Jeff Bezos on Work-Life Balance

When the richest person in history (with a net worth of over $100 billion… that’s “billion” with a “B”) has something to say about what it takes to be successful, our ears will naturally perk up. After all, he’s clearly doing something right to accrue that kind of fortune and he seems to be pretty happy about the whole thing too.

And understandably so, I suppose.

Common Sense Is Mediocre

What you’ll find with so many of these success stories is that these individuals have a habit of turning conventional wisdom on its head. Take Tim Ferriss as a prime example. Conventional wisdom will tell you that if you want to be successful at what you do, then you need to work hard and you need to put in long hours. The guy who is first to arrive at the office and the last one to leave at night, he’s the one that’s going places, right?

Ferriss, counter intuitively, champions the notion of the four-hour workweek. He strives to work less so he can achieve more.

Another popular tidbit of “common sense” is that if you want to be successful, you should go to college or university and get a degree or three. I’m certainly not downplaying the value of higher education — I have one of those degrees myself and I certainly don’t think it was a waste of time and money — but then you see that some of the world’s most successful people dropped out of college.

Mark Zuckerberg is a good example, but you have to remember that he was going to Harvard. Just getting into that school makes you pretty remarkable, so he’s already on another tier than most people.

A Strict Trade-Off?

Which brings us back to the Amazon CEO. At an awards event, Jeff Bezos commented on how he views work-life balance, since he gets asked about it all the time. He said work-life balance is “a debilitating phrase because it implies there’s a strict trade-off.”

And that’s how most people think about it. If you work more, it means you have less time, energy and resources for your personal life. If you focus more on your personal life, then it’s harder to get ahead in your work. Bezos disagrees.

“It’s not a balance,” he said. “It actually is a circle.”

Put another way, he says these two components shouldn’t be separate and compartmentalized. Rather, the relationship between the two is reciprocal. “If I am happy at home, I come into the office with tremendous energy. And if I am happy at work, I come home with tremendous energy.” One supports the other.

An Easy Decision

Years ago, I wrote that you don’t necessarily have to choose between your career and your personal life. Instead of seeking balance, we should seek work-life integration, because work and play can be the same thing. Something that has come up in this blog before is that for John, blogging and Internet marketing are fun. The huge income is just a happy byproduct and he’d still do it even if it made no money.

Money can be motivating, to be sure, but it shouldn’t be your only motivation. It’s much more about the kind of lifestyle you can achieve when you shed any notion of work-life balance. Work, life, it’s all the same if both sides energize you rather than drain you. It’s just living when you don’t feel like you’re working.

Maybe work-life balance just is not quite my tempo. It doesn’t appear to be the goal for Jeff Bezos and his personal life — with lots of sleep, scouring the oceasns for NASA rockets, and taking his four adopted kids on submarine rides — looks pretty rad next to his $100+ billion fortune.

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The Top 5 Reasons Why Your Blog is Failing

Blogging is a tough business, and many others have set a standard of what quality truly is so have excelled in the business. Blogging is tough because unlike several years ago, you have to put an emphasis on specific things which didn’t matter before. For example, there is huge importance put on value, layout, marketing, and even proper link building. I forgot to mention, it’s important you always do your research before getting started because if you don’t then you’ll be focused about the direction you should be heading in. However, you also have many resources available to you which will guide you on track, and this is where you’ll benefit where others have failed. You have to know how to utilize what’s available so you create something very special for your readers. I’ll be discussing this in another blog post, but today let’s look at “blogging mistakes”, and why you’ll fail when others have succeeded.

Let’s get started, and your feedback will be greatly appreciated. The blogging mistakes listed are what I think have impacted my growth over the last few years.

No Email List

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is NOT collecting email addresses from the very start. Grabbing email addresses is a way to build continued growth, and a way to build loyalty by sending updates on new content, and trends. If you ask any authority blogger they’ll tell you it’s important to start collecting email addresses right away because it’s something, you’ll be doing later on. Not to mention, signing up with ESP providers is very cheap, and cost effective so why NOT implement a form right away. Platforms like WordPress make it very easy for you to plugin forms in different locations.

Here are a few things you can do with a solid email list:

First, you can send them updates on continued content being posted, and keep your brand on their mind. It’s easy for people to forget about your blog once they leave, however very hard if you send them follow-ups every few days…right?

Secondly, you can ask them for their opinion which is a great way to generate topic idea’s, and even ways to improve your blog. For example, it’s common practice for bloggers to ask their subscribers to fill out a survey, then implement what others have said. Asking to fill out a survey will give you a chance to learn about the type of content people want to read, or changes they want to see on your blog. Next,

Third, if you sell products or services then sending out a newsletter is a great way to generate profits. Imagine having an email list of over 10,000 subscribers and launching a product? You can send these people a follow-up about the product and generate sales almost immediately.

I know many of you think implementing a form is difficult, however these days it’s become very easy. Let’s look at how you can add a form to your blog.

• Sign up with an ESP like aWeber, MailChimp, etc
• Create a list, and you can view some of their tutorials to see how this can be done quickly.
• Create a form which is very easy because many of these ESP provide pre-configured formed. All you have to do is add some text, images then add the code to your page.
• You have to create your first follow-up sequence which can be done in minutes using the drag & drop feature.

The point is all of this can be done within minutes, and with very little investment which is why it’s important to have a form on your blog from day one. If you don’t add a form then you can have several missed chances to build retention, and not to mention your competition will have a solid email sequence which will allow them to compete for the same traffic.

No Updating or NO Consistency

One of my biggest pet-peeves is when I don’t find a blog I love to read updated. This means they are NOT up to date with the changing trends within my niche, and I should go somewhere else to find the information I’m looking for. You can imagine if I feel like this how many others do as well? The point is it’s important to keep your blog always consistent, and up-to-date. This should definitely be the case especially when it’s so easy to come up with solid content if you really want to quickly, and with very little time. You have so many tools which will generate topic ideas for you like Topsy.com and Buzzsumo.com.

It’s all about quality NOT quantity so you can post every 3-4 days, and spread out your writing to make it as streamlined as possible. If you write 600 words every day, you’ll have 2400 words of content to publish on day four. This means you’ll have more than enough words to add substance to your content.

Next,

You have the option to hire a blogger or even allow for guest posting opportunities if you feel you don’t have enough time to keep producing content. Many new bloggers are trying to breakout within your niche so are more than happy to produce content for you going forward. I started out the same way, and still write content for a handful of blogs going forward. It’s important you find the right people before letting them publish on your blog so it’s important to look for the following things:

• Make sure you look over their previous content, and the quality they write.
• Make sure you look over their personal blog and Google their name to see if anyone has reported them for plagiarism.
• Ask them to hand in sample work on a topic so you can evaluate their writing skills.
• Just give them a chance to prove themselves, and hopefully they meet the standards you require.

A few years ago Google introduced the freshness update to their algorithm which means they’ll reward those blogs who update frequently. Google wants to ensure their users have the best experience when using their search engine, and one way is to make sure they find the best information possible. This means it’s important to Google that they have fresh content which is updated always showing first within the ranks. You’ll benefit from this algorithm change if you post high quality content frequently. It’s that simple!

Personality Matters

If you think about the people or blog’s you remember, then something will stand out. You’ll notice they all have personality or are different than anyone else within the same niche. This is very important when starting a business, and if you want to continue to grow, so establish yourself as being unique so that readers will remember the experience they have on your blog. You might think this is difficult however it’s all about being unique, genuine and authentic. For example,

What defines you right now as a person is your own voice, and the way you communicate with people when providing value…right? When blogging it’s important you use the same approach, and don’t change the way you present your content to readers. Keep your voice when writing content, answering questions or even replying to comments because this will help you stand out compared to others.

No Passion Involved.

One reason why people fail when getting started is because they have NO passion in what they do. They chose to blog because of the money involved, and NOT because they love the industry or niche. When you don’t love what you do, you’ve failed before you even got started. Passion is what drives you when you think everything else has failed, and this will distinguish you from your competition. No matter who you talk to they’ll tell you in order to succeed in what you do, you have to love what you do…it’s that simple!

Many bloggers fail because they got involved for the wrong reasons which is money alone. I’m NOT saying this is a bad thing, however, it is if that’s the only thing which matters when starting a business. Even though many bloggers will make money if they hang in long enough, you need passion to keep you pushing forward during those first few critical years when you start out. No business makes money right away, and the chances of failure increases as time goes on, however with passion involved you have just decreased the likelihood of failure.

Make sure whatever blog you get involved in you are passionate about the niche.

Not Treating It Like a Business

Many people will fail at blogging because they don’t treat it like a business. If you are starting a blog to make a living, then you have to worry about the business side of things. You have to pay close attention to marketing, user interaction, user retention, and how to grow your blog. You have to know how to utilize new trends entering the market, and how to stand out compared to your competition. If you are blogging as a side business then the finer things won’t matter, however if it’s a business, then you have to pay close attention to the following:

• Content writing to engage your readers
• Understanding your audience
• Current and new marketing trends
• Marketing budget, and investment going forward
• User acquisition
• User retention
• How you’ll continue to grow over the years and earn a product
• Products and services

All these matter when you are blogging as a business because in the end it’s all about the bottom line.

Final Thoughts

Now that you have a few important reasons why your blog will fail, it’s time to start re-evaluating some of factors as they apply to your blog. Go through looking for areas you can improve on your blog, and start implementing changes where you can. For example, if you’re just planning on starting a blog then consider jumping into a niche you’re passionate about so you’ll continue to push forward, Next, start improving your writing so it includes your own voice, and represents you when publishing content. Every great blogger has their own voice which has allowed them to stand out compared to other bloggers. This is why it’s important you keep writing using your own voice, and make sure this can be seen throughout your blog.

It’s also very important to treat your blog like a business going forward. It’s time you start analyzing your data, spend on marketing and explore options to increase user engagement. Many times we fail because we don’t find ways to improve continuously throughout out blogging career. If this is truly your business then find ways to keep users engaged by writing on trending topics, introducing new products or making things much easier. This all falls under the idea of treating your blog like a business which caters to your audience.

Finally, don’t forget to use the marketing tools you have available. Always build an email list because it’s a great way to build user retention, and get people coming back to your blog. Neil Patel once said it’s very hard getting 200,000 people to visit your blog unless you don’t have a way to get them back which normally means to have a solid email marketing sequence. ESP’s (email service providers) are very cheap so it’s something you should add to your blogs marketing strategy, and track results to find out what’s working.

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The Cinematic Universe of Blogging Business

When Avengers: Infinity War hit theaters in April 2018, it enjoyed the largest opening weekend of all-time with an estimated $630 million at the box office. This movie, which really just sets up the next Avengers movie, represents the culmination of a decade of world-building with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

The world has seen countless superhero movies before, surely, and it’s no stranger to sequels, prequels and side stories either. But nothing has ever been attempted at quite this kind of scale and it doesn’t look like the MCU is going to slow down any time soon. They’re already planning out the next several years of movies and we have no reason to believe the success won’t continue to build upon even more success.

You may not have a media juggernaut with mouse ears bankrolling your venture, but you can take home several key lessons from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in terms of how best to approach your online business.

Building Toward Something Bigger

Leading up to Avengers: Infinity War, there were a total of 18 movies (not including the television shows) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe spanning 2008 to 2018. That’s a lot of content. What we may not have realized in the early days of the MCU is just how ambitious of a project this really was and how big it was really going to become.

But what we’ve come to learn is just how each of these films contributed in some way to the overall world building of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They were all working toward something that was bigger than themselves, all fitting into a much grander scheme. The big picture, as it were.

In your blogging business, you’ll find that you’ll also need to juggle a great number of moving parts and each of these parts must also contribute to a bigger picture. Each component has its own identity, just like the characters and movies in the MCU, but they’re all working toward a single over-arching vision. You may have multiple categories on your blog. You may have a YouTube channel, an email newsletter, an online course, an ebook, a membership site, a Facebook page, an Instagram profile and so much more going on.

Each element must be optimized for its specific purpose, but they must also all align toward a common vision and overall objective.

Each Piece Must Be Able to Stand Alone

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is rather audacious in that it assumes and expects that all fans of the movies will have already enjoyed all the other movies that came before the current one. They’re not going to explain to you why Groot is the way that he is in Infinity War, because they’ll assume you’ve already watched both Guardians of the Galaxy movies. They don’t have to explain why Captain America and Iron Man aren’t on speaking terms, because they assume you’ve already watched Civil War.

Even so, these films must all achieve a rather delicate balance. They want to leverage these intricate interconnections so that die hard fans can extract the greatest enjoyment from the current offering. At the same time, the new movie must be enjoyable in and of itself, even if someone who is watching it isn’t 100 percent up to speed. There needs to be enough there that everyone can have a good time and, if they’re not all caught up, watching the movie will motivate them to catch up.

The content that you produce for your blog and on your other channels needs to operate in much the same way. Each piece of content needs to be able to stand alone, offering great value (education, entertainment, or otherwise) to the reader or viewer. At the same time, it should build upon and expand upon what you’ve already produced in the past. When someone new stumbles across your content, they should feel welcome, not totally lost, and then they should be encouraged to dive into your archives for more.

And when they do, they’ll get pulled deeper and deeper into your universe.

Assemble Your Dream Team

Perhaps the biggest lesson bloggers can take home from the MCU is that you cannot do it alone. In an effort to take down Thanos in Infinity War, heroes from all across the galaxy (and beyond) assembled and united under that single purpose. They don’t always see eye to eye and they don’t always agree on everything (and some of them don’t even know one another), but they’re all working together.

You may think that you want to go it alone in your blogging journey, because you value the sense of ownership and self-direction of being your own boss. I get that. I really do. But you can’t do it alone. You have to recognize that your fellow bloggers, for instance, are your colleagues and not your competitors. You have to leverage the skills and expertise of professionals whose talents complement your own.

There is no “i” in team, but there is in “victory” and “profit.” Let’s go kick some Mad Titan butt.

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The 5 Elements of a Powerful Blog Post

When starting a blog, you’re going to spend an enormous time writing content. Through your content, you’ll be able to connect with your readers and build your brand over time. However, it’s important you know how to write content that is engaging, and different compared to your competition. I’m surprised at the amount of content I’ve read which is boring and provides NO substance. Writing exceptional content is something I feel can be taught over time if you pay close attention to the fundamentals. We are very lucky we live in a time where so many resources are available so we can learn from authority bloggers.

I’ve decided to write a post discussing the fundamentals of a powerful blog post. If you can start implementing these elements into your content, then you’ll be able to engage and increase your brand awareness. You’ll also have a higher chance of meeting your bottom line which is product sales through conversions…right?

Let’s jump right into the content, and look at the powerful blog post elements. Your feedback will be appreciated so please let me know what you think in the content box. Each of you will have your own opinion which is why your feedback is encouraged.

Always Do Research

In order for you to write a blog post that resonates with readers, you have to be able to provide them with substance and value. You have to make sure you have knowledge on the topic which comes from your previous experience or conducting research before starting to write. In order for myself to write epic posts, I’ll always spend 3-4 days researching the topic finding what’s changed, and even the keywords I’m going to use in my content. Having a handful of keywords will allow me to stay focused when writing, and maybe even use some of them as sub-headings. Keep in mind, keywords are an essential SEO optimization strategy too. So, where do I go to research my topic:

If you have read my previous posts then you know there are a few awesome places I like to target. First, I’ll visit the topic blogs I read in my niche. If they are authority bloggers then they’ll be up to date with the trends, and even provide insight on the topic. Some of them have probably written on the same topic so I’ll be able to find information, but elaborate when I’m completing my content.

Secondly, niche-relevant forums are a great place to find trending topics or even information on the topic itself. Paste the question within the forum, and find out what others have written on the topic. You can gather all the responses and then elaborate on them when you are creating your own content. The fact they have been talked about in forums means they are popular and will resonate with your readership.

Google Search is the final research method I use, and it’s one of the best ways to find information on my topic. Google knows how to organize information so you’ll be able to find the MOST important research and trends by doing a simple search. Make sure you try different types of search commands so you end up finding the value you are looking for.

Once you have done your research, you can start writing content incorporating a clean design and layout.

Design & Layout

One of the best ways to get people involved in your content is by making sure the design and layout of your site create a platform of visible content. Think about how many times you have visited a website looking for information, and left because the layout was cluttered making it hard for you to read the post. That’s why writing content with a focus on design is very important since it increases user time on your page.

When publishing your content, you want to pay close attention to some very important key elements so your reader can skim through, and resonate with the content. First, make sure you spread out the sentences, and paragraphs giving each of them the necessary gap. Secondly, you want to make sure NOT to have too many large paragraphs. I encourage all of you to keep your sentences no more than 4-5 sentences long. Third, always use sub-headings because it divides up the content by section, and give your readers a way to skim to the section they actually want to read. I’ve learned,

A simplistic design and layout which is easy to read is the best approach. Remember, your main objective is to grow your blog and this will happen through content engagement. However, if you have a layout that is cluttered then you’ll have a hard time engaging your readers through content writing. Slow engagement means slow growth.

Include Images or Graphics

The web has connected people from all over the world, and it’s important you create content everyone can share. For example, you’ve probably noticed many websites have an option for the visitor to select the local language. This is popular because you might have someone visiting whose first language isn’t English. It’s important you find creative ways to get your value across which is why images and other graphics are becoming more important. Let’s explore this a bit more…

Graphics help illustrate your point better, and quickly at the same time. This is one reason why infographics have grown in popularity over the last several months. Infographics or general images embedded into your content will allow you to illustrate your value quickly, and to those who don’t read English very well. Next, creating such images are very cheap with the abundance of tools available online. If you do a quick infographic tool search, you find a handful of affordable online creation tools which are very cheap. If you want to create epic content, then it’s important your able to resonate with everyone who arrives on your website.

• Use infographics
• Add images
• Make them interactive
• Make them to the point
• Allow people to share them quickly

Do a quick search in Google, and you’ll be able to find popular image tools you can get started with.

Social Media Connection

Epic content is always sharable and has been tweaked so it can be viewed on certain platforms without any problems. Recently I believe Google started to adapt social signals as part of their ranking strategy which is a blessing for those who create awesome content. By allowing others to share your content on popular social platforms, you are increasing the likelihood of ranking above others for the same keywords. However, when connecting your content to social media, you want to pay close attention to a few very important things.

First, only sign up for popular social networks because you’ll be splitting traffic between 5-10 networks, some of which, have no engagement at all. Secondly, make use of the plugins if you are using WordPress as your blogging platform. WordPress has so many awesome plugins which will easily place the buttons in the MOST optimized places. Third, only share the best piece of content so people know you always provide value. I have been part of so many social profiles that have only “1” piece of awesome content, but then fail to keep users engaged.

• Join the best social media networks
• Share the best content only
• Follow people to have people follow you
• Research social media strategies to improve social marketing

Call to Action

Epic pieces of content always have a solid call to action because they know people need guidance. You have to keep in mind many of your readers are new to your niche so are looking for value and direction. This is why it’s important to have a clear call to action within or toward the end of your content. For example, whenever I complete my content I’ll always have a final thoughts section where I summarize what I’ve written and encourage people to take action. I’ll even provide them with some cool steps they can take right now to get started and implement the tips I’ve just discussed. By having people follow through on your call to action, you are building a certain level of respect and trust which will help increase your engagement going forward. Implementing call-to-actions is NOT hard because all you have to do is the following:

Summarize your content, and show them how to implement the strategies you discussed within. Next, you can ask them for their email address so you can send them a checklist of things to do. It’s a cool way to increase your email subscribers at the same time. Third, tell them to read through your content again and create a to-do list on their own. This helps because others have a different way of learning so a list created by themselves will work well.

Final Thoughts

Now that you know the fundamentals of a popular and epic blog post, it’s important you start applying them going forward. If you don’t have the foundation setup, then you can start by creating your next topic. Search in forums for common questions being asked so you know where to target your keyword research. Head over to the places I’ve mentioned above to find the right keywords for your content. This will help guide your content writing and streamline your creation process. Next,

You can start to write your content but keep in mind #2 which is design and layout. It’s important you view your blog design and make the necessary changes. For example, if your content seems cluttered or the layout is to compress, then make some tweaks. Space out the paragraphs, remove unnecessary boxes, and reduce the size of each paragraph. Next, you want to incorporate some social media into your website by setting up the right plugins, however, remember what I said about focusing ONLY on popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. All of these are good enough to increase traffic, and engagement quickly. Each one will ensure you get your high-quality content in front of the right people which generates traffic and brand awareness. Now that you know the fundamentals, it’s time to follow this strategy to implement everything discussed.

First, start by reading over this content and making notes of the important strategies. This will ensure you have everything you need in point form. Secondly, take a look at your blog and make tweaks where necessary like layout, boxes, and compressed content. You can start doing this while you write your content so your blog is ready for when you hit publish.

You need to track what works so make sure you have a tool in a place like Google Analytics. This tool is free and provides a lot of information about engagement. You want to track until you find what changes are working for you and help you meet your bottom line. For example, ask yourself these questions:

• Are you trying to increase traffic?
• Are you trying to sell a product?
• Are you trying to grow acquisition?
• Are you growing user retention?

Clearly state your objective, then make sure the changes help achieved those after implementing your strategies.

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The World’s Fastest VW Bug Punch Buggy

There were tons of sweet rides at this week’s South Orange County Cars and Coffee, but none was sweeter than this VW Bug with a big block 427 Chevy motor! It’s the world’s fastest punch buggy!

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Just Because You Can Do It Yourself…

If you want your car to last as long as possible and run at its best, you should be investing in regular maintenance. At certain mileage milestones, you can expect to replace certain parts. But while you may take it in to a certified mechanic for a coolant flush or to replace your brakes, it might be an unnecessary waste of money to pay for someone to change your wiper blades.

That’s simple enough and you can do it yourself.

When it comes to your home, the same kind of approach applies too. There are certain things that need to be done around the house. If your heating system is completely on the fritz and you have no idea why it’s not working, it’s probably best to hire a professional. Conversely, it probably doesn’t make sense to pay someone $85 an hour, plus travel expenses, to come all the way out to house to change a light bulb.

You can probably do that yourself.

But just because you can do it yourself doesn’t mean that you should.

Somehow, I get the burning suspicion that someone like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett doesn’t go around changing wipers and light bulbs. I could be wrong, but I imagine their time is better spent working on other projects. You could say the same for yourself when it comes to your own business ventures. Just because you can do it yourself doesn’t mean that you should.

Just because you can try to concoct your own blog theme doesn’t mean you should. Unless you already have a strong background in design and development, you’ll need to invest untold hours into learning how all of that works… and even then, the end result that you produce will probably pale in comparison to what an established professional will be able to make for you.

And in less time.

So much less time.

“But I can get a free theme to tinker with,” you might say. “But I can watch all these video tutorials on YouTube,” you might add. “I can access this free support forum and read through thousands of threads with mountains of posts each.” That’s true. It’s also true that these resources are only free if your time is worthless.

If you’re interested in learning for your own sake, that’s one thing. If you’re learning only to make this one thing, you’re better off leaving it to the pros. Or, as John once put it, “If you want something done right, let Michael Kwan do it.”

And you know the old adage that you get what you pay for? There really is something to that. You may have seen this viral video makes it way through your social feed at some point. If you’re willing to pay for a professional to spend a little more time on your project, you’ll probably end up with a better result.

I mean, you could decide to sketch your own Spider-man picture. But if you’re anything like me and my atrocious drawing skills, you might end up spending hours and hours only to end up with something that’s even worse than what this guy is able to do in 10 seconds. Doing it yourself, in this context, really is a waste of time. And that’s time that you could be spending much more wisely on what you’re actually good at and what you actually enjoy doing.

At the end of the day, particularly in the context of business where you are so much more concerned about the bottom line, spending money saves you time and earns you more money. There’s value in doing something for yourself, but that isn’t always the best course of action.

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Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Blog 150%

No one can underestimate the power of marketing when done correctly, and it’s essential you have a solid marketing strategy always in place. “Marketing” is the continuous engagement of current or even potential customers until they become loyal customers. In the end, I believe the ones which can market their products or service strategically will enjoy higher ROI compared to their competition. However, it’s important to note something…

It’s all about the testing what works so you can optimize your marketing going forward. For example, the title of this article is “marketing strategies” which means incorporating those strategies that give you a huge ROI so you meet your bottom line. I can’t believe the amount of people who waste time on strategies which produce no results going forward. It’s amazing because they waste both time, and money which would have been used somewhere else to produce results.

Today, I’m going to talk about some strategies used by myself and others which helped grow our blog by at least 150%. The cool thing is these strategies are NOT rocket science, but understanding how to tap into the human mind a bit better. Let’s get started and your feedback will be appreciated. Let us know if you agree with these or if you have some other ones which have worked well for you going forward.

Increase Their Curiosity

One of the best ways to get people to do what you want or, in other words, convert your visitors is by evoking their curiosity. By doing this you are forcing people to take a specific action which will eventually achieve your desired action. This has worked very well for me, and I had learned this strategy from Neil Patel while I was reading his blog. He uses the following as an example,

Neil Patel created a search engine analytical tool which would provide people with errors on their blog. Once the visitor types in their URL the tool will scan the site, and produce a list of errors which can be improved. However, in order for people to find out what the errors are present, they will have to provide their name, email address and even phone number. Why did this work so well?

For two reasons:

First, you are evoking curiosity by telling them there is something wrong with their website, and the issues should be fixed in order to improve your ranking ability. Next, you are giving them a way to fix them by providing their email address for the report, and a personal consultation. By getting their email address you are increasing the likelihood of being able to engage them at a later time. This will help you build a relationship, and increase your ROI at a later time.

Try and add a tool to your website, and see what kind of ROI it helps bring. You’ll be surprised at what you can do with a simple tool.

Twist The Funnel

Another cool thing Neil Patel did was twist the funnel around so people were able to use his tool first before going any further. This engaged them right away which is amazing because it hooked them as soon as they arrived on the site, and showed them the value instead of trying to manipulate them.

Neil Patel stated that by getting people to use the product first, and checking out the quality they were able to increase their sign-ups by 52%. Some people have a negative vibe when it comes to providing their name and email address, but when you let them use a product, and show them the value then it’s a great way to change their mind.

Here’s what you should be doing right now…

You should find a way to present your product or service in a way where the visitor gets to use them first. Make sure it provides value so it’s worth them inputting the desired information later on. If you want a great example, head over to QuickSprout.com, and give his tool a try so you can understand how the funnel works.

• Analyze how this tool works and why people find it so attractive
• Analyze the funnel and how Neil grabs use information
• Analyze why people would want to provide email address and other personal information

When you can understand how this reverse funnel works, you’ll be able to create something similar for your visitors when they arrive on your blog.

The Follow-Up Sequence is Important

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made is delaying my first follow-up sequence, and adding a form to get new subscribers. I waited a few months until I had something valuable, and by the time my first message went out my subscribers had forgot they signed up. This meant they thought they were receiving a SPAM message which increased the amount of people who unsubscribed from my newsletter. One of the biggest regrets I have since I invested enormous money trying to get them on my list in the first place. If you visit other blogs, you’ll read how other authority bloggers encourage you to keep your subscribers in the loop so they don’t forget about your value and/or product.

Here’s something to keep in mind,

Just because you don’t have value in the form of content to provide your subscribers doesn’t mean you shouldn’t send them a message. Many bloggers do great simply sending out quizzes or even homework assignments to their list which allows them to stay engaged and loyal. You just have to make sure everything is relevant so it makes sense that people open, and click the link WITHIN the newsletter.

Make The Entire Process Easy

Think about how many times you arrived on a site and didn’t complete the signup form because it was lengthy. You have to ensure the entire process is easy because this will increase the chances of someone actually signing up. I remember when I first started adding forms on my pages, I would ask for name, address, email, and phone number, however I really only need their name and email to accomplish my objective. The point is, don’t ask for information you don’t need because it will deter the visitor from filling in your form. This means you have lost a valuable subscriber, and we all know the importance of creating a huge list. It can work wonders when marketing now, and in the future.

Keep these few things in mind going forward…

• Ask yourself what information is truly necessary for you to achieve your objective
• Does the form look fun and easy to fill?
• Is my form cluttered and can I do anything to improve the appearance?
• What can I do going forward to keep improving my form?

A cool trick which I’ve used several times is to visit the blogs of others within your niche and see what they are doing. You can learn a lot from your competition. I would sign up to their newsletters, and see what type of subject lines and newsletter bodies they use to attract their subscribers to click-through.

Optimize Your Email Performance

Once you have a solid email form embedded into your pages, and your done testing the performance you should have increased you’re opt-ins. However, this is NOT the end of your journey because it’s important you find ways to improve your email performance. You’re going to be sending enormous follow-ups, and the last thing you want is them ending up in the SPAM box. The good news is many email ESP’s will provide you with a split testing feature so you can test what’s working and what’s not. They give you the ability to test both the form, and the messages which go out in your follow-up sequence. So, what do I mean about email performance?

It’s important you test the following:

Open rates – you want to make sure your subject line motivates people to open your message. No point in sending out messages which don’t get opened because they won’t convert.

Click-rate – You want to make sure the body of the message is very enticing because this will improve your CTR. Many times you’re going to have a link within your message so it’s important that gets clicked. Your ESP has an interface in place to track the clicks you’ve received from your messages.

Subject Line – It’s important you keep a close eye on the subject lines especially the ones which get the highest CTR. You’ll want to use the same ones going forward because of their high conversion rate.

Final Thoughts

When blogging it’s very important to keep pushing forward, and to find ways which allow you to grow your blog continuously. It’s important to keep finding, and testing strategies which work so you can continue to implement them within your blogging over the next couple of months. However, keep in mind “marketing” is something you have to keep doing, and it’s important to keep trying new things all the time. There are new networks popping up which can be awesome opportunities for all of you. However, here’s the secret…

It’s important to learn from those who are already in the industry for years. Read their blogs and start implementing their strategies right away because they are proven techniques. When I first started, I skimmed through the internet finding top blogs within my niche, and created a list of the marketing strategies they used. On my list I have about 4-5 solid blogs which are continuously growing, and read over them every day looking for the changing trends. For example,

• I’ll look at new trends within my niche
• I’ll look at the new marketing strategies
• I’ll pay close attention to how people engage, and the comments they are leaving within the boxes. Why? Readers will ask precise questions which are awesome especially for new content idea’s. This allows me to write content people actually want to read going forward.
• I’ll use this opportunity to network with authority bloggers because going forward it’s a great way to build relationships, and guest blogging opportunities.

Here’s what you should do going forward,

First, start by reading over the content again, and write out the important points outlined because this will help you quickly find the information you are looking for. If you need to read it more than once then do it, but make sure you write out the MOST important points discussed above. Next,

Start from the top and start implementing the strategies, and make sure you have a solid way to track the results. You’ll only know what’s working when you can track the results. In about 30-60 days, you’ll have some solid data which will tell you EXACTLY what marketing methods work better than others. You might be able to implement 1-2 strategies at once especially when setting up an email campaign.

Third, in order for you to have ultimate results you have to know where to put your energy. No need wasting time implementing strategies which have little CTR or conversions…right? Once you have the data, make sure you stick with the methods that work so you can start converting your readers. I also encourage all of you to keep reading the blogs of influential bloggers because they are always sharing cool new tricks, and trends useful to you.

Always remember your bottom line which is to make money in your business. You’ll have an easier time doing this when you can understand your readers, and learn to respect the type of information they are looking for.

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via Daniel