Continue reading »]]> Who Wants Some FREE Kindle Training?

Hot off the press! I just put the finishing touches on my new e-book called “Quick & Easy Kindle Profits”. This free Kindle Training is perfect for business owners and entrepreneurs who are looking for a way to add recurring revenue to their business. 

Here’s what included:

• Introduction – page 5
• Why is Kindle the Best Way to Add Passive Revenue to Your Business? – page 7
• What’s So Great About Kindle? – page 8
• Here are some interesting Kindle statistics – page 8
• What are the advantages of becoming a Kindle publisher? – page 9
• Why did I start writing Kindle books? – page 13
• “Yes, But it’s Easy for You Suzanne” – page 14
• Writing Kindle Books – page 15
• The Introduction – page 16
• The Body – page 17
• Here is an example for the first three points – page 17
• Your Kindle Cover – page 18
• How to Open a Kindle Direct Publishing Account – page 19
• Here is How to Publish Your First Book – page 23
• Next Steps – page 27

Go ahead and download your free copy below:

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

 

Download your Free Kindle Training today!

Continue reading »]]> When I mention to people that I wrote and published 7 books in 2012, people are always curious about how to write a book. Honestly, it’s not that hard, and in this post I am going to give you step-by-step instructions on how to write a book. I promise, you can do this!

Before I get into how to write a book, let me ask you a question that I always ask my workshop participants. I ask them, Why do you want to write a book? Here are some of the answers I typically get:

• To make money
• To feel successful
• To feel a sense of accomplishment
• To teach others

And here are some reasons you may not have thought about:

• To give away as a lead generation tool to potential clients
• To pre-sell prospects
• To establish myself as an expert in my industry
• To share a big bold message with the world!

How to write a book

In this post on how to write a book, I am going to focus on non-fiction books, because those are what I have been writing and selling online. “How to” books are great sellers because everyone wants a solution to a problem these days. They go to Google to find free resources on how to solve their problem, but they go to Amazon to BUY a book that will solve their problem.

How to Write a Book – Step One

So the first step in how to write a book is to choose a subject matter. What are you good at? What are you interested in? What is your profession? Here are some ideas for you to ponder:

If you are a… real estate agent… why not write about: How to Sell Your Home in 30 Days, How to Stage Your Home For a Quick Sale, How to Choose Your Realtor

If you are a… marketing consultant… why not write about: How to Find Your Next 10 Clients Using Free Marketing Techniques… Top 10 Online Marketing Resources… What You Don’t Know About Marketing is Hurting Your Business

If you are a… Daycare Owner… why not write about: 5 Steps to Choosing the Right Daycare…. How to Start a Daycare Business… How to Market Your Daycare Business

… You get the idea. The first step in how to write your book is to pick a solution to a problem. You want your readers to appreciate your advice and you want to solve their most pressing problem. What keeps them up at night? Solve that and you’ll have a winner.

How to write a book – Step Two

Now that you know what to write about, you need to create an outline that makes sense. Readers do not like to read a book that is not logical, it’s subconsciously stressful to read a book that jumps around from idea to idea and is an endless blather of weird musings. Here’s how to write your outline:

1. Introduction – state their problem (the thing that is keeping them up a night)
2. Introduce your solution to the problem and how much better their life (or career) will be after they solve their problem.
3. Solve the problem in 5 – 7 steps
4. Step 1
   1. Expand on this step with 3 points.
5. Step 2
   1. Expand on this step with 3 points.
6. Step 3
   1. Expand on this step with 3 points.
7. Step 4
   1. Expand on this step with 3 points.
8. Step 5
   1. Expand on this step with 3 points.
9. Conclusion. State what the problem was, and the 5-7 steps that it took to solve the problem.

I bet you didn’t think that learning how to write a book would be that easy!!?? Honestly, this is exactly how to write a book. You can do it in ONE WEEK my friend. The first 3 or 4 books I wrote were written at night after I put my kids to bed. I would write from about 9 o’clock until midnight every night. Yes, it was exhausting but as a working mother of three I’m tired anyways!

The length of the book doesn’t matter and here’s why: If people are looking for a solution to a problem, do you think they want to spend hours and hours reading a long book, or would they prefer just getting to the meat of it and solving their problem as fast as possible?

The first step is writing your book. Get started writing your book, even if you just do a little at a time. As they say, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” I can’t tell you how many people call me and ask about my publishing services before they have even written a book. I always ask them, “Is your book finished?” And they say, “No….” Don’t put the cart before the horse. Do not worry about marketing it – that’s easy! – just get your book written. Once you start writing, you will be amazed at how it all flows. I give advice all day about how to write a book but guess what? It’s only the action takers that succeed. Lots of people can learn about how to write a book but how many of you will take action and actually start writing? I hope it’s YOU!

Final Pointers on How to write a book

I encourage you to take what I have shared above and think of a topic you can write about. What sort of questions do you hear from your clients? What sort of problems do they have? What would make their life easier? Choose your topic and then take 20 or 30 minutes to write your outline. Then start fleshing it out by writing three supporting points under each main point. By the time you start writing, it practically writes itself!

I hope this has been helpful learning about how to write a book. Please leave a comment or question below and let me know if I can be of help to you.

Continue reading »]]> How to Use an Elevator Pitch Template to Write Your Elevator Pitch

So you can Immediately Separate Yourself From Your Competitors

Why would you need an elevator pitch template? Well, imagine that you are in an elevator and the person next to you asks, “So what do you do?” You have exactly 10-30 seconds to position yourself as someone they should do business with. What do you say?   Do you freeze?   Do you use as few words as possible?   Do you use the one noun associated with what you do? (I.e. teacher, realtor, nurse…)  

It happens to all of us. We are given an opportunity to introduce ourselves at a function and we freeze or we just blurt out something that we think will sound great but turns out sounding silly or, even worse, rude. Don’t let yourself lose an opportunity for new business just because you are not prepared.  

Using an elevator pitch template can help you create a 10-30 Second Elevator Pitch that will immediately differentiate you from your competitors and make you the logical choice to do business with. Let the real you shine!   This free elevator pitch template will help you create a compelling message that forms the core message for all your future marketing and advertising.   So, the next time someone asks you, “So… what do you do?” using the elevator pitch template below, you’ll easily be able to paint a clear picture for them.  

Using the Elevator Pitch Template

A young realtor once established herself quickly in her career by avoiding saying, “I sell houses.” Instead, she said, “I sell homes in 30 days or less or I work for free.” Do you think she got attention? And tons of listings? You bet. Take a look at the Elevator Pitch Template below and let me know what you come up with.

 Now it’s your turn to use the elevator pitch template to design your very own elevator pitch to separate yourself from your competitors. You want to stand out right? Help people remember who you are when they ask, "So, what do you do?"

Continue reading »]]> If you have been reading my articles for any length of time, you will know that I am a big fan of follow-ups.

A “follow-up” is simply an email you send to a customer once they’ve purchased something from you. It’s an excellent way to stay in touch with your best leads; that is,  the people who have already bought something from you. It’s also a great way to generate more sales!

But your success with follow-ups depends on how you present your offer. If you do it the wrong way, you run the risk of having your email come across as more of a cheesy sales message.

Today I’d like to give you my top five tips on how to create follow-up offers that are sure to generate sales without ever making your customers feel like all you want to do is make more money off them.

Follow-Up Tip 1: Start with a Mention of Their Recent Purchase

A good way to make sure your customers read your follow-up – instead of dismissing it as just another commercial message – is to start it off by referencing the purchase they recently made. This reminds them of the relationship they have with you and shows them you have an important reason to be getting back in touch with them.
I would recommend you include mention of their recent purchase right in the subject line and say something like:
How Are You Enjoying Your [ENTER PRODUCT/SERVICE NAME]?

Or, if you recently delivered a service such as massage to your customer, you can use a subject line like:
How have you been feeling since your massage?

By asking them a question that refers to their previous purchase, they will be far more likely to open your email and read your message.

Follow-Up Tip 2: Keep it Personal
Make sure you use your customer’s name in the body of the email. You already have an existing relationship with this person and should acknowledge that fact. Also be sure to use your own name in the email, both in the “From” line and in your sign-off.

People prefer to conduct business with other people, not companies, so if your emails are sent from a real person instead of “info@yourcompanyname.com” and you sign the emails as coming from you instead of a company “team” you will deepen the sense of personal connection your customer has with you.

Follow-Up Tip 3: Show Genuine Interest in Them
Your customers should feel like the whole reason you’re emailing them is to make sure they’re getting the best possible results with their previous purchase. Ask them how they’re enjoying their product and if there’s anything you can do to increase their enjoyment in any way.

If they email you back with their feedback, make sure you respond whether the feedback is positive or negative. Don’t be afraid of complaints – they’re not a bad thing. They provide you with an opportunity to address a dissatisfied buyer’s issues and retain him or her as a customer.  They might even give you some good ideas on how you can improve your product or service – and that kind of information is invaluable.

Follow-Up Tip 4: Make Sure Your Offer Relates to Their Previous Purchase
Once you have asked your customers how they’re doing with their previous purchase, it’s time to present your offer to them. Now, this one is important: Make sure your offer closely relates to the product or service they bought from you.

For example, if your customer just bought a sewing machine from you, a great follow-up offer would be for one of the many software programs they can use to upgrade their machine’s functionality. Or, if you offer classes at your shop that teach people how use their machine’s built-in advanced features, these would also make a great follow-up. Both of these offers help your customers get better use out of their new machine and so they’re bound to be very appealing.

Follow-Up Tip 5: Give Them an Exclusive Discount
A great way to make your follow-ups even more compelling is to offer your customers a generous discount on their next purchase. And why not… if they bought something from you then you should reward them for that and a discount is a great way to say “thank you.”

By offering your customers a nice discount, you also increase the chance they’ll take you up on your follow-up – and a customer who buys from you twice is far more likely to become a lifelong loyal customer. These are the people you should treasure because they will end up being responsible for 80% of your sales.

Plus, they’ll also become great word-of-mouth promoters for your business – and that’s the best advertising you could possibly hope for!

Take Care of Your Best Customers, and They’ll Take Care of You…

So those are my top five tips on how to grow your sales with compelling follow-ups. Remember, if your message is authentic and keeps your customers’ best interests in mind, and if your offer closely relates to their previous purchase and helps them get even better use out of it, then many of your customers will happily take you up on your offer.

In fact, I find that whenever I present my customers with a valuable and relevant follow-up offer, 30 percent jump at the chance to take me up on it! That’s an incredible conversion rate and shows you how powerful follow-ups can be.

Continue reading »]]> The other day I sat down with a local business owner who wanted me to teach her basic Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

It was a great opportunity to find what she didn’t know! You know how sometimes it seems like what you know is very basic and everyone else knows it too?

I decided right then and there to offer a very low cost workshop in my hometown so that other local business owners could learn a thing or two about getting themselves indexed (and found!) on Google. We also talked a lot about how to get traffic to your site. Most local business owners have nice looking sites but they don’t get much traffic at all. Often they are not aware of which keywords people are using to find what they offer, or they are using keywords that only 3 people a year actually use in their searches. Stay tuned to workshop details or shoot me an email if you’re keen to learn this stuff.

Another thing that really struck me was when I told her, “Do this, then do this, then do this” and she eventually said, “Wow Suzanne! That’s a LOT of work!” Now, don’t get me wrong, she is a very hard worker I’m sure, but when you are first learning this stuff it does seem like a lot to do and can feel overwhelming.

That’s when I told her about outsourcing. Most people think this means you have to be making $100k a year so you can hire someone as your assistant at $30k a year. But there are others ways of going about it so don’t worry.

I’m going to let you in on a few secrets today. Actually these are things that I thought everyone already knew but my new friend  obviously didn’t so if this is all new for you too, I’m happy to share with you.

One of the best sites to use for small jobs is called www.fiverr.com. Essentially, people post what they are willing to do for $5. Some of the jobs are totally ridiculous (such as, “I will dance to an entire song of your choice wearing a hot dog costume”) but I have had some great work done for me. Usually when I find myself fiddling around with editing or formatting a document, I’ll outsource it to someone on fiverr.

You can get articles written for you, articles made into videos, banners or logos made, and so much more. Here is an example of one of the jobs I had done. If you know me, then you know I have several businesses, right? One of them is a marketing e-learning site called www.theRevenueRamp.com and I had someone brilliant make me a YouTube background for my channel and it’s gorgeous! You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/user/suzannedoyleingram.

The other day I was getting really frustrated trying to sync an audio file to a powerpoint presentation. I took a deep breath, went on fiverr, and hired someone to do it for me. He did it in one day (saving it as a mp4 file for me), he worked 4.5 hours and yes, the fee was a measly $5. He did a great job too! I will definitely be using him again.

Here’s how to find someone good. On the fiverr homepage, you’ll see a search box on the right hand side. You can search for whatever you need, such as “write keyword rich article” (I’ve had 50+ articles written – yes I do have to rewrite them a bit but it’s faster than starting from scratch) or “make a banner” or “fix php code” and just wait a minute to see the results.

Each job is called a “gig” and when you click on the gig, you will see a brief description and right under that, you’ll see the country they’re from, the average delivery time and how many reviews they’ve had. For example, if someone has 200 “thumbs up” and 3 “thumbs down” this would seem acceptable to me. I generally don’t hire anyone who has had no reviews or very few.

Once I hired someone and after three days they hadn’t delivered and fiverr just automatically refunded my money. It was actually quite funny because I usually have so much going on with my businesses I had forgotten all about it and just assumed (bad me) that it had been taken care of. That’s another reason I like fiverr.

I am a huge fan of fiverr. I always say, If you can get someone else to do it faster, cheaper or better than you, then do it. You can concentrate  on your income generating activities or better yet, take the rest of the day off!

Continue reading »]]> Like many of the clients I’ve recently spoken to, you may be planning big changes to your website and online marketing efforts. That’s great!

But you don’t want to overhaul your entire online presence just for the heck of it… all of the changes you make should be done with only one purpose in mind: to convert more of your visitors into customers.

And in order to make sure you accomplish this goal, you need to test every change you implement in order to make sure each one has a positive impact on your bottom line.

Here are five important testing tips to help you do this…

1. Make Sure You’re Tracking These Two Important Numbers

To accurately gauge your website performance, you need to know TWO main numbers for any given time period:

• The number of visitors you get
• The number of sales you make

These two numbers tell you what the conversion rate for your website is, so you can work on growing that number. It also tells you exactly how many visitors you need to attract to your site in order to make a sale.

Here’s what I mean…

Let’s say you got 200 visitors to your site in one day and you made 10 sales. Divide the number of visitors by the number of sales to get your sales conversion rate: 200/10 = 20.

For every 20 visitors you got that day, you made 1 sale. (Expressed as a percentage, this means your conversion rate was 5%, as 1/20 = 0.05)

If that conversion rate remains steady, then you can expect to make one sale for every 20 visitors. If you get 100 visitors, you’ll make 5 sales. If you get 1000 visitors, you should make 50 sales.

This is pretty simple math, but the information you get is incredibly powerful.

It helps you understand how well your website is doing its job of converting visitors into customers. If that conversion rate goes down, it could mean there’s a problem with your website — and you should do a thorough examination of it to see what’s causing your sales to dip.

If, on the other hand, you see a sudden spike in sales, you should try to determine why more visitors are suddenly buying your products — so you can repeat this success again in the future.

2. Test Only ONE thing at a time

This is the best way to discover which change is causing which result. For example, maybe you want to increase the number of people who opt into your mailing list on your website. There are many different things you could test to get higher results. You could…

• Change the wording of your opt-in offer
• Change the offer itself (e.g., give away a free report instead of just a subscription to your newsletter)
• You could change the design of your opt-in box
• You could move your opt-in form to a different location on your site

… Any one of these changes is bound to make an impact on your opt-in conversions. But if you make all of the changes at once there’s no way for you to know which change is having the most powerful impact on your opt-in numbers. And if any of these changes is actually having a negative impact, there’s no way for you to know.

3. Focus on the most lucrative elements FIRST

If your site sells more than one product or service, then focus on improving the sales process for the most profitable products or services FIRST – and then move on to address the ones that aren’t selling as well. Studies show that you always get better results if you work to improve what’s already working well than if you focus all your efforts on the weaker elements of your website.

For example, if you are seeing great results on a landing page for a particular product, focusing on growing those results before you work on changing your homepage copy.

4. Think in Terms of Percentages, Not Whole Numbers

For example, instead of thinking, “Hey, I made 20 sales last week!” — think, “Hey, I made 20 sales per 1000 visitors last week!”

Knowing you made 20 sales is nice — but it doesn’t tell you much by itself.

However, if you know you made 20 sales per 1000 visitors, you know your conversion rate is 2%. (In other words, 2% of all your visitors last week bought something from you.) If that was a regular week for you, then going forward you can expect that 2% of all your customers will probably buy something.

This information is ESSENTIAL if you want to be able to forecast how much revenue you’re going to make in a given time period. (Simply look at how much traffic you’re getting, and multiply by 2%)

This number also gives you a baseline you can refer back to when testing different elements of your web site in order to grow your revenue.

For example: imagine if you changed the headline of your sales page this morning — and you ended up making 20 sales, just like you did yesterday. Does that mean that the change to your headline had no effect on your sales numbers?

Not necessarily.

Maybe something’s happening with Google right now and you only got 100 visitors to your site today, instead of 1000. That means your conversion rate today is actually 20% — which is HUGE! That means 1 in every 5 people is taking action on your site.

… Wow. Can you write MY headline?

However, if a situation like this ever occurs, you should put in the effort to discover why you only got 100 visitors to your site that day. Once you bring that number back up to 1000, then if your conversion rate stays the same, you’ll be making 200 sales a day. Sweet!

5. Track your conversions by SOURCE

In order to get the best possible website results, you’ve got to know where your best-converting visitors are coming from.

For example, are your most qualified visitors coming from Google Adwords ads? Are they coming from Google’s organic results? Maybe they’re coming from Facebook or maybe your email marketing efforts are driving the most targeted traffic to your site.

This information will help you identify your most lucrative traffic streams so you can focus your efforts there and work on growing those high-converting traffic numbers even bigger.

I hope you found this information helpful! If you are planning to make any big changes to your online marketing efforts, let me know if you need my assistance or advice. I’m happy to help in any way I can.

To your success!

Suzanne Doyle-Ingram

Continue reading »]]> If you do much shopping or surfing online, you’ve probably noticed how many websites feature video these days.  Many companies have turned to video as their primary online conversion tool, using short or long video messages to introduce themselves, encourage their visitors download a giveaway, and even sell their products and services.

And the ones who know how to use video the right way are seeing their revenues skyrocket!

Today we’re going to look at how you can easily add a video message to your site that will increase your conversions and sales. But first, let’s take a moment to consider WHY it’s so important for you to get video on your site, sooner as opposed to later…

Video Can Have a Huge Impact on Your Bottom Line

Video allows you to present a more compelling message to your audience.  Most people retain information better when it appeals to more than one sense. Some people are better at remembering information they’ve read, while others find it easier to remember information based on the visuals they see or the words they hear. So when you present your message in a way that appeals to all these senses, you’ll get better results.

How much better, you ask? Check out these stats from Borrell & Associates:

Adding video to a sales website or small business profile…

• Increases the number of profile views by more than 100%

• Increases the number of profile clicks more than 30%

• Increases the number of visits to advertiser website by 55%

• Increases visits to an offline store by 30%

• Increases sales by 24%

… With stats like these, why would you NOT want to add video to your site?The fact is, more people are starting to expect video on websites. With the majority of Internet users on high-speed access these days, bandwidth restrictions have become a thing of the past. People are used to watching videos on YouTube, or clicking on video links on Facebook or their favorite blogs or news sites. For many web surfers, it’s the fastest and most convenient way to get the information they’re looking for.

So if you want to make sure your site does the best possible job of generating great sales, then using video on your website and your business profile on sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn is something I encourage you to test vigorously.

Adding Video is Easier Than You’d Think

The great thing about creating video for the Web is, pretty much anyone can do it if you’ve got the right tools. And some of the tools you can use are cheap or even free! You certainly don’t need to be Kathryn Bigelow or Sophia Coppola to create a video that generates great results. You don’t even need to appear on camera or use any graphics, if you don’t want to.

In fact, I’ve seen cutting-edge Internet marketing companies get ridiculously good results with videos that are little more than a PowerPoint presentation of their main talking points with a voiceover. And that’s something you can create simply by using Windows MovieMaker (which you should have on your computer, if you have a PC) or iMovie for the Mac. The one I use is called VideoPad VideoEditor Professional, by NCH.

We’ll take a closer look at how to record your video in a moment, but first, let’s take a moment to consider your video script…

Make Sure Your Video Message Follows Proven Sales Principles

As marketing genius John Carlton points out, “A sucky sales message in a video will still get you sucky results.”

In other words, if you want to see great results with your video, you shouldn’t just hit the “record” button and start winging it! You still have to follow the same basic sales principles you use with your website copy.

Here are the 10 essential selling goals your video should achieve…

1.      Open with an attention-grabbing salutation – Make sure you capture people’s interest right away so they keep watching to see what you’re going to share with them.

2.      Relate to your audience — Let your visitors know that you understand where they’re coming from and can relate to the problem they’re trying to solve.

3.      Promise a solution – Tell them that if they keep watching, they will discover a solution that will deal with the problem and improve their lives in some significant fashion.

4.      Give them incentive to keep watching – Explain that the video is exclusive and won’t be around for long, so if they don’t listen to it now they might lose out on the opportunity forever.

5.      Describe the problem in detail – Talk about the problem at length and describe the negative impact the problem is having on their lives.

6.      Present the solution — Here is where you introduce your product, service, or free opt-in. Describe its features and benefits (with heavy emphasis on the benefits) and explain how it will make your visitors lives better.

7.      Establish credibility – Offer proof that your product really works. Concrete test results or testimonials from satisfied customers are great for this.

8.      Offer an iron-clad guarantee – If you’re asking them to make a purchase, eliminate the risk by telling them that if they don’t like it, they can get a full, no-questions-asked refund within a specified amount of time.

9.      Build urgency — Tell them the offer is available only for a limited time or that there are only so many copies available, so they need to ACT NOW.

10.   Include an irresistible call to action — This one’s the kicker. Once you have presented your offer as something they can’t live without, hit them with a bold and clearly stated call to action. Use a phrase that appeals strongly to their emotions and logic and then tell them exactly what they need to do to satisfy their need.

Make Sure Your Video Sounds as Natural as Possible

No matter whether your video features you speaking in front of a camera, or if it’s a voiceover with bullet points and graphics, it still needs to sound natural. No one will listen to what you have to say if it sounds awkward or obvious that you’re reading words off a paper.

As much as possible, write your script so that it sounds like natural speech. Here are some tips to help you do that:

• Write in short, snappy sentences
• Use sentence fragments starting with “and,” “but,” “or,” and “because” — because that’s the way people actually speak
• Refrain from using high-level vocabulary that you’d never use when speaking to a friend
• Read it aloud, and shorten and fix any sentences that you find yourself stumbling over

How Long Should Your Video Be?

The length of your video depends on what you’re selling, what the price point is, and who your audience is.

For example, if you’re giving away a free eBook, you might find that a 2-3 minute video is all you need.  But if you’re selling an expensive product or service, your video might need to be anywhere from 12 to 24 minutes long.

I suggest you aim to make it as long as it needs to be — and no longer. As long as you hit all of the ten selling points listed above and state them as powerfully and clearly as possible, that should be all you need.

Once you have a script you’re happy with, it’s time to move on to the next step…

Record Your Video

There are many free video recording and editing software programs out there that you can use to make quality recording for your video. One of the most popular tools out there is Camtasia. It’s pretty simple to use. If you can learn your way around a program like Word, then you’ll be able to figure out Camtasia no problem. And the great news is, there are lots of “how-to” video tutorials that show you how to use the software to create all sorts of cool videos.

The only problem is, Camtasia carries a pretty steep $299 price tag. And if you’re watching your budget, that might make you hesitate.

The good news, there are free tools out there that you can also use. CamStudio is a popular open source alternative to Camtasia. It doesn’t offer as much functionality as Camtasia does, and there’s a slightly steeper learning curve associated with it.

Zing is another  free video software package I’ve heard good things about . The only thing is, apparently you can’t use it to make videos longer than five minutes. I haven’t checked it out myself but you might want to.

Video is the Future—So Why Wait?

The fact is, Internet users are becoming more sophisticated in their expectations, and many would prefer to watch a video than skim through a bunch of text. In order to grow your sales, you need to deliver the information to your audience in the format they like best.

So if you haven’t already considered using video as a primary sales tool, now’s the time to look into it. Many small businesses haven’t explored the full potential of video, so if you act now you could get the edge on your competitors and make a more lasting impression on your audience.

Continue reading »]]> It was Mother’s Day and we were enjoying lunch in Bucerias, Mexico at a little restaurant right on the beach. I mean, literally, a thatched umbrella (called a palapa) overhead and our toes in the sand. Our kids Hana, Alexa and Trey were eating the freshest, most delicious fish and chips I have ever tasted and James and I were munching on prawn tacos. They were sweet and juicy and paired with cilantro mayonnaise – delicious!

As you may know, when you’re sitting on a beach in Mexico, many vendors come along and try to sell you their jewelry, handicrafts, hats, hammocks and even fresh mangoes or prawns on a stick!

Most of the time, you end up saying, “No gracias (no thanks)” over and over again. This is what I was mentally prepared to say when I saw a heavyset Mexican man approaching us. I noticed his many gold chains around his hairy neck and his dashing outfit of a white undershirt and khaki cargo shorts.

Imagine my surprise when he approaches our table and says, “Massage?”

This is the last person on earth I would expect to be selling massages. He really and truly looked more like a mechanic or a timeshare salesman than a masseuse. So obviously we said, “No gracias” immediately. He persisted. “No gracias” again we answered. If I had known how to say, “No chance on earth buddy” I would have, but my Spanish is very limited.

So here’s the funniest thing: He suddenly says, “I’ll give you a free sample!” and before I know it, he has spread cream on my back and is massaging my shoulders.

Woah!

OK, how do I get rid of this guy? I’m thinking…. But, hey, wait a minute… This is… ahhhh… this feels really good….

Well… a little free sample wouldn’t hurt right….? Keep going, keep going, I’m silently screaming inside my head.

So after a few minutes when he says, “It’s $17 for a 30 minute chair massage or $30 for a one hour table massage right here on the lounge chair,” I was already sold.

My husband says “It’s Mother’s Day! Of course she wants a massage!”

The point of this story is to remind you of the power of samples or free trials. They really work! If your potential customer does not know you or what kind of service you offer, the best way to introduce yourself to them is with a free sample of your work. Whether it’s a muffin, a  massage or a free 30 minute consultation, free samples really work! Give it a try in your business today and let me know how it goes.

Happy selling!

Continue reading »]]> The Internet is one of the best tools out there for growing your small business. But so much of your online success depends on your ability to grow a large and responsive subscriber list.

After all, your subscribers are the people who have come to your website or Facebook page and decided they’re interested enough in what you offer to sign up for regular email updates from your company. These are the people who are most likely to become your best customers!

But in order to capture their contact information and build a strong relationship with them, you need to have an opt-in form on your site that asks for their name and email address. And how you position your opt-in is going to make a huge difference in how fast you’re able to grow your subscriber list.

Today I’d like to share five tips to help you get the best results with your opt-in form. Let’s get started!

Tip #1: Make Sure Your Opt-in is Above the Fold

“Above the fold” means the top area of your website that’s visible to visitors without scrolling down. This is the most important real estate on your site as it’s what helps your visitors decide if they want to stay and explore what you have to offer.

Scroll up to the top of this page so you can see what my First Fold looks like. I was going to paste a picture of it here but, heck, you’re already on the page. LOL

A popular place to put your opt-in form is in the upper right corner, where you can see mine is. This is one of the first places your eye looks when you arrive at a site and so it can be a great place to present your visitors with a compelling offer.

The one thing you should remember is that your offer really should be compelling. Don’t just ask your visitors to sign up for your newsletter…  (that’s so 1990′s..!) pretty much every single site out there has a newsletter opt-in these days, and people aren’t going to sign up for yours unless you offer something that people really want and can’t easily find anywhere else.

Tip #2: Include Your Opt-in on Every Page on Your Site

It’s not just enough to include your opt-in on your homepage — you should strive to include an opt-in form on every single page of your site.

Many of your visitors won’t be accessing your site through your homepage – they might come from the search engines and land on one of your interior pages or click through one of your Facebook updates to land on an article on your blog, for example. You want to make sure that they are greeted with an opt-in no matter which page they use to enter your site.

An easy way to do this is to put your opt-in in the right sidebar and make sure that same opt-in appears on every page. But you might also want to place your opt-ins in different areas of the page, depending on what that page’s content is.

For example, if you own an art gallery and you  write a blog post about an upcoming show at the gallery, a natural way to grow your list would be to include an opt-in form encouraging people to sign up for regular updates on future shows. After all, visitors who read to the end of the article are probably interested in your art shows and there is a strong chance they’ll sign up to receive your updates.

And of course, make sure you include opt-ins on your “About Us” and “Contact Us” pages as well.

Tip #3: Include Your Opt-in Form on your Facebook Page

If you’re using Facebook to extend your brand reach and grow community around your business (and if you’re not, you should be), then make sure you get an opt-in on your Facebook Page at the earliest opportunity.

The thing is, Facebook isn’t a great tool for getting people to buy something. Most Facebook users simply aren’t in a buying mood and aren’t very likely to click on one of your links and go to your site to make a purchase.

… But they are very receptive to free giveaways, so if you’ve got something to offer them then make sure you include an opt-in on your page and present your Facebook friends and visitors with a compelling reason to sign up for it.

Here’s what my Facebook opt-in looks like…

By the way, if you haven’t already joined me on facebook, please do! Go to my page and click Like, then every time I post something new, you’ll see it on your wall.

Tip #4: Include Your Opt-in Form in a Pop-Up Window

Now, this is one of the more controversial pieces of advice you’ll ever get from me… A lot of people don’t like those pop-up windows that appear when you first arrive or are leaving a site. Yes, I know, they can seem intrusive.

… But you know what? They really work.

In fact, I recently added a pop-up to my site and my opt-in numbers jumped dramatically!

Here’s what my pop-up looks like:

The trick to pop-up success is to make sure you offer something of real value – and to set your pop-up to appear only on a person’s first visit to your site, or only once every seven days (which is what I have mine set as). I also programmed it to pop-up after 15 seconds but you can also make it pop-up when someone exits your site. If the pop-up comes on every time they’re on your site and they have to click through the pop-up every time to get to your content, your visitors will get fed up and won’t want to come back to your site.

If however, your offer is valuable and directly relates to the needs and wants of your visitors, your pop-up will give your subscription numbers a huge boost.

For example, let’s say you sell handcrafted jewelry on your site. You set up a pop-up to appear when people click away from your site. Because they’re clicking away without making a purchase, they’re obviously not in buying mode. But if you present them with the chance to enter to win one of your signature pieces, chances are good they’ll jump at it.

One thing to note is that the plug-in “Pop Up Domination,” which I use on my site and many other people recommend, only allows you to have one pop-up on your site at a time. So you cannot have different pop-ups on different pages, which I think would be fantastic so you could truly customize your visitor’s experience. They said they’re working on it

Tip #5: Present Multiple Offers to Your Visitors

Not everyone is going to get excited about the same offer, so make sure you present a variety of different opt-in offers throughout your site.

For example, if you own a local pet shop, you’ll want to put opt-ins that appeal to different kinds of pet owners. On the “dog products” page, you’ll want to have an opt-in that speaks specifically to dog owners, on your “cat products” page, you’ll want an opt-in that speaks specifically to cat owners, on your “fish products” page you’ll want an opt-in that speaks to fish owners, and so on.

Also experiment with different types of opt-in offers to see which holds the most appeal. For example, on some of your pages, have your free newsletter subscription be your opt-in, while on other pages, give away a free eBook, course, or report. If one particular type of offer greatly out-performs the rest, consider rolling this offer out to all of your pages.

Putting an Opt-in On Your Site is Inexpensive and Easy

A lot of business owners are nervous about putting an opt-in on their site because they don’t think they have the technical expertise to do so.

The fact is, putting an opt-in form on your site is a fairly simple job. If you’re willing to pay your designer to do it, it shouldn’t cost you more than $150 max (and in fact will probably be much less than that, especially if you’ve already signed up with a mailing service such as Constant Contact, MailChimp,  or AWeber).

Depending on which mailing service you decide to use, the process will vary slightly. You’ll have to sign into your mailing service account and look for a link that says something like, “Create Signup Form” or “Design Signup Form.” It should be in the “Getting Started” section of the site. For Aweber, you should “Create a New List” first and then you can create a new form. I know that AWeber has free webinars on “Getting Started” but if you can’t easily find how to do it with another provider, then simply do a search for the term “opt-in form” on your email service’s website or contact their customer service support staff for assistance.

Once you get to the right place, it should be fairly easy for you to “point and click” your way through the form creation process.” Once you’re done, you’ll be given the HTML code you need to put on your site. Copy it and paste it into Notepad.

Even if you know just a smattering of HTML or CSS, you shouldn’t find this step too difficult. Paste the HTML onto the page where you want it to go. (Or ask your web designer to do it for you). If you’re doing it yourself and if you’re having problems, you could also go to your mailing service provider and ask for help. One of their customer service support staff should be happy to answer your questions.

… And that’s it! Once you have put the HTML in the right place on your site (e.g., the top of the right sidebar, or in the middle of the page, or in your footer, depending on the page and content), you’re ready to go.

The Sooner You Act, the Sooner You Will Profit

Every time someone lands on a page of your website that doesn’t include an opt-in form, you’re leaving money on the table because you’ve just lost a potential lifetime customer.

But when you make sure that every page has an opt-in form—and that each opt-in form is promoting a free offer that’s specifically aligned to the rest of the content on that page—you are bound to see a huge rise in your subscription numbers.

So what are you waiting for? The best time to take action is now!

If you have any questions about the “hows and whys” of putting an opt-in on your site, please post your question on my Facebook wall and I will get back to you. Or, you can leave a comment below. I’m happy to help!

Continue reading »]]> I am always pondering what makes us women entrepreneurs tick and something that Dan Kennedy said the other day really struck me. He said that truly successful people are those who have a burning desire to WIN; they are totally “on fire” with their ambition. Few people are really like this. People ask me all the time, “How do you do it, Suzanne?” and it’s simply because I love my work and I am ridiculously ambitious.

True entrepreneurs think about work pretty much all the time. Yes, even when we’re with our kids. (Oooh did I say that out loud?) I think about inventing new products, creating new solutions, and ways to market them all the time – I did so, even while braiding my daughter’s hair this morning!

If you don’t have a burning desire to win, your business will not see the sky-high results you claim that you want. The truth is, sometimes we are afraid to really Go For It, and I can understand that. Really, I can. We are afraid to try and fail. We don’t know where to start. Or we hate the thought of rejection. When we are surrounded by people who support our dreams and our ambition, it makes it 1000% easier to get to where we want to go.

When we have husbands or partners who we rely on to make slight changes to our website, or install something on our computer, it drives us crazy because we find ourselves nagging at them to get it done NOW! It paralyzes our success.

But when we are supported by our husbands and partners, and we can either do the technical stuff ourselves or we have someone we can rely on to do it quickly, then we are in a much better position for success.

Here’s a way to know for sure whether you are truly supported in your dream, and it’s a simple question I have for you:

When was the last time someone allowed you – encouraged you – to PLAY BIG?

I mean REALLY big.

I want you to recall how much money you made last year. Got it? OK, now add a zero to the end of it. If you made $30,000, your new number is $300,000. If you made $70,000, your new number is $700,000. Do YOU think this is possible to make this much money? Do the people around you think you’re nuts to want something so badly?

Question who exactly is holding you back. Are you holding yourself back or are the people around you constantly telling you that it’s never going to work, or that $30,000 is “ample”.

I believe that you can do this. I believe that you can have anything you set your mind to. It has happened for me and it WILL happen for you. You must have a burning desire to make it happen and at least one person who completely believes in you. I can teach you everything else, but I can’t give you that ambition. No one’s going to throw a bucket of money at you.

If no one around you believes in you, or they pooh-pooh your dreams, remember this: I believe in you!

So now I would like to ask you to leave a comment below and answer two questions:

When was the last time someone allowed you to play big and truly supported your dreams?

And who was that person?