by Jordan J. Caron | on August 6th, 2013
Today’s post is going to be short and sweet. It’s my fifth post in a series of the ten best free Internet marketing tools you should be using.
This post will cover Hubspot’s Marketing Grader. It’s like Webmaster tools but it analyzes much more. It grades your social media, SEO, blogging, mobile and lead generation.
To have all those areas graded, simply head over to Hubspot Marketing Grader then enter your website and email. Give it a couple of seconds and you’ll see where you’re strong and weak. Then what to do about the weaknesses’.
Pretty simple and like I said, it’s a short post. But a useful one.
As a side note I want you to learn about how Hubspot markets.
They provide valuable content and resources. This tool is no different. It’s a great way to provide value in exchange for someone’s email address. Then they send you more great learning tools through their email marketing.
Think about what valuable content you can give away in exchange for someone’s email address.
by Jordan J. Caron | on July 22nd, 2013
The best free email service provider out there
Email is far from dead. People think that just because there is so much spam mail nowadays that people hate email.
Some do. But everyone still checks his or her email. In fact I really think that because people hate spam mail so much, they’ll only give it out if they really want something. So if someone joins your email list, they want more useful content from you.
Sure your email subscribers might not grow to match your Twitter followers or Facebook. With Facebook EdgeRank choosing if your posts are being seen or not and the average life of a Tweet being fairly low, email is a great alternative to avoid the clutter of social media posts.
If you happen to think email is dead or not useful in your business then this post isn’t for you. But you should still be trying to generate leads from your website!
If you want to increase your email marketing, read that last link and use Mailchimp to start out. Mailchimp is another free Internet marketing tool aside from Google Analytics and Webmaster tools. Obviously using something for free to test the waters with is a great way to do it.
Why Mailchimp rocks!
Mailchimp is great because it almost all the capabilites of Awber (affiliate link) which is what I use. With Mailchimp you can:
- Use pre made email templates
- Customize and brand your own
- Create web forms to capture email address
- Track and analyze visitor impressions of web forms
- Integrate your blog feed into a email newsletter
- Send automated emails after a certain day people joined your list
- Track and analyze how many people open your emails
- Set up different email lists
Their online support is fairly decent as well. But I personally think a how to video is better if you have no experience with Mailchimp.
Here’s a great video from Serana Leonard from Grass Roots Internet Strategy
As Serena mentioned in the video you can only have up to 2000 free subscribers. After that they have to get paid because not everything can be free.
None the less it made my top 10 list for the best free Internet marketing tools you can use. Enjoy!
by Jordan J. Caron | on August 12th, 2012
I’ve found some good articles for you from this past week. The common themes are:
- content marketing
- adding value
- using both the above to stand out
Offering value through content marketing and then spreading that content on your social networks is the only way to stand out.
People’s news feeds and Twitter streams are crowded. You have to do something valuable for them to care about you and click on your articles.
I’ve also put a good article on why having too many sales isn’t a great way to build loyal customers and increase your profits.
Enjoy!
Be cautious of having too many sales
Say thank you to your customers but don’t have a hidden agenda
If you’re not going to create content, should you at least share relevant content from others?
Are you guilty of any of these mistakes?
The future of social media is offering value to stand out
by Jordan J. Caron | on May 2nd, 2012
Advertising your business is a must.
When you’re new you want to tell everyone why they should check you out. I can’t blame you there!
Maybe sales are sluggish and need you more clients.
Perhaps you have a sale or product you want everyone to know about.
No matter the reason you have to get the word out. Advertising does just that.
Sure I think internet marketing is great but advertising can be effective.
But the cookie cutter “Here’s my business and contact information, please call us” advertising doesn’t work anymore.
Let me explain.
Advertising needs to engage
It’s a fact that I dislike 95% of advertising. Almost all advertisements lack creativity and can be ignored. Actually all advertisments can be ignored except website pop ups! I’ll save that for another day however.
I’m sure my feelings on advertising are shared by many others.
How often do you say to yourself after seeing an ad “Yeah, I want to start doing business there” or “I must find out more” and call that business or visit their website? I bet I’ve been on more dates in the last year which for the record has been a measly two.
As a society we ignore advertising. It’s been jammed down our thoughts for far too long. How often do you even take the time to look at ads anymore?
So how you can break through the noise and engage people with your advertising? What does it take to get some serious return on investment from any advertisement you run?
I’ll show you a great example in a second so read on!
Before that happens do me a favour and tweet this if you’re on Twitter
Break through the noise & create engaging advertisements – Click to Tweet
Introducing Meaningful Advertising
Once in a while I flip through my local paper to see if anything catches my eye. A month back I found this advertisement.
Let’s be clear, it’s goods but it can be better. I’ll explain why later but it’s a step in the right direction.
So what makes this ad meaningful and better than the majority of ads?
- It educates
- It never tries to push
- It opens the sales funnel
It educates
Meaningful marketers are always willing to educate potential clients. They’re thinking about their clients and what questions they have. In this case it’s something as common as using eye drops.
People are generally looking for information on your product or service before buying. Often times they’ll do research on the internet. The best way to get in front of them and answer any questions is by blogging for business.
This ad is essentially what a blog post would look like. It’s meaningful because it educates someone and improves their life. After all no one would engage with this ad if they didn’t know how to use eye drops since that’s the title!
It never tries to push
Since the begin on advertising companies have been pushing their products on us. That has to change if you want to engage more people.
During the advertisement not once do you see “See us for all your eye care needs” do you? The concept is certainly there but it’s subtle.
This is the same thing done by Victoria Transmission Auto care with their car safety classes for young drivers.
Dr. Taylor could have easily peppered this ad with more pushing. But he didn’t.
At the bottom of the ad his clinics contact details are listed. That’s the only time. He didn’t even offer a call to action which is very passive. Too passive though.
He’s simply educating people. If the reader wants to know more, perhaps they’ll visit his clinics website or call him next time for an eye care appointment.
It opens the sales funnel
Too much focus is put in closing the sale now a days. I know it’s all about sales but if you’re too pushy, people will shy away.
When people come to a website or see an ad, they want more.
Can they see photos of your products? Can they read or listen to what satisfied clients have to say? How about learning more about your particular area of expertise?
By letting people see those things you are opening the sales funnel. You’re inviting them to learn more.
Without doing those things it will be tough to open the sales funnel. Chances are they’ll flip past your advertisement and leave your website within 10 seconds.
When you open the sales funnel your ROI greatly increases. People will read your ad and stay on your website longer. This is taking advantage of every person who engages with your marketing.
An Opportunity Missed
I did say this ad was a step in the right direction towards meaning. There is something missing here.
The odds of someone needing an eye care appointment at the time of this ad are slim. That doesn’t mean they won’t think of his clinic when they do. But how could he make sure they don’t forget about him?
Drive them to his website for more education. Since the chances of someone remembering his phone number are low he needs the reader to take action and visit his website for more education on eye care. This will also help build trust and credibility with the new visitor.
The next step after awareness in the sales funnel is turning someone into a lead.
Here’s what Dr. Taylor could do to increase his leads.
Call to action
Dr. Taylor and the Mayfair Optometric Clinic need a better call to action to start with. Something simple could be “Visit our website for more eye care and health tips”. No matter what you want to get people back to your website.
Blog
If he is putting in the effort to write an article for an ad, why isn’t he blogging? Someone who actually reads this ad all the way through is engaged. What do you do in this position? Give them more! By inviting those readers back to his site for more articles on eye care and health.
Email opt in forms
Email opt in forms offer a person to get updates from your site. It’s a simple way of lead capturing but very overlooked. If he is utilizing an email newsletter they could grow their email list. This obviously gives them the ability to market to that engaged person for a lifetime and hopefully turn them into a lifetime client.
Hopefully you’ve learnt a lot on how to increase advertising ROI. It takes more to stand out from your competition. By creating advertisements like this example, you’ll be well on your way to more meaning and more sales!
What kind of offline advertising do you do?
Do you see a good amount of ROI from it?
If you’ve made it this far you should get my Meaningful Marketing manifesto. It’s somewhat of a bible that will guide you to marketing with meaning. Simply enter your email address below to instantly receive that and all my updates.
by Jordan J. Caron | on April 18th, 2012
It’s important to have a website in any business.
It’s also important to capture leads in business.
Combining the two seems automatic doesn’t it?
You’d be surprised at how many websites fail to capture leads. The last statement can also apply to a physical store front.
If someone visits your website or store you have to do everything to get their contact details. Ok, not everything but you must try to build a relationship with this person. The only way to do that is by getting their contact details.
This is what I mean by asking is your businesses website a sieve. Is it letting people drop by without trying anything to capture their details?
If 100 people visit your website a month (you have Google analytics setup don’t you?) and you don’t have any way to capture their contact details you’re missing out. The visitor may not be in the market for what you’re selling now but they have come to your site or store so there is something intriguing there.
Get that email!
When you have their contact details – email is usually the most common form given out – you are able to market to that person one on one and for a long period of time. For the record I would be hesitant to ask for a person’s phone number. Most people are more comfortable with email starting out.
Being able to market to a person for a long time is a huge factor to building a loyal community online. That’s assuming you provide meaningful content for that person to engage with.
Combining blog posts with emails is a great way to keep people up to date with your business or industry. You can send out weekly or monthly newsletters, your latest blogs posts or just useful links you’ve come across over the internet.
Using any of the suitable email automation programs allows you to do numerous things with an email list. The most important thing is tracking and analyzing data. Who opens your email and along with what links they click.
Being able to track your progress is pivotal towards success online and off.
What if they don’t give it up?
Cue the dating analogies!
You have to be patient and not go for the email right away. Don’t you get turned off when you visit a website and within five seconds they want you to join their email newsletter? You don’t know anything about them and they’re already pushing.
Talk about coming on to strong! You wouldn’t ask for a second date one minute into the first one would you?
When someone comes to your website and they see you want their contact details but they’re reluctant, what can you do?
You have three options…
1) Write meaningful blog posts
2) Give something away for free
3) Do both 1 and 2
Today it’s all about offering value in exchange for getting someone’s email address.
Back in the late 90’s everybody loved email. Then spammers caught on and now everyone dreads email!
As a side note I’ll be addressing how to write intriguing titles for emails as well as blog posts in my email newsletter. This will help you get more of your emails and content opened and shared. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter below so you don’t miss out.
Meaningful blog posts
A blog when done proper can provide all sorts of value. When I mean proper I’m talking about creating meaningful content and links within your posts to other posts so people can stay on your blog longer.
Whether you educate them or entertain them, it’s easier to get their contact details once they begin to trust you more. They want to see you know what you’re talking about, are a real person and that they can trust you.
All those can be done when you are writing with meaning. I’ve talked a little bit about how blogging for business is important and I mentioned how a realtor could write meaningful blog posts already.
You have to put the effort into each blog post you write. Treat it like it’s an article going into a newspaper. A lot of people would be reading that article so you would want to impress them right? Each and every blog post deserves the same attention.
It is after all digital and never going to get recycled so give them your best stuff!
Freebies
I had a chat with a mortgage broker towards the end of November. He was mentioning a broker friend of his who had been getting consulting tips from a successful internet marketer.
One thing they do is offer each visitor some value for giving up their email address. The most common things are:
- eBook
- Free report
- Free consultation
Ebook
Ebooks have been around for close to 10 years now. They’re easy to produce and don’t cost much to make except for effort. An ebook can really set you apart from the competition and show your visitors that you truly care about them.
They don’t have to be the same length as a physical book but they do have to showcase your knowledge of your product or industry. See what others are doing in your industry and find out if they give away an eBook. If they do grab it to see what it takes to produce a great eBook.
If you have the time creating an eBook is the best choice.
Free Report
I’ve seen a few internet marketers during my research who produce free reports. These are good if your product or service offering is really small. Top 10 lists are great for reports and intrigue people to sign up for an email list.
If you’re an insurance broker you could write on on the top 10 reasons why insurance claims fail. A small grocery store could write on a report on the top 10 reasons to buy local.
Free reports offer a great alternative to eBooks as they don’t require much time. Topics can range from a lot of different things but the key is to educate and provide value.
Free Consultation
Lately I’ve come across service providers who offer free consultations. This is a sneaky way to get someone to offer their email address in exchange for free consulting.
A good route to go if you provide a service but be warned that people may not like receiving your emails because you weren’t up front and honest with them.
Tag Team
Now if you have a blog and some sort of free give away, you’ll be well on your way to capturing more leads for your business.
This method does require a lot of effort but the rewards are huge! You’ll gain trust and your credibility will soar. These are two major components to meaningful marketing.
When it comes down to it you have to offer value everywhere you go. This can only help but open the sales funnel and allow you the ability to market to your new lead for a long time.
The baseball glove of your website
Earlier I talked about your website being a sieve. That can all change.
Once you’ve implemented all the steps above you can now play catch! Opt in forms are the method of catching or capturing a leads details.
EZLeadCapture.com is a great way to not only
Aweber is the email automation software I use. Once signing you can create custom opt in forms or choose from pre made template.
These opt in forms capture a leads contact details and stores them back at you Aweber account. Don’t ask me to explain how this magic happens as I’m still mesmerized by the radio and cassette tapes!
Common places to put opt in forms on a website are:
- along the side of the page where the reader can see it
- in blog posts like I have done already
- at the top of the page so people can see it right away
These places are all fine but the key will come down to providing a reason or incentive for someone to subscribe.
Well I’ve covered all I wanted and I really hope you’ve enjoyed this post. My goal is to not only help you market with more meaning but to also make sure you get the most out of your marketing.
Lead capturing is very important and I wanted to talk about ways you can increase your chances of getting peoples contact details.
If you liked this post and what the site is all about, please spread the word around your social networks by sharing it. It would mean an awful lot!
So how would you grade your websites ability to capture leads?
Are there any methods I’m missing for capturing leads online?
Image courtesy Richard Summers
