Online Marketing Success Magazine - March/April 2015

onlinemarketing SUCCESSMagazine

3 OUTRAGEOUS

VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2 MAR/APR 2015

LIST-BUILDING TECHNIQUES

By Pam Ivey

STOP DOING THINGS

That Don’t Advance Your Marketing Goals

By Linda Lopeke

BEYOND PAGE VIEWS: The Most Important Metrics for Your Online Business

By Stephanie Watson

INTERVIEW WITH America’s Reinvention Expert and NY Times Best-Seller

STEVE OLSHER INSIDE THIS ISSUE

5+1 STEPS TO CREATE OR REIGNITE YOUR PERSONAL BRAND!

By Anastasia Valentine

onlinemarketing SUCCESSMagazine VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2

4 Digital Addiction

Website or Sales Page

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Personal Brand!

By Anastasia Valentine

9 OMMC Grad Spotlight: Meredith Eisenberg

Kate Smith kate@omsmagazine.com

By Pam Ivey

6 5+1 Steps to Create or Reignite Your

Pam Ivey pamivey@omsmagazine.com

So Many I Wants, Too Few Fingers!

Gadgets To Make You Drool

5 How to Create a High Converting

ISBN: 978-0-9812585-1-5

PUBLISHING EDITOR

Volume 3, Issue 2 March/April 2015

CONTENTS

10 Stop Doing Things That Don’t Advance Your Marketing Goals

ART DIRECTOR Mary Greenlees art@coloursomethingcreative.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Tina Forsyth, Pam Ivey, Linda Lopeke, Max Maccari, Lisa Manyon, Miriam Slozberg, Kate Smith, Anastasia Valentine, Stephanie Watson, Dana Wilde

ADVERTISING SALES advertising@omsmagazine.com Online Marketing Success Magazine is published 6 times per year in digital format by the International Association of Online Marketing Managers.

HOW TO REACH US Letters to the Online Marketing Success Magazine can be emailed to editor@omsmagazine.com, or mailed to Online Marketing Success Magazine, 24 Kelley Crescent, Wasaga Beach, ON L9Z 1J3 Canada

Follow OMS Magazine on Facebook: www.facebook.com/onlinemarketingmanagermagazine

By Linda Lopeke

12 3 Outrageous List-Building Techniques

By Pam Ivey

13 The 3 Reasons to Not Worry About Your Klout Score

By Miriam Slozberg

15 Have You Outgrown Your Mentor?

By Lisa Manyon

17 Beyond Page Views: The Most Important Metrics for Your Online Business

By Stephanie Watson

19 What Business Are You (Really) In?

By Max Maccari

21

INTERVIEW WITH

AMERICA’S REINVENTION EXPERT AND NY TIMES BEST-SELLER

STEVE OLSHER

BY KATE SMITH

25 Why You DO Get What You Think About: 4 Steps To Getting Better Outcomes

32

By Dana Wilde

Do You Have a Captivating

27 5 Tips for Engaging Website Calls-To-Action

By Pam Ivey

28 Leading, Managing or Doing: Where Are You Spending Your Time?

By Tina Forsyth

30 4 Ways Branding Your Company Helps You Stand Out In A Crowd

By Pam Ivey

31 Best Metrics to Gauge Social Media Effectiveness

By Pam Ivey

BY PAM IVEY

33 Take Your Business to the Next Level with Infographics

By Pam Ivey

36 Upcoming Events

EDITOR’S NOTE

I

have embarked on a rebrand, which will be revealed soon. I can tell you that it’s not an easy undertaking.

New logo, new website, new directions, new programs, and a whole new formula has been developed to support our clients in seriously up-leveling their businesses.

While it’s been a lot of work, it’s also quite exciting to reinvent yourself and plan your ‘coming out party’. Watch for it and when it comes, I’d love to hear your thoughts…

This issue’s Industry Spotlight interview is with my friend and colleague, Steve Olsher. I learned some really interesting things about Steve in this article and think you’ll find his story and his journey fascinating too.

Marketing tactics and strategies come in and out of trend but it always boils down to these three key ingredients: build your list, launch your products, programs or services, and convert leads to sales. It’s our goal with Online Marketing Success Magazine, to provide you with insight and information to move forward with your business toward those goals.

I hope you enjoy the March/April issue of Online Marketing Success Magazine and pass it along to your friends.

Simply give them the link to get their own subscription at www.omsmagazine.com.

Cheers,

Pam Ivey, Cert SBM,CPREA,CRESS,CMP Founder, International Association of Online Marketing Managers

TECH

DIGITAL ADDICTION

SO MANY I WANTS, TOO FEW FINGERS!

GADGETS TO MAKE YOU DROOL

Logitech Bluetooth Multi-Device Keyboard

Marvel Rechargeable Speakers

($59.99 CAD)

These Marvel Rechargeable Speakers come in a variety of flavors: Captain America, Iron Man, and the Incredible Hulk.

They’re small and portable, and they work with basically any audio device out there. Get just one or get all three and daisychain them together for what can only be called a “super” sound experience.

A new type of keyboard for your computer, that also works with your smartphone or tablet. Just turn the Easy-Switch dial to switch typing between up to three connected Bluetooth wireless devices. Cool! www.logitech.com/product/multi-device-keyboard-k480?wt. mc_id=global_news_k480

PebbleBee ($24.99- $41.99 USD) Enabled with Bluetooth, the PebbleBee tag can be used for tracking everything from your child to your most prized possession so you never lose anything. The tag is paired with the PebbleBee app that gives you an audible alert on your BLE enabled phone when your target surpasses your preset range. http://pebblebee.com/

($19.99 USD)

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/hssm/

Smartphone Power Boost Pen ($49.99 USD)

When you need a little more juice to make that last phone call, uncap the Smartphone Power Boost Pen. This handy device is more than just an elegant writing instrument — it’s a portable backup power source that charges your iPhone, Galaxy, Blackberry or any other Android smartphone. http://www.sharperimage.com/si/view/product/PowerPen/202150?trail=#%22

4 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

OPTIMIZATION

HOW TO CREATE

A HIGH CONVERTING WEBSITE OR SALES PAGE

I

BY PAM IVEY

f you want to have higher conversions it’s important that for every offer you make, whether it’s on your website or a specific sales page that you know your objective, understand your audience, and know how to phrase the words you use to elicit the most emotion from your audience. In addition, you want to avoid confusing your audience by offering fewer choices than more choices.

AVOID GIVING TOO MUCH INFORMATION It might seem contrary to your initial thoughts about marketing, that more choices will mean more sales. But the truth is, studies have been done that show that while more choices cause more people to look at the offerings, they also cause people to be too confused to make a purchase. (http://www.columbia.edu/~ss957/articles/Choice_is_ Demotivating.pdf)

PROVIDE CLEAR CHOICES

You can still offer a lot of choices without pointing them all out for each customer. Using some form of reasoning based on a study of your audience enables you to provide very clear and defined choices for each of your website visitors. You can always promote other products in a follow up to those who have purchased. But, you want to make sure they buy something this first time.

MAKE INTELLIGENT SUGGESTIONS If you do offer a large assortment of merchandise, products or services you can still cut down on what suggestions you give visitors. Use a system that allows them to choose by color, or size, or something else. If you offer services instead

of products, create a survey that they can fill out so you can send them a personalized proposal, thus giving them an option that is truly unique.

REMOVE SIMILAR CHOICES

If many of the choices you offer are very similar, offer them only one of the choices to eliminate your customer from having to see everything you offer at this point. Once they make a purchase you can always follow up with suggestions of other items like the one they already bought.

AVOID OVERWHELM

It might seem great to throw everything you can at a client and hope something sticks, but the truth is “everything but the kitchen sink” marketing doesn’t work as well as being more specific to keep your client from being so overwhelmed that they just click away.

This doesn’t mean you can’t still offer a lot. It just means that you don’t toss it all at the audience at one time.

By offering your customers fewer choices, but more direct and unique choices, you will cut down on overwhelm and help your customers make wise choices for themselves based on their needs and desires instead of feeling confused. When people feel confused, they usually shut down and stop shopping. You want them to be clear on what you’re offering, what problems your offering solves, and what steps they need to take to get this solution. You don’t want them leaving with more questions, and more confused. You can accomplish this by offering a fewer number of clear choices for every offering that you have.

PAM IVEY

is a trainer, speaker and coach, founder of Pam Ivey International, and creator of popular programs like the Online Marketing Manager Certification program, the REVolution Solution, and the Online Marketing REVolution live workshops. She’s the go-to girl when you want to turbo-charge your marketing using the power of the Internet for more visibility, greater authority and to generate more sales for your business. Using her powerful REV Formula™, Pam uncomplicates and demystifies online marketing, providing easy-toimplement strategies and tools for her clients to use right away in their own businesses. Learn more at www.pamivey.com.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 5

BRANDING

5 +1 Steps to Create or Reignite your

B

BY ANASTASIA VALENTINE

uilding a personal brand, it’s not just for celebrities anymore! Whether you are an employee, solopreneur, business leader or just want to establish your professional persona to the world, your personal brand enables you to define or even re-invent how you want to be seen.

Creating a personal brand is an investment in your success. The brand of YOU represents your skills, education, expertise, values, and desires. Think of yourself as a product and building your brand is the first step in marketing that product.

“A personal brand is what people say about you when you leave the room.”

Jeff Bezos, Founder, Amazon.c om

Follow these 5 steps (+ 1 bonus!) to craft a powerful and memorable personal brand to promote your unique identity and value. Each step asks you a series of questions.

Grab a journal or copy and paste the questions below and answer them worksheet style. Answering these questions is the first step in creating (or re-igniting your personal brand)!

#1 | FIND YOUR VOICE • What is your intrinsic value?

• What have people said you do really well? Not sure?

Take a poll!

• What are your key most valuable skills?

• What are 3 key messages you wish to bring to the world?

• What style represents you? (Formal, Casual, Rebellious OR another unique combination?)

Craft your voice so that everything you say, write, and create is in alignment with who you are and the value you provide. Authenticity makes your brand building easier and ensures you don’t need to wear a mask or act like someone else when it is showtime! Be yourself.

ANASTASIA VALENTINE has been bringing ideas to market for global companies, startups and helping small businesses make their ideas reality for over 20 years. She is a passionate ideator, positive instigator, a results and facts driven business strategist and compassionate leader and visionary. Anastasia believes that all business ideas are valuable, but not all are profitable and works with all sizes of organizations to tap into their talent, invest in their culture and even look within themselves for the “next big thing.” As a sought after speaker, Anastasia delivers talks and workshops to organizations and at industry conferences worldwide designed to inspire, motivate and educate. She is the host of the popular weekly @AVV Biz Talk Radio show debunking business myths with a little sass, style, and special guests. Visit Anastasia at www.anastasia-valentine.com 6 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

BRANDING

#2 | DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE

#3 | AMPLIFY YOUR VOICE

• Why would they care about your message?

• What tools/channels can you leverage to reach your audience? (Blog, Vlog, Podcast, Guest Posts/Articles, Speaking Engagements, etc.)

• Who is your ideal audience?

• How would you audience benefit from your expertise?

• Where can your audience find you?

• How do you find them?

• What are the best channels of communication with your audience?

Define your target audience in detail. This goes well beyond basic demographics. The purpose is to create a persona that represents your ideal customer/audience. Remember, you can’t serve who you don’t know and you can’t serve everyone. Being precise in your definition of your target audience enables you to focus and provide a clear vision of your value to who you serve.

• How can you make it convenient for your audience to hear your voice and interact with you?

• Who can help you spread the word? How can you leverage your network?

• Where can you promote yourself to reach your audience? (Online and offline.)

Amplifying your voice doesn’t necessarily mean turning up the volume. It means extending and expanding your reach in ways that will connect you to your perfect audience. Find ways to get to them faster, in a convenient way for them.

CLICK AD TO VIEW WEBSITE

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ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 7

BRANDING

#4 | CREATE YOUR BRAND “PACKAGE”

#5 | GET FEEDBACK & TUNE UP

• What are your top 3 key offerings and/or speaking topics?

• Review your personal brand and ask yourself, is there anything missing?

• What level of online visibility do you need?

• Do you have professional photographs? (Dedicated pro-

• Who in your circle will give you honest and meaningful

fessional photos of you for this business purpose.) If not,

feedback of your personal brand? Choose 3 people who

who can you hire to take great pro level photos of you?

can help you.

• What proof points do you have or can you get to support

• What feedback did you receive? Did you notice

you (testimonials, endorsements, case studies)?

• What is the best way for people to contact you?

any trends?

• Are all of your visual components consistent? (Colors, fonts, language, tone, graphics, and photos.)

• What type of look & feel do you want for your personal brand? (See what you wrote for finding your voice.)

• Create an action plan to take action and adjust

Think of your brand as an extension of you. It is a virtual

your branding.

package of your personal and professional identity

BONUS STEP!

so you want to get it right. Remember that your brand is an investment. Poor quality graphics or photos with family/friends/pets cropped out won’t cut it. You want a PROFESSIONAL first impression. Not sure where to start?

What can you do kick it up a few notches? What help do you need? A speaking coach? A stellar graphic designer?

A mentor? Better technology?

Think of your favorite actor/singer/musician. Review their

Take stock of where you are and where you want to be.

websites and see how they have packaged their personal

Then operate from a position of where you want to be,

brand. Use the ones that resonate with you as inspiration.

rather than where you are.

CLICK AD TO VIEW WEBSITE

CLICK AD TO VIEW WEBSITE

8 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

Q&A

OMMC GRAD SPOTLIGHT

INTERVIEW WITH

CERTIFIED ONLINE MARKETING MANAGER,

MEREDITH EISENBERG

Q: A:

Q: A: Q: A: Q: A:

What made you explore Online Marketing Management as an option for your business?

Before I became a virtual assistant 8 years ago, so I could spend more time with my daughter, I was in public information officer – and designed awardwinning marketing and PR programs for various local government agencies. As I developed as a virtual assistant – it became clear that the biggest value my clients get from my work is in the area of marketing strategy. And, it is the work I love to do.

Q: A: Q: A: Q:

What attracted you to the Online Marketing Manager Certification Program?

A:

I wanted to make sure that my knowledge base of Online Marketing was well-rounded. I also wanted to be part of a network of fellow Online Marketing Managers.

Q:

How do you feel the curriculum prepared you for becoming an OMM?

A:

What was your least favorite?

The Market Motive tests... they are challenging.

But, the information is good.

Have you taken on OMM clients as a result of the program?

Yes. Would you recommend the Online Marketing Manager Certification program to those considering joining?

If you have the time and effort to participate – the program is worth it.

Any other thoughts you’d like to add about the program / your results?

Thank you for an amazing program Pam. I feel more confident in my ability to serve clients effectively because what I learned in the OMMC.

It gave me key systems and processes for managing client work.

What did you like most about the OMMC program?

I loved the templates and checklists. I use them in my business daily.

Follow OMS Magazine on Facebook: www.facebook.com/onlinemarketingmanagermagazine

MEREDITH EISENBERG is the co-founder of the Passionate Entrepreneurs Network and cohost of the Paycheck to Passion podcast. She has been helping business owners create businesses from their passions for over 8 years. She loves seeing ideas come to life! Learn more at http://thelaunchladies.com/.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 9

STRATEGY

STOP DOING THINGS THAT DON’T ADVANCE YOUR MARKETING GOALS

I

f you’re not moving closer to your goals, you’re moving away from them.

The primary reason most businesses owners invest time in social media and online marketing is to support achieving their specific goals and objectives. However, it’s important to take a step back on a regular basis and assess which activities are the most profitable investments and which are consuming a lot of your time and energy (perhaps even money) but not delivering results. That way you can do more of the former and drop the latter because those activities are clearly not moving you closer to your goals.

When you are just starting out with a new business and learning your way around the online world, there’s a risk

BY LINDA M. LOPEKE of feeling like you’re missing out on valuable marketing opportunities if you’re not posting everywhere and trying to capture the interest of everyone. This is a common, fundamental error. Truthfully, you can’t be everything to everyone. However, you can be the best something for someone.

You may have even created a regular social media routine you pursue daily with enthusiasm. But, at some point, you’re bound to look up and see that many hours a day are being spent online at the expense of other more important business tasks and you still haven’t seen an explosion in online interaction, list growth or, more importantly, sales.

You might think everyone but you is having success online and so you double up on your commitment to social media

LINDA M. LOPEKE

is an internationally recognized authority on business management and creator of the award-winning SMARTSTART programs. She teaches creative entrepreneurs how to take decisive action so they can get their greatest work out into the world. Click the link for more useful advice from www.smartstartcoach.com.

10 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

STRATEGY marketing in the hope it will make all the difference to your results. And all this time you sincerely believe you’re doing exactly what is required for your business and marketing goals to be achieved. Any day now. When nothing could be further from the truth!

So, before you spend another month on any form of marketing that might not be performing for you, schedule time out and do that critical review! Here are three key questions to ask yourself about each social media channel you are marketing in to get started:

Before you commit even more time to this work, first take a step back and look closely at every online marketing activity you’re doing and give it the acid test – is the activity producing the results you need and want?

my ideal customer using this social media channel?

1 | Is

If not, you might not need to be active there either.

Instead, focus on growing your online and offline visibility where this target audience can actually see you.

If not, you should let it go. Come up with a new plan and focus your effort there instead.

2 | Is there a good fit between how my ideal

Online marketing is not free. In fact, its cost is quite high in terms of time, effort, health and happiness. All the more reason it must prove it is performing for you! Otherwise, why spend time and energy on it?

You might also benefit from investing in some mentoring or coaching to help you explore other options after you recover from the shock of your review. There’s a lot to know about online and social media marketing. The right mentor can easily double your success and halve your sorrows and disappointments.

3 | Am

A few hours of working with a professional reduces your learning time and exposes you to ideas you might not have thought of alone. Also, your efforts are more likely to pay off sooner than if you continued experimenting on your own.

Many of these professionals also teach courses you can take although these tend to run anywhere from 4-8 weeks whereas a few hours with a mentor can see you up and running with a new plan in just one or two sessions.

customer is participating in each channel and how I am presenting myself there?

Each social media channel has its own culture, best practices, language, and generally accepted rules of behaviour. Know what these are and adjust your communication style and actions accordingly – social media are not one-size-fits-all.

I consistently using social media channels to build relationships, be of service, and add value to others or am I guilty of contributing to clutter and noise by exclusively promoting only a self-serving agenda?

It isn’t enough to be participating in the right channels, in a way that allows you to be seen and heard with credibility. Marketing isn’t about you; it’s about your customer. Show them you really get that and they’ll do all the talking about you and your business you could ever possibly need.

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ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 11

LIST BUILDING

3 OUTRAGEOUS LIST-BUILDING

TECHNIQUES Y

ou’ve heard the saying that “the money is in the list” and it’s still just as true today as it was when someone first said it. Your email list is a very important part of building a healthy, long-term and financially fruitful business. But, it’s important to know how to build an email list. You’ve likely heard the normal methods, blogging, giving something away, and so forth.

But, let’s talk about some ways to build your email list that you may not have considered before.

1 | INTERVIEW MOVERS & SHAKERS

It’s easy to become a podcaster or start an online radio show today. You can use a program like Audacity, or you can sign up for one of the online radio platforms like Blog Talk Radio so that you can interview and publish the interviews that you do. When you interview experts, not only will you learn a lot, other people will start seeing you as an expert.

This will make them want to sign up for your email list, if you set up the sign up form correctly. A slider on the right and bottom corner of your website where you tell your audience about the show is a great way to get sign ups.

You can also set it up so that they have to be subscribers to receive or listen to the interviews.

2 | BE CONTROVERSIAL TO GET BUZZ

This can be dangerous, but it works. Take a contrary opinion to others in your industry and make sure people know about it. Ensure of course, that your opinion is backed

BY PAM IVEY up by facts and that you offer solutions to your audience based on your ideas and opinions. Don’t just do something to get attention, make sure that you have a reason and justification for what you think and state.

If you have good facts and offer awesome solutions to the problem you bring up, and know how to answer those who get upset or even angry at your opinion, this can be a great way to either get a lot of list subscribers, or lose people.

But, if it’s something you really do feel strongly about it might be worth it.

3 | OFFER AMAZING BENEFITS FOR MEMBERS

Most people sign up for a list without much idea of what is going to happen. They know they’re getting the free report or whitepaper in exchange for their email address, but after that they really don’t know what to expect. It’s important that you tell them what to expect, explaining the benefits to them of joining your email list. Remember, everyone always wants to know what’s in it for them, the rest doesn’t really matter all that much to them.

When people realize what they’ll get for joining your list outside of the free report, they’re going to be more likely to stay on the list if they like what they see. Provide amazing benefits for members such as early bird discounts, first look discounts, freebies and more on an ongoing basis instead of just once and you’ll not only build your list fast, you’ll keep them on your list too.

12 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

SOCIAL MEDIA

The 3 Reasons to Not Worry About your Klout Score

O

BY MIRIAM SLOZBERG

ver the past several years, I have been a huge supporter of Klout. However, during the past six months or so, I have come to the conclusion that the Klout score is not nearly as an important as I once believed.

Now, I have to say there is still some significance when it comes to your score – so don’t start ignoring it completely.

Especially for those in any marketing field. Potential clients, or employers will take your Klout score into consideration before hiring. All I am saying is that the score only shows you a very small fraction of how influential you really are online. I am going to outline 3 reasons to be less concerned about your Klout score.

1 |

Many people become too attached to their scores in a very unhealthy way. I admit I

was in that position once upon a time. If I was extremely interactive and sharing good quality content, yet my score kept falling – it was quite frustrating. Increasing your social media activity is necessary when it comes to you wanting

to create a stronger online presence. However, don’t make increasing your Klout score the sole purpose of becoming more interactive on your networks. Delivering value is a much better reason.

2 | It is still very easy to game Klout. For the longest time, I believed that Klout was making an effort to eliminate gamers (people who purposely inflate their scores by buying fake interaction). However, after conducting some recent experiments, unfortunately I was wrong. If you buy engagement of any kind, your score will increase.

How influential is someone who has a need to purchase engagement for the purpose of increasing his or her Klout score? Someone who is truly influential online would not have any need to do that. That being said, I would consider someone who is sharing excellent quality and engaging content with a Klout score of 72 a lot more influential than someone who has a score of 81 and shares nothing but irrelevant content while buying engagement.

MIRIAM SLOZBERG is a Canadian mom, author, and SEO and social media manager – who is focusing most of her time on teaching and empowering entrepreneurs and job seekers on how to be influential in their niche by harnessing the power of social media. Find out more about Miriam www.miriamslozberg.com.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 13

SOCIAL MEDIA

3 | Klout’s Algorithm is always going to be a

mystery. There was one point that they had given off the impression that they were a lot more transparent than they were prior to their huge algorithm change in 2012. The truth is, they are only revealing some elements on how the score is calculated. My advice to you is to not even try to figure out how they are calculating your score. If it goes up, then great. If it goes down, don’t stress. Just stay active on your networks regardless.

I am not telling you to deactivate your Klout account. Your score is still being looked at. I am just saying that it is best to remain detached from your score.

Concern yourself more with creating good quality content, and sharing it on your social networks. Be interactive with others, and share what others are sharing too on your platforms. That, in itself, will create the engagement that you want, and the online presence you are aiming to achieve. By doing that, there is no reason that your score would not be decent.

INFOGRAPHIC - CLICK HERE TO VIEW

14 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

STRATEGY

Have YOU Outgrown Your Mentor?

I

BY LISA MANYON

have three questions for you…

• Are you ready?

• Do you have clear intentions about what you’d like to achieve in your business and your life?

• Who is going to hold you accountable?

I’ve been pondering planning A LOT lately. One of the concepts I teach in my POWER Planning Process is the idea of pliability. Pliability is important when creating your plan because it allows for course correction, challenging the norm and doing things differently.

As you grow in your personal life and in your business focus, there needs to be room for pliability. There also need to be room for change, course correction, and considering who we are truly meant to serve.

I’ve seen an interesting trend happening with the smart, savvy and sophisticated clients I play with. More and more women are coming my way looking for a deeper connection and there is a common thread… Perhaps you can relate?

This is what I’m seeing, especially with visionary, waychanger, innovative, mission-driven entrepreneurs and business owners.

1 | You’ve outgrown your mentor (Could be spiritually,

emotionally or you simply have received all that you can receive from that particular teacher…Perhaps you’re receiving the same ole, same ole, regurgitated cookie cutter advice that doesn’t fit YOUR mold?)

2 | You are now peers or you have collaborated on BIG

projects with your mentor (This means the playing field has leveled and you may now be wondering, “what’s next?”

AND “Who will hold my feet to the fire?”)

LISA MANYON is “The Business Marketing Architect.” and creator of the NEW marketing and copywriting model for success, a simple 3-step “Challenge. Solution. Invitation.™” formula to create marketing messages with integrity. Lisa reverse engineers your most powerful solution into profitable revenue streams (known to produce million dollar results). Recipient of the People’s Choice Award at the 29th California Women’s Conference, Lisa has created training for Small Business Development Centers and is available for speaking engagements. She offers a FREE Copywriting Action Plan on her award-winning blog here www.writeoncreative.com.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 15

STRATEGY

3 | Your mentor has become your client (When you realize

My point is it may be time to consider a new collaborative

your full potential, your gifts are illuminated brightly and your mentor invests in you it can cause some internal dances that require new perspective and a new sounding board).

approach to achieving your BIG VISION. When YOU are

Here’s the thing with any coaching, consulting or mentoring agreement, they should be collaborative and that isn’t always the case. AND, they sometimes start out with a hierarchy – perceived or imagined – when this is the dynamic and it shifts, it causes some growing pains.

powerful solution into profitable revenue streams, I can help.

ready to break the trance, challenge the status quo and engage in critical thinking to reverse engineer your most

AND, I might not be the right fit for you. So, I invite you to think about what you most need in a peer mentor and make the RIGHT choice for you.

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ADVERTISE

in

onlinemarketing SUCCESSMagazine

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Lisa Manyon

“The Business Marketing Architect” A Content & Copywriting Strategist for Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs

Discover the NEW marketing model for success and get your FREE Copywriting Action Plan to help you improve all of your marketing messages (as seen in Inc. Magazine and Wonder Women: How Western Women Will Save the World). www.writeoncreative.com ~ Powerfully communicating your marketing message to get results! ~ 16 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

As Seen In

ANALYTICS

Beyond Page Views:

The Most Important Metrics for Your Online Business

BY STEPHANIE WATSON

Y

ou know how important content is for your online presence. The right content will not only help you build a profitable business but it will also help propel your business to the next level. It will establish you as an authority in your niche, encourage first-time visitors via the power of search engine optimization to click, and keep your audience around to find out more of what you have to say. No wonder content is king.

MOST MARKETERS LOOK AT TYPICAL METRICS: Daily/Weekly/Monthly Page Views Daily/Weekly/Monthly Unique Visitors Daily/Weekly/Monthly Repeat Visitors It is exciting to watch these numbers, and they are important, of course. But, there are some key performance indicators (KPIs) that are more important to know. First, understand what content is. Content is marketing. Every last piece of content on your blog, website, and social media – in all its forms – needs a marketing reason for existing. If you don’t

know why you’re creating it, it’s going to be difficult to get the results that you want.

One of the most vital pieces of your content marketing plan is your email marketing list. If you don’t have one, then you need to get one. The email marketing list is going to be a barometer and provide an important metric for you to know whether the work you’re putting into your content is productive or not. Without an email marketing list it will be difficult to ensure that the work you’re doing is worth it.

Once you realize that content is what will help you build your brand, establish authority, bring traffic and even stop traffic, the next thing that becomes important for you to know is whether or not the content you work hard on is working or not. That is, are you getting conversions? Are you turning clicks into sign ups or sales?

The very first type of conversion that you should look at is how many subscribers you’re adding to your email list.

You can call it a newsletter, or something else, but it’s important to collect email addresses as you bring people to

STEPHANIE WATSON

has more than 20 years experience working from home in a variety of roles such as HTML Website Designer, Internet Marketer, Template Bender, and Virtual Assistant. Today she is an author and content strategist who organizes, plans, writes and implements content strategies for business owners through her business at Barry Publishing.

You can find her at Linkedin.com www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniewatsonbarry and contact her via her website www.barrypublishing.com.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 17

ANALYTICS your website, blog, or social media. The next number you want to understand is your revenue per subscriber. That is, how much money you are making for your efforts?

NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS

It’s important to compare the number of subscribers to the number of visitors so that you have an idea of what your conversion rate is. If your visitors are high, but your signups are low, consider whether or not your call to action is clear.

REVENUE PER SUBSCRIBER As you earn subscribers, the next most important metric to know is how much you earn per subscriber. First, you need to know, if all is perfect how much is possible to earn per subscriber, and then figure out how much you are actually earning per subscriber. These numbers can help you know how much to budget for marketing to both earn subscribers and to convert subscribers.

Using these two metrics as indicators of whether or not you have a healthy business will help you know how best to use content now and in the future. What content and how you use that content will make a huge difference on these numbers and help you take your business to the next level.

Put your sign forms in more than one place, offer an incentive for providing the email address, and make your content more targeted. Do what needs to be done to collect targeted email addresses from your visitors.

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STRATEGY

What Business Are You (Really) In? Creating an Online Marketing Strategy That

Gets People Talking

I’

BY MAX MACCARI

m going to quote my favourite line from the character of Walter White in AMC’s hit show Breaking Bad to open my discussion about a question I always ask during a marketing strategy session: what business are you really in?

The line is delivered in Season 5 when Mr. White responds to Jesse Pinkman:

“Jesse, you asked me if I was in the meth business or the money business. Neither. I’m in the empire business.”

Killer moment. As a business owner, you should ask yourself this very question before attempting to plunge into the online marketing universe. It’s a loaded question, designed to put your brain cells to work, but certainly not a trick question. The answer has nothing to do with the industry you’re in, the products you sell, or the services you provide. The answer is rooted in this one key word: benefit.

SETTING THE GROUNDWORK FOR AN ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY Content marketing is the “new way” of attracting and retaining today’s not-so-easily-sold consumer. Traditional advertising isn’t hitting the mark it once did so the shift to information-based marketing is now leading the charge.

For a business that has relied on promoting its products and services by newspaper ads, flyers, and yes, even word-ofmouth, the move to online marketing requires a complete reassessment of business goals and objectives. At the heart of this process is asking that very question above to set the groundwork for a successful online marketing campaign: “What business are you really in?”

I sell homes so I must be in the home-selling business…

I sell wellness services so I must be in the alternative health business…

I sell mutual funds so I must be in the financial services business.

Of course you are — and are not.

Marketing is about messaging, but that very message should no longer be a call-to-action to sell your customer. It should be a call-to-action to solicit engagement, interaction, and discussion AROUND the stuff you sell. In doing so, you will be communicating the message of consumer “benefits” and not its “features.”

MAX MACCARI

is a marketing consultant, specializing in strategy and brand development who got his start in 2006 after spending almost seven years in the book publishing and retail industry. He is the co-creator of the REV FormulaTM, a leading edge online marketing strategy that will be launching in April 2015 as part of the Pam Ivey International rebrand he spearheaded. Max lives in Wasaga Beach, Ontario, a small town northwest of Toronto. Learn more at www.maxmaccari.com.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 19

STRATEGY SELLING BENEFITS = THE BUSINESS THAT YOU’RE REALLY IN It’s a simple formula but rarely do I see or hear about businesses applying this principle in their marketing activities which are often limited to a static, lacklustre website and a Facebook page cluttered with promotional spillings. If you are a cake shop and rely on mouth-watering visuals to sell your creations, there is a more effective way to get people to buy without throwing cake in their faces (figuratively speaking): by communicating the benefit.

Once you know how your products and/or services will actually benefit “me,” you can determine the business you are really in and produce content that incites feedback, social sharing, and wholesome conversation. In other words, get them talking, asking questions, and sharing experiences, and in doing so you are fostering organic “need.”

When factoring in social media into your business’ online marketing goals, you should ask the question, “What are we going to talk about online?” instead of “what are we going to promote online?” If we go back to those three scenarios above, here are some possible strategy statements:

I sell homes: The business I’m really in is the lifestyle business. Therefore, I should be talking about lifestyle opportunities because that’s the key benefit of home ownership.

I sell wellness services: The business I’m really in is the physical and mental improvement business. Therefore, I should be talking about how to keep your mind, body, and spirit strong because that’s the key benefit of the wellness business.

I sell mutual funds: The business I’m really in is the financial freedom business. Therefore, I should be talking about options and strategies to building wealth because that’s the key benefit of the financial services business.

PUTTING THE STRATEGY TO WORK Online marketing is not just about growing your business online but about understanding, interpreting, and responding to consumer behavior online: how people are searching, researching, evaluating, and deciding what they buy via the Internet. When you define the business you are really in, you have the ammunition to tap into these behaviours and create content that people will engage in.

A website, a social media channel, a blog, a newsletter, a contest, an online game or survey… these are just marketing TOOLS that only become SOLUTIONS when the content that supports them gets people talking.

Ready to revamp how you do business online? Stop selling and start listening, but first you need to give them something to talk about.

20 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

America’s Reinvention Expert and NY Times Best-Seller

STEVE

OLSHER

S

BY KATE SMITH

teve has spent the last 22 years online. In 1993, before the Internet really took off, he got connected to CompuServe’s electronic mall. In 1995, he launched one of the Internet’s first 500 fully functional e-commerce sites, which meant building the website, the CRM and the shopping cart integration for order processing.

Here he placed his Liquor by Wire site, then a type of online catalogue store. The site eventually became known as Liquor.com, which resides on the domain Steve bought in 1998. By 1999, the company was making millions in sales. Steve and his business partner (his mom!) sought to take the company public and engaged an investment bank to do so. In March of 2000, the S1 was filed. The deal, however, fell through due to the internet implosion.

To make matters worse, Steve and his mom had signed away management rights to the company management.

But he hadn’t signed away the domain rights. An extensive search eventually led him to reclaiming the domain and, subsequently, listing the domain for sale. The highest bidder offered $4,250,000 which was accepted but, after the first two payments the buyer defaulted and the domain was back yet again in Steve’s hands. As fate, hard work and determination prevailed, he once again led the business to the forefront of the industry – over 25 million unique visitors came to Liquor.com in 2014, and with an evergrowing subscriber list of over 600,000+, the effervescent rebel says, “We’re killing it.”

STEVE OLSHER

Known as America’s Reinvention Expert, literally wrote the book on how to zone in on your unique gift. What Is Your WHAT? Discover The ONE Amazing Thing You Were Born To Do was published in 2013 and went on to become a New York Times bestseller. Olsher is also owner of the outrageously popular Liquor.com website for wine and spirits enthusiasts, has been a real estate investment mogul and a sought-after speaker, with over 300 media appearances on such networks as CNN and ABC. He is founder of the ground-breaking annual Internet Prophets LIVE! event, which brings together business and marketing experts from around the globe for three days of super-sized real-time implementation and learning. Check out Olsher’s websites at www.SteveOlsher.com and www.InternetProphetsLive.com.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 21

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT IN CONVERSATION Kate: How does your past

experiences play into you

The work around being America’s Reinvention Expert is really focused on helping people discover, share and monetize their WHAT.

becoming a reinvention expert?

Steve:

I’m the poster child for reinvention.

Lord knows over the years I’ve done pretty much everything from DJing to real estate to night clubs and DOT COMs. All those endeavours I’ve pursued over the years have truly put me in this mindset of nothing is permanent. Life is malleable.

In 2000 after the DOT COM implosion, I walked away from everything and went in real estate development. I built a real estate company that did about 50 million dollars in transactional revenue. But by 2008, the implosion hit in that sector and I had come to learn pretty quickly that the integrity in the real estate world was lacking, to say the least. I decided that I had to do something different with my life. Although real estate was financially rewarding, it was leaving me spiritually bankrupt. And then eventually it left me on the brink of financial bankruptcy as well.

The actual transition into my current work really stemmed from what happened in March 2009. In that year, my stepfather who was very much a father to me, who had raised me since I was 10, unfortunately was very, very ill.

And as I sat next to him in his final days, I held his hand as he could no longer communicate verbally but I think we could connect at that point with physical touch. I had a vision of my funeral, and I could hear the words being spoken graveside which were basically “Here lies Steve Olsher. He dedicated his life to chasing the almighty dollar.”

It hit me hard. I think he was showing me my inevitable fate unless I changed course. And that’s when I began down this path. The reality is that for my entire life, I’ve really had the question of what is it that I’m truly here to do. How is it that I’m truly wired to excel and what the heck should I be doing with my life? That’s when I began putting pen to paper to share some of the tips, tools, strategies and shortcuts that had worked for me in my life in hopes of shortening the learning curve for others. As I began writing, I also began teaching on these subjects.

Those discussions lead to the creation of my own framework. In author-land, they say you write the book that you most need. And so the whole discussion around what is your WHAT is the question I’ve been asking myself for as long as I can remember.

It took me over six years to get to the point where the framework was proven. It’s solid. It’s been used by tens of thousands of people. The impact that my work has on others is so different than what I had been doing.

Kate: That is quite the journey. That speaks to that thing that a lot of us strive for; that money isn’t everything.

Steve: I’m not one of those people that will tell you that you have to succumb to life as a starving artist simply because you’re compelled to draw.

I believe that you should be paid extraordinarily well for what comes most naturally to you.

We reward ball players in the millions of dollars a year for hitting a ball with a stick. There is no reason why you should ever have to apologize for getting paid what you’re worth.

I also firmly believe that money is a conduit to impacting change. And in whatever form that change might be is irrelevant. But if you’re worried about making next month’s rent or putting food on the table, the odds of your really impacting those who you’re truly here to serve are pretty slim because you’re going to be so focused on just meeting the bare necessities that anything beyond that is almost impossible to bring to fruition.

Kate: What was the number one thing you did to create your brand in that space and how did you start getting noticed?

Steve:

I recognized that there were people who were leaders in the personal development space, and in the Internet marketing world, so my objective from Day One was always to align myself with those people. It’s really about adding value first and then developing the relationship, the rapport, the friendship, that camaraderie. And that’s how I

22 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT got my foot in the door with a number of the largest players in those respective spaces.

Kate: And it served you well.

Steve: When you are kind

to people and add value to their lives and simply ask without expectation of reciprocation, it’s a much different conversation. And so those conversations all started out without the expectation of reciprocation. Down the line, people begin asking you how can I help you? Eventually I developed friendships with a lot of those well-known people by adding value first, and the large majority of them flipped the coin and said, “Okay, now what can I do for you?” It’s a much different approach to business than most people have because most people want to do business first and then cultivate the friendship.

Kate: What kind of skills do you feel an Online Marketing Manager must have in order to bring the most value to a business like yours?

Steve: My work is really focused on helping people identify the one thing they were born to do. So what I find, quite frankly, is that so many who are in the consulting world or that assisting side of the equation, try to be all things to all people, which I think works to their detriment.

From an online marketing management perspective, the one key piece of advice I offer is to

be clear on what your inherent gift is, what vehicle you’ll use to share that gift with others, and the people you’re most compelled to serve.

Those are the three components of the What is your WHAT? equation. Whatever your gift is, focus on that and you’d be amazed at how your business could exponentially grow.

It’s a matter of understanding the right questions to ask, and once you understand that, the people who will answer yes are those who will answer your call. It becomes a function of understanding the languaging to use and to make 100% sure that you’re reaching the right people who would answer yes to whatever that question is.

Kate: I’ve never heard it said like that. That’s really interesting. So do you work with any virtual team members?

Steve:

I have had a number of employees working for me in the past. I’ve had payroll. A couple years ago, I dipped my toe back in the water and hired five people.

And a year after that, I thought forget it. This is just not what I want to be doing. At this juncture I don’t need the pressure of having to make payroll, the pressure of having to give people things to do and to create work where work may not exist. It becomes a challenge just to keep people busy when you hire people. Now I hire people who have expertise in a specific area of focus that I’m working in. If I have an event coming up, I hire an event management company. If I have a social media need, I hire a social media manager, etc.

Kate:

What was one of your biggest challenges as an online entrepreneur and how did you overcome it?

Steve: I’ve never overcome any of my online challenges because I still don’t understand this damn game. The reality is this world is forever changing and I’m done playing catch up. And so what I do is once a year, I bring in the world’s leading experts to an event that I created in 2012, called Internet Prophets LIVE! This is because I am a student as much as I’m a teacher.

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ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 23

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT Kate: You’ve got one of those events coming up in May, right?

Steve: May 15-17 in Los Angeles. In past years, we’ve had Brendon Burchard, Mike Filsaime, Armand Morin, and many others. This year’s faculty includes Mario Brown, Russell Brunson, Lewis Howes, Joel Comm, Alex Mandossian and many others. There are 15 teachers in total on our faculty this year.

with those who are literally waiting for you to appear in their lives. I firmly believe you are the solution to someone else’s problem.

Kate:

Any final thoughts on being an entrepreneur, of being of service to others?

Steve:

There are a number of unique elements to our event. It’s built on the premise of real-time implementation because I don’t want people going home with a book full of notes that they do nothing with. I want what they learn to be implemented right then and there. That’s one of the huge differentiators of our event.

Another interesting component is we include six hours of structured networking, which includes brainstorming and masterminding. Participants have an opportunity to not only meet their fellow attendees but also to benefit from their knowledge and gain their insight and make real, valuable connections. The third is that we do something called the Two-Minute Drill, which is very popular. It gives each attendee an opportunity to meet each of the participating teachers for two minutes at a time.

Kate: Can you

give us one technique or strategy that you find invaluable in making your business work better?

Steve: I think it boils down to continually eliminating those areas of your business that bring you no fulfillment.

Those are hard choices to make. You’re not in business to do anything for your customer. You’re in business to take care of you, to take care of your family. And the by-product of focusing on what is the most fulfilling and the most lucrative for you is that you’re able to share your expertise

Life starts over right now. And it starts over again right now. You have the power to choose what to do in this moment and every moment that follows.

Your goal is to continually align choices that lead you towards fulfilling the obligation of sharing your gift and who you were born to be with the masses. Every step backwards leads you away from having the type of impact that you were intended to have. Recognize when you’re faced with what I call a ya-no moment, that fork in the road. That ‘no’ may not happen immediately. You may be six months or a year down the line before you recognize that answer should have been no. The key is recognizing that we often choose the wrong path and, when this becomes clear, own up, clean it up, and get busy saying YES to what empowers you to not only impact those who share this lifetime with you but, also, those of lifetimes to come.

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24 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

STRATEGY COMPETITION

WHY YOU DO GET WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT: 4 STEPS TO GETTING BETTER OUTCOMES

BY DANA WILDE

W

ould it surprise you to find out that the results you’re getting in your business are a direct reflection of your thoughts? Let me introduce you to The Cycle of Perpetual Sameness.

All of us have ideas about ourselves and about the world around us, stored in our unconscious minds. These ideas are called “beliefs” and beliefs take hold in our unconscious mind from processing all the various experiences and circumstances in our own lives and the repetition of our own thoughts inside our own minds.

Beliefs about your business can be things like. . .

No one is making money in this economy or. . .

You have to work a lot of hours to be successful. . . and countless others.

Inside each and every one of us is a part of our brain which acts like a little matchmaker. It’s called the Reticular Activating System. This little matchmaker’s job is to spend all day every day looking for matches in the world around you. It's zeroing in on all of the different situations and circumstances in your day to day life. . . your “outside world" and trying to find the perfect match with your beliefs that are already stored in your unconscious mind or, what I like to call, your “inside world”. . . your inner beliefs.

For example, if you have an inner belief that you can’t find good team members, guess which type of people your brain is going to find as a “match” for your team?

That’s right. You’ll be “seeing” and hiring the less-than-par applicants. In other words, the little matchmaker in your brain will literally filter out other types of people.

DANA WILDE, best-selling author and trusted Brain Training Authority, named one of the top 50 most influential people by Direct Selling Live. She is the founder of The Mind Aware and creator of the acclaimed Train Your Brain system, utilized by top income producers and leaders of various industries to rapidly increase their business growth. She can be found online at www.danawildeinc.com or receive her FREE video training at http://www.danawilde.biz.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 25

STRATEGY If we just lived in the world and we didn’t talk about our circumstances or think about our situations all the time, we'd probably have a much easier time creating change for ourselves. But we don’t do this, do we?

brain is thinking negative thoughts. Make a conscious effort to look for the “silver lining.” Do your best to stay hopeful and positive in your day-to-day life.

STEP 4 | Feel

When we get bad results, we want to talk about them. In fact, we often complain about them!

the positive emotion generated from the new positive thoughts.

You find yourself talking about your problems over and over and thinking about these same problems. This is called negative self-talk.

Negative thinking and negative emotions cut off the creative pathways in your brain. When you feel positive, you create a resourceful brain.

Negative self-talk works up emotion that acts like a glue and cements these thoughts into your unconscious mind. It reinforces the beliefs already stored in the unconscious mind and we're right back where we started and the cycle continues.

This is why most people see no change in their business or they see minimal change. Many people are on The Cycle of Perpetual Sameness. They keep thinking the same things over and over, reinforcing the same situations in their lives.

How do you get off The Cycle of Perpetual Sameness?

Stop the negative self-talk and to start talking and thinking differently.

Change your dialog. Change what you’re saying to others and change what you’re saying to yourself. In order for you to get off The Cycle of Perpetual Sameness, you must make a conscious effort to change the thoughts you’re thinking.

Stay in that positive place and you make better decisions.

When you are in this better frame of mind you can start taking effective action in your business. I call it Intentional Action...get your mindset right first, then take action.

Create a new positive voice in your head, which will not only give you new beliefs about your business but will also give that little matchmaker a chance to show you positive results. It’s time to get off The Cycle of Perpetual Sameness and to start taking Intentional Action.

Follow these four steps for changing your thinking which helps you to use your brain’s natural tendencies to your advantage.

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STEP 1 | Become aware of the thoughts

and messages you regularly think and say.

Get your mind aware and start paying attention to the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are saying to yourself and others. Ask yourself, “Is this the message I want to match?”

STEP 2 | Make a decision to change.

Make a conscious decision to change the way you think and the way you talk, which changes the belief stored in your unconscious mind.

STEP 3 | Use

your focused conscious attention to think and say positive statements that reflect the change you'd like to see in your beliefs and your life.

Surprisingly, the brain can only think one thought at a time. Make a conscious effort to say positive phrases like mantras or affirmations to yourself and it’s less time the 26 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

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CTA

5 TIPS for Engaging

Website Calls-to-Action

C

BY PAM IVEY

reating effective and engaging calls-to-action (CTA) is important because people who read your website, blog, or ad copy will not act on anything unless you say something that prompts them to take action. But, outside of understanding what to say, you also need to know where to put them.

1 | Understand the Power of Subjects &

Verbs – Starting your sales pages, email marketing

messages, and other forms of communication with your audience with verbs and / or subjects will work better to get your message across. These types of words also push a reader to keep reading to get the information.

2 | Learn About the Influence of

Numbers – It’s amazing how the human mind

works, but studies show that numbers influence decisions of readers. If you can include numbers in your CTAs that make sense, they’re more likely to read the rest of what you have to say. People like seeing proof of statements with real data.

3 | Avoid Using These Types of Words

– Using passive voice and adverbs can slow down a reader, and make them second-guess the meaning of your words. Avoiding them at all costs can make everything you say more understandable, and help get better search results especially if you avoid those words in titles, headlines and headings.

4 | Be Concise – Say what you mean, mean what

you say, and say it without adding a lot of flowery words.

Worrying about making longer blog posts, sales pages, and other content can get in the way of the audience understanding what you say. It requires more skill to write this way, but it is a skill that can be learned.

5 | Benefits over Features – Train yourself

to focus mostly on the benefits of your products to your audience rather than stating what they are or what you do if you offer services. If you are a virtual assistant who provides webinar services you should first mention how this service benefits your audience.

For example, you will eliminate stress, operate technology, and handle problems during broadcasts.

As you form your CTAs, you’ll need to also determine where to place them. You’ve likely heard the idea of placing CTAs “above the fold” but online this is kind of a term that has no meaning. When you place your CTAs it’s important to put them where your audience looks and sees them.

Sometimes this will require that you test the location.

Try different locations to see what works best for your audience, and try placing them in multiple places. But, most importantly, get the words right, understand how numbers and words influence the reader to make a decision. Creating engaging CTAs is a necessity if you want to succeed in your business. It doesn’t matter if you have a completely online business, or a brick and mortar business, you can benefit from understanding how CTAs on your website affect your bottom line.

ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 27

STRATEGY

LEADING, MANAGING OR DOING

WHERE ARE YOU SPENDING YOUR TIME?

L

eadership, management and doing: There’s a lot of confusion about these three terms and what they mean to the day-to-day activities of a business.

There are very clear distinctions between leadership, management and doing – distinctions that we need to clearly understand in order to achieve success in our business. Without this understanding, we will find ourselves frustrated, not growing as quickly as we’d like (and can) and as a result, staying stuck, overwhelmed and overworked.

Here are my definitions of leadership, management and doing for entrepreneurs:

LEADERSHIP Leadership is about casting a vision – it’s about looking forward and saying “here’s what we want to create and why we are doing it.”

A CEO and leader of a business has a vision for the company; a vision for the company’s clients. They also have a vision for what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

BY TINA FORSYTH

MANAGEMENT Managing is about taking the vision and laying out the plans, the processes, the people and the pieces that need to be pulled together to get things done.

DOING Doing is self-explanatory. Doing is getting the work done.

Doing may be one of the most difficult areas for business owners to let go of. I can relate.

When I hit the 6-figure mark in my business, I was still doing most things myself, with a bit of help from my Virtual Assistant. It was my own coach at the time who said to me, “Tina, you need to do what you tell everyone else to do and hire your own Online Business Manager.”

I had several fears and hesitations that I had to get through at that time in order to move myself away from doing and managing and into more of the leadership role. I know entrepreneurs everywhere deal with these same fears.

Hiring an Online Business Manager meant:

A leader is also responsible for engaging their team in this vision, and supporting them to do their best work in support of that vision.

• having to invest a tidy sum to pay for my own team each month. Even though I was making 6-figures, this still felt like a stretch

TINA FORSYTH

A formerly overwhelmed entrepreneur and recovering control-freak, is passionate about helping conscious CEOs and entrepreneurs build a business that can run without them. The author of The Entrepreneurs Trap and creator of the CEO Business School, Tina teaches transformational leaders how to get the right systems, team and leveraged revenue streams in place for profitable and sustainable success. Tina founded the International Association of Online Business Managers and is the creator of the Certified OBM™ Training – the only program of its kind to train high-end virtual managers. Visit Tina’s website at www.tinaforsyth.com.

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STRATEGY because I wasn’t used to investing much in a team, I was used to doing it all myself.

business, leading the people, leading the direction and vision of the business and purposefully working towards

• confirming someone else could do as good of a job as me. Having been a

that vision.

Now that you are clear on the distinction between leading,

doer myself for many years, I knew how to do everything and the thought of having someone else take it over felt really scary.

managing and doing – what changes will you make in your business? How will you move into the leadership role and allow your business to continue growing – while not

• I had to find something else to do with my time – what the heck would I do? I

managing and doing it on your own?

seriously didn’t know what to do with my time if I wasn’t doing all the day-to-day stuff myself. (This is a very real issue for those of us who are used to doing everything on our own.)

In 2010 when I finally hired my very first Online Business Manager, and she very quickly jumped into managing the day-to-day running of my business, it was great and I was finally able to let go of the doing and most of the managing. It allowed me to be the leader I needed to be for my business.

Leadership, managing and doing are all important to a business BUT you can’t keep doing them all yourself.

An entrepreneur in the earlier stages of their business will likely wear all three of these hats – they will be the leader of their business, they will manage their projects and make sure everything gets done, and they may, for some time, be the ones getting it all done. This is typical.

However, as a business continues to grow and expand, particularly when it reaches the six figure mark, the business owner needs to let go and hire someone such an Online Business Manager who can take care of managing the business and overseeing the doing.

onlinemarketing SUCCESSMagazine is a rich resource to help online marketing consultants and other service providers step into their power with confidence and know-how.

Do you have a story that demonstrates a way forward and can be just the information or insight they need when they reach roadblocks or feel like giving up on their business dreams?

Connect with us at kate@omsmagazine.com with your story idea.

Taking this huge step forward allows the business owner to move into and own the leadership mode – leading the

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ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 29

BRANDING

4 WAYS BRANDING YOUR COMPANY

HELPS YOU STAND OUT IN A CROWD

P

roper branding encourages assurance and reliance that your products and services offer the type of benefits your audience needs. Branding well will ensure that next time you have a price increase your audience doesn’t run to your nearest competition. They choose you because of something outside of price. They choose you because what you offer, and the way in which you offer it, and the values you align yourself with match their expectations.

1 | BRANDING HELPS EXEMPLIFY YOUR VALUES

When people think of you and your products or services what types of values do they associate with them? If you haven’t done anything yet to let your audience and the people you work with what your values are, then you have some work to do. People notice your values through your actions, not your words. Develop some actionable goals that help everyone know right where you stand.

2 | BRANDING ENSURES THAT YOU CHOOSE TO WORK WITH THE RIGHT TEAM OF PEOPLE

If you’ve taken the time to develop branding which requires you to do the research necessary to determine what you’ll do, who you’ll do it for, and how you’ll accomplish it. This is how you’ll build your team. Understanding what gaps you have in your own skills, along with what you don’t want to do yourself, you’ll be able to add good people to your team that also understand your values and mission.

BY PAM IVEY

3 | BRANDING LETS YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE BETTER

Understanding who, what, why and how you will do everything helps you know more about your audience.

Branding requires, by definition, that you understand your audience intimately. Part of the exercise of branding helps you connect both rationally and emotionally to your audience, your team, and any other stakeholders. Branding isn’t about your logo, it’s more about how you’ll connect to your audience so that you can deliver and exceed upon their expectations.

4 | BRANDING ENSURES THAT YOU

DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF FROM THE COMPETITION

When you do the work of branding your business, you’ll research your competition in depth so that you will be able to stand out from them by doing things differently and better than them. Using the examples your audience provides you can develop your story to differentiate yourself from the competition in a new way. When it comes down to it most of your branding is about the story you tell your audience, and you can’t really tell the story without understanding who your competition is, and why you are not like them.

Branding your company helps you stand out in a crowd in so many ways. These four ways are just the tip of the iceberg. Many small business owners make a mistake not working on branding. Branding helps keep your company aligned with your values and focused on the right audience at the right time, in the right place.

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ANALYTICS

BEST METRICS TO GAUGE SOCIAL

MEDIA EFFECTIVENESS

S

BY PAM IVEY

ocial media marketing can be very effective, and very wasteful. The only way you can know for sure if something is working or not is to study the metrics.

The data available to you will help you know whether or not your goals are being met using the strategy and tactics that you design. What’s more, based on the data you can adjust your strategy on the fly.

Develop Specific Goals – The way to know if your goal is specific enough is to note whether or not you can attach a numerical value to the goal. If you can, it may be a good metric to measure.

Understand How to Measure Results –

What tool will you measure whether or not you’re meeting your goals? If you don’t know, or a tool doesn’t yet exist to measure that it’s a bad measurement.

Ignore Pride Metrics – How many people follow you or like you is far less important than how many people answer your calls-to-action (CTA) and engage with you. So many people waste time on quantity over quality.

Decision Points – The only metrics you really need to measure are those that actually help you make a choice about something. If you’re looking at metrics that give you nowhere to go after looking you’re wasting your time.

Sales Metrics – Naturally, this is one of the

best metrics to look at because it’s about earning money right? Did you make a sale? Did you earn some money? After all, that’s why you’re in business.

Conversion Metrics – Out of the people who viewed your content, how many answered your CTA? This is an important indicator whether or not you’ve successfully discovered how to market to your audience. If conversion rates are low, it doesn’t always mean your product is bad, it may mean you’ve made errors in targeting the right audience.

Engagement Metrics – How many people like, share, and comment on social media posts that you make? Are the comments useful? On social media engagement is an essential way to spread the word about your products and services.

Bounce Rate – This is an important metric. If your bounce rate is high that means there could be several issues. Your website might load slowly. Your audience targeting might be off. Your social media posts with the link to your site might be misdirected.

Newsletter Sign Ups – How many people who come to your social media accounts, ultimately sign up to your newsletter? This number has nothing to do with vanity because building a large, highly targeted list is imperative.

Ultimately, the best metrics to gauge your social media effectiveness are the ones you choose that relate to the goals that you set. It honestly doesn’t need to be rocket science.

Studying the metrics should answer the question, “Did this action, create this result, if so how can I do it again? How can I improve? Should I continue? What now?”

MEET

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ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | 31

COPYWRITING

Do You Have a Captivating

C

BY PAM IVEY

rafting captivating headlines is an essential skill to getting your audience to click through to read your content, learn about your offerings, and buy what you offer. If your headlines are lacking, you’ll end up sending people off to look at other websites and information. If you want to create headlines that grab your audience, make them click and want to read more, and to realize they need what you’re offering take note.

A FEW TIPS ON CRAFTING CAPTIVATING HEADLINES: MAKE

YOUR

HEADLINE

ORIGINAL

You don’t want to copy someone else’s headline. Use www.copyscape.com to ensure that the headlines you’re creating are completely 100 percent unique. The more you can differentiate yourself from your competition with your headlines the better. People want to know at a glance why your information is different and therefore better. In order to do well making original headlines, you will need to understand who your audience is and what will work for them.

MAKE YOUR HEADLINE SPECIFIC

Don’t try to trick your readers by putting puns in headlines like they did in the old days of newspapers. The truth is, online people want you to be specific about what they’re going to read. If the offer doesn’t seem like it relates to them, they’re not going to click through. Being too vague will ensure that people will miss reading what you have to say.

By giving a little specific information with one word about what’s in store, you’ll get more click throughs.

MAKE YOUR HEADLINE CONVEY URGENCY If the headline can make your audience feel as if they’ll miss out by not reading so much the better. This is a tip that you may not always be able to use because a lot of your content will be “ever green” but when there is a time limit or something they need to see right away you should be clear about that within your headline. It would be horrible if your article is promoting a limited time offer and they saved the information to read later not realizing that it was urgent to read it now.

MAKE YOUR HEADLINE IMPLY VALUE If your audience knows that something’s in it for them when they click through, they’re going to be more likely to do so. Be sure to let your audience understand that they will benefit by clicking through to read the rest of the information and get your message. Instead of trying to be clever, just tell them what’s in it for them. What is the end result of clicking through? Let them know.

Since more people are going to read your headline than read the body of your message you have to try to give them enough of the story to make them want to click through and read more. You literally have less than 3 seconds to grab their attention enough to want to click through and read more. By following these tips you’ll give your readers more information about what’s inside and provide more opportunity for them to learn more about what you offer.

32 | ONLINE MARKETING SUCCESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

STRATEGY

Take Your

Business

to the Next

Level with

Infographics

I

BY PAM IVEY

nfographics are convincing and visually pleasing to the viewer. People often learn in multiple ways and an infographic can tune into more than one way of learning helping people absorb the information you’re presenting better due to the visual nature that it presents data. Using infographics in your marketing will help you get more leads, make more sales, and increase your bottom line.

WITH INFOGRAPHICS YOU CAN: MAKE AN OFFER – Use an infographic to design and develop an offer using trivia, stats and other data to make a good presentation of, “what’s in it for them?” to make your case to your audience as to why they should buy from you.

GET LEADS – Infographics are a great way to get more leads. When someone clicks through to read your infographic for the first time, give them an opportunity to sign up for your newsletter at the same time.

MAKE SALES – Infographics can be used to make sales too by including a call to action on the infographic.

Then, if someone shares it, it’s marked with your information so that they can go to your website and buy your products and or services.

INFORM AND EDUCATE – Infographics are excellent ways to educate and inform your audience about the benefits of your products or services. Much like blog posts educate and inform, so can infographics when combined with a blog post introducing it.

TO MAKE THE BEST USE OF INFOGRAPHICS: PROMOTE YOUR INFOGRAPHIC – Once you create the infographic your work has just begun. Now it’s time to market and promote the infographic. Share a link to it (on your blog or website) with social media and all means at your disposal.

MAKE EASY TO SHARE – The easier it is for your audience to share your infographic, the better. Be sure to watermark the infographic and include other identifying information so that when it’s shared, they can find you.

CREATE ATTRACTIVE INFOGRAPHICS – You can hire someone to make an infographic, or you can take your data and use it to make your own infographic using software like PiktoChart.com or Canva.com.

ASK PEOPLE TO SHARE – Ask your audience to share, alert your email lists about your infographic and ask them to share. The more people who share it, including you, the better.

Infographics make your website more attractive to viewers, and search engines. The potential viral nature of a good infographic gives it the opportunity to get a lot of useful backlinks. These backlinks created through sharing make the search engines accept your infographic as something important and even authoritative that it wants to tell others about so your website will show up higher in search results.

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UPCOMING EVENTS Have an event you’d like included in our list? Drop us a line with all of the details to editor@omsmagazine.com

DATES

EVENT NAME

LOCATION

URL

March 11 - 12, 2015 Dx3

Toronto, ON

www.dx3canada.com/Content/2015-Information DIGITAL MARKETING

March 13 - 14, 2015 SXSW Interactive

Austin, TX

http://sxsw.com/interactive

DIGITAL MARKETING

http://marketingmayhemlive.com

DIGITAL MARKETING

March 19 - 22, 2015 Marketing Mayhem Live San Diego, CA

March 23 - 25, 2015 Intelligent Content San Francisco, CA www.intelligentcontentconference.com

Conference March 25 - 27, 2015 Social Media San Diego, CA www.socialmediaexaminer.com/smmworld

Marketing World

ABOUT

CONTENT MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA

March 25 - 28, 2015 Content Marketing Scottsdale, AZ www.mediapost.com/contentmarketinginsidersummit

Insiders Summit CONTENT MARKETING March 26, 2015

SES Miami

March 28 - 29, 2015 Canadian Internet

Marketing Conference

Miami, FL

http://sesconference.com/miami/

SEARCH MARKETING

Squamish, BC

http://digitalbuzz.ca

DIGITAL MARKETING

Mar 29 - Apr 2, 2015 eMetrics San Francisco San Francisco, CA www.emetrics.org/sanfrancisco/2015

ANALYTICS

Mar 30 - Apr 1, 2015 Affiliate Management San Francisco, CA www.affiliatemanagementdays.com/sanfrancisco/2015/registration

Days AFFILIATE MARKETING Mar 30 - Apr 2, 2015 ClickZ Live

New York, NY

Mar 31 - Apr 1, 2015 MarTech 2015

San Francisco, CA www.martechconf.com

Mar 31 - Apr 2, 2015 InfusionCon

Phoenix, AZ

http://attendicon.com

Mar 31 - Apr 2, 2015 Modern Marketing

Experience

Las Vegas, NV

www.modernmarketingexperience.com

DIGITAL MARKETING DIGITAL MARKETING

www.clickzlive.com/newyork

DIGITAL MARKETING DIGITAL MARKETING INBOUND MARKETING

April 13 - 16, 2015

New Media Expo The Media Revolution

Las Vegas, NV

http://nmxlive.com/2015-lv

April 19 - 21, 2015

World Social Marketing Conference

Sydney, AU

http://wsmconference.com/sydney-2015

April 20, 2015

Pubcon Austin

Austin, TX

www.pubcon.com/austin-2015

SEARCH MARKETING

April 20 - 23, 2015

SugarCon

San Francisco, CA http://sugarcon.sugarcrm.com

CRM

April 26 - 29, 2015

Mobile Insider Summit

Key Largo, FL

April 26 - May 3, 2015 DigiMarcon Cruise 2015 Cruise

SOCIAL MEDIA

www.mediapost.com/mobileinsidersummit

MOBILE MARKETING

http://digimarcon.com/cruise

DIGITAL MARKETING

April 27 - 29, 2015

Hero Conf PPC Conference

Portland, OR

April 28 - 29, 2015

eM15

San Francisco, CA www.emarketingassociation.com/2015/index.html DIGITAL MARKETING

April 28 - 30, 2015

Social Media Strategies Chicago, IL Summit Chicago

www.heroconf.com

PPC

www.socialmediastrategiessummit.com/chicago-2015 SOCIAL MEDIA

April 30 - May 1, 2015 SearchLove: Boston

Boston, MA

www.distilled.net/events/searchlove-boston

SEARCH MARKETING

May 1, 2015

The REV Online Marketing Workshop

Toronto, ON

www.pamivey.com/revworkshop

DIGITAL MARKETING

May 4 - 7, 2015

Netsuite World

San Jose, CA

www.netsuitesuiteworld.com

CLOUD COMPUTING

May 5 - 7, 2015

Gartner’s Digital Marketing Conference

San Diego, CA

www.gartner.com/events/digital-marketing

SOCIAL MEDIA