Aurora Is the Perfect Place to Start Your New Business

/in

Guest post by Leslie Campos of Well Parents

If starting a business is next on your list, you need to ensure it happens in the right place. The location of your company is as crucial as your business idea. Some cities, like Aurora, Colorado, offer advantages that can facilitate your long-term success.

Why Choose Aurora

Aurora is a vibrant city with something to offer everyone. From active nightlife to world-class amenities, Aurora is truly a great place to live and work. Not only is it close to large urban centers like Denver, but its local atmosphere also boasts many cultural and recreational opportunities. Consider why this thriving city is ideal for living and working.

Affordable Living

Aurora’s attractive cost of living can significantly benefit your new endeavor. The city offers a wide variety of housing options that can fit any budget, from starter homes to luxury apartments with access to amenities such as fitness centers and swimming pools. Aurora also boasts low property taxes compared to other cities in Colorado.

Educated Residents

Having skilled workers drives a company’s growth. Aurora has diverse higher education opportunities nearby, creating a robust workforce for your new business. Area schools include:

  • Community College of Aurora
  • Platt College
  • University of Denver
  • University of Colorado Denver

Quality of Life

Aurora’s various cultural, entertainment, and educational opportunities contribute to the general satisfaction of the population. Employees who are happy outside of work are more likely to stay motivated and productive.

This city offers many parks, historic sites, and other attractions, such as:

  • Cherry Creek State Park
  • Aurora History Museum
  • Aurora Fox Arts Center
  • Stanley Beer Hall
  • Plains Conservation Center

Community Support

The supportive community of Aurora can immensely impact your entrepreneurship. By connecting with other business owners in the area, you will find the resources, assistance, and mentorship to help your business thrive. Some local resources include:

  • Aurora Chamber of Commerce
  • Aurora South Metro Small Business Development Center
  • Aurora City Business Licenses

Family-Friendly Location

Aurora is an excellent place for families. This city features top-rated schools, parks, and outdoor adventures. Residents enjoy clean, suburban neighborhoods with plenty of activities the whole family will love, such as parks and family-friendly restaurants.

Home-Finding Tips

When searching for a home, initially, you may want to move into a rental home or apartment. Doing so allows you to reside in the area while determining the neighborhoods and amenities that best serve your family’s needs. Start looking for a place to live by perusing online listings in your price range (there are currently around 300 apartments available for rent in Aurora). Filter your searches by pinpointing your desired number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

Business Startup Checklist

Here is a quick-start guide to launching your new company in Aurora:

Consider setting up a limited liability company for your operation. This legal structure offers many benefits, including personal asset protection with limited liability, tax advantages, and flexibility. Additionally, applying requires minimal paperwork. Check the specific regulations in Colorado before proceeding.

Starting your life as an entrepreneur presents many potential benefits and possible concerns. Finding a home that you love in a location where your business can thrive is crucial. When you choose an area like Aurora that meets your personal and professional needs, you improve your chances of success.

Image by Pexels

Learning to Blog for Business Owners

/in , , , , ,

You may think that learning to blog isn’t important to your business. You’re a coach or you sell things you make, why should you blog? The internet has an insatiable appetite for information. Billions of searches are conducted every single day looking for everything from how to bake an apple pie to why zebras have stripes. For anyone who conducts business online, these searches represent a steady flow of potential customers who are looking for what you have to offer.

You can use a blog to present yourself as an expert in your field or as the authority in finding the best deals on clothes – whatever your niche is, a blog can help get more eyes on your website. A blog is an easy, cost-effective method of being found by the exact people who most need, want, and are willing to pay for your services. But only if you have a good strategy in place first.

Know Your Keywords

These are the search terms your ideal client is using to find answers to their questions. When you know what your keywords are, you can easily create blog posts that will:

  • Attract the right visitors to your site
  • Position you as the expert in your niche
  • Make it easy for your ideal client to find—and get to know—you and your services

Write for People

Keywords are great for SEO and making search engines like your blogs. And while it’s important to know and use keywords in your blog posts, it’s even more important that you write your content with people in mind. Your blog should be engaging, informational, and even entertaining, but above all else, it must be readable. When learning to blog and choosing what to write remember this: if you wouldn’t read it, neither will anyone else.

Be Consistent

Content marketing—and blogging, by extension—is very much a numbers game. The more content you produce, the greater your results will be. That means setting—and sticking to—a content production schedule is a must. For most websites, a weekly schedule is both attainable and sufficient to build a steady stream of traffic. If that seems daunting, start with something easier like monthly or bi-monthly. One important lesson to learn when learning to blog is that there are no one-size-fits-all answers. Make a production schedule that works for you and make it something that you KNOW you can stick to.

Keep Long-Term Goals in Mind

Blogging is not a fast business-growth strategy but it is excellent for long-term sustainability. Those posts you write this month will continue to work for you many years from now, bringing in more and more traffic and potential clients. Evergreen content, or content that will last for a long time to come, is one of the best investments you can make in your business. Learning to blog also means learning to re-blog. Once your production schedule has been up and running for a few months, set aside some time to review your past blog articles and see if there’s anything you can reuse. You can also go back to old articles and check if there are any natural places to drop in some links to more recent blog posts to increase internal links.

Use Good SEO Practices

Aside from keywords, great bloggers know there are many techniques you can use to bring in more readers, including:

  • External links to relevant sites from within your blog
  • Internal links to other, related content on your site
  • Use of graphics and headlines to break up long text passages
  • Compelling meta descriptions
  • Good HTML practices such as ALT tags

Get the Word Out

Each new blog post is an opportunity to be seen, so take the time to share your content socially, and encourage your readers to do the same. Share your post on your Facebook page, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and anywhere else your ideal client is likely to see it.

You can also join social media groups for topics related to your industry and periodically share relevant content from your blog. Just make sure this doesn’t go against the group’s policies and remember to always add value – the goal of this is to promote your website and your business, not annoy group admins.

Mix It Up

Not every post has to be a 3,000-word article. Include other types of content as well, such as:

  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Curated content
  • Short opinion pieces
  • Audio

Have Fun with It

Above all else, the most important thing to remember when learning to blog is to have some fun. Inject your personality into your blog. Not only will you more easily attract your ideal client but you’ll enjoy blogging a lot more if you use your authentic voice. And the more you enjoy it, the more likely you will remain consistent as well.

How to Start a Podcast for Your Business

/in , ,

As of 2021 41% of Americans have listened to a podcast in the past month and that figure is changing rapidly. Podcast episodes are easy for people to search, access, and listen to. Listeners can find most podcasts for free on different platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Castbox. With the podcast industry evolving, these platforms make it easier and easier for listeners to access your podcasts.

As a business, podcasts offer an easy barrier to entry, little-to-no marketing cost, and access to a wide audience. The form of podcasts, today’s modern-day radio, allows people to listen to your content as they go about their day, from doing daily chores to traveling, or even exercising.

It’s relatively simple to start a podcast and reach a brand-new market and it’s a great way to expand your business’s marketing reach!

What you need to start a podcast:

  1. Equipment & location. You will need a computer or smartphone, a microphone, and a quiet place to record your podcasts.

    • Computer or smartphone. To start a podcast you will need a device to store the recording before uploading it to the podcasting platform. You don’t need anything special. As long as it can access the internet and has the ability to have a microphone.
    • Microphone. Good-quality microphones are fairly inexpensive and can be purchased on Amazon or at your local electronics store. Do a little research in advance to find out what type of microphone will work best with your computer/smartphone and your needs. We don’t recommend using the built-in microphone on your smartphone, they usually result in lower-quality audio.
    • Decide on a location to record the podcast. It needs to be very quiet and ideally comfortable. A quiet bedroom would work, however, a sound-proofed room or a sound-proofed closet would work best. Keep in mind that every sound will be translated to the podcast, including typing on a keyboard and the sound of computer fans.

  2. Recording, editing & hosting. How you are going to record and edit your podcast, and how it will be hosted?

    • Recording and editing. There are a lot of software options available for recording and editing audio, but if you’re just starting out with a small budget, you can use a web-based service like Anchor.fm that provides free recording and editing. Be sure to compare the features and cost of any software/service to ensure it will work for your needs. When you first start a podcast it might be better to go with a service and then switch to your own editing software later.
    • Hosting. A host for your podcast is simply the place where the file is stored online so it can be broadcast to your subscribers. There are multiple hosting options available. Anchor.fm also provides hosting for your podcast and we highly recommend it! (We aren’t getting any commission for saying that – we just really like them!)

  3. Brainstorm content theme. What’s the overarching theme or concept that will guide your podcast episodes? People search for podcasts related to certain themes, topics, or ideas.

    • What theme or idea will every podcast episode relate back to? Think about something that you’re familiar with or passionate about that relates back to your business. Even topics you don’t know a lot about are fair game, as long as they tie into your business or industry.
    • For format will your episodes take? Will they be conversational interviews, solo shows, or tell a story?
    • What types of content will you produce? Do you want your podcast to be helpful and informative, inspirational, practical, or conversational?

  4. Set a publishing schedule. How often will you publish podcast episodes?

    • When you first start a podcast it’s a good idea to spread out your episodes to give yourself time to record each one.
    • You might also want to create podcast “seasons” where after you publish a certain number of episodes, your podcast takes a scheduled break.

  5. Create a podcast marketing plan. How will you market each episode after it’s published?

    • Use these ideas to promote episodes and help with content exposure, SEO, and authority-building:
      • Repurpose the clips from podcast episodes into Instagram reels, Twitter audio, or YouTube videos.
      • Highlights, takeaways, and timestamps from your podcast can be typed into “show notes” to be published on your blog or website for SEO purposes. In your show notes, you can include links or resources mentioned in the podcast.
      • Create graphic images of inspirational or informative quotations from the episode and circulate them on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. (Steady Radiance Design can help with creating your podcast graphics!)
      • Interview other companies, businesses, or influencers in your industry and ask them to promote the episode when it’s live.
      • Add keywords and search terms to your podcast titles and descriptions so that people can find them when looking up a topic.

Final Thoughts

The podcast industry is growing rapidly, and it isn’t stopping. Platforms like Castbox are evolving with the industry, and now is the perfect time to start a podcast and reach a new audience. Overall, publishing podcasts builds brand awareness with listeners. By listening to your episodes, they learn more about you and your company over time.

Planning a Live Event: Understanding Your Audience

/in ,

The first rule of creating products, a new service offering, or planning a live event is to understand your audience. This is true no matter what business or market you are in. Note that a prerequisite of understanding your audience is to first identify your audience. If you haven’t done that yet, take a look at our list of ways to identify your target market.

You must be connected with the pulse of your audience to know in advance whether or not they can afford your event, want and need what you offer, and can take advantage of the opportunity. Learning about your audience will also help you overcome many objections such as cost, subject matter, location, and time.

Know Your Audience’s Budget

If you know your audience well, you’ll know what type of disposable income they have. This allows you to plan and price your event accordingly. Look at your audience’s average income and how much they usually spend on the product/service/topic you intend to promote at your event. Once you know what they can afford, you can create a realistic budget for your event based on your audience’s ability to pay.

Know The Topics They Care About

Knowing your audience will help you pick just the right topic and theme for your live, in-person event. Remember, you need to make them want to leave their home to listen to your subject matter. One easy way to start this process is to identify the pain points of your target audience then identify how your product/service helps to alleviate or eliminate those pains.

Know The People They’d Want to Meet

When planning a live event, think about the other influential people in your industry that might help to make your event more appealing to potential attendees. Who might your audience be interested in meeting in person? It’s important for you to know who these people are so that you can invite them to attend as keynote speakers or JV partners for the event.

BONUS TIP: even if you can’t get other influential people to attend your event, you can take a peek into their events to see what makes them popular and see if you can mimic it.

Know What Locations They’ll Love

Understanding who your audience is also helps you know what locations they’d love to visit. Even though in most cases people don’t see much of the area they’re in when they attend an event, the location still matters. Will it be too cold, too hot, too exotic, too costly? Only knowing your audience well can help you determine which is best. You can start with any information gathered by analyzing your competitor’s events to see what worked – or didn’t work – about the locations where they were held.

Know The Right Timing

The other concern that knowing your audience can help clarify when planning a live event is the time factor. When an event should be held – which time of year, which days of the week, or over a weekend – can all be answered by a thorough understanding of your audience. Look at your audience’s travel habits and when they’re most likely to be open to attending an event. For example, parents of school-aged children might be less inclined to attend a corporate event during Spring Break.

Final Thoughts

Knowing your audience will help you overcome any objections they may have to attending a live event. Use your knowledge to create a live event that they’d want to attend, can afford to attend, and are able to attend. To learn more about your audience, it’s important that you go where they go (online and off), survey them, and listen to what they have to say.

You can study your audience via social media, free in-person meetups, and webinars. Leave no stone unturned to learn more about your audience so that you can put on a live event that is both profitable and fun for all involved, including yourself.

Crucial Considerations When Deciding to Expand Your Business

/in ,

Guest post by Gloria Martinez of WomenLed.org

It is a very proud moment when you, as a business owner realize that you have grown to such an extent that you can now expand your business and make larger profits. However, although this is an exciting time, there are still plenty of adjustments and changes you will need to make to create a smooth transition. Here at Steady Radiance Design, we help businesses shine by creating awesome graphics and branding strategies, so we know a thing or two about how to help a company succeed. With that in mind, we have some considerations that you’ll want to make as you think about branching out.

Research the Market

Before you open a new office in another state or add a new product or service to your lineup, you will want to do your research to determine if expanding will bring you the profits that you desire. You’ll want to conduct market research to see if there are enough potential customers in the new area to justify building or renting out a new location. If you are thinking about adding a new service, you should survey people in your target demographic and determine if they will be interested in what you are selling.

This must be the first step. Before you even think about spending a large sum of money on your expansion, you need to understand what you are getting into and if it is worth the effort.

Can You Make Your New Service a Reality?

If you have researched the new location or market and you find that your new product will be a success, your next step will be to determine if you have the staff and personnel available to produce this new product. You’ll need to investigate the new area and determine if there are promising candidates that can work for your company and help bring your idea to life.

Even if you have the people, you will need to create a roadmap that all your employees can follow to produce your idea. Here is a template to generate a product roadmap. With this template, you can assign team members to specific projects and give them set titles and responsibilities that they will need to accomplish. As you go along, you can cross items off of the list, so you know where you stand. This type of roadmap is a great way to manage short and long-term goals so you can meet your deadlines and ensure that you have products available to sell.

Consider Your Cash Flow

You will also want to consider if you have the funds necessary to go all-in onto expand your business. Think about if you can use your existing profits or if you will need to reach out to investors for extra cash. Whichever way you go, you will want to take it one step at a time, so you don’t run out of money too quickly. After each period of expansion, take some time to look at how you are performing. Are you making enough now to continue to the next level, or should you wait a bit longer? Don’t rush when it comes to finances.

Are You Ready to Market Your New Product or Service?

Now that you have a product, you will want to ensure that you have the money and the tools to properly market to your audience. You can start small as you slowly introduce your product, but over time you will want to increase your efforts. It is a good idea to bring in some professionals during this time to produce your marketing efforts. Here at Steady Radiance Design, we provide many of these services, including producing print materials like brochures and catalogs as well as digital offerings, including website development, video production, and SEO that will help new customers find you and your new products.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are many considerations that you will need to make before you jump in and expand your business, but if you work strategically, you can achieve your goals. If you would like to know more about the services provided by Steady Radiance Design, then contact us at the form here.

 

Image by Unsplash

How to Identify Your Target Audience

/in , , ,

Each and every business owner in the world has one regardless of size or industry – a target audience. You may not know what your business’s target audience is, but you have one – you just need to identify it. The term “target audience” means the specific group of people most likely to want to buy your product or service. The basic criteria for your target audience are things like income, interests, age, gender, location, etc. You can use information about your target audience to market specifically to that group of people, therefore increasing the likelihood that your marketing and advertising will be successful.

There are numerous ways to identify your target audience, and we have compiled a list here of the most common ways to help get you on your way.

Analyze Your Current Customer Base

Look at everyone who already buys your product or service and try to identify what they have in common. Where do they live, how much do they make, what interests do they have? Using surveys and doing quick polls on social media is a great way to learn this information.

Conduct Market Research

Do a Google search for market research for your industry to identify the holes in service that your product/service can fill. Find out what common problems consumers in your industry face and identify ways that your product/service can solve them. This process of identifying your audience’s pain points can be invaluable to your business and can help you identify new ways your business can thrive.

Define Who Your Target Audience Isn’t

There may be certain consumers who are close to the demographic you’re looking for but who will not take the final step of purchasing or participating in your product/service. Use some of your market research to help determine who in your target demographic is least likely to do what you’d like them to do, then make sure your marketing and advertising do not target them. For example, your target demographic might be women, but let’s say that women between the ages of 30 and 40 typically don’t buy your product/service. Knowing that you can remove that age group from your target audience and increase the likelihood that your marketing and advertising dollars will reach those most likely to purchase.

Make a List of Your Product’s/Service’s Benefits (not features!)

This is a sort of reverse way of utilizing the pain points identified in your market research. This can help you determine why a consumer would want to purchase your product/service and from there, you can identify the type of consumer that would want to purchase your product/service. For example, if you are a coach, a feature of your coaching class might be that it’s a self-study course, but why should consumers care about that? What benefit is a self-study course to a consumer? Perhaps they need to study on an unusual timetable or maybe they prefer to work on their own rather than in a group.

Think of benefits as the “why should I care” part of a feature. Look at the features your product/service provides, determine why a consumer should care about them (the benefits), then you can find the pain points that are solved with those benefits. Check out this article to learn more about the difference between features and benefits and how you can apply that information in your business.

Use Online Customer Feedback

Once you’ve identified your product’s/service’s benefits (see #4 above) then you can go to online forums and see who is asking questions or is interested in those topics. You can start with popular forums like Quora or Reddit. This can help you to identify the age group, gender, industry, interests, etc. of your target audience and “get a hand on the pulse” of the consumers you’d like to market to. Following the coaching example used above, you could search Reddit for “how to learn [whatever you teach] while working full time”.

Research Your Competitors

If you’re in an industry that has long-term or well-known competitors, it’s a good bet that they already know their (your) audience well. Researching their marketing and response can be a great way to identify your target audience. Look at their website, social media platforms, and reviews of their products/services. Look for the type of people who typically like their posts or give positive reviews, and what types of content get the most response. You can also look at what isn’t working for them and try to identify ways that you can improve on it.

Find Your Niche

Especially if you’re just starting out or if you have a limited budget, it’s important to make your marketing dollars work as effectively as possible. To that end, it can be beneficial to really narrow down your target audience to a small niche group of consumers. Identify the group that has the highest potential to purchase your product/service and only market to them. Doing this can help you to build brand loyalty and develop your company as an expert in your industry.

Final Thoughts

Following these steps is a great start to honing in on your target audience so you can develop your brand messaging and perfect your marketing strategy. Doing this will help to build a solid foundation for your brand going forward.

5 Strategies For Effective Online Networking

/in ,

Networking is one of the most important ways to invest in the future of your career, but it can also be pretty difficult. Not only do you have to find the right opportunities to network, but you also need to find the courage to speak to the people you want to impress.

The good news for introverts and busy business leaders is that there are various ways you can start networking today without having to attend expensive events and dinners.

Online networking can be an excellent way to build a valuable community, without the stress that typically comes with in-person networking events.

Of course, just like all forms of networking, you’re still going to need an effective strategy. Keep these tips in mind for effective online networking.

Decide Where to Network

Probably the most important part of building a successful online networking strategy is deciding where you’re going to connect with potential peers.

Social media channels like LinkedIn are generally a good place to start, but you can also go further and check out places like Slack groups and forums specifically for your chosen industry. You can also find a lot of great people to connect with on places like Twitter.

Keep your eyes open for digital and virtual events too. Since the start of the pandemic, these are becoming increasingly popular, and they often come with chat rooms and networking spaces where you can reach out to others with shared interests.

Connect with the Right People

As tempting as it might be to build a relationship with influencers or thought leaders, the reality is that it’s important to think carefully about who you reach out to.

Look for industry peers and people who can teach you something.

Connecting with people who already have a strong presence in your industry or a link to the businesses you want to work with can be a good idea too.

Keep an open mind when making your relationships online. You might be surprised to discover who can make a difference in your future career. If someone offers to introduce you to someone they think could help you, take advantage.

Connect with people in your community.

Even if your business is entirely online, people still enjoy supporting businesses in their local community. Use online channels to connect with people who are in your industry AND in your area so you can build up a local presence as well as an online presence. This can also be an effective way to get your foot in the door of a new industry or new business venture.

Network Regularly

When you’re starting out in networking, schedule a few hours every week where you can check out what’s happening on social media, read up on the content shared on your favorite forums, and participate in conversations.

You’ll want to have an active online presence if you want to make those connections count.

Remember to check your news feed on a daily basis when you can, and at the very least try to update your LinkedIn status with a few relevant factoids or links to relevant news stories from your industry.

The more people see you online, the more likely it is they’ll feel connected to you and want to strike up a conversation.

Follow Up Regularly

If you’re going to really grow a successful network online, you need to work harder at making connections than offline. You can’t expect to have the same emotional link to someone online as you do in person, so you’re going to need to speak to the people you meet more often.

Make a habit of regularly getting online and devoting time to following up with the people you’ve already met.

If you’ve already spoken to someone on social media quite a few times and you want to strengthen the relationship, ask them to connect over the phone or meet with you via a video conference.

The more connections you can make, the better.

Be Helpful and Informative

The more you invest in networking, the more you’ll learn that people want to connect with others whom they believe can help them out. The more informative, helpful, and knowledgeable you are, the more valuable you become.

This doesn’t mean you should be constantly asking your contacts if you can do anything for them, but make a concerted effort to share useful information whenever you can.

On LinkedIn, you can write posts where you talk about your experiences in the industry. On forums, you can respond to questions being asked by other people in your space.

It’s also worth looking for ways to be helpful in other ways too, like responding to emails where people ask for your input or getting involved with podcasts and interviews.

Keep Working on It

You won’t always be an instant success when you start networking with your peers. It might take a while for people to respond to you, and some might ignore you completely.

The key to success, as in most things, is to keep working.

Don’t let it get you down if you struggle with building your network initially. Keep focusing on your goals and practicing.

Over time, you’ll learn how to become more effective at building relationships. What’s more, those relationships will help you to achieve your goals in your career.

No List? No Problem! Building a List with Paid Ads

/in , , , ,

We’ve been told (and told and told) for years that “the money is in the list” and that “your mailing list is your biggest business asset.” But if your list numbers are hovering in the low four-figures, or fewer, with no sign of growth on the horizon, such advice can seem a bit unhelpful. (If you don’t have a list at all, check out this Mailing List 101 to know where to start!) The fact is, building a list is a catch 22: you can’t get sign-ups without traffic and it’s difficult to find traffic when you have no list. You can go in circles for months trying to figure out how to build your list, or you can do it an easier way!

Paid Ads Make Building a List Easy

By strategically placing ads in front of your target audience, you can drive tons of traffic to your opt-in offers and enjoy conversion rates of two or three percent or more. Even better, with some tweaking and split testing of your offers, you can carefully refine your ads and copy so that you’re attracting your exact ideal client and filling your list with buyers who are ready to take action, rather than freebie seekers.

All you need to run paid ads to your opt-in pages is:

  • A compelling offer, such as a video training series or live webinar
  • Copy to grab the attention of your target audience

Best Ad Placements

Once you have your components in place, the only question remaining is where to run your ads. You have dozens of choices, from Twitter to Google to YouTube to solo email spots.

The key to successfully building a list is to first determine where your market is most likely to be hanging out. If they’re on LinkedIn, then running ads on Twitter will be a waste of time. Keep in mind the cost as well. Ads on Facebook are generally less expensive and less competitive than a Google Adwords placement.

Start Small, Then Refine

Once you’ve decided where to place your ads, it’s time to set your budget and begin running a small set of ads. Consider setting a small daily budget, such as $10 or $20 at the beginning, so you can get a feel for how your ads will perform. Watch the traffic, track your conversions, and create split tests of your landing page and ad sets to determine which performs the best. You can refine the audience you’re targeting based on the stats you receive. For example, if you find that men between the ages of 20 and 30 are clicking but not opting in, you might want to remove them from your audience.

At least at first, it’s best to avoid running ads for paid products. Conversions for a free offer will far outshine those to a paid product, especially if your program is expensive. After all, those who are clicking on an ad most likely do not know you at all, so it takes a much bigger leap of faith to offer up a credit card number than it will to provide an email address.

Ad Copy Blunders to Avoid

Have you ever clicked on an ad because you saw an adorable pair of sandals that you just had to have, only to land on a page full of sneakers, with not a sandal in sight? It’s frustrating, to say the least, and that kind of ad-to-landing-page mismatch will kill your conversions.

Your ad copy is making a promise to the reader. If your landing page doesn’t fulfill that promise, your readers will click away, and you’ll have wasted the money you spent to get them there. Before running any ads, be sure your ad headline, image, and copy all match the message on the landing page; use these Sales Page Copy tips to get started.

Final Thoughts

Paid advertising was once a tool used only by big companies or marketers with a lot of money to spare, but today they’re more cost-effective than ever, and technology makes them easy to create and monitor. If you haven’t yet tried your hand at this useful traffic generation method for building your list, it’s time to do some experimenting. You might just find your list numbers – and sales – growing.

Fast and Easy Products

/in ,

How many partially completed products, books, or group coaching programs do you have sitting around on your shelves or in your computer? If you’re like most entrepreneurs, the answer is a resounding “far too many!” And frankly, the reason you have all of those incomplete projects isn’t because you don’t know your subject, or because you’re a poor writer, or even because you don’t have time. The real reason is because you’re overthinking the whole process. Fast and easy products are much more simple than you may think.

Right now, you’re probably buying into the belief that you must:

  • Create something from scratch.
  • Make something that looks just like every other program or product in your niche.
  • Build something so comprehensive and massive that it encompasses every aspect of your subject, from soup to nuts.

And every one of these beliefs is holding you back from creating the exact program your target market is looking for—and it just happens to be something you can put together in an afternoon (or less) with the content you already have on hand.

Step 1: Identify The Problem

This is not a huge, overreaching problem such as “how do I build a mailing list” but rather a single problem that has a single solution. So rather than trying to solve the problem of building an entire list, try solving the problem of just setting up a mailing list.

It’s a single problem that you very likely have the solution for right in your business documentation. Easy products should be just that – easy!

Step 2: Define Your Process

Using the example of setting up a mailing list, chances are you have worksheets and checklists for your VA (or you) to follow. It’s a step-by-step plan that walks you or your team through the process of setting up a new mailing list.

For someone who’s struggling with getting their first auto-responder set up, this simple and easy deliverable can be a real lifesaver.

Step 3: Share What Works

Package up your already existing business documentation and viola! You have a new fast and easy product you can get up for sale in a single afternoon.

The only question now is, why haven’t you done it yet?

 

Image from Pixabay

Mailing List 101

/in , ,

Your ready to start building your mailing list, or utilizing your existing list, but where do you start? The question that’s on everyone’s mind when they start thinking about mailing lists is usually: “Which service should I use?” You’ve probably wondered yourself, and maybe even spent a few hours (or days, or weeks) researching your options.

Stop!

This is not the question you should be asking (yet), and it’s exactly why so many entrepreneurs get stuck in the planning stage of list building.

The First Step In List Building

Before you need to think about tools, you must ask yourself this: “How can I best serve my market?”

Whether you’re target market are coaching business owners, new moms, bloggers, or youth pastors, they have a need that only you can fulfill. And when you discover what that need is, you’ll have two valuable pieces of information:

  1. What incentive will be a true no-brainer for your ideal client to opt-in to your list?
  2. How can you use your mailing list to provide the best value for those who join your list?

Don’t over-think these questions, though. Your opt-in incentive can be as simple as a resource guide or a short how-to video that answers a common question. You don’t have to go overboard with dozens of downloads and a 100-page eBook. Rather than providing value, these massive downloads are more likely to overwhelm your reader than encourage them to learn more. If you need help building your opt-in incentive, reach out to us here at Steady Radiance Design – we can help!

Get Help Building Incentives from Steady Radiance Design

And when it comes to providing value to your list members, keep three things in mind:

  1. Regular communication is a must (consider an auto-responder series if you’re not good with scheduling email updates).
  2. Marketing should always be second to information—too much selling will cause your opt-out rates to soar.
  3. It’s your responsibility as a thought leader in your market to distill and provide the information, tools and products your audience needs.

Step Two in List Building

Now that you’ve established how you can serve your market, ask yourself: “What is my list-building goal?”

How will you be using your list? Will you:

  • Send a weekly or monthly newsletter?
  • Create an auto-responder series that delivers content on a pre-determined schedule?
  • Use affiliate links as an income generator?
  • Promote your own services and products?

The answers to these questions will help you determine not only the right tool for your list-building needs, but will also determine the path for your ongoing mailing list content, promotions, and growth.

Next Steps

Now that you’ve answered those two questions, you’re ready to research and decide on a mailing service. Make sure whatever service you choose fits into your brand, goals for serving your market, and goals for using your list. Happy mailing!

 

Image from Pixabay.