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Email List Building, Referrals or Both?

July 13, 2021 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

blog cover graphic wooden people on teeter-totter Should You Build a Business on Referrals, List Building or both?

Do you need an email list if you have referrals?

Referrals are pure gold. Referrals built my business which continued to grow at a rapid pace until the stock market crashed in 2008. Before 2008 my business was outputting over 300 design jobs a year. After the crash…12.

And that’s the problem.

Like COVID, and stock market corrections, it’s hard to predict what will cause the next economic downturn, and when it will occur.

If your business is humming along on referrals alone, touche to you, but be forewarned.

If you don’t have an email list, or not actively building an email list, you could be setting yourself up for an expected downturn when the economy hits another bump in the road.

How to use Google Search to build your list of prospects: Click here to download my FREE video.

…but List Building isn’t an income generating activity

It’s true.

List building takes hours of your unpaid time to create a free offer in exchange for a prospect’s email address.

The good news is, successful online entrepreneurs report that each hot prospect on your email list is worth between $.50 and $2.50 per month, depending upon your industry and product.

How to make free offers worth your time and effort

If you can:

Solve an immediate problem for your ideal customer
Give them a small quick win they can use right away
Keep in touch so they remember you…

…you’ll build an email list that’s worth your time and effort.

What makes the best free offer?

The best free offers give people what they want. But your best free offer gives your prospect only one quick win.

If you’re spending more than two hours creating your free offer you’re giving away too much information.

Create one page.

Given them one quick win.

Like many entrepreneurs, the first free offer I created contained too much information. I wanted to show my expertise so I wrote a 20-page step-by-step guide on how to set up a WordPress website. It was so thorough there was no need to hire me; and that was the problem.

Today, with free design templates from Canva, you can quickly build a professional looking, one-page free offer that builds your list of prospects.

How to discover what your ideal customer wants badly enough to give you their email address

Ask Google!
Go to google.com
Ask question to a problem you can easily solve for your ideal customer

google.com Enter question in search box illustration

BEFORE you press enter wait for the drop down menu to appear (see below).

google.com search box dropdown illustration

Choose the most relevant question from the dropdown menu
Click

Look for the People also ask box (PAA)

You’ll find the People also ask (PAA) box on page one of Googles Search Results page. PAA is pure gold because you will find the EXACT words people are using to solve their problems.

And that’s exactly what you want: their words. Not the words you use, or that you think your ideal customer is using.

How to use PAA

Click on the most relevant question.

Read the article to discover if:

it’s what your customer wants and needs
there’s something in article that’s missing, or that you could answer more thoroughly
you have a different ‘spin’

By creating a free offer from a real question people are asking you will become a trusted resource.

google.com People also ask box screen shot illustration

Need Help Creating a Free Offer?

Most of my website customers also need free offers so I’ve designed a lot of them.

Please feel free to phone or email me at nancy (at) fieldsgraphicdesign (dot) com for a free 15-minute consultation to see how I can help you.

How I use Google Search to build my list of prospects: Click here to download my FREE video.

How To Credit A Photo You Downloaded for FREE

May 30, 2021 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

How to properly credit any image you download from a free stock photo website:

What your credit should say
Where to find the name of the photographer
Where to put your photo credit
How to get Google to love you

Step-by-step 3-minute video shows where to place the photo credit

If you’d like me to notify you each time I give a free, live 10-Minute Monday presentation, click here to sign up. You’ll also received my list of favorite free stock photos.

What Your Photo Credit Should Say

As a fashion and beauty editor for Glamour, Mademoiselle and Weight Watchers Magazine photo credits were a must.

Today many free stock image photo sites say, ‘Attribution is not required, but appreciated.’ I like to give credit to anyone who has given me something of value for free.

Where To Find the Name of the Photographer

Go to the site where the image is located (such as Pexels, Pikwizard, Pixabay, Unsplash, etc.)
Click on the image
Look for the following information

Photo URL
Photographer’s name

5 hand bump photo with photo image URL example — Each Stock Photo house is a bit different. This is Pexels

PRO TIP

Copy & paste the photo URL and the photographer’s URL into a simple text document like this…

You will need this information when it’s time to credit the photo

Where To Put Your Photo Credit

The following instructions are for WordPress

Go to your Media Library
Click on the photo to bring up the Description field
Add the Photo URL (from the stock photo house) in the Description field

Optional: Add a photo credit as a “Caption”

Insert an image into your Post or page.
Under the image look for “Write caption” (see below)
Add “Photo courtesy of [link to photographer] via [link to stock photo house]

closeup of icecream waffle cone full of small white flowers

How To Get Google to Love You

Part of giving credit is linking to the photographer and the stock photo house (“Photo courtesy of [link to photographer] via [link to stock photo house].)

The problem is you don’t want the search engines, like Google, to follow the link because Google may think you are a spammer who is trying to create false links, just for attention.

The solution is to create a nofollow link. Here’s how:

In your WordPress Post or Page click on the “Text” tab
Type in nofollow as indicated below

example of where to place nofollow code for photo credits

Don’t Forget to Alt Tag Your Images

Super important!

Search engines cannot yet read your images so you need to describe each image you upload for people who are visually impaired.

This short article will show you how to tag your images in WordPress.

Join Me Live On 10-Minute Monday

Hi. I’m Nancy Fields. I’ve been a graphic design for over 28 years. I build websites for coaches, entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Receive an invitation the next time I go LIVE for a FREE 10 minute training.

Topics include WordPress, design, and website tech challenges my customer are struggling with.

Featured images courtesy of picjumbo via Pexels and Pikwizard

5 Things To Put On Your Contact Us Page

May 9, 2021 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

How do you want people to contact you once they’ve visited your website? By email? By Phone? Or, do you want to contact them after they’ve told you what they need?

Regardless of the type of business you have, you need a Contact page on your website.

Here are 5 must-have items to put on your Contact Us page, plus a few extras if you have a bricks and mortar business.

Would you like to see what I did, LIVE? Click here to receive an invitation to join me LIVE on Zoom.

5 Must-Haves on Your Contact Us Page

You will create a great user experience by adding:

Your Company name
Your Company address – your State is enough if you do not have a brick & mortar business
Your Company phone number with a mobile friendly link
Your Email address BUT not a live link that spam bots can easily steal
A Contact Form

Brick & Mortar Business Extras…

Do you see clients in your office, or you have a retail store? Include:

1. Your hours of operation

2. A map and directions to your office or store

Are You Active on Social Media?

Let people know they can send you a private message on Facebook. Add a link to your Facebook business page and ask them to click Send Message.

The Benefits of Using a Contact Form

A Contact Form allows visitors to give you their name and email address
You can add pre-qualifying questions
Ask them to tell you what they need
Contact Forms cut down on spam bots stealing your email address and filling up your email inbox with hundreds of unwanted messages.

Contact Form on a Contact Us page created in Ninja Forms

simple contact form created with Ninja Forms

Contact Form created in Ninja Forms added to a website home page

If you want to contact them after they have told you what they need, create a contact form with questions, as in this example from ClearPath Workforce Management:

Click to Call

Adding a link to your phone number makes it easy for people to call you from your website. Be sure to check out the video below to see how to manually add a link, plus how to add a “click to call button” with a FREE plugin

Transcript

Five must haves on a contact page for your company: name, address, and phone number. And you’ll see a qualifying statement here because for your company address, you only need your town and your state, or even just your state. That gives people a sense of where you are in the world, but you don’t have to put in your full address if people are not coming to, you know, to a store, for example.

And then, add your company phone number. And this is where I’m excited to show you.

I have some additional information about adding a company phone number with a mobile friendly link. So if people want to phone you on their cell phone, they can just hit the link and it goes right to your phone.

Add your email address, but this is a thing that I learned many years ago: Do not put a live link in your website because there are spam robots that crawl websites looking for email links.

I truly do have a customer who insisted she wanted the live email address because it really is user-friendly for customers. But she got hit with hundreds of spam emails a day. Soon she was receiving thousands of spam emails in a week.

She spent a lot of time deleting the spam from her email inbox, and then she spent money and time getting it resolved.

So a Contact Form is great because it lets people contact you. They give them you their name and email address.

And you could even ask them some questions if you want to know a little bit about them before you reach out to them.

So it’s about you then reaching out to them.

I’m going to show you how to create a live phone link. How to add it manually, and how to use a plugin to add a phone link.

What I did, I just hovered over the phone number and I hit link. Then I typed in T E L for telephone, added a colon, and then entered the number: No dashes or spaces.

That is the way to manually add that in.

If you want something fancier. For example, if you wanted a Call Us button, this is done with a plugin called WP Call Button.

It is free.

I set that up in the dashboard under Settings. I set up the phone number in the US. I put the phone number in: as you can see, no dashes. I chose where I wanted it to appear. I chose my button color, which was the color of all of her buttons on our website. And I put show everywhere and save the changes. And that’s how easy it was to fill it in.

But there again, you do not need to have a plug in if you don’t want to. You can have something as simple selecting your text and linking it with TEL colon and your phone number. And you’re good to go.

Join Me Live On 10-Minute Monday

Receive an invitation the next time I go LIVE for a FREE 10 minute training. Topics include WordPress, design, and tech challenges others are struggling with when creating a website.

You can also email me a question about your own website or tech challenge and I may feature it.

8 Steps to Creating an Image Gallery in WordPress

May 1, 2021 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

The Gallery Block in WordPress 5.6 makes is super easy and FAST to build an image gallery. The time consuming parts are steps 1-3 listed below. Once you get beyond that, you won’t believe how quickly you can put together a beautiful gallery of images!

Resize all your images to 1500 px wide. Height does not matter.
Upload them to your WordPress Media Library
Add Alt Tags (a.k.a. Alt Text) to your images
Add a Gallery Block to a Post or Page
Add images to Gallery Block
Insert Gallery into Post or Page
Choose number of image rows and columns
Choose Gallery alignment: Left, Center, Right, Wide Width, or Full Width

Step-by-Step Video

See how to easily add and rearrange the images in your gallery to you get the look you want on any post or page using the free Gutenberg Gallery Block in WordPress 5.6.

Steps 4-8 listed above plus a recommendation for selling photos

Would you like to see what I did, LIVE? Click here to receive an invitation to join me LIVE on Zoom.

Why Use An Image Gallery?

If you are an artist people want to see your work! Painters, ceramists, photographers, sculptors. Upload your work to your WordPress website and create a gallery in a few minutes.

Are you an author? Upload your book covers and add a link to buy.

If you write a travel blog, or any blog post where you want to show a collection of photos, a gallery is a great way for your visitors to experience your photos in a neat and tidy grid layout.

The WordPress Gallery Block makes it easy to change the order of your images, and add or delete photos, too.

Want to Sell Your Images?

If you want to sell images, purchase a WordPress plugin, like EnviraGallery, that lets you accept payments right from your website.

The pro version of EnviraGallery creates a gallery plus integrates with WooCommerce.

I have used the EnviraGallery and it creates a beautiful gallery quickly and easily. I have not used the pro version to sell photos or artwork.

I have also worked with WooCommerce and have integrated PayPal and other payment processors to sell items through a website. The learning curve with WooCommerce can be steep. There are many steps to selling items from your website and adding payment and shipping options.

Join Me Live On 10-Minute Monday

Receive an invitation the next time I go LIVE for a FREE 10 minute training. Topics include WordPress, design, and tech challenges others have struggled with when creating a website.

You can also email me a question about your own website or tech challenge you may be facing: I may feature it.

Names and Email Addresses But No Email List

March 22, 2021 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

Got Name and Email Addresses but NO Email List? young woman with arms raised in a questioning gesture

“I have a list of customers, friends and family. How do I get them onto an email list?”

Like many small retailers and business owners, Sarah had her customers’ names and email addresses, but she had no idea where her list should go. On her website? On social media?

“Once I figure out where to put it, how in heck do I upload it?” she asked in frustration.

Not sure where to begin when it comes to building your list of prospects? Download my FREE List Building Roadmap to help you get started.

How To Get Your Customers onto an Email List

First, enter your customers’ name and email address into a spreadsheet (such as Excel or Numbers) and create a .csv file.

Next, get a subscription with an email host. Some of the more popular low priced email hosts are AWeber, MailChimp, and ConstantContact. (I have used AWeber since 2012 and think they are great. Please know, if you click on the AWeber link above it goes to my affiliate account.)

Why you want an email host

An email host stores your customer’s names and email addresses, and enables you to send one email to many people at the same time without being shut down as a spammer.

You’ll also be able to automate emails, meaning you can create emails to go out automatically when someone takes an action, such as when they sign up for your free offer (aka Lead Magnet).

Ask your email host…

Contact your email host
Tell your email host that you have a list of customers who gave you their name and email address
Tell your email host how many people are on your list
Ask if they have any special requirements for uploading your list

The first email you’ll send out asks your customers if they would like to receive email from you. If they do, they’ll need to confirm by clicking a link. It’s called a double opt-in process, and it ensures people want to hear from you.

These days our email inboxes are loaded with junk, and people have complained.

Email hosts need to adhere to European GDPR (European General Data Protection Regulation) and the US CAN-SPAM Act. They want to work with you to grow your email list so always ask them to help you follow their guidelines.

Get People To Say, ‘Sign me up!’

If you have a bricks and mortar business like a boutique, spa, or yoga studio, include an opt-in incentive such as a coupon toward a product or service.

Downloadable PDFs that give people a valuable free tip is a perfect opt-in incentive for coaches and consultants.

Easy 4-Step List Building System

Once you’ve uploaded your list of customers, you’ll need to keep building your list so you always have new prospects ‘in the wings.’

List building is not hard it’s just takes time.

STEP ONE

Discover what your customers want

Ask your customers what they need and, or…
Use Google Search and Google Trends to discover what they want

Once you know what you perfect customers are looking for, ask yourself, what is something valuable that you can give away for free, that you know they would like, or that would help them achieve one quick win?

Keep it simple and memorable.

STEP TWO

Create a Free Offer

No design skills? Can’t draw a straight line? No problem. Just use Canva. Their free version gives you hundreds of designs to choose from.

Choose a template you like
Add your text and images
Download it as a PDF
Uploaded your PDF to your website, DropBox, Amazon S3, Google docs or any place you can store your PDF that also contains a link so that your free offer can be downloaded.

Can you give prospects an audio or video?

Yes. Use what works best for you.

STEP THREE

Deliver Your Free Offer

NOTE: The following steps will be done in your email host:

Create a List (this is where your names will be stored)
Create a form that collects people’s email addresses
Create an email that asks people to check their email inbox
Create an email with a link to your downloadable free offer

STEP FOUR

Promote Your Free Offer

Add your free offer in one or all of these places:

website
social media posts
social media profile
paid advertising
podcast show notes
book promo
YouTube
webinar
your email signature

Need Help Getting Started?

CLICK HERE to download your 4-step List Building Roadmap and start building your list today.