Personalized profitable websites for authors
A few of my blog posts are attracting lots of visitors to my website each week, but they are older posts. Come behind the scenes. You’ll see want is working now and discover what will make my top performing posts even better. Step-by-step video below.
You can’t improve what you can’t measure. Thankfully there’s Google Analytics so you can see your top performing pages.
“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.
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.)
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yes. Use what works best for you.
NOTE: The following steps will be done in your email host:
Add your free offer in one or all of these places:
CLICK HERE to download your 4-step List Building Roadmap and start building your list today.
But you first need to:
Simple. Right?
Yes!
How in heck do you create and deliver a free offer? Click here to download our Easy 4-Step List Building Roadmap.
Every client who has watched me use two free search tools to find out what their customers want has said, “Wow!” and “Oh…” Watch me use these tools in this podcast hosted by business strategist, Natasha Michell.
Natasha and I also discuss easy ways to drive traffic to your website by giving people what they are asking for.
[00:00:00]
Hello everyone. And welcome to your business without borders. My name’s Natasha Mitchell and in today’s interview, we’re discussing what are the missing pieces that are stopping you from reaching your clients as you start to build your online business?
If you feel like you’re creating content, you’re showing up consistently, but when it comes to driving your clients to your website or actually making a sale, then somehow you’re missing the mark.
I know I can relate to that. I’ve struggled with this too. So stay with us today because you’re going [00:01:00] to discover a few insights. Secrets that are going to make all the difference. My guest today is my good friend Nancy Fields, and she’s the owner of Fields Graphic Design and host of the 10 Minute Monday series, which is amazing.
She’s a WordPress website and graphic design expert, and she combines her love of color and page design with her editorial experience at magazines like Glamour, Mademoiselle and Weight Watchers® Magazine. She’s got this really unique gift of being to bring out the best qualities in our clients so that others can see their strengths. And you definitely need that in a web designer. But unlike a lot of web designers out there that are going to charge you an arm and a leg to set you up with a website that you can’t actually use, and then they go and vanish and it really is not helping you to create and generate business, Nancy works really collaboratively with their clients. To not only build beautiful websites, but then she shows you how to use them so [00:02:00] that you can do all your own regular updates, which is going to save you time and money. And you don’t have to rely on a designer every time. But I think the most important thing because of her amazing background and skillset is that she helps you create websites that actually helps you build your business. And she does that by giving you a strong online presence with all those important things like, the best practices in WordPress, SEO and online marketing.
So welcome Nancy. I’m so glad you could join me here today.
Thank you very much. I’m very happy to be here.
Well, Nancy and I met a few years ago in an online marketing program. That’s sort of the history of how we became friends and collaborators. And that program was all about online launches and how to get your product launched. And that was really great content in that.
And we both learned a lot about sales funnels about the tech, about how our launch work, but as we started to put this into practice for [00:03:00] ourselves and for our clients, we started to notice a few common barriers or blocks that were coming up.
And a lot of beginners were facing this.
They didn’t have an audience, right. Nancy? Or they didn’t have a lot of followers.
People were told, ‘you’ve got to create content and show up consistently.’ And people were doing that, but it didn’t seem to be driving traffic to their website or their offers. So they were sort of stuck at this zero point and spinning their wheels.
And the third barrier was always the technology. There’s, a lot of moving parts to a launch and doing a business online. And so, technology is often a barrier there.
So there are a couple of the things that we started to observe and we started to think about, maybe there’s a better way to do that.
Nancy, we know that there’s never been a better time to build an online business right now. You know, we can’t go out [00:04:00] of the house or, a lot of in-person things have been canceled. And I know you have been getting a lot of questions about.
How to do all of this? But of course not everyone wants to spend $10,000 like we did, or more, or immerse themselves in a year long program. So what do you think is missing from some of the current teachings in this whole area of online marketing online or launching, especially for people who are new to this?
Well, you know what we learned. And how we were taught to begin to build our list and to build our fans is the same thing that I have heard from many other people who I’ve spent a lot of money to learn from. And I thought, you know, we’ve talked about what’s the problem here? And the problem is you’re taught to create content and you’re taught to engage with your audience, but if you don’t know [00:05:00] what your audience first wants, you end up putting out content they don’t really care about. And then you end up wasting all this time, developing great content that nobody, nobody reads.
You’ve got to start with the end in mind, just as I’ve done on every graphic design project. What is it you want?
Well, if you want to attract clients, what do your clients want?
So figuring out what they want is the missing piece. That’s where you start.
When I started I was told, you’ve got to be creating content. When people don’t find your content, if you start to feel like your content is bad, or it’s not helpful. And that’s not always the case. The main issue is that people can’t find you.
So what, what I heard you say from that is, it’s really about turning the order around. Don’t just start by putting out content right away. The first step really is find out what [00:06:00] people want first, then start to create content that’s relevant. And then build the relationship and build the list.
Yes. And that actually is a lot of fun to do. So, I’ve got to do the research, but I’m telling you, you will spend a fraction of the time figuring out what people want, and figuring out what words they’re using if you do a little bit of research. It is easy, And it’s really eye-opening.
I love that. I love making things simple. I like making it so easy for people to get up and running in their business because frankly we don’t have time to be sitting around, spinning our wheels on things that don’t work. So, one of the things I’ve heard in the past, they’ve said, ‘look, if you want to research what your clients want or your potential clients want, ask them. Run a survey. Go into a group and ask a question. And I’ve done that.
But you know, [00:07:00] there’s more and more competition out there in the market to even get to people. Or, just creating a post is hard enough, let alone get them to write a comment or let alone to take another step and actually answer a survey and take time out of their busy days.
So when, when we talk about researching, how else can you find out what people are actually searching for? And I think you’re going to show us some examples of this now to Nancy.
I’m happy to show you now. In fact, what I want to show you first is, this happens to be a blog post. I will show you the post itself, but, it’s a blog post. When I went into my Google analytics, Google told me at the time (June 2020) I was getting 300 hits a week consistently for over a year.
I thought, ‘Wow, people want to know what’s the right size image for their website.’ And this actually came out of a real world problem. [00:08:00]
And so what I did to boost that further is I put a video on the webpage. And when I put the video on the webpage, I went from 300 hits to 1800 hits in two and a half weeks, which is a time that it takes Google to search all the new content on a website.
So now, two months later, I’m at consistently over 600 hits a week on that post.
I have Google analytics on my website, which is a code that’s on my website. Google analytics will show me what people want on my site. But even if you don’t have that yet, you still would do a very, very simple Google search.
You would go to google.com. And then right in this search box here, type something in you think people would like to know.
[00:09:00] Let’s type in a free offer. And the minute I type in free offer, then look at here’s this dropdown menu. So you know immediately people are looking for free offer online application.
This, first off, gives you really great information. So I’m going to click free offer online and the next place that will tell you what people are actually typing into Google is the People Also Ask box here. How can I get free stuff online?
This is what people are typing in. So when I click on this, Google also gives me their (Google’s) favorite post, which, Oh, by the way, happens to be up here.
So Google is matching what you are typing in. And that’s what they’re in the business for. They want to give you the best user experience. [00:10:00] So if you want to know what people are typing in to Google search to find out what you’re writing about. Start here.
It’s interesting because we hear, even in this conversation, we’ve already started using a lot of jargon and keywords that can sometimes feel like just second language to us when we’re immersed in it. You know, Google analytics, et cetera.
But look, when you’re looking at this and if you’re wondering, ‘what kind of content should I produce?’ It doesn’t matter what area you’re in. You could be a relationship coach, a business coach, maybe you’re a musician. Maybe you’re an artist. It doesn’t matter. If you’re an expert in a particular field, and you think, ‘well, I’ve got a lot of knowledge to share about how to scale a business and how to create an online business or how to project manage a project in your business. I’ve got all these different pieces of knowledge. [00:11:00] But, before I create a piece of content I can literally use, that’s search.
And you don’t have to be techie. Everyone knows how to do a search on Google these days. You can just start typing in some of these words and phrases and see if, searches are coming up.
And I can see you have a couple there. Nancy, how to create an online business. Let’s see what happens when we click on one of those or how to create an online business website.
When you see “Ad” that’s a paid ad.
There are videos, and then you start seeing what people are searching for on video.
There’s also related searches down below.
There again, you stay on page one of Google. One successful online businesses. So these are things that people are also looking for.
As you’re asking, ‘What do I want to write about what?’ [00:12:00], ask, do people want to know about it? And then answer one question and really answer it well. Just answer one question. Don’t give them a book. If you can just give them one great answer that they can put into practice right away and get a win, that’s what they care about.
And that’s what you did.
If you can go back to your example, Nancy, which was the right size image for your website. I mean, you’re a web designer. You help people with graphic design, you help people with creating content, but you discovered that actually resizing images was a real problem that people were facing time and time again on their website, on their Facebook pages, any social media.
And so you created this one little micro piece of information and it’s getting all sorts of traction, right? You’re already appearing on the first page of Google, which has a pretty amazing result.
Can you tell us a bit [00:13:00] more about that?
Well, you know, it was such a surprise. Like most solopreneurs we get really busy and I hadn’t checked my analytics for a while. A coach told me to check my analytics. I went, Whoa, this is amazing.
And yet, at this same time, I got a phone call out of the blue, from someone who said, ‘I’m having problems with my website. Can you help me resize the images?’
I asked how you found me?
“I found you online.”
Tell me what article you chose?
And this is the thing as well; there’s a lot of information out there for you and for people, but, he understood my article. And I spoke to him. So then we had a rapport. So that’s something as well. So what you do, and how you write, is going to attract the person who’s probably going to be your perfect customer. Wouldn’t you say?
Oh, absolutely. the first issue is we’ve got to attract their attention.
Once we’ve attracted their attention, then they decide whether they’re [00:14:00] the right fit. And everyone, has a different personality, so you might not be for everyone. There’s probably other articles out there which are How To Size Your Image but it’s just how you wrote. It was your branding, your look. And I feel like all of those other things then start to build the pieces of that puzzle, as to why someone will take that next step with you and buy from you.
And we’re not going to go deep into that today, but I really just did want to point out a couple of things. So what we did there was, we did a really basic search keywords. I’m going to call it a keyword search. So there’s a bit of jargon, but you know what key words that people are looking for.
You did a really basic search on Google and you found out the kinds of things people were looking for.
Then you started to use those words in your article headline and also throughout your article. So [00:15:00] even if people are not techie, we’ve talking a little bit about SEO and Google analytics. But even if you’re not techie at all, even that most simple step could really help you get a piece of content that was able to attract your potential client — at least to read something you’ve got and become more aware of you.
Yes. And the other thing, what you pointed out, very, very important, the headline. So, even if you don’t have the exact words, people are typing into Google Search, your headline helps them find you. You headline is called the H 1 tag. It’s the first headline. This is what Google reads. Google’s also reading your URL.
And this is what’s telling the robot what this site is about. Then they also read your sub headlines. So your headlines and your sub headlines.
And then if you put a video on it’s like, bam! You’ve got some traction. Also [00:16:00] pictures as well.
Yeah. I love how you break all of that down.
There are a few things behind that, but the whole Google searching SEO, and Google analytics. People can often get really intimidated by that before they’re even starting. But when you start to break down the pieces one by one, and you start to learn the basics of that language, it’s really not as difficult as you might think it is.
And all of these tools we were just talking about are free. So that’s the amazing thing. And when you think about it, most people type in a problem they are having. I’m sure you do, too. When we go to Google, we’re looking for an answer to a question that we have about a problem.
It’s using common language. So the whole idea of keywords…keywords are just the words that people are using to type [00:17:00] in, to get their questions answered. And that’s why it used to be one word or two words. Now they are called long-tail keywords because people don’t search using one word.
They search for their issue, like how to create an online business. I want to know how do I create an online business? That’s what they’re typing in. They’re not typing in online business, but help me with what I want to learn on how to create an online business.
Yeah. And Nancy, while you’re on that page, just scroll down. So we typed the related searches. For example, on some of the other pages we see people also searched for. And once she knows some of those words, then you can start putting them into your content.
What I did, I just checked on successful business. I clicked on that and then we get a people also ask box. Again, this is pure gold. What is the best online business to make money? If that’s what you’re talking about, if you’re talking about online business, is that what [00:18:00] you’re speaking about?
And if it’s not, well, then find another question that people are asking. If it brings up the people also ask box, once again, gold.
So here we have the title of the article. 27 proven and easy to start online business ideas that make money. But somebody typed in what is the best online business to make money.
So Google said, okay, ‘I have an article for you.’ And they’ve also researched the article and they know it’s got a lot of good content in the article. So Google is saying, we are recommending you start here. Which is interesting because, we spend a lot of time trying to get on page one, but ultimately this people also ask box is relatively new. It’s a little over a year old, but so Google is saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to tell you what we think is the answer to your question,’ But look online business. Money make money. The word best isn’t in here, but these words, online business and make money [00:19:00] are there. So they said, ‘Boom. Here’s your match.’
So there again, easy. Right? Too easy in a way.
So that’s why, speak the way you speak so that you can attract the customer who can learn from you, and understand what you’re telling them.
And, you know, Nancy in this short discussion we’re having today, I wanted to make sure that we’re showing people what the first step is. But also debunk a little bit of this super scary tech language like SEO, keywords, Google analytics. They’re really actually pretty simple tools. And for the most part, if you can do a basic search on Google, you can do a lot of this yourself.
I’m wondering if you could just show us on one of the slides you have in your article that shows some statistics that came out of Google analytics? [00:20:00]
But you know, the problem is generally this for people. Firstly, they don’t know what it is that they need to write about.
So we have decided you need to do a keyword search and you need to include those keywords throughout your article, in the headline and in the body.
Then we want to know, are the people are actually seeing what we’ve written and whether it’s making a difference? And that’s what we use Google Analytics for.
It’s kind of, a dashboard of, or a summary of all of the interactions that people are having with your different website pages. And you’ve got an example right there, which is, showing how people were interacting with your site.
And can you explain a little bit about what was going on in that chart? Because sometimes people see a chart and they’re like, ‘I’m not checking. I don’t know how to check,’ But tell us, can you give us the translation of what those [00:21:00] numbers and stats actually mean?
You can see below the word users, it says last 90 days. Because I knew that I was when I was getting 600 hits. But I wanted to see over the last 90 days what was happening. And this chart showed me.
So when you get into your Google Analytics, you type in a word, say, I want to know what pages people are looking for and you type that into Google. Up will come your top 10 pages. It will tell you how many people have looked at that page in a week, or in the last seven days.
Can you see the difference? They’re hard to see. It’s in gray, but last seven days, this is last 90 days. So the last 90 days gives me that’s what I thought. Oh my heavens. The last 90 days, there was a huge spike.
It’s like, ‘Whoa, 1800 people were there!” and it will give me exact date.
When you put something on your website, the Google robots scan [00:22:00] every website in the world. And because there’s more and more websites going up every day, they say it now takes Google about two and a half weeks to scan and read everything.
That’s what they’re doing. They’re reading. They’re trying to match the words so that they can give you the best user experience. So therefore, when I first posted this in the beginning of July, it did take almost three weeks for it to get to 1800 hits.
That’s also an indication that it’s true. But the Google bots are also searching YouTube. And they’re searching your YouTube information. So now they’re marrying the YouTube with what’s on your blog. So they’re saying, ‘boy, you know, this blog has got the headlines and it has a video, too.’
So it took them three weeks to find out that I had all three pieces on my site.
If you’d written this article and came to your analytics and you had really good reach on this article, [00:23:00] but if you hadn’t. You might say. ‘Hmm, well maybe I need to change the headline on this and give it another try. Or maybe I need to add a video link in it and give it another try.’
Sometimes, sitting here as content creators, online business builders, saying, ‘I don’t know what’s working. No one is seeing me.’ We just do another whole brand new piece of content instead of really asking is, ‘What content is working? What’s not?’ and asking, ‘What you can do to make small changes that might actually get the content being more visible and more searchable?’
I think you just gave a great tip.
If you have an article, even if it’s getting three or four hits a week, you know people are searching for it. And so take that article and put your headline in Google Search and see what else drops down. Put your headline right into your Google Search bar and see what was up under these labels. Ask, ‘Is that what I’m writing about?’ Because maybe you’ll realize too, that’s not what you’re writing about. And then you can rethink what you’re saying, or put more information into your articles.
That’s also a great way to get, to get more engagement as well. Just add more words. In fact, they’re saying now, for the average article that Google is ranking up to 1700 words.
Yes, 1700 words. The articles are longer. Add to your article. Add some headlines. Add some copy. Just keep adding. ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water,’ [00:25:00] Keep it.
And then the question is, what you want to write about is, ‘What will bring people into your business, so you can serve them well?’
Yeah, exactly. And why you and I have collaborated so well on this. Clearly, just in this short example, we see how knowledgeable you are with all things Google, and websites, and SEO and keywords.
I come in on the business side, which is more about, ‘How do we do things more efficiently?’ The marriage here is, absolutely you can write one article. And when you get that article, right, like on the keyword searches, then you can just start using that article in many different ways.
You can start cutting it up into a social media posts. You could cut it and put it on you YouTube. Then you might use it in LinkedIn. Then you might use it on [00:26:00] Facebook. Then you might create a Facebook Ad about it.
Now we already know what’s working. So now we can, what I like to call, leverage it.
Get a lot more eyeballs on your material because we know that’s what people are searching for.
We can expand or contract our content if we need to, but we’re not writing brand new content all the time. And that’s one of the real barriers that I see with people trying to continually create, create, create, create content.
It’s really exhausting. It’s not a good use of your resources. And again, if you’re not creating content that people are looking for, it really doesn’t matter.
From the conversion part, Nancy, I think your article was a perfect example. Someone was looking.
What I often find from a business [00:27:00] perspective, that is what we are trying to get. You gave people what they really need. But that’s not what they believe they really want.
And there’s a difference between that need and want.
Someone thinks, ‘Oh, I just need to resize that image.’ But the big problem might be the whole layout of their website could be wrong. The copy could be wrong, but it doesn’t matter how much you tell people of how to write great copy on a website. If they think their problem is their images, that’s why you meet your clients where they are at. That’s where they come in the front door, and then you can start to educate them on the other piece.
So I just want to put it out there from a business strategy perspective. It’s really easy when we have tons of knowledge and tons of content that we say, ‘We know what you need,’ but that doesn’t mean that’s what you’re searching for as a consumer.
And it doesn’t mean what your clients are searching [00:28:00] for.
That is so true. And the other tip, Natasha, that I heard from one of my coaches is, if you have a blog post that’s working, create a 15 second video where you talk about what’s in your blog post. Add that to YouTube, Facebook and your blog.
That’s just such a powerful tip. And we’re getting towards the end of our conversation today, but I did just want to share a few nuggets from what, what we’ve talked about today.
A lot of the information we’re telling you about today is really simple, but it’s the pieces that are [00:29:00] really overlooked. Given how much Nancy and I have emerged ourselves in all of this learning. it’s just interesting to see where experts actually start the path.
And there is often an assumption with all this online business stuff that you already have a lot of that foundational base knowledge. And that’s not always true.
I was talking to someone today on another interview. We were saying that, in this time of COVID and everything coming online, we need some time to adapt and adjust and it’s okay to be what I like to call an ‘absolute beginner.’ It’s okay to be there.
And that’s what Nancy, and I are really here to help you with. If you are an absolute beginner, if you’ve had success in delivering your content in person, [00:30:00] and helping people in person, there’s a very good chance that you’re able to help people and provide a service in an online way as well, right now.
And we want you to be able to do that. We want you to be able to get up and running quickly and easily. We want to fast track you and say, look, there’s 50 things you could learn, but if you know these five things, that’s going to be a really good start.
And once you’ve got that down, then we’ll give you a bit more advanced concepts. But even with these five basic things, you can make really, really good progress.
So again, Nancy, coming with her super guru website, SEO, graphic design, all of those elements and me coming to the table with how do we make this super simple?
How do we fast track this? And how do we build businesses?
We have decided to come together for a very special collaboration and we’re [00:31:00] putting it together right now. A brand new masterclass series, and it’s going to be launching towards the end of 2020. We don’t have a final launch date yet, but we’re working on this and just wanted to give you a sneak peek to let you know it’s going to be called the Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Client Attraction.
It’s going to be a several part master class series, and we are going to be breaking this down. If you didn’t think you were tech-y, think again. If you didn’t think you could create an online business, then think again, because we are going to be taking you step by step through this.
We’re going to show you how to do these keywords searches. We’re going to show you how to set up some basic SEO. We’re going to show you how to set up a Google analytics dashboard so you can see what’s happening. And if those three tech words just made you glaze over, don’t worry. We keep it all fun and user friendly.
And then we’re going to [00:32:00] take you to the next step and say right now, you will know what you’re doing. Then we’re going to help you create a free lead magnet or free client attraction tool.
And then we’re going to take you into building the foundations of how to create an email sequence to start to build that relationship with people.
Those might be things you’ve heard about before, but they’re just the basics and we’re going to help you get those basics, right. And then you can move on to the more advanced stuff.
So it’s just a sneak peak. We’re going to be launching that a bit later in 2020. So if you want to hear more about that, we’re going to leave a link below. You can email Nancy and me. We will be able to share more information when that is ready.
Nancy, we’ve covered a ton of ground today. What’s one last piece of advice you have to share with anyone who’s thinking about building an online business and [00:33:00] has been holding back for a variety of reasons,?
I remember 30 years ago. I bought my first computer and my first program, which was called, Word Perfect.
The computer came. And Word Perfect came this big manual. And ask, ‘Where do I start?’
So I called the smartest person I knew, who was also teaching me Word Perfect. And he said, ‘Go to the bookstore.’ And I know this is old advice, but it still applies. He said, ‘Go to the tech section and ask one question. Pick up every book, and buy the book that speaks to you.
Today if you have a question you go to Google to get your answer. Find the person who speaks to you and have them teach you. Have them take you step-by-step by the hand, because otherwise you can go down such a rabbit hole [00:34:00] and you can waste so much time that you will want to throw up your hands and give up.
Don’t do it.
I think Natasha and I are going to be great at giving you the information you need, but find somebody who ‘speaks’ to you. Let them show you how to do it, and then run your business.
Yeah, that’s great advice, Nancy. And we would love to help you do that.
There really is never a better time to get started with your online business. And frankly, if you don’t start today, tomorrow. There’s never going to be a better time to start your online business. The world is moving more and more, every day, online service delivery. If you want to have a business like that, or add to your existing business, then we would love to help you do that.
We are super friendly. We’re super helpful. And, you know, we do like to make these complex things just easy because they don’t [00:35:00] need to be overly complex.
They just need to be broken down and explained in a very easy to use way. And, that’s what we’re here to help you do. So thank you Nancy, for joining me today. I really appreciate that.
If you want to connect with Nancy because you want to resize an image or you’ve got a bigger website plan in place, maybe it’s creating a new website or updating your existing website, you can visit Nancy at fieldsgraphicdesign.com. I’ll leave a link in the show notes, and I really do recommend, if you want to hear some super valuable tips, sign up for one of her 10 minute Mondays series, which she has every Monday. Always great information.
And of course, if you want to connect with me on how to scale your business with ease, then you can visit me at inspireanddrive.com. You can download my SIMPLE Business Blueprint or schedule a discovery call.
And don’t forget, if you want [00:36:00] more information on our upcoming masterclass, you can email us at, [email protected].
The link is in the show notes below. Well, that’s all for me from me for this week. I’m Natasha Mitchell saying thank you for joining us in your business without borders. Now let’s go break some rules.
Nancy Fields and Natasha Mitchell share what they use to building their list with high converting free offers. Download their free Easy 4-Step List Building Roadmap today.
If you want to sell anything online, now or in the future, you need customers. Your email list is your list of prospects. The problem is most people will not give you their email address without getting something they want for free.
There are 3 basic steps, and a whole lot of prep. The steps are:
You can create your free offer in MS Word, Canva, Photoshop, Excell. You could even make a video, or an audio recording. Just make sure anyone can download your free offer after it’s finished.
I get asked this question a lot.
Some tasks are done on your website, while others are done through your email host (such as AWeber, MailChimp, ConstantContact, etc).
That’s why I created two graphics, so you could see the path your customer takes to get your free offer, and the one you take, to get them there.
Give me your name and email address and I’ll send it right away.
This 5 minute video outlines the steps I took to build my email list with a free offer.
Please leave a comment below, and sign up to join my free live 10-Minute Monday trainings! You’ll also receive my favorite resources for totally free images to use on your website or any project.
I joined Jeff Walker‘s Launch Club in November 2015 to learn how to launch products and services online. Instead of doing things my tried-and-true way, I did what Jeff recommended.
My thinking was, if I’m paying an expert to show me the ropes, shouldn’t I follow their advice?
In the past I’ve written headlines after writing my blog post, web page, or e-book. Following Jeff’s advice I did just the opposite and achieved greater success.
I first reviewed my notes about my perfect customer and thought about their problems and struggles.
Having only an vague idea of the type of product I wanted to create, I filled-in-the-blanks on headlines such as:
Jeff gave us eleven fill-in-the-blank headlines, and recommended writing out 50 possible headlines from the samples.
Some fill-in-the-blank headline examples seemed easier than others, so I kept writing until those headline ideas stopped flowing. By the time I finished I had 81 headlines!
Not all were great, and it was difficult narrowing the list down to my top 10.
The next task was putting my top 10 headlines in front of a group of prospects to find out which headlines they liked best. Out of 45 people, one headline emerged as the winner — but only by one vote.
My biggest surprise was that the headline I thought would come out on top, ended placing near the bottom.
How To Write Copy That Sells: The Step-By-Step System For More Sales, More Customers, More Often is a new book from an accomplished and seasoned copy writer, who also happens to be one of Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula superstars.
In his chapter on headline creation, Ray Edwards includes a headline template. I’ve also used Ray’s template to help me write better headlines:
Last week I spent the most enjoyable 2 hours writing headlines with my website client Victoria Travis. She needed to jazz up her sales letter and asked for my help.
Much to her surprise we started with the headline.
30 minutes into our session she protested, “This is hard. I don’t think I want to do this any more. Can’t we just work on the letter?”
We did work on her sales letter, but only after a few more attempts to draw out some stronger headlines. By the end she excitedly said, “I love my sales letter! I want to give you a testimonial!…
When I work with you, I feel I can say how I feel and you don’t ever seem to take it personally. That way I can stay in my ‘creative’ pre-frontal cortex and together, we create the very best work!”
I’m not only a graphic designer who builds WordPress websites with all the bells and whistles, in my 20s I was also an editor at Glamour, Weight Watchers’ and Mademoiselle magazines — and I love helping people tweak their headlines and web copy.
Contact me by phone or email. Let me know how I can help you.
Getting and choosing the right color is a mystery to most people. And a frustration, too.
The color wheel is visually captivating, but it’s too much information: warm colors, cool colors, primary, secondary, analogous, complementary, triadic — It’s enough to make your head spin.
That’s why, when website client Gail Callahan introduced me to her brilliant ColorGrid©, I became a fan and advocate.
It is the easiest tool for choosing colors that I’ve ever used. It’s also the hands-down best tool for choosing the perfect color for your opt-in button because these buttons need to stand out: they need to “pop” in order to draw your website visitor’s attention to take action. ColorGrid© is all about the “pop.”
The video below demonstrates how easy is to use.
At $7.95 plus shipping & handling it’s also a great price.
Like many of you, I want to have successful business. It’s not easy.
For over 15 years I was ‘crushing it’ as a print graphic designer serving private schools and colleges in my area, until every desk in these institutions had computers, and the financial officers started asking: (1) How can we save money post stock market crash, and (2) Why do we need to hire a freelance graphic designer when we teach students how to do this “stuff”?
Legitimate and sound business questions that caused a rapid decline in my bottom line. For me, however, it was not time to throw in the towel.
Although I had also designed a few websites a year since 2003, there was never time to really learn HTML and CSS — until 2008. Even so, it took me a few years and considerable worry about my next step, before a new business opportunity ‘waltzed right in.’ The decision to learn WordPress and begin customizing WordPress websites happened one evening when a dance partner told me he was building a website using WordPress. “The blogging platform?” I ask incredulously?
Since that time a big and bright new world has opened up to me. One of the first things I learned about successful online businesses is that they have a list of followers: the larger the list, the greater the opportunity for success.
Another blessing came my way the day my accountability buddy, Cliff Martin, told me about Jeff Walker, and his recently released book, Product Launch Formula. As a subscriber to Jeff Walker’s list, I received this interview with Forbes which I would like to share with you, as well as these takeaways for me:
Wishing you much success in business and in life!
In addition to building and customizing WordPress websites, my print graphic design experience gives me the ability to upgrade or redesign your company logo, create a custom web header and web buttons, design an e-book, an e-book cover, turn your e-book cover into a 3-d graphic, create a downloadable PDF, as well as choose the best font for your website. My editorial experience at Glamour, Weight Watchers and Mademoiselle magazines have given me the added experience necessary to enhance your web copy, and headlines, too.
Contact me today to discuss your website goals, and see if we might be a good fit for each other.
Your website header is on every page, and it’s often the first thing people see so treat it as your most valuable real estate.
Headers in mobile responsive themes are divided into two sections: left and right.
On a desktop your header will look long and narrow across the top of the page.
On a mobile device the header breaks in two: Header Left on top, Header Right stacking neatly underneath.
The left side is for your company name, logo, and tagline
TIP No. 1: Make sure your logo is crisp and clear and fits the space.
TIP No. 2 : Choose a tagline that’s
…because you have only a few seconds to capture your visitors’ attention and tell them what you do.
The top right is a widget area, and widgets can accommodate anything you wish. The size of your header widget area will vary, depending upon your theme. An average is 400 pixels wide X 200 pixels high: That’s small!
Any one of these can look great in the right side of your header:
Getting just the right graphic or promotional video into your header right widget area can be tricky. For example, creating a graphic requires a photo editing program such as iPiccy or Photoshop. After creating your graphic, you may need to do a bit of hand coding for your graphic to display. But wait…there’s more. Once the header right is “perfect,” your logo (on the left) may need to be resized.
If you get into a jam, and don’t have time, or the patience to figure it all out, contact a web designer or developer to do it for you. The least attractive website is one that is not yet up.