How to Build a Business with Premium Content (Updated for 2012)
Posted on 20. Apr, 2012 by Sonia Simone in Blog, content marketing, Featured, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
It’s that time again. We’re going to be launching Teaching Sells to a brand new group of members.
If you haven’t done this with us before before, let me tell you what it’s all about.
Basically, I spend the next four weeks or so writing my little fingers to the bone, giving you a ton of awesome content you can use right now to start creating something epic.
Then we tell you a little about our flagship course, Teaching Sells, or as I affectionately call it, “Brian’s Brain in a Box.” (But you know, less messy than that.)
Teaching Sells is our comprehensive course about how to build a business online.
Not a “money-getting system” or some kind of “turn the internet into your personal ATM” course. There are plenty of other folks who will try to sell you that.
Teaching Sells is a course about business. How it works online, how to decide on your topic, how to find customers, how to build your site — the whole thing. Start to finish.
This is the stuff we think the Small Business Administration should be teaching you … but they aren’t.
It’s the stuff we think marketing majors should learn in college … but they don’t.
Yes, I’m a fangirl
You know those people who crash servers during launches by hitting “Refresh” until they get to order?
That was me, way back in 2007 when the Teaching Sells course was first launched. That was before I worked with Brian, before Copyblogger Media was formed, before I wrote a single Copyblogger post.
Teaching Sells was what let me make the jump into working for myself. So I think it’s pretty darned cool. But, you know, I’m kind of biased.
Eventually, I came onboard
I was fortunate enough to eventually join Brian Clark and Tony Clark in making Teaching Sells even better — adding content formats, making the material easier to digest, simplifying the course structure, and more good stuff.
That’s one reason I tend to pour my heart into these launches … I care about this course, and I’ve seen what it can do for people.
I also know how much you (and I) like awesome free stuff. So we’ve made kind of a tradition of delivering lots of great free content during our launches.
You can get all the good stuff by signing up for the Teaching Sells email list. We’ll also let you know when the course is available, so if this is the right fit for you, you’ll be able to join us.
Either way, over the next few weeks, we’ll be talking about:
- If only you had started earlier … can real people still build a business online from scratch?
- How you’re making it harder than it has to be (and how to knock that off and start making real progress)
- The best ways to make money with content in 2012
- Blogging and the zombie apocalypse
- The key element to creating a successful 21st century business
- Why advertising doesn’t work for bloggers (and what does)
- What buyers will and won’t pay for when it comes to content
- What to do if you’re not a great content creator yourself (this one is cool)
We’re also going to give away our handy-dandy 20-step road map to creating a serious, thriving business online, and we’ll throw in a live webinar to let you know more about how that works.
There’s all that, and then anything else I come up with over the next four weeks. If you see me griping on Twitter about how little sleep I’m getting, you’ll know why.
So what do you do now?
- Go sign up for the Teaching Sells list. (If you’re signed up already, you’ll get all the awesomeness automatically.)
- Let your email provider know we’re good guys by adding us to your approved email senders, so your content doesn’t get stuck in a spam filter.
Then hang on tight, and I’ll be talking more with you in the comfort of your email box.
Whether or not you think Teaching Sells would be a good fit, go ahead and sign up for all the free goodies. We don’t mind a bit — in fact, we love it when people put our free stuff to good use. That’s why Copyblogger is here for you every day, right?
Looking forward to seeing you there!
About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media and a co-creator of the updated Teaching Sells.
P.S.
Oh yeah, and of course, we’re not going to do anything weird with your email address. We’ll send you lots of valuable content and some information about Teaching Sells, and that’s it. We loathe spam and we know you do, too.
Snag this Content Marketing Course from Brian Clark (Free for the Next Four Days)
Posted on 23. Mar, 2012 by Sonia Simone in Blog, content marketing, Featured, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
Do you want to know more about the specific techniques and strategies that make up effective content marketing?
Do you like free stuff?
Then listen up.
Michael Port (bestselling author of the tremendously useful Book Yourself Solid) has put together a nifty resource with our own Brian Clark.
It’s a five-part series all about Brian’s approach to content marketing — how we at Copyblogger Media use content to create a business asset, putting content at the heart of a thriving company.
Michael’s crew has bundled the series of interviews into a valuable $97 course … but if you pick it up before midnight on Tuesday, March 27, you can get it for free.
In the course, Brian talks with Michael about:
- How to get all the customers you need, even with a small audience
- How to use the Copyblogger content marketing model to lock in customers’ attention
- The one attitude that gives you an advantage over all your competition
- How to get big names to want to spread the word about you
- Strategies for coming up with all the content ideas you need
- How to choose what social networks to focus on using
- The “golden rule” of business that gives you a steady stream of visitors
All of the video lessons are also provided as MP3s and in transcripts, so you can choose the format that’s best for your learning style. And they throw in a workbook with exercises and action steps, so you can immediately start practicing what you’re learning.
Now if you miss the deadline, you should by all means pick up the course at the full value. But since you can get it free right now, why not go snag it?
Click here to get Brian Clark’s course on Building Your Business with Content Marketing
(Free until midnight, Tuesday, March 27)
That’s our affiliate link, so if you use that link now and then buy something additional from Daily Success Deals at a later point, we’ll make vast piles of cash a modest commission.
Whatever you decide to do down the road, this is a sweet deal and you should snap it up. Remember, the deal expires in four days, so don’t tell yourself you’ll do it later. Go grab it now, before you forget.
About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media.
Premise 2.0: The Complete Digital Sales and Lead Generation Engine for WordPress
Posted on 27. Feb, 2012 by Brian Clark in Blog, Featured, Landing Pages, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
When anyone wants to quickly and easily create, test, and optimize landing pages with WordPress, our Premise software is the way to go. No doubt.
And the one-time fee, bundled optimization education, copywriting advice (from within WordPress), and included custom graphics have made Premise the go-to WordPress plugin for thousands of online marketers and small businesses.
But what if you’re looking for more?
What if you want to:
- Build a membership site?
- Do advanced lead generation beyond email?
- Securely sell ebooks, software, and other digital products?
- Create “velvet-rope” forum communities at your site?
- Have a complete digital sales and marketing system in one?
What would you use to do those things with WordPress, plus those critical landing pages, the split-testing, graphics, and advice, all in one smartly-coded and education-supplemented product?
Premise, of course. Premise 2.0, that is.
Now, Build Way More Than WordPress Landing Pages …
In addition to all the great existing features, you can also use Premise to:
1. Build rock-solid membership sites with WordPress
Premise allows you to build paid membership sites with secure log-in-protected member gateways. The code is integrated seamlessly with the WordPress authentication and user access management protocols, so you know you’ve got maximum compatibility and functionality.
2. Take recurring payments with automated access management
Access to your member area can either be a one-time fee or a recurring charge. Premise helps manage member access after initial payment, continues access after each recurring payment, and denies access when the membership is cancelled or payment is otherwise not made.
3. Automatically drip member content over time
Some membership sites and online education programs provide an “info dump” at initial access. A better educational and business approach for you might be to “drip” your course or premium content sequentially over time, avoiding member overwhelm, prompting higher understanding and retention, and sustaining membership levels, no matter your business model.
4. Securely sell ebooks, software, and other digital downloads
Paid ebooks, apps, and digital goods of all types are remaking the way business is done online. Premise allows you to create an unlimited set of digital products for sale, protect them from outside access until purchase, and create a seamless checkout process, all from within WordPress.
5. Confidently create private forum areas with vBulletin
Any great membership site or online education program provides more than access to content. It also provides interactive access to instructors and other members, and often a paid forum can stand on it’s own with the right community. Premise integrates with the popular vBulletin forum software (purchased separately) to make paid forum areas possible.
6. Quickly set up password-protected content libraries
A great way to perform highly effective lead generation is to offer premium content in exchange for registration. With Premise, you can create high value content libraries that require email registration for access. Beyond email marketing alone, you create a “sense of place” for your white papers, webinars, and other premium content that move prospects closer to becoming a customer or client.
7. Easily build check-out pages for PayPal and Authorize.net
Premise makes it easy to coordinate payments, whether one-time or recurring, before access is granted to your member area or digital downloads. Create check-out pages to collect member/buyer information, then accept PayPal payments, take credit cards via Authorize.net, or both. It’s within your control directly from WordPress.
8. Premise still works with any WordPress theme or design framework
When you use Premise to build all of this, you’ll have absolutely no compatibility issues. Since Premise is a plugin, it works with any theme, any framework, and other plugins. As long as you use WordPress, Premise works for you.
And now, you just want a great price, right?
Here’s the Deal …
Premise is at least twice the product it was before. Makes sense that we’d raise the price, right?
Except for one issue … I’ve been speaking and traveling so much this month, I haven’t had a chance to finish the copy for the new Premise 2.0 site. We’re actually doing a complete redesign in the process.
So, instead of raising the price, we’ve dropped it.
For a limited time, you can get the brand new fully-featured Premise 2.0, with unlimited everything (including updates and support), and save $70 instead of spending more.
That’s right … get Premise 2.0 Ultimate for only $95. There’s full technical documentation for all the new features, and our support team is always standing by.
But there’s one important thing you need to know …
As soon as Rafal and I get the new site finished (which is underway), the deal is over. So, will you grab Premise 2.0 first and save, or will we get the job done first and raise the price to $165?
Put Premise to Work for 30 Days, Risk Free
I’m having a bit of fun with this race thing. But I don’t want to stress you out, and there’s no reason to worry.
We want you to be 100% happy with Premise. In the event you decide it’s not for you, simply use the contact form in the clearly-marked HELP section of the member area to tell us within 30 days of your purchase. We’ll promptly refund the full price you paid, no questions asked, no hard feelings.
Okay, so now you can safely win the race. Pick up Premise 2.0 today.
Questions? Drop them in the comments and we’ll answer as soon as we can.
Already purchased Premise (either now or previously)? Please contact support for help — we can’t do support in the comments. 
About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media.
Save up to $350 on Search Marketing Expo
Posted on 19. Jan, 2012 by Sonia Simone in Blog, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
The landscape of search and search engine marketing change rapidly.
To keep up, stay ahead, grow your business, and get more (and better) traffic to your site, you need the right help.
Search Marketing Expo is a conference that offers more than 60 cutting-edge sessions (as well as invaluable networking opportunities) covering the search marketing strategies and tactics you’ll need to thrive in 2012 and beyond.
At Search Marketing Expo from February 28th to March 1st, you’ll learn how to:
- Master social media marketing on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and other networks,
- Optimize your site content for better organic search results,
- Expand your skills as a local and mobile advertiser,
- Get the best ROI from pay-per-click search advertising,
- Boost your conversion and increase your sales
Whether you’re a seasoned vet or new to search, own a small business or are employed at a Fortune 500 company, you’ll appreciate the depth and flexibility this comprehensive agenda offers. Click here to see the entire agenda.
As a bonus for Copyblogger readers, use the code smx100copy (case sensitive) and save up to $350 on your All Access ticket when you sign up before January 28th.
To learn more about the Search Marketing Expo, visit http://smxwest.com.
We’re always impressed by the depth of knowledge and expertise represented at SMX, which is why we’re happy to be a media partner for the conference.
About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Share your content and copywriting insights with her on twitter.
Don’t Miss Out: Get Your Free Content from Teaching Sells
Posted on 04. Nov, 2011 by Sonia Simone in Blog, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
You may have noticed the name of our flagship course, Teaching Sells, coming up quite a bit recently.
That’s because we’ll be launching our 2011 enrollment period very shortly, opening our doors to a new group of students who want a comprehensive, proven approach to building a real online business.
And it just wouldn’t be a Teaching Sells launch without lots of great free education.
So instead of wasting your weekend raking leaves or test-baking your Thanksgiving pies, why not put your time to productive use and dive into all the great content we’ve cooked up for you?
Just drop your email in the form over at Teaching Sells, confirm that you really do want to receive email from us, and you’ll have instant access to:
- All-new articles with business tips you can put into practice right away
- A special report by Brian Clark on Building a Profitable Online Business: What Works (And What Doesn’t) in 2011
- The Teaching Sells 20-Step Road Map to a Successful Online Business
And early next week, I’ll be holding a live webinar with Robert Bruce that takes you through the Teaching Sells process step-by-step, so you can see how it would work for your own project.
People have built successful businesses just from what they’ve learned in our free launch content — and we think that’s awesome.
And if you decide you’re ready to go further and join us for the complete course, that’s great too.
Either way, once we close enrollment for 2011, all the free content goes away too. So don’t put this off — get over to Teaching Sells, leave us your primary email, and start benefiting from the best advice we have to offer about creating a sustainable, profitable, enjoyable online business.
Catch you there!
About the Author: Sonia Simone is CMO of Copyblogger Media and co-creator of Teaching Sells.
P.S.
No kidding, the clock is ticking. We’ll be opening the course to new students some time next week, and the enrollment period is always brief. Rather than putting it off, go ahead and click on over to Teaching Sells. Leave us your email address, click the link to confirm that you want to hear from us, and we’ll take care of the rest.
Comments
- [...] Oh…and I meant to say that Brian’s Report is excellent! … by Don’t Miss Out: Get Your Free Content from Teaching Sells
- Oh…and I meant to say that Brian’s Report is excellent! … by Paul Wolfe
- Sonia Twice I’ve nearly bought into Teaching Sells in the … by Paul Wolfe
- Going through the 20 step process book. Would say it is quite … by Himanshu Chanda
Is Starting Your Own Business Risky?
Posted on 11. Oct, 2011 by Sonia Simone in Blog, content marketing, Copywriting, Entrepreneurship, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
Starting a business is risky. Horribly, terrifyingly risky.
Nearly all new businesses fail — that’s the official statistic, right? Some say 4 out of 5, some say as many as 95%.
Successful entrepreneurs have a different kind of DNA from the rest of us. Ice water runs through their veins. They thrive on risk. The more insane the odds, the better they like it.
For those of us who have families, or who just don’t feel like living on ramen for the next four years, we’re probably better off keeping the day job.
Do you believe any of those?
Because I call B.S. on all of them.
Life is risky
Day jobs are very risky. You’re making a bet that your company is well-run enough to survive the economy’s twists and turns, and that they’re always going to want to keep you around. Either of those can change in a heartbeat, and you’re left without a safety net.
Crossing the street is risky. Using an ATM is risky. Having kids is almost unbearably risky.
Almost 100 people in the U.S. are killed by lightning and bees every year. Going outside: super risky.
You can cut down a lot of risk by getting a job at the post office and spending all of your non-work hours in front of your television. And if that sounds like your idea of a life well-lived, you should go do that.
For the rest of us, let’s talk about intelligent risk
Michael Ellsberg, in his terrific new book The Education of Millionaires, devotes a juicy section to the myth of the extreme riskiness of starting a business … or at least, to the perception of extreme risk.
Most people, when they think of the idea of starting a business, see it as an incredibly risky proposition, one that entails not just egg-in-the-face, but total ruin. They are nearly hysterical about the risks they could incur if they left their safe, boring jobs.
Ellsberg goes on to say that,
Most of the self-educated people featured in [his] book took pains to make sure that their “downside was not so exposed,” to use the parlance of investing: they made sure that a failed business would not mean total ruin; it would just mean a few scrapes, a few good lessons learned, and up they are again at a new one. No biggie.
About those statistics
The scary statistics about new business failure get quoted all the time. If you mention at Thanksgiving that you’re thinking about starting a business, your Aunt Mary will definitely dredge them up.
But gross statistics compiled by government agencies can’t give you the picture of what those “failures” look like.
They don’t tell you how many were experiments. They don’t tell you what the “failures” taught the business owners. They don’t tell you how many of those businesses changed into something else — something more fun or more profitable. They don’t tell you how motivated the owners were. They don’t tell you what the owners went on to do next.
Now don’t get me wrong, lots of new businesses don’t make it. Many of them start out with fatally high overhead — rent and employees are expensive. If you’re a restaurant, a dry cleaner, or a fitness club, you don’t have a lot of choice on those.
For a high-overhead business, marketing is a necessity, not a luxury. You don’t have the time to wait around for word of mouth. If you don’t get enough customers through your doors before you run out of cash, you lose.
Unfortunately, a lot of those bricks-and-mortar business owners have never educated themselves about marketing or sales. They “don’t have time” to read and implement a free course like Internet Marketing for Smart People, or a few Dan Kennedy books.
The greatest risk to any business is that no customers will show up
The problem isn’t that business is inherently risky. The problem is the mentality that customers are going to drop out of the sky just because you’re so cool.
Maybe marketing feels weird. Maybe selling feels impossible. (Trust me, I have been there.)
Maybe you’re making excuses for not pushing out of your comfort zone, by telling yourself that great products don’t need to be marketed and sold — they just sell themselves.
If you’ve ever thought this, make a note of what I like to call Sonia’s Law:
Sonia’s Law: Nothing Sells Itself.
Great products and services deserve great marketing, so they’ll find the audiences they can help. Your brilliant business idea is only as good as your ability to sell it.
You can choose to get over it
Believing that marketing and selling are for “other people” is a little bit like hanging on to the idea that the earth is flat.
It’s an idea. (A wrong idea.) You can decide to get over it.
And when you do that, you can manage your risk to a degree that you never thought possible.
You can learn something about copywriting and the techniques of direct response. This is simply the art of taking effective salesmanship (in text, video, or audio) and getting it to a larger audience. It’s going out and asking for the sale, instead of hoping it shows up somehow.
I don’t care if you use your copywriting skills online, in TV or radio ads, in flyers, by direct mail, or by carving your message into the moon.
You can also learn how to use content marketing to make selling a lot easier, by showing potential customers how much they would enjoy your product or service. By showing you aren’t a sleaze. And by using creativity and talent to attract attention to your business, instead of paying tons of money for advertising.
You may never become a ninja
Not everyone who studies copywriting and content marketing gets good at it.
But if you even become marginally competent, you’ll be ahead of 90% of your competitors. You don’t have to be faster than the bear — you just have to be better than the other guy.
And by making a serious study of marketing (which, by the way, starts with the art of creating products that customers truly want to buy), you’ll learn what really good sales and marketing look like. And that means that if you choose to, you can hire or partner with people who are truly masters.
So how do you get started?
First, I’m never going to tell you to “leap and the net will appear.” That’s just not smart.
Don’t quit your day job or radically restructure 100% of your business because you have a “passion” for a certain approach or topic.
Self-help gurus will tell you to follow your dreams, and I think that’s excellent advice. But follow them the smart way.
- Start with prototypes. Create small “minimum viable products” that respond to urgent customer needs. Don’t create products and services just because you think they’re cool — make sure customers think they’re cool, too.
- Study the art of content marketing. Create content your potential customers will love — content that gets the attention of your ideal customer and doesn’t let go.
- Study the science of copywriting. Giving serious thought to product benefits, the language of your market, and clear calls to action doesn’t just make you a better marketer, it makes you a smarter business owner.
- Do more of what works well, and less of what doesn’t work. This means you have to pay careful attention and have some simple measuring tools in place.
And there’s nothing wrong with using a framework. Some people like to reinvent every wheel from scratch, but most of us do well by modeling what’s worked in the past.
That’s actually why we created Teaching Sells. To create a framework of proven business models and techniques for one of our favorite businesses for the 21st century — the online education business.
(One of the reasons we like it? It manages your risk by keeping overhead low and making sure you have an audience of buyers before you create anything.)
We’ll be re-launching the course in a few weeks, so if you want to find out more about it and how it works, drop your email address here. We’ll send you some high-quality articles and other goodies to get your juices flowing, and all the details so you can decide if Teaching Sells will be a good fit or not.
How about you?
How have you managed risk — or the fear of risk — in your business? What helps you get more customers in the door?
Let us know in the comments.
About the Author: Sonia Simone is CMO of Copyblogger Media and co-creator of Teaching Sells.
Comments
- I really enjoyed your post and had to laugh about working at … by Jennifer
- Absolutely bang-on-the-point! A lot of start-ups never … by Padma Kannan, MahaLearning
- I think it definitely depends on how you see things. I choose … by Jo Cox
- It’s very true, exchanging your time for cash is a really bad … by Veehcirra
- Great article ! I’ve started my own business as well and it is … by Mr. bodybuilding
- Plus 5 more…
Further Reading
The BlogWorld Expo Virtual Ticket (or, How to Get To a Conference You Can’t Get To)
Posted on 11. Oct, 2011 by Johnny B. Truant in Blog, conferences, Email Marketing, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, social media marketing
We live a lonely life out here on the internet.
Sure, we’ve got email and blogs and social media and Skype and the occasional contact via an actual phone, but in real-life terms we’re pretty isolated.
We usually live far away from our “work friends.” We swap ideas in small, discreet blocks — a half-hour IM chat with someone here, an email or two with someone else there.
Sometimes, it’s hard for internet work to feel like anything other than a hobby … and why should it, if you never commit to immersion in it?
Why should all this feel like a serious endeavor if you never make it your sustained, total focus?
Why should it grow and expand and become more profitable if you never get together with successful like-minded people and spend some serious time studying your craft?
I’ll tell you why …
Three times a year, I hop on a plane and fly out to blogging conferences — BlogWorld in May and November, and South by Southwest in March.
Traveling is a pain, and the trips are expensive, but I go because being in those environments is totally worth the inconvenience.
It’s necessary to make my business grow.
Attending conferences is nothing short of awesome, and you should do it if you’re able. These are the times to soak up new information, when the innovations and inspiration of others can’t help but rub off on you.
Every time you go to a conference, you return home with new tools that can make your business more profitable.
But what if you can’t quite manage to get to live events? Luckily, there’s a solution.
How to attend a conference you can’t attend
Travel sucks, especially since the airlines began their sadistic sociological experiment to determine how much travelers will put up with before cracking.
You have to pay for your bags. You have to put your deodorant into exactly the right kind of clear baggie or they’ll throw it away. The crappy snack on the flight costs six dollars. On one flight, the man to my left was spilling into my seat and the man to my right was throwing up the entire time.
Transportation is expensive. Hotels are expensive. You’ve got to put the kids in the kennel and send the dogs to grandma’s. (Right?) You’ve got to find a way to put your business on hold … if it can survive being put on hold.
Often, you’ll look at that conference coming up and say, “It’d be so great to attend, but there’s just no way I can make it happen.”
But what if you could attend the conference without the travel and the inconvenience, and for a small fraction of the cost?
What if you could immerse yourself in the best and latest information while still watching the kids and the dogs, while still doing what needs to be done with your business and home, and possibly (probably) while wearing comfortable pajamas and not being barfed on?
What if you didn’t have to spend a few thousand dollars on travel, a hotel, and a full-access conference pass?
This is the part where I tell you about my new gig — working with BlogWorld New Media Expo to turn BlogWorld’s Virtual Ticket into the best you-can’t-be-there-live-but-you-can-attend-anyway virtual event around.
This is not your father’s virtual conference
If you think the idea of “attending” a conference via your computer sounds like a lame substitute for the real thing, I don’t blame you.
Most virtual events focus exclusively on giving you content, but what really makes an in-person conference sing is the experience of being there.
In the redesigned Virtual Ticket, we’re giving you both.
Providing the conference content was straightforward. The Virtual Ticket contains audio/video recordings of all 100+ hours of conference sessions.
Want learning? Want information? Fuhgeddaboudit … we’ve got an avalanche of hot, fresh instruction. (It’s actually more content than you would get in person, because when you’re there live, you have to pick and choose between sessions — something you won’t have to do virtually.)
But providing the conference experience — to bridge that internet isolation we all feel from time to time — was harder.
Try as we might, we couldn’t replace handshakes, hugs, and noogies, but we tried to re-create “being there” as much as possible:
- We set up live recordings during the conference and at the extracurricular events. You can’t be there in person to shanghai presenters into a conversation, but we can and will, and you’ll be watching.
- We’ve lined up exclusive interviews and backstage access that even live attendees won’t have access to.
- We hired a charming MC named Johnny B. Truant to be your virtual host. In addition to giving the Virtual Ticket a cohesive “almost like you’re there” guided BlogWorld experience, I can get you in to see anyone because I’m charming and have credentials — not because I have blackmail fodder, no matter what Sonia says.
- We’ve provided Q&A with the bigwigs. If you’re at home, you can’t stop presenters to ask them questions (“What’s your best social media tip?” “How did you get started?” “What’s this thing on my shoe?”), but we’ll ask them your questions through the beauty of social media.
- Plus, we’ve got other stuff.There’s more social media magic in the works that my project manager hasn’t explained to me yet and that I therefore need to be vague about for now. (Hey, I’m an idea guy. People still have to remind me to tie my shoes.)
Will it be as good as being there in person? Of course not.
Is it the next best thing? Definitely.
See you in (virtual) Los Angeles?
It costs around 1/10th as much, too: Full price for the Virtual Ticket is only $347.
But through this Saturday, October 15th, it’s only $247.
You’ll get access to all of it (pretty much everything about BlogWorld other than the nametags) for way, way, way less than you’d spend to fly out to Los Angeles.
Sign up for the BlogWorld West 2011 Virtual Ticket here.
Copyblogger is a proud marketing partner of BlogWorld New Media Expo, and all of the links in this post are affiliate links.
We only promote things that we believe in, and this year’s Virtual Ticket is something quite extraordinary. All virtual events deliver content (some better than others), but almost none deliver the experience of being at the live event.
This delivers both.
And of course, if you attend the Virtual Ticket, Copyblogger will “see you at BlogWorld” next month. We’ll be there, and you’ll be at home or at work … and that may well mean you’ll be drinking better coffee.
Save us some, okay?
Sign up for the Virtual Ticket here while the price is still $100 off (through Saturday).
About the Author: Johnny B. Truant is the host and MC of the BlogWorld Virtual Ticket.
Comments
- It’s November 3-5! But the dates are a bit less relevant with … by Johnny B. Truant
- Hey– when is the actual event in November? Am I just missing … by Terri Spaulding
- This is fantastic. I’m mentally scrapping together pennies as I … by Joseph Wheeler
- Awesome; let us know what you think! by Johnny B. Truant
- The recordings will actually be available for a year, so you’re … by Johnny B. Truant
- Plus 5 more…
49 Drop-Dead Gorgeous Reasons You Should Run Your Website on WordPress
Posted on 22. Sep, 2011 by Robert Bruce in Blog, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
Yeah, you can pick up a theme to bolt onto your WordPress website just about anywhere these days.
But why would you go just about anywhere to find something that’s so vital to your work? This is 2011 after all.
Your website should be stunningly designed.
It should make performing the basics of good SEO very simple.
You shouldn’t have to worry about things like state-of-the-art security, hassles with manual updates, or wondering if the underlying code of the theme you’re using is silently undermining all your work.
Oh, and it’d be cool if all of the above was found in one place. In 49 unique variations to choose from. Right?
Well, check this out …
Our StudioPress team has done the heavy lifting for you when it comes to website design, search optimization, and security.
Between our in-house StudioPress themes and our newly-built, StudioPress-approved, Theme Marketplace, we’ve got 49 stunning WordPress themes for you to lay on top of our rock-solid Genesis Framework for WordPress.
And, as always, there’s more going on over there than I can keep up with.
I’ll write more later about all the powerful plugins, the free (and growing) graphics library, etc.
For now, check out these two hand-made theme designs from the StudioPress.com workbench:
Scribble down a little note, or much more
Sometimes it’s personal.
Sometimes it’s business.
Either way, you need a place that’s yours to get it down.
Click here to straighten out your website with the Scribble theme.
Every company is a media company
Small business or large, you’re in the game.
Suburban, exurban, urban, or rural, you’ve got the opportunity to speak to the world.
We talk a lot around here about content and media. Take a step toward dominating your industry with this killer 21st century printing press.
Click here to setup your publishing empire on the Magazine theme.
Meanwhile, over at the StudioPress Theme Marketplace …
We introduced the StudioPress Theme Marketplace to you last month, and have since doubled the number of approved third-party themes available.
Ummm, there’s going to be no stopping this little shop.
Below is just a taste of what’s going on (and what’s coming) over at the StudioPress Theme Marketplace …
What will your grandchildren say?
We often think about the Internet (and what we do with it) as ephemeral. What if you thought different?
You may not be writing War and Peace, but you definitely want your best stuff out there in the wild.
Click here to leave your mark with the Legacy theme.
Legacy was designed by Wes Straham.
Style is the answer to everything
Come on, it’s time your content got the same treatment as those folks in the fashion industry.
You may not be in a professional makeup chair for three hours every morning, but your website can be in the equivalent. Ready for your closeup?
Click here to get your style on with the Fashionista theme.
Fashionista was designed by The Genesis Ninja.
56,459 people take WordPress further with StudioPress
OK, here’s the short version:
Our Genesis Framework from StudioPress empowers you to quickly and easily build incredible websites with WordPress.
With search-optimized code and functions, 49 turn-key designs, and unlimited support, updates, and websites you can build, Mashable calls Genesis the “best of the best” among premium WordPress themes.
56,459 online publishers trust Genesis to provide a solid foundation for their sites.
Whether you’re a novice or an advanced developer, Genesis provides you with the rock-solid infrastructure to take WordPress places you never thought it could go.
Get Genesis (and one, or all of the 49 themes) right here.
Comments
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Further Reading
23 Reasons Your Blog Isn’t Making Any Money (And What To Do About It!)
Posted on 29. Aug, 2011 by Danny Iny in Blog, Blog Psychology, content marketing, conversion, Copywriting, Headlines, Keyword Research, Landing Pages, List Building, Online Product Launches, persuasion, selling, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, social media marketing, Traffic
Sure, you want comments.
And subscribers, and shares, and likes.
But you don’t really care about any of these things. You want what they will eventually lead to …
Money.
Yes, traffic is good, and so is reader engagement. But if you’re reading this, chances are you’re running a blog with the intention of marketing a business and making some money.
Now, that could be a bit distressing, because most bloggers are broke.
Some bloggers don’t have traffic or reader engagement, and some bloggers have lots of both. But most bloggers aren’t making any money.
Here’s why …
The chain of conversion is everything
We tend to think of conversion as a single event, but it’s really more like a chain of events.
If you market a business online, several conversions need to take place:
- A stranger has to convert into a lead by being exposed to your message for the first time (in the online world, we call this traffic)
- A lead has to convert into a prospect by liking what you have to say (this is often done by opting in to your email subscriber list)
- A prospect has to convert into a customer by buying something from you
- A customer has to convert into a repeat customer by turning a single purchase into an ongoing buying relationship
This entire process is called the chain of conversion.
Does that sound like a tall order?
It should, because it is — for your blog to make money, you need not one, but many people to smoothly move through this entire process.
And if your blog is like most, then that probably isn’t happening.
Let’s explore all the reasons why that might be, and what you can do to fix it.
Problem #1: You’re a billboard in the desert
The most common problem that bloggers face is that strangers aren’t converting into leads.
In other words, there’s no traffic.
And if there’s no traffic, then it doesn’t matter how well-optimized the rest of your funnel is, because nobody is feeding through it.
So the first order of business is to get traffic flowing to your site. Here are some of the reasons why that might not be happening, and how you can fix it:
- Build it and they will come. Yes, content is king, but without an army of marketers, the king can get pretty lonely! The truth is that while epic content is critical, it won’t go viral all by itself without an existing audience to start the ball rolling by seeing and sharing. If you don’t have traffic, you have to go and get the word out about your content.
- You just tweet to your followers. If you’re Guy Kawasaki, then your marketing can consist of tweeting to your followers, and calling it a day. But for the rest of us (who don’t have 400,000 followers), you’ve got to get out there and promote. Build relationships with other bloggers, write guest posts, put viral campaigns together, and apply any other strategy for blog growth that you can think of — just get out there and do something!
- Marketing in the wrong place. We love to fall for the promises of magic strategies that will get us tons of traffic — the kind that showcase the success that somebody else had. The problem is that you aren’t going after their audience, and your audience may not hang out where theirs does. If you’re marketing in the wrong place, then your audience will never find you! Of course, to market in the right place, you have to know who your audience is …
- No clearly defined audience. Obviously, you can’t market to your audience if you don’t know who your audience is. It isn’t enough for you to have a general idea that you’re marketing to “bloggers” or “writers” or “stay at home moms” — you’ve got to get way more specific, to the point that you’ve created a profile of the ONE person that you’re targeting.
- Asking for the wrong action. If they haven’t heard of you, then don’t start by asking them to buy — it isn’t likely to happen. Remember that your goal with each piece of messaging is to get the audience to take the single next action. When you’re talking to strangers, the goal is for them to become leads (visit your site) and then prospects (opt in to your list). So don’t even mention whatever it is that you’ve got for sale.
- You don’t hook their interest. Yes, I’m talking about headlines. For your blog posts, for your ads, and for the teaser links to your content. They all need to hook your audience’s interest. And you happen to be reading the world’s best blog about copywriting. So go read all about headlines!
Problem #2: Selling ice to Inuits
The second problem is that you get traffic, but they all bounce — no subscribers, no customers, and you’re on a constant treadmill to generate more traffic.
In other words, leads aren’t converting into prospects.
Here’s why that might be happening, and what you can do about it:
- It’s all about you. Yes, that’s right — all of your posts are about your news, your products, your company. And you wonder why nobody signs up for more? Forget about your subject area, and think about your customers. What are their problems? What matters to them? That’s what you need to be writing about.
- Your content is “me too” content. If you’re just writing generic, bland content of the “6 tips everyone already knows about productivity” variety, or (gasp!) going so far as to actually spin articles, then the truth is that there’s no reason for people to come back to your site, because you haven’t impressed them yet. So pull out the stops and write some truly compelling content!
- You don’t draw them in. You get them to start reading your stuff, but their attention wanders, and pretty soon they’re gone forever. You need to draw them in and keep them going, section to section, until they reach the action that you want them to: subscribing!
- You don’t make it explicit. Yes, that’s right. If you want your visitors to opt in to your mailing list, then you have to say so, in so many words: “Sign up for my list to get all sorts of goodies. Do it now. Click here.” Put those words, or words like them, near your opt-in box, and make sure to include a call to action in your posts, too.
- You don’t optimize. No matter how good you are, and how well you’ve done everything else, there’s always room for improvement — and improvement is had by split-testing, split-testing, and then split-testing some more.
Problem #3: “Just the free sample, thanks”
Sometimes you’ve got traffic, and you’ve got subscribers — but you still aren’t making any money.
In chain of conversion terminology, prospects aren’t converting into customers.
This might not sound so bad (“at least they have the traffic and subscribers”), but without the money, you’re just sinking more and more work into what might be a dead-end project.
The good news is that when you’ve got an audience, you can usually find a way to make some money — let’s explore why they might not be buying, and what we can do to fix it:
- You’re selling what they need instead of what they want. As an expert in your field, you know exactly what the customer’s problem is. I don’t mean the symptoms, or the issue that they want to fix right now — I mean the real problem that lies deep down at the root of it all. The trouble is that they don’t know that, and so they aren’t looking for that solution. Start by selling what they want, and then you can deliver what they need along with it.
- It’s in the wrong format. Maybe they love what you’re offering, but they just don’t like the format. I mean, really, how many more e-books can someone buy? Try a different format — like audio, video, a virtual conference, live workshops, infographics — or something else entirely.
- The price isn’t right. Maybe your product is great, but the price doesn’t fit. You could be asking for way too much money, or you could be asking for way too little. Remember that not only does the price have to fit with the buyer’s budget, but it also has to communicate the right thing about how valuable your offering really is. So test different prices, and find the price that works best.
- You don’t ask for the sale. Yes, this comes back to being explicit. Don’t just have an “Add to Cart” link on your site — you’ve also got to tell people that you want them to buy your stuff. Tell them why they should do it, and what they’re going to get. And tell them when they should do it (right now!), which leads us to the matter of urgency …
- There’s no urgency. Why buy today when I can buy tomorrow, right? You need to give your audience a reason to take action now. Make sure the constraint is real — maybe you’re raising the price after a certain date. Maybe the first 50 people to sign up get a special bonus. Or maybe you’re closing your program on September 1 (hypothetically speaking, of course …).
- No social proof. Nobody wants to be the first one to arrive at a party — you want to know that other people are there, and having a good time. So who’s already bought your product or service? What was their experience like? Were they happy? Were they a lot like the person who is thinking about buying today?
- No guarantee. There’s something comforting about a money-back guarantee. It provides a safety net, and shows how much confidence the seller has in whatever is being offered. Most companies offer guarantees, to the point that it looks sketchy if you don’t. So you have to offer a guarantee. But don’t just offer a simple “if you’re not satisfied we’ll give you your money back” guarantee — go over the top. Give them 110% of their money back. Donate $100 to charity. Set it up so that it’s not just about satisfaction, but about results (we guarantee that you’ll add $1,000 to your bottom line in six months, or your money back).
- You don’t optimize (again). Yes, it applies here, too. If you want to make more sales, then there are a lot of things for you to split-test: your headlines, the placement, text and colors of your opt-in boxes, the style of your introduction, your product imagery, your trust seals and their placement on the site … and the list goes on.
Problem #4: Once is (apparently) enough
Okay, if you’ve made it to this point in the chain, then you’re probably doing all right — you’ve got traffic, you’ve got subscribers, and you’re even making sales.
But customers aren’t converting into repeat customers.
Which means that you’re always scrambling to find new customers, and to keep that wheel in motion. Wouldn’t you rather have the wheel sustain itself?
Here’s why your customers may not be buying from you again, and what you can do to change that:
- You don’t deliver. This is a HUGE problem; if you promise something, your customers sign up, and then you don’t deliver, then you are doing irreparable damage to your reputation and business. In the words of my marketing professor, “marketing is a promise that the organization has to keep” — and you should never, ever break a promise. This probably doesn’t apply to you, but if it does, stop reading this article, and fix it immediately!
- There’s nothing else to sell. This is a more common problem: you’ve worked so hard to build and sell your product, that by the time they’ve bought it, there’s nothing left to sell. This is worth taking the time to fix; think about what else they might benefit from — an easy add-on is some consulting to help them get the most out of what they’ve already bought. Remember that a customer who’s already spent money with you is 8 times more likely to buy from you again, and you’ve already spent the time and money to convert them the first time!
- You don’t communicate. This is sad to see, but easy to fix; you’ve got happy customers and more great stuff to sell to them, but you don’t communicate with them after that first purchase. This is terrible — you should be communicating with your customers on a regular basis, both to collect feedback about their experience, and to keep the lines of communication open so that you can sell to them again. An easy way to do this is to build follow-up directly into your product, for example with automated follow-up emails and surveys.
- You don’t ask for the sale (again). Yes, you’ve got to ask for the repeat sale, too — periodically reach out to your existing customers to see if there’s more that you can do for them, and have a specific offer ready if they do have a need.
Fixing your blog, one link at a time
Every blog has holes in its chain of conversion — and most have lots of them!
So where should you start making repairs?
The answer depends on whether you’ve already got a functioning funnel:
If you’ve already got traffic, opt-ins, and customers: Start at the end, and work your way backwards. First get more customers to buy again, then get more subscribers to buy from you, then get more website visitors to subscribe, and only then get more people to visit your website.
If you don’t have any of that stuff: Then start at the beginning — start by getting traffic to your site, and once you have traffic, work on getting them to opt-in, and then buy from you, and then buy from you again.
Now, a question: how long are you willing to wait before your blog starts delivering dollars to your bank account?
Having realistic expectations is important. If you try to run a marathon as though it were a sprint, you’ll end up exhausted on the side of the road. And if you try to run a sprint as though it were a marathon, you’ll finish dead last.
So what kind of race do you want your blog to be running?
If you’re willing for it to take 2-3 years to get your blog to where you want it to be, then a good strategy is to read business books for bloggers, along with the best blogs in the industry.
But if you want to see results sooner, then get some help. For example, you could click the link in my bio and read about our marketing training program, that just happens to be closing to the public on September 1. 
About the Author: Danny Iny is an author, strategist, serial entrepreneur, and proud co-founder of Firepole Marketing, the program that teaches non-marketers to fix their chain of conversion like expert marketers. Get his free video course on how to get more money out of your business, website or blog, or follow him on Twitter @DannyIny.
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Further Reading
3 Simple Techniques to Getting Your Message Seen, Heard and Out There into The World
Posted on 15. Aug, 2011 by Pamela Wilson in Blog, Blog Psychology, content marketing, conversion, Copywriting, Email Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Headlines, List Building, personal branding, persuasion, selling, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, social media marketing
On the snowy, northeastern Christmas of my 11th year, our parents gathered all five kids around the kitchen table to deliver the news.
We were moving to San Antonio, Texas.
I was devastated. Texas? I imagined what our new home would look like.
We’d be miles from any neighbors — who all walked straight off the “Hee Haw” set — with a dusty, rock-filled front yard punctuated by the occasional tumbleweed rolling by.
If only I had access to the Internet back in those days, I wouldn’t have been terrified at all by the silly stereotypes I believed to be true.
Our customers are terrified, too. They’re operating based on stereotypes, fears, and misconceptions.
But every day, the Internet makes it easier to inform, educate, and connect with them.
Their false assumptions don’t stand a chance when you use these three techniques to get your message out and engage with your prospects.
1. Showcase your product
Web video is ideal for showing exactly how your product works, and why it’s the best on the market.
One company that does this well is OtterBox, whose YouTube channel features lighthearted product demos and user-submitted stories that show customers putting OtterBox technology cases to the test.
Your web video doesn’t have to be fancy. It’s more important to:
- Take the time to develop a compelling story
- Write a script: don’t wing it
- Edit carefully so your video comes in under three minutes: bonus points if it’s under two
If you sell a service, you can still use web video to make your offerings come to life. Interview customers who’ve gotten good results. Show all the benefits of your service by filming before and after videos. And build interest by aiming your camera at the end result, and showing prospects what they can expect.
2. Share your reality
People enjoy doing business with actual people, not faceless corporations.
Show prospects you’re just like them by sharing a little about yourself on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, your blog, and your email newsletter.
Keep it light, tie it in with a topic you know your audience is interested in, and turn it around and talk about them the first chance you get.
If your business is large, you can make your company more approachable by allowing employees to share personal details on your website or company blog.
Let them post photos, share their hobbies, or post short videos that show them outside of work.
Any time you share some of your own reality, your two-dimensional Internet presence becomes more three dimensional, and that makes your company — and its offerings — more appealing to prospects.
3. Shatter your stereotypes
You may be in a business that people tend to stereotype:
- All graphic designers are flaky, artsy types who can’t make their deadlines
- All engineers are nerdy and use pocket protectors
- All web developers spend long days in windowless rooms, and don’t know how to hold a conversation
- All writers are broke and have no business sense
- All accountants think about is numbers
Of course, none of these clichés are true.
If your business is typecast a certain way, accept it and set the record straight online.
- If you’re a graphic designer, post an infographic of how often you met or exceeded your clients’ deadlines
- If you own an engineering firm, post photos of the cool hobbies your employees spend time on outside of work
- If you’re a web developer, host a pool party and invite your best clients, then post a video on your website
- If you’re a writer, blog about how you made money with just your keyboard and your good business sense
- If you’re an accountant, post your music playlist on your Google+ profile
Showing your prospects how those tired clichés won’t work for you and your company is an excellent way to make your business memorable.
Get more customers
It turns out I loved living in Texas — especially after my ears got used to the dialect — and I made many friends I’m still in contact with.
The experience made me who I am today, and I’m grateful for it.
When we ask our prospects to go beyond their ingrained stereotypes, we encourage them to grow and stretch as human beings.
It turns out that’s good for them, and it’s good for your business, too.
About the Author: Pamela Wilson helps small businesses grow with great design and marketing at Big Brand System. Learn the basics with her free Marketing Toolkit E-course. Connect with her on Twitter.
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