everything and generate 5.4 billion visits a month.
3. Marketing has moved to an omnichannel approach – there are currently 1,766,926,408 websites on the web. In 2005 that number was only 64,780,617. That’s a 2,627% increase. That means you as a business have more competition online, which gives consumers more choices. Why should someone choose you over the competition? Well, branding plays a huge part, if you can get a consumer to see or hear about your brand 7 times they are much more likely to be a customer. A blog creates another additional touchpoint.

A blog isn’t a blog, it’s a business

As more sites have come online, SEO has become more competitive. Yes, more people are using Google, but they are searching for the same popular terms.

With Ubersuggest, we have a database of 646,777,704 keywords.

And out of those keywords, only 15,301,405 keywords generate a search volume of an excess of 10,000 searches per month.

As more people come online, it doesn’t mean that they search for brand new keywords. It just means that the popular terms get even more popular.

That’s why it is harder to get people to come to your site over the competition because you are competing with more companies to get those eyeballs.

See, as SEO has become more competitive, you have no choice but to treat it as a business. It takes time and money to produce content. It takes time and money to promote your content. And then once you have those visitors, it takes more time and money to convert those visitors into paying customers.

In other words, because it is so competitive, you won’t do that well unless you put in tons of time or money (or ideally both).

Just look at Quick Sprout, the marketing blog I don’t put much money into it. Even though it’s older than NeilPatel.com, it generates a lot less traffic.

NeilPatel.com blog generates 693% more traffic because I put over 6 figures into the blog each month (mainly in developing free tools and creating audio and video content), and I treat it like a business.

Conclusion

Look, I am not trying to persuade you into not building a blog. But I believe most companies should have a blog. And if you don’t have one, just follow this guide to get up and running.

A blog is the only way you are going to rank well on Google and generate traffic without directly paying for it by using Google AdWords or Facebook Ads.

But if you want to do well, you can’t treat your blog like a “blog”… you have to treat it like a business. If you don’t, then you won’t do well.

Here are the 3 important steps you need to take if you want to do well:

1. Focus on writing amazing content consistently – it’s not about writing one or two amazing posts… you have to be consistently awesome. The market is so competitive, you can’t write 400-word blog posts as I did in 2005. Sure, if you are in a new niche with no competition, by all means, write 400-word posts, but the chances are you are going to eventually have some competition. And if you don’t have the time, you should just hire a writer to help you out.
2. Promote your content – after you have content, you’ll have to promote it. Promotion isn’t easy but I’ve broken it down into 4 steps for you. Just follow them and you’ll do well.
3. Focus on monetization last – most bloggers who get this far face one big problem… as their traffic increases their revenue typically stays flat. Just because you have more visitors, it doesn’t guarantee an increase in revenue. Towards the end of this blog post, I teach you how to convert those visitors into leads and customers. Follow them.
4. Don’t forget about voice – I know I said you only have to follow 3 steps, but if you’ve followed all of them successfully, you’ll need to start thinking about voice. 40% of adults use voice search daily, so don’t take it for granted. Follow this guide to ensure that you capture the voice search market share before your competition.

What do you think about blogging? Are you going to start taking it seriously?

The post A Blog Isn’t a Blog, It’s a Business appeared first on Neil Patel.

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Introducing Copyblogger’s Guide to the Best WordPress Hosting, Themes, and Plugins

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Your guide to standing out this holiday season

As you probably already know, marketing not only helps drive sales but also builds relationships with your customers, improves the reputation of your business and can even foster growth. 

That’s never truer than in the holiday months at the end of the year. During this busy holiday season, consumers are primed and ready to spend, making them more receptive to your offers and promotions. The holidays also give you a chance to connect with customers on an emotional level. Marketing that taps into the joys and even the stresses of the season is bound to resonate with your customers. 

It may seem like nearly every business around you goes into overdrive with their holiday marketing, not just with email but across every channel. But there’s no reason your business can’t get a piece of the (pumpkin) pie. 

Our partner Deluxe has released a free eBook, Holiday Marketing Fundamentals, to help you stay on track during the chaotic holiday season. Follow key holiday marketing elements step-by-step, or skip ahead to the sections you need the most assistance with.

The holiday insights and guidance you’re looking for

• Learn how to create your holiday marketing plan
• See the benefits of updating your brand
• Making sure your website is ready for the holidays
• Tips for getting found online
• How to send effective holiday emails
• Using social media to spread cheer that drives sales
• Incorporating print marketing

Download Holiday Marketing Fundamentals for free today.

Join 140,000 small business owners

Get expert tips and email inspiration delivered to your inbox every two weeks.

Subscribe

© 2018, John Habib. All rights reserved.

The post Your guide to standing out this holiday season appeared first on VerticalResponse Blog.

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Fizzle is Hiring!

Hey friends! Fizzle is hiring several new positions that I want to tell you about today.

First, let me share a little about what working for Fizzle is like.

If you’ve been a customer or if you’ve followed us for a while, you may know that almost all of our all-star team members over the years have gone on to launch or manage impressive businesses of their own:

Caleb Wojcik now runs a successful video production company, YouTube channel and launched his own physical product, the SwitchPod for videographers along with Pat Flynn.

Barrett Brooks is now COO of ConvertKit, the red-hot email service that is doing $10M in annual revenue.

Steph Crowder is host of Courage and Clarity and sold out both her group coaching program and Crickets to Customers course.

Chase Reeves has already racked up 4 million views on his YouTube reviews channel and is growing like crazy.

I’m super proud of each of our former (and current) team members, and lucky to consider them all great friends. Note: Chase and Steph are still involved with the Fizzle team part-time, but are both transitioning to focusing mostly on their own projects.

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Why would I start a post about hiring at Fizzle by telling you what our former team members are up to now, after Fizzle?

Because it perfectly illustrates what we’re all about.

At Fizzle, we recognize that people who work with us likely have side projects and lofty aspirations. It’s the nature of running a business that supports entrepreneurs.

Instead of fighting against that, or restricting our employees in some unfair way, we embrace it. We try to harness the energy of people with an entrepreneurial spirit, without worrying whether they’ll be with us forever or not.

A BIG part of the benefit of working at Fizzle is the mentorship and connections you make, and the platform you’re given as a visible member of our team.

Plus, the work is interesting and challenging, our customers are amazing, and we really, really care about our team members.

If you work for Fizzle, you’ll be expected to do great work and to grow your skills, and if you decide to pursue your own project now or in the future, we’ll be here to support you and cheer you on.

It’s a win for us, and a win for you. Just how things should be.

And today, we’re announcing four new opportunities to work with us.

Each of these positions is part-time (noted below), and you’ll work as a contractor or freelancer. You’ll earn good pay, work on something incredibly important and motivating, and will grow through our mentorship and the autonomy you’re given in the work.

If you are interested in any of these, please read the instructions below carefully under “How to Apply.”

Customer Success (20 hours / week)

Fizzle offers tons of value to our members through courses, coaching, mastermind groups, our community discussions and more. In this role, you will be responsible for making it easy for our members to unlock all this value.

You’ll respond to customer support emails, match members into mastermind groups and coordinate our web hosting partnership. You’ll also act as community manager, helping members through our discussion forums. Finally, you’ll host onboarding sessions for new members, and you’ll schedule and prepare for our group coaching sessions.

Content Development (20 hours / week)

Fizzle’s business relies on producing great content frequently. In this role, you will be responsible for creating, editing and publishing content in the form of blog posts, podcast episodes, videos, guides and courses, for both website visitors and Fizzle members.

You will also be expected to write blog posts, co-host podcast episodes and produce videos. You’ll also manage our content schedule, find guest contributors and edit contributions.

Growth and Marketing (20 hours / week)

Growth is key to Fizzle’s ability to fulfill our long-term vision of helping entrepreneurs succeed. In this role, you will make sure Fizzle is growing, by applying analytical marketing strategies including SEO and CRO.

You’ll also schedule and produce webinars, launches, promos and partnerships, and you’ll be measured on our sign-up rate.

Member Coaching (6-8 hours / week to start)

In this role, you will be responsible for providing high-level business/performance coaching to our membership of entrepreneurs, freelancers and creatives. You’ll help our members achieve specific goals through your expert guidance.

Fizzle currently offers live weekly group coaching to members. We would like to expand this program to offer more time slots for members. We would also like to offer coach-led mastermind experiences, as well as limited 1:1 coaching.

How to Apply

Please submit a cover letter explaining:

1. Why you want to work in the position as described.
2. Why you want to work for Fizzle, and not somewhere else.
3. A description of something special you have done or accomplished recently that relates to the position you’re applying for.

Getting to Know Each Other

This is a small team and everyone on the team has to wear a lot of hats. To make sure Fizzle is the right fit for you, and vice-versa, this role will start with a mutual try-out period and go from there if we’re both smitten.

Compensation is dependent on experience. Please include your requirements with the application. We prefer someone based in the United States for these roles (or similar time zone), but we’re also open to hiring the best person for this job, no matter where they live.

Email everything to hiring@fizzle.co and include the name of the position in the subject line. If you attach a resume, please send it as a PDF file. Feel free to get creative with your application, but make sure you’ve followed all of the rules mentioned here.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

-Corbett Barr and The Fizzle Team

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The Friendly Way to Adapt Your Content Like a Flexible Yoga Instructor

Restorative yoga is a gentle, passive practice that promotes relaxation in the body. The other day at the start of...

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Oracle Named a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management 2018

In a recent report, Gartner evaluated 14 different vendors on their ability to manage the processes associated with CRM Lead Management and Oracle is honored to be named a ‘Leader’ in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management 2018. If you aren’t already aware, our focus is to provide solutions for marketing and sales teams that give them the competitive edge needed to engage buyers with the most relevant customer experiences, at the most opportune times – to close sales faster and increase customer lifetime value.

With today’s fast-evolving technologies, organizations of all sizes are transforming how they do business to engage prospects and customers. Oracle Eloqua is aggressively advancing our current offerings through recent releases including our new email editor, new landing page editor, dashboard analytics reporting, sales enablement tools, and enhanced user-friendly native integrations with CRM platforms. And we aren’t stopping there. Oracle is committed to continually innovating our products and services to meet the increasingly complex, sophisticated 1:1 adaptive customer experiences that drive interest, engagement, and increased revenue as buyer preferences and requirements shift.

From an execution standpoint, one of the things I’m really excited about is our approach to data and the way our approach helps create a truly connected and adaptive customer experience. Without the right data pulled from the most relevant real-time customer interactions, delivering a timely connected experience across the customer lifecycle is just not possible. As a result, we have worked tirelessly with some of the most innovative companies in MarTech to deliver easy to deploy, marketer-friendly integrations for our customers that help them connect their data across multiple internal and external sources and channels for more insight into the interests and preferences of their customers.   

Gartner noted in their report, “Based on its high value provided to sales organizations, the lead management market is anticipated to grow further in the upcoming years…Growing collaboration between marketing and sales teams is the significant factor boosting this demand.” And in recent years, we’ve seen sales and marketing leaders take a “better together” approach to ensure the best acquisition, nurturing and communication strategies for their prospects and customers. Siloed approaches from these teams have traditionally produced broken experiences and irrelevant conversations that decreased interest, but that doesn’t have to happen anymore. The most progressive marketing teams provide their sales counterparts with the most pertinent intelligence and insights into each buyer’s behavior and interests within the environments where they are most comfortable working, so they are knowledgeable and prepared for their 1:1 conversations. 

We are very excited about Gartner’s recognition of Oracle as a ‘Leader’ for CRM Lead Management. We feel that our continued performance in this report shows our strong commitment to innovation in the marketing industry, and a continual drive to execute on our vision in the fast-paced, ever-changing world of marketing and customer experience (CX) technologies. 

Want to learn more?

Download Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management report. You can also contact us to learn more about how Oracle Marketing Cloud can help you reach your sales and revenue goals with engaging, connected customer experiences.

Note: This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Oracle.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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