The term "Sales Funnel" might be new to you. It's a marketing technique that's been around for decades in the offline world. It's also a technique that's been routinely used by product sellers online.
It's a way for a seller to make more money from the people who visit their site.
What's new is that affiliate marketers are now also starting to use sales funnels to boost their own earnings.
There are two general types of sales funnel:
1. The Multi-Product Funnel
There's the funnel that's always used on the likes of JVZoo, Warrior Plus and sometimes on ClickBank.
This is where you buy a low-priced front-end product and are then subjected to variety of upsells and one-time-offers that are designed to part you with more of your money.
The goal of this type of funnel is to sell you multiple products in quick succession before you really have time to consider your options.
The offers often have timers showing how little time you have left to make a decision or you're told that limited quantities are available.
2. The Single Product Funnel
The second type of funnel is geared around selling you a single product.
The purpose of the funnel is to repeatedly expose you to the product and explain why it will be useful, if not essential, to you or your business.
This is often achieved by attracting a visitor to sign up to get a free product and then sending them a series of emails describing the benefits of the product you're trying to sell them.
A less common tactic is to provide free training and information to prospects regardless of whether they end up buying or not.
Sales Funnels In Use
If you've ever bought anything in the Make Money Online niche, you've already been exposed to the multi-product sales funnel.
They can often leave a bad taste and you end up feeling like you've been hounded into spending a lot more money than you intended. That can build some resentment in you.
If you recognize that feeling, is that something you'd want to bring out in your own customers?
Don't forget that those who look at your offers are real people, not credit cards with legs.
Treat your potential customers just like you'd like to be treated by a seller.
That's why I prefer the second type of funnel.
There's no hard sell involved. You're giving your prospects something free to entice them in the door.
From there, you start introducing them to your offer and why it might be a good fit for them.
You're trying to persuade them that what you're offering will make their lives easier or solve a problem for them.
If they buy, then they've made the decision to buy.
You haven't forced them to make the decision by using some false scarcity tactics like a countdown timer or saying only a limited number of copies are available.
Because a prospect has made the decision to buy on their own terms, they'll feel much better about their buying decision.
You'll have earned their trust and you can use that to further build your relationship with them so that you can market other offers to them more successfully in the future.
So How Does This Tie In With Affiliate Marketing?
In general, affiliate marketers are given access to affiliate links and resources like image ads and emails that they can send out.
These are used to drive traffic to an offer.
However, when a prospect buys or signs up on a squeeze page, they go onto the sellers email list, not the affiliate's.
That means that the affiliate has lost access to that prospect forever and it's the seller who can market to that customer time after time.
The better affiliate networks will also pay affiliates on products that are in a seller's sales funnel.
So yes, you can earn commissions on multiple products.
But what you, as the affiliate, don't know is if the seller is offering products that are not in the "public" sales funnel to people on their list.
So you could be missing out on commissions as a result.
Typically, a sales funnel starts out with a low-priced product, offers higher-priced products in the funnel, culminating in one or more high-ticket products at the end of the funnel.
This tends to be where sellers make the bulk of their money. It's far easier to sell one high-ticket product than tens of low-ticket ones.
The seller is quite within their rights to market products that you won't earn a commission on.
After all, they own the email list that the buyers are now subscribed to.
So, to counter this, affiliate marketers have been creating their own sales funnels.
They select the front-end product, the upsells and any high-ticket products to promote.
These can all be from different sellers. But you, the affiliate, may think that some products complement each other better than the products in a seller's own funnel do.
Yes, the prospect will be exposed to each seller's funnel as well as the affiliate's.
But the affiliate knows that a sale of any product in their own funnel will generate a commission.
That said, I still think that the Single Product funnel is the better approach from a customer-relationship point of view.
If a prospect ultimately does not buy into your offer, you still have them on your email list. And now it's time to promote a different offer to them.
You can market to these prospects as often as you want, as they're in your email list.
So the greatest advantages of building your own sales funnels are:
You get to add prospects to your own email list
Your email list is a business asset you fully own. It's usefulness doesn't depend on the whims or algorithm changes of Google, Facebook or whoever.
Email marketing is still the best way make money online.
You can market to your subscribers as often as you want.
You can build your own unique sales funnels, combining products from a variety of sellers
As an affiliate marketer, you should never send people directly to an offer. You're basically giving sole access to that person to the seller.
You should always send people to a squeeze page first - one that you own - and it's only after they sign up there that you send them on to your affiliate offer.
This way, you've captured their email address and they are now part of your 100%-owned business asset - your email list.
How Do You Build A Sales Funnel?
If you use WordPress, there are plugins that will build squeeze (optin) pages and other types of funnel page for you.
But creating an actual sales funnel is not the easiest. These plugins are great at creating individual pages rather than an entire funnel. It can be done, but you need to be very organized and keep track of how each page relates to another.
Another approach is to use a service like Clickfunnels that's designed exclusively for building sales funnels. There's a link to a review in my bio below if you want to know more.
With a service like this, you don't even need your own website. The tool can do everything for you.
I hope you now see the advantages in creating your own sales funnels, whatever tool you end up using to create them.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10086097
How to Create an Effective SEO Strategy for Your Business Website
Last week I talked about what voice search technology means for your business. It's such an important topic that I decided to write a second part related to SEO this week.
From Google Assistant to Siri, people are speaking rather than typing to search online more than ever.
According to Location World, more than 40 percent of adults used spoken search on a daily basis in 2016. ComScore estimates that over 50 percent of searches will be voice-based by 2020.
It makes sense: it's much easier to speak a question than it is to type it. And it allows you to multitask while driving, cooking or walking.
This is not a fad, or something you should ignore - if you want to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition, now's the time to do it.
Here's what to focus on:
It's all about location, location, location
In last week's blog, I covered the importance of using local keywords to attract visitors and customers. Using these local targeted keywords is a huge part of any SEO strategy for your website.
Mobile voice-related searches are three times more likely to be locally based. People are looking for what's nearby right now, so the more specific you can get with your keywords and copy the more likely they are to find you.
Use your location with keywords as often as you can, and don't forget to keep your Google My Business page and Yelp page updated with your current information - these results are served too, not just your web content.
Be more natural
What someone types into a search bar is going to be different from a spoken query. For example, if I want to find a hotel near the airport in Toronto, I'd type something like "hotels near airport Toronto" into the search bar.
However, if I'm speaking my search, it would be more like "what hotels are near the airport in Toronto?"
Google is looking for natural language, so you're going to have to brainstorm the types of questions people might ask that include your target keywords.
Incorporate conversational, long-tail keyword phrases into your content as much as possible.
Some great ways to create natural content include:
• About and FAQ pages
• Blogs and articles
• Answering questions on your Google My Business Questions and Answers section
• Providing as much info as you can to Google My Business and Yelp, including hours of operation, products or services offered, parking, delivery or shipping options and so on.
Aim for featured snippets and People also ask
Both Google Home and Google Assistant read out featured snippets when answering queries, so you want to get to the top!
Featured snippets are selected search results that are found in a box on top of Google's organic results.
Google wants to give users the best answer so it's essential you answer questions clearly and update your website with fresh, engaging copy on a regular basis.
Research shows answers in the form of lists have done very well in featured snippets. The more conversational answers your site and online profiles contain, the better your chances of appearing in this coveted spot.
The same goes for "People also ask". You might have seen this pop up when you type in or speak a question. Check out the example below - I asked, "where are the best boutiques in nyc?"
Below the top few results there is often a "People also ask" section. Each of those dropdown menus answers a related question using content from well-optimized websites or blogs.
Create copy for a 9th grade reading level
No matter what your business offers it's never a good idea to write overly technical or jargon-filled copy. It doesn't benefit the user, and it doesn't benefit your SEO.
Research shows that content written at a 9th grade reading level - or below - appears more often as a voice result. You can use a tool such as the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level to determine what grade your content is at and adjust accordingly.
It's not about dumbing down your site - it's about answering questions succinctly and clearly rather than filling your webpages with unnecessary language that will only confuse searchers and search engines.
Focus on adding these strategies to your marketing efforts to increase traffic, leads and sales as adoption of this exciting technology continues to grow. The more you focus on voice search optimization now the better results you're going to get in the long run.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10089106
Unfortunately, this is not that doom and gloom article announcing that PPC and SEO are no more. Rather we'll discuss how audio search has shaken things up for the digital marketers.
In the world of search, the voice is an emerging trend and of course something that should be kept an eye on.
Google algorithms change once or twice in a day. But rarely do we experience major ranking fluctuations in it. Those are the updates marketers are concerned about.
One such important trend that may rule the SEO is:
Voice Search on Mobile
Google and Siri might have come in the picture long ago, but it is now that this search has got the ball rolling. Initially, consumers were not at all thrilled with this technology. It was a fun voice recognition gimmick that everyone may want to have fun with. According to research performed in those initial years, 83% of iOS users stated that they didn't use Siri at all. But today, Google and Siri are leading the way.
With adaption to this new search, you can think of it growing exclusively.
Are you ready to learn more about it?
What is VoiceSearch?
It can be termed as a speech recognition technology allowing a user to perform a search through voice command. It is a two-way communication that assists the users to complete their tasks in real time.
Users nowadays expect a prompt and direct answer when they perform any search. And it is an ideal. In fact, if you dig a little deep in the context of voice queries, you will find it totally different from the specific keyword text search in the search engine.
Voice Search Gaining Popularity
Voice recognition is obviously nothing new, but to date, the practical application remained limited to shouting with anger at a phone to make it understand things or to bring it in exercise to create humor.
However, changing search trends have shown that practical voice interaction is finally a real thing.
It may be hyped as the "coming" technology, but the fact is that 40% of the users have made it today's technology. Every adult user performs a voice search at least once in a day.
Remaining 60% started using it in the past year, and 40% in the past six months only. With these statistics, we can have an idea that "coming" technology has arrived.
So why are smart speakers and voice-activated search engines gaining such a momentum? Voice has become the opening door for innovation as it provides an appealing and personal and really natural means of interaction. Just think of playing music, ordering a pizza, getting breaking news and in fact turning on your light just through your voice. This is enough to explain why 40% of users have replaced their textual search with voice search seamlessly.
This is one of the massively growing markets and it won't be wrong to say that Amazon Echo and Google Home are leading the show.
It started with Siri back in 2010 and ever since it started gaining success in the digital world, the market boomed up with the software offering a refined voice search facility. Today we have a big list of voice recognition systems:
Siri (2010)
Amazon Alexa (2014)
Microsoft Cortana (2015)
Google Assistant, Amazon Echo (2016)
Alibaba AliGenie, Samsung Bixby (2017)
Every year this voice search worked on the systems and headed towards success. And eventually, it has grounded its reputation in the market. Today the biggest reason behind the increasing rate of voice searches is a better voice recognition system.
Before getting in how voice searches impact SEO and digital marketing, let's pay a look at related statistics:
46% of voice search users think of a local business daily
58% of the consumers used voice search to find local business information during last year
27% visit a local business website through voice search
76% of smart home speaker users search for local businesses once in a week with around 53% performing daily searches
The voice recognition market will hit $601 million industry by 2019
Impact on SEO
If voice search is the future, is it leaving any impact on SEO? Well, the answer to this is "Yes, it is".
With a conventional search, a user types a question, or some keywords more commonly like "CA coaching Classes" or "Indian Cuisines". With this you see a list of relevant sites helping you out. SEO here plays the role of bringing your site to the top of the list for such relevant searches.
And when a user asks the same to his or her digital assistant, two things come to a picture. Firstly, the search becomes more journalistic and secondly you won't see any big list of results to choose from. It gives a very clear answer to a clear query.
However, this does not mean that SEO is no longer playing any role in it. In contrast to this, when a search gives just one answer, it makes the optimization even more critical. This is to make sure that your business is chosen from among so many. But with this, it is not like you need to determine a new pattern that is voice search.
Marketers just need to ensure that all the content is conversational and natural. This will help meet the Q and A pattern of voice search. There are a lot of tools like Schema Markup to make sure that Google has got most of the details of your business. Blogs were and will always be an important method to make your voice search successful. So, it is important to remember that voice search is equal to mobile search and portraying a mobile-friendly website is thus more crucial than ever.
Since voice search is the next big thing, brands will rapidly catch up with it. And obviously, these should! In fact, all the massive tech players have started to invest in personal assistant and voice. So, the question is:
Why is Voice Search an Important thing for the Brands?
Since the voice recognition system is working wonderfully in all the areas, how brands could be expected to stay at bay from such advancement. Voice searches will shortly take away all the search methods. And here are the top reasons why it is important for huge brands:
a. Natural Speed -
The fact is, there is no other platform as fast as this voice search system. You just say out and have the concise results among you. For brands, it is one of the most required assets. You execute a command and your task is done there and then. You do not have to spend time looking for the alphabet on a keyboard and then enter your query.
b. Enhanced productivity -
Speaking is faster than typing. Rather than using a touchscreen or keyboard to get an answer to your query if you switch to speech, you will save a significant amount of time. And when you save time, you ultimately increase your productivity.
c.Time is Money - Save it
Since the frequency of speech is faster than writing words, it saves plenty of time. And when your consumers get their work done in seconds, you will be their only choice. When brands partner with the voice search, they are likely to stay above their competitors.
d. Massive Access -
One of the best things about voice recognition systems is these can be accessed by one and all. Like most of the users skip using search engine systems because they do not know the language to type in. However, everybody knows the art of speaking. And because voice searches are available in almost all the languages, the reach maximizes to infinity. This factor certainly increases the consumer ratio.
e. Increased Brand Attention with User Attention -
Are you a brand more concerned about your consumer's comfort, their requirements, and tastes? Well, if yes, you can be the next big player. More you will take care of your consumer's ease; more will be the user attention. So, it is better you step into the voice ecosystem as soon as possible.
How to Start in the Voice Search? -
With so many different platforms to operate and perform your voice search on, you may get confused about operating it. Well, there is a very simple solution to it. Voice searches are far easier.
Voice Search Anywhere -
No matter you are sitting inside your cabin or traveling out, speak out your query loudly and get back a relevant answer to it.
Simply tap the mic on the Google search bar and start speaking. This works on Android, iOS, windows and chrome browsers for mobile phones, laptops, and desktops.
For example: Say something like, "Who designed Eiffel Tower?"
It is easy and displays very relevant answers to your queries.
Apart from this Siri works well if you are an Apple device user, Google voice search goes well for the Android devices and Microsoft's Cortana is useful when it comes to your PC and smartphone using their app.
Tips for optimizing for Voice Search
1. Page Speed -
Page speed plays a vital role in voice search SEO. According to Backlinko, an average voice search result page loads in 4.6 seconds which is certainly 52% fast if compared to an average page.
2. Answer Length -
Google looks concise and to the point answers for search results. A standard voice search result is just 29 words in length.
3.Reliable Domains -
Reliable domains are likely to produce voice search results extensively more than non-reliable domains.
4. Social Sharing -
Content that has a higher level of social engagement perform better in voice search.
5. Simplicity of Language -
Simple and easy to read content is easily optimized by the voice search engine. An average Google voice search result is written at a 9th-grade level.
6. The featured Snippet -
If your business appears in featured snippet it helps you a great degree to rank in voice search. 40.7% of the voice search answers come from a featured snippet.
Different Optimization Strategies of different Voice Search Engines -
*Google Assistant - Focus on a local pack and featured snippet. Together with this, Google play optimization is also taken into consideration to offer relevant results.
*Alexa - Pays attention to Bing places, featured snippets and Yelp.
*Cortana - Do better optimization for Microsoft App store
Siri - Optimize according to Google Assistant and also develop Siri compatible applications.
Bing Plays a Key Role -
We can see in all the four voice search processes, three of them Apple's Siri, Cortana, and Alexa take in Bing search for basic information rescue. Facebook is also joining the league and Google obviously powers its very own Google Assistant.
In fact, voice searches may become a standard very soon. According to 2016 data, Bing represented that 25% of the searches conducted via windows 10 taskbar were all voice based. And if we talk about this number in 2018, it must have increased a great degree, considering the popularity of voice searches.
No matter the search engine you give value to, there are two main areas to pay attention to local listings and featured snippets.
On-Site SEO Optimization is Vital -
Despite all these strategies, old SEO is obviously the king. You cannot skip doing SEO optimization like interpreting page content, make users understand about your webpage, answer relevant queries and find out if your page is well optimized to rank on the search engine. Page authority has got a big role to get the featured snippets.
Is this the end for search? -
The most important question that strikes is: if this is the end for search or if old SEO will be dead soon? Well, voice search has been here than you probably think of it. It dates back to 2002. It is just that it became getting popularity with a rise in the use of smartphones. The digital assistants like Siri and Cortana grew increasingly. But SEO did not go out in any case.
Speech search is simply an additional interface and is not expected to replace old SEO in any case. This may change the technique or add some tasks to SEO optimization but won't kill the good old SEO of course.
The key aim is to design a channel strategy and a perfect method for researching typed and voiced opportunity as a part of the entire process.
There are certain tips that you can use to stand out in the influx of searches. These will hit the airwaves soon and will help you rank in the first voice environment.
Google is just making a move to mobile marketing and sound search but that does not mean the end of desktop search obviously.
voice-enabled may complement what is already in place. Marketers will now pay attention to mobile, desktop and voice. And when there are lots of search engines handy to users, it increases the Google reputation undoubtedly.
Wrapping Up -
Since this search is garnering a great chunk of the overall daily internet searches, it is important for all the businesses to optimize their respective business websites for audio search. It is just the right approach required to perk up the internet traffic for already existing keywords while establishing new key phrases making your products, content, and services easily visible on search engines.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10065161
What is Quora?
I like to think of Quora as the thinking man's social-networking site. Facebook is for friends; Twitter for up-to-date news, while Quora brings together proponents and opponents of every conceivable fact, act, or agenda.
If your interest is ferreting out obscure facts such as on what date did heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano die in a plane crash and what was the model of the plane he was killed in, Quora might be the networking site for you. If you are of a disputatious nature and dearly love discussing the great questions of the day concerning politics and religion, Quora might indeed be the networking site for you. If you consider yourself an expert in some field--or fields--and want yourself recognized as such, then Quora is definitely the site you should check into.
Conversely, if none of the above sounds like you, I would most certainly think about spending my time somewhere else. For one thing, even the most obscure facts are subject to dispute on Quora. As for the "discussions" on the great questions of the day, those often evolve into bitter arguments. For those of us for whom argument equals life, the site is a joy.
Facebook may be the place to make friends, but enemies are made just as easily on Quora. The most innocuous items are often the subject of nasty name-calling brawls. Take for instance, the subject of domain names, items of particular interest to this writer and very few others; anger often flares during discussions on the issue of "Domainers."
Domainers, for those of you with only a passing interest in domains, are individuals who register numerous domain names with hopes of someday selling them at a profit. "Domain Troll" is a common epithet applied to them on the site; "cyber squatter" is still another; "scumbags" rears it's ugly head from time to time. As might well be imagined, there are two sides to every argument--excuse me, discussion--and Domainers are articulate Capitalists who often refer to their opponents as "losers," "quitters," and sadly, even "scumbags."
Another hotly debated question revolves around the definition of "expert." Not everyone who posts on Quora claims to be an expert, but there are enough individuals claiming that title on every conceivable subject to provide any agenda with ammunition. How can you tell the true expert from the "wannabe?" A great question for which there exists no determinative answer on Quora--or anyplace else, for that matter! My favorite answer was posted by someone with a sense of humor: an expert is anyone fifty miles from home carrying a briefcase.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7093045
We all want more traffic, don't we? Well here are some tips on how you can use Quora to increase your website traffic. You will get quality traffic from people who actually want more help and therefore are more likely to sign up as your subscriber.
First of all let me explain what Quora is. It is a very popular site quite similar to Yahoo Answers - basically a question and answer site. Anyone who has an account can ask or answer questions.
Good answers get voted up and can be shared easily on social media. You get useful statistics of your activity and the number of people viewing your answers and voting them up.
Here are some things that you can do to increase your traffic there:
Engage
In order to see results from using this platform you need to become a regular contributor. As with any traffic source you need to be committed to taking action.
Become part of the community and vote up answers that deserve to be voted up. The more you get involved the more points you will obtain and you can then use these points to promote your answers.
Promoting Answers
As I have already mentioned you will gain points when you take part on Quora. This becomes useful when you want to promote one of your answers to other people who are interested in that topic or question.
When you provide an answer to a question, if you have enough points you will see a prompt asking you if you would like to promote your answer. You will also see how many people you can promote your answer to.
Ideally promote your answers when there is a large number of people to promote to. This will give your answers more visibility and generate interest in you.
Choose Carefully
Make sure that you answer any question in a way that will provide the type of credibility that you want to demonstrate. This means answering questions selectively. It's not about answering as many questions as possible. Your answers need to be of high quality and helpful.
People will pay attention to your answers when it is clear that you are talking from experience.
Research Tool
Using this site is not just about increasing your traffic it is also a great place to research as well. You will gain a lot from observing the kind of questions that people have.
Also by looking at the number of people following questions and the number of answers given, you will gain an insight into the trends within your niche.
Getting The Online Results You Deserve
If you're not seeing the results you want with your online efforts then it might be down to what you're actually selling. I have discovered that when you create your own information products you are far more successful but you need to keep the momentum going and get products out quickly.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8466985
Get Free Small Business Advice With Engaging Social Communities
Why it's so great?
Quora is a Q&A site where experts actually take the time to seriously answer your questions. You can follow topics like "startups" and "entrepreneurship" and people like Fred Wilson or Mark Zuckerberg
"Answers get voted-up by by the highly populated community."
So what is Quora anyway?
Quora is a platform where questions and answers can be asked and then answered by experts. You can follow any topics on business, small business and marketing. The platform is essentially self policed by up voting like Reddit. The community is highly active and it is an excellent way to learn and ask questions.
"All progress takes place outside the comfort zone." - Michael John Bobak
So what is Quora, is it like Wikipedia?
Everyone is very familiar with Wikipedia, it's used by millions worldwide every hour - if someone is looking for information in Google the first results are typically Wikipedia sites. However I am noticing a change with more options like Quora.
Wikipedia was founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in January 2001. The organization is a non-profit organization that collects donations at its annual fundraiser and through individual donations in order to provide Wikipedia.
Quora is more web and app based with an interactive up vote action.
Quora is question-and-answer site. Quora was founded in June 2009 by Adam D'Angelo. Users can ask personalised questions and these are answered by registered users. The answers can be evaluated by the up voting system. It is a for-profit company.
So how can I use Quora to help with my Small Business?
How many people use Quora: 200+ million monthly users - 100+ million U.S. 5/10/17
Quora is a question-and-answer site where questions are asked, answered, edited and organized by its entire community of users if one such user should choose to engage.
Every day this happens on Quora
Somebody gets some life-changing advice.
Somebody gets inspired by people's real-life stories.
Somebody gets professional insights.
Quorum' (of whom in Latin) itself is genitive plural of 'Qui' which means "WHO". As usual, the intended definition of 'Quorum" & "Quora" has morphed into a diluted one but understandably so. "Quora", not surprising, has come to mean a 'select group'.
Running a business can feel intimidating and sometimes isolating, especially in the beginning. With the internet and online communities with professionals, you can ask questions and search related topics and learn.
There are many tools online that can assist you and help grow your business, as well as free trials that can simplify your entire campaign marketing process
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9705849
Quora is on everyone's lips nowadays. Quora is an online community-driven Question & Answer (Q&A) repository with overflowing information that is of interest to many people and many different interests. Quora is useful to all different businesses.
There are many different ways in which Quora can be leveraged, no matter what the size is of the business. With all of the wonderful features that it offers, it is an excellent way to increase your connections as well as enriching your knowledge base. Because the resources that Quora offers are the top experts on those particular topics, a lot of confidence will be instilled in the people asking the questions. The following are some of the ways in which Quora can be used effectively for your business:
Research the competition
Keeping a close watch on Competitive Intelligence is essential for your business. You need to pay attention to what your competition is doing and what the buzz is about them from other people. The members of the Quora community can provide you with in-depth information and in many cases, those people have had direct experience with the companies that you are researching.
Strengthen your business's position in the eyes of your customers
You can gather the number of times and the sources that have mentioned your business. You start by searching for your business's name. If it already happens to be a topic on Quora, you can follow that topic so that you receive alerts when new questions are asked. If you should happen to respond to a question that someone else poses, it is your opportunity to ensure that your offerings are fairly represented. Quora is also an excellent vehicle when it comes to actually delivering superior customer service by responding to customer complaints and problems. Your business's representatives can act as resources of information as well.
Press coverage for your business
If you are interested in getting the press to communicate information about your business to others, you can use Quora for that also. You can gather intelligence from comments that have been gathered on Quora. That can prove to be very useful.
Build your network
You should constantly be striving to increase the number of connections that you have in your network. You should look for people who have similar interests to yours and who are passionate about topics that are important to you and your business. Quora is an excellent place to cultivate new and meaningful relationships. It is very simple to do. You simply click on the green "Follow Topic" button, which can be found at the top of the sidebar on the right side of your monitor.
Cultivate longer dialogue
Unlike Twitter and Facebook, which encourage people to communicate in short installments, Quora encourages longer communications among its members. At the heart of Quora is deep and expansive knowledge. However, in as much as longer communications are encouraged, your words should still be chosen wisely.
Position yourself as a subject matter expert (SME): As you connect with more and more people who share your interests, your ultimate goal is to establish meaningful relationships with those people. In order to do that, you need to bring something of value to the table (in the form of your knowledge and expertise). The more you interact with people and communicate and share your knowledge with them, the more they will regard you as an expert. Before you know it, they will be pursuing conversations with you on a very regular basis and really wanting to read what you have to say.
Strengthen existing relationships
One of the best ways to communicate with people with whom you already share a relationship is by sending them Email. Quora allows you to communicate through Email with whomever you like. You can share information of interest that you have found through Quora and send them a "touching base" Email. In all likelihood, the information will be greatly appreciated and you will have placed yourself on the forefront of their minds.
Getting up to speed quickly: If you have an interest in a topic about which you know very little, Quora provides you with a tremendous resource of experts on that particular topic. You can get advice and information on any topic that you wish. Your pool of experts will always be there for you.
Search for new topics on Quora
As you are going through the questions that other people are posing, you can get ideas about new topics of interest. Many of the questions that you encounter may serve as fodder for blog ideas, newsletters, etc.
Conclusion
Quora is a wonderful tool that can help you tremendously in your business. It allows you to stay on top of essential information that can greatly affect the success of your work. It is also a tremendous way to interact with other people and to build meaningful and long-lasting relationships.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6092296
I know a lot of you are curious about email marketing. What it is, how to do it, does it still work in 2019. I figured instead of my little articles, I'd put together a more complete resource answering all your questions.
This article will focus on what it is and why you want to do it.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is using simple, plain old emails to sell your products and services. It can be as simple as emailing people about your offer, or a complex, multilayered, finely tuned system. For now, let's keep it simple.
Let's say you have an offer. How do you use email to get it to people who might want it?
You could send unsolicited emails to people. It's tricky - people don't like being spammed - but it can work.
Or you could get people to come to you. On your website, ask people to sign up to your email list. You can then send them emails about your offer.
Both have pros and cons.
And both need to be done well - otherwise, you'll be spinning your wheels and getting nowhere.
But that's okay. After all, that's why you're here.
Does Email Marketing still work in 2019?
Short answer: yes.
Longer answer:
Plenty of people will tell you email is dead. They'll say Facebook killed it off or whatever. They've been saying stuff like that for decades, though, and the stats don't back them. Despite all these new platforms, email is not only surviving, it's thriving.
There are more than 3.8 billion email users today. By 2022, this is expected to grow to 4.3 billion. That's a tasty market - bigger than any social media platform.
Email volume also trends upwards. In 2017, 269 billion emails were sent a day. By 2022, that's expected to reach 333 billion. So, yes, people are still emailing each other.
But most importantly:
The return on investment for email marketing is rising, too. In 2018, every dollar spent on email marketing yielded $32.28, an increase of $2.25 over the year before. Not only does it pay off, that payoff is increasing.
But why?
The Secrets behind Email's rise
Email has many advantages over social media:
It's personal. On Facebook and Twitter, you're bombarded with ads you don't want. With email, any ad you don't want probably heads straight for your spam box. You control your inbox and who can send messages to it, something social media tends to lack.
Your email list is yours. Social media can shut you down without notice. Think that only happens to racists? Think again - enough outrage (real or manufactured) against you will see these platforms shrug and abandon you. If that happened, you'd have to start over. But with email, even if you're banned (which is highly unlikely) you could take your list to another provider.
It's useful. Sure, we probably receive too many emails these days. It still remains one of the best ways to stay informed and stay in touch.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10154979
If you want to get your email marketing off to the right start, it helps to think like the pros. There aren't many rules with email marketing and it's important to find your won approach. That said, if you start with these ideas in mind, you'll skip a lot of pain.
Habit 1: Always Add Value
Assume your reader is busy. Also assume they're annoyed and looking to take it out on someone. If you do this, you'll write emails in the right way.
You'll be entertaining.
You'll be useful.
What you won't be is annoying, long winded for no reason, insulting or a waste of time.
Every email you send should be valuable. It should offer a unique insight or provide something useful.
I know one marketer who hadn't quite figured this out. She would send a weekly email talking about what she's up to and the latest offers. The problem was this only changed every month or so, meaning she sent the same email - word for word - three times in a row.
Sometimes you need to say the same thing more than once. That doesn't mean you have to say it the same way. Keep it fresh and reward the reader for opening your email.
Habit 2: Focus On Success and Forget About Losers
Let's say you create an amazing bribe to entice subscribers onto your list.
Then you see someone subscribe, download your bribe and unsubscribe 20 minutes later.
You might be tempted to get upset and start rethinking things.
Don't. You can forget about people like that. Freebie-seekers won't buy from you anyway, so who cares?
Focus on making sales. If a bunch of subscribers opt out of your list but you make record sales, that's a win.
Focus on building the relationship. Someone might be on the fence now and that's okay. Give them time, keep offering value and they'll probably buy later. And if not, who cares, right?
If your readers are trusting you more and more over time, then email marketing is working. If you're making sales, then it's working. Forget about individuals who just want your free bribes - they're not worth thinking about.
Habit 3: Learn From the Best
Who are the best email marketers in your niche?
Who are the best on the planet?
Have a read of their emails. Subscribe to their list. Notice what they say and how they say it. Compare their bribe to yours.
What can you learn from them?
What shouldn't you learn from them, because it won't work for you?
Trust me - the best marketers ask themselves this a lot too. Marketing always changes, so even the best know they need to keep learning.
Habit 4: Find Your Unique Voice
I said learn from the best. I didn't say imitate them.
When you study the best marketers, you'll notice a lot of amateurs imitating their style. I don't recommend it.
For one thing, it doesn't work.
For another, it's harder than figuring out your own voice.
Pay attention to how you speak in person. What's your energy like? Are you upbeat or crotchety? What strange phrases do you like to use?
Write your emails like this.
Yes, you want to come across as professional. Definitely do that. You also want to come across as human, though.
Habit 5: Be Reliable and Consistent
If you say you'll email five times a week, then email five times a week.
If you imply you'll add value with every email, then do so.
Consistency is key. Is it the most important thing? I don't know, but if you're consistent and you live long enough, success is guaranteed.
Habit 6: Sell
Your email marketing exists to sell. This is part of the value you add to the world. If your product or service helps people, then you owe it to them to convince them to buy.
Yes, you get something out of it.
But so do they. If there's mutual benefit and you're transparent about it, then it's the most ethical thing you can do.
Some people sell with every email they send. Others like to break it up with useful content. That's up to you to figure out - though you'll notice I sell with each of these. No matter what you choose, though, don't let a week go by without selling something to your list.
If they don't like it, they can leave. Say good riddance, as per Habit 2.
Habit 7: Keep Growing Your List
Over time, people will opt out. It doesn't matter how good you are or how amazing your emails are. It happens.
This means you keep needing new subscribers, even if you want to keep your numbers stable.
You need to keep growing just to stay in the same place.
Some part of your marketing efforts need to be dedicated to capturing subscribers. In between writing sales letters and emailing your list, you need to go out there into the world to find new readers.
Put your ethical bribe in front of them. Wiggle it enticingly until they can't resist anymore.
But remember, not all subscribers are equal. Go to where your ideal clients live - haunt their forums and Facebook groups and, if it's not against the group's terms, invite people to subscribe.
Want to get in on the email action?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10154973
