Archive | July, 2018

As you know, online marketing is forever evolving. What worked last year might not bring in the customers this year, which is why it pays to stay on top of trends and know what the next hot online marketing technique might be.

Perhaps the only constants in online marketing are search engine optimization and email marketing. If you think back, these are the two big powerhouses that have been performing well for the last two decades.

Everything else? Changes.

With that in mind, what is the next trend that you can count on and prepare for? How will you be attracting your target audiences in the coming months and converting them into sales and revenue?

From what we can tell, this is one of the hottest up and coming methods that is nearly guaranteed to deliver.

Live Video

Early adapters jumped into live video streaming last year, with good results. But now it’s going mainstream, and if you’re not aboard, you’re going to be left behind.

Platforms such as Instagram Live Video and Facebook Live give you a very personal way to reach your prospects and customer base.

You don’t get to use video edits with this method – it’s like having your audience right there with you, live in your office or wherever you might be. This makes it interesting for both you and your viewers. You can literally film almost anywhere, and they get to see the real you, mistakes and all.

Broadcasting live events is a great way to generate buzz. Expect to see marketers staging more and more outrageous and interesting live ‘shows’ in which they pitch their ideas, advice and products.

Think of the possibilities. You can stream from anyplace and talk about most anything. You can even do live on the street questions of passersby or attendees at your event.

The opportunities are endless and limited only by your imagination.

Here are the keys: Know your audience and what they will respond do. Test using shorter, less publicized live streaming events until you learn what works for your niche and then publicize your events to the max.

Don’t be afraid to experiment or make mistakes. You are human and your audience loves to see evidence that you are just like them.

Be real and be yourself. But don’t be afraid to be an outrageous and yet vulnerable version of yourself as well.

Get guests on your shows to spice things up and provide great information. You might even consider having a co-host so that you can have the continuous back and forth live banter.

The one thing you absolutely, positively cannot do? Is be boring. This is the mortal sin and will lose you viewers faster than almost anything else.

Have notes at the ready so you always have something interesting to talk about.

Keep your ‘umm’s’ and ‘ahh’s’ to an absolute minimum. Look at the camera and smile. Be upbeat whenever possible. People love enthusiasm.

And remember: when you’re speaking live, 80% of your message is non-verbal. It’s the expressions on your face, the hand gestures and all the unspoken communication that people pick up on.

That’s why being upbeat and enthusiastic is so important.

If you want to go beyond theory and dive into live video creation, here’s 22 additional tips to get you started on the right track:

1: Have Two of Everything

Always have a backup of all – ALL – of your equipment. That includes anything that you’re using, even cords, cables and connectors.

2: Charge it

Keep your devices charged and ready to go and keep a backup battery as well.

3: Don’t Blow the Bank

If you’re doing studio style, all you need is a $75 webcam, and $75 microphone and maybe $150 in lighting. This should be plenty give you high-quality look and sound.

4: Expensive Isn’t Always Better

Check specifications on your equipment to know if it’s the best for live streaming. Just because it’s new or doesn’t cost a lot doesn’t mean it’s optimal.

5: Hard Wire is Best, Wi-Fi is Second Best

If you’re indoors, a hard wire connection to the internet is your best bet. Wi-Fi is second best, and cell service is third. If you’re using cell, try to pick a location with a hot spot from another cellular provider as backup – sometime one service is noticeably better than another.

6: Know Your Speed

Check your internet upload speed before broadcasting. (Use a site like speedtest.net) Disable or pause apps you might be running in the background that could slow down your broadcast.

7. Stay Cool

If you’re working outside and it’s hot, put an umbrella over your computer to keep it cool. And find a place in the shade for yourself – no one wants to see sweat running down your face.

8. Test

Before you go live, run a test to make sure everything’s working well and you know what you’re doing. Learn all the controls and mechanics for the live stream app you’re using BEFORE you go live.

9: Lighting and Sun

Indoors or outdoors, avoid backlighting your subject. This includes windows behind you when you’re indoors. If you’re filming outside, be aware of where the sun is and what it might be reflecting off of.

10: Background Noise

Minimize background noise as much as possible. If it’s windy, you’ve got to place a foam wind cover on your mic or the wind sounds will be too distracting for listeners.

11: Clothing

Do not wear stripes or squares if you’re on camera – it does weird things and can be difficult for viewers to look at, not to mention really distracting.

12: Camera Operator

Talk to your camera operator about what you want in the shot, when to zoom and any pertinent details they need ahead of time. Give your camera operator a monitor – they’ll have a much better idea of what they’re capturing.

13: Get Ready, Rehearse, Relax

Get everything figured out and set up in advance. When filming, there’s too much going on to figure things out then.

If you can, rehearse the entire show ahead of time. This lets you see the mistakes you would have made in both equipment set up and execution. Plus, it gives you confidence and reduces pre-show jitters.

Are you nervous? Take deep, slow breaths in and exhale slowly. Smile.

14: Promotion

Advertise your live stream starting two weeks ahead of time. Build it up, remind people and turn it into a must-see event. Write a compelling, enticing, curiosity driven description of what viewers will see and discover.

15: Be Consistent

Regular broadcasts are important for building up a regular following of viewers.

16: K.I.S.S.

Keep it simple, sweetie. There are fewer opportunities to make mistakes that way, and you look more professional.

17: Graphics

Consider using graphics or lower thirds to add context. For example, identifying a speaker on the lower-third graphic (think CNN.)

Do you need to illustrate a point? Make a chart. Find the still shot you need. Practice switching to and from it during a mock live broadcast.

18: Back Up Person

Plan to have one crew member who isn’t specifically assigned to a task. When the unexpected happens (and it will!) the available crew member can handle the problem while the broadcast continues.

19: Do Not Do This

Just like radio, dead silence is bad. A few moments of just background noise – in some cases – is alright, such as the sounds of a game or parade you’re covering.

No ‘umm’s’ and ‘ahh’s.’ Yes, we said that one earlier. But please… too many and you will lose audience members because it drives some people stark raving buggy and annoys others.

20: Interaction

Find ways to interact with your audience. For example, before and after the broadcast, chat, on-stream, etc. Read and answer questions on air.

21: Get to the Good Stuff Fast

Don’t go crazy with introductions or setting up what’s going to happen. Just jump in and get started.

22: Relax. Have Fun

Don’t expect to be perfect because you won’t be, and that’s okay.

Have fun. You made a mistake? Good. Have fun with that, too. If you’re having fun, your audience is having fun, and they’ll tune in to see you again.

That last tip is absolutely the most important.

You’ll find everything is so much easier if you simply don’t take this process too seriously.

Plus, you’ll want to do it again and again if you’re enjoying it, and that’s how you’ll grow your audience, authority and profits online.

No doubt you’ve seen plenty of upsells yourself, especially in the make-money niche.

You’ve seen good methods and bad. Maybe you’ve even gotten aggravated at the whole upsell process you had to go through to get your product.

And maybe you’ve even had customers complain to you about your upsells. (Hopefully not.)

Here’s why upsells are so tricky – they can seem a bit… and let’s be honest here…

DEVIOUS.

“Buy my product and you can get XYZ benefit!”

They buy your product and you say, “Whoopsie, if you REALLY want to get XYZ benefit, then you also need to purchase this second product.”

And the third, and the fourth…

This is why some people ask ahead of time if there are any upsells.

They’ve had too many experiences where the product seller held something back from the first product in order to make more money by selling a second product.

It’s like selling someone a car, and then saying, “Wait, if you REALLY want to drive this thing, you might want to purchase a steering wheel, too.”

They purchase the steering wheel, expecting to now get their car, except you say, “Wait, if you REALLY want to drive this thing any distance at all, you might want to buy tires, too, because driving on the rims is slow and hazardous.”

And on and on.

Your upsell needs a REASON to exist beyond you making more money – a reason your seller understands and appreciates.

Building a plug-in and purposely holding back features so they buy the upgrade is not a good reason from the buyer’s point of view (it might be a good reason from your point of view, but that’s another matter.)

Your initial offer has got to be able to stand on its own two feet all by itself, without the help of any upgrades whatsoever. It’s got to give the customer everything they need to get the benefit they seek (the reason they bought the product in the first place.)

The question is, what are “good reasons?”

How about…

Your product provides the benefit, but only with a lot of work. Your upgrade is something that makes the entire process easier.

For example, the initial product teaches how to do something by hand, the upsell is software that automates the process.

Or…

Your product provides one method of achieving the benefit, and your upgrade provides more (different) methods of achieving the same result.

For example, your initial product teaches one traffic generation method, and your upsell is a monthly membership in which they get a new traffic generation method each week.

Or…

Your product provides a benefit and your upsell is something that complements that benefit.

For example, your initial product is how to convince blog owners to let you guest blog post, and your upsell is how to convert the traffic from guest blog posts into paying customers.

Be careful with this last one. If you go on and on in your initial offer about how you can convert this traffic to sales, then your customers might expect that information to be in the initial product.

Now then, I’d like to propose a slightly different, calmer and more gentle method of upselling.

Instead of inserting a, “Do not pass until you read this” type of upsell into your sales funnel, you try doing all of the following:

• Suggesting they check the offer out on your download page
• Suggesting they check it out again inside your product
• And then following up with a series of emails letting them know why it’s such a great idea to get this upsell this week

And I say “this week,” because you’ll want to offer them a special price that is only good for the first few days after their initial purchase.

I know of one marketer who uses ONLY this method of upsell. Yes, he does not make as much money on his initial sales, but he does sell a boatload of upsells.

And perhaps more importantly, his customers never get angry at him for ramming upsells down their throats. They love him, trust him, and a surprising number do get the upsell before the discount expires.

This is something you might test.

Remember, your upsell needs a reason to exist – a reason beyond you making a profit.

You’re bring up your site and … something’s not right.

In fact, something is very wrong.

How do you know if you’ve been hacked?

Here are 12 definite signs…

Your Site Vanishes

If you’re online and your site has disappeared and the only thing that comes up is a blank screen with an, “Oops! Site could not be found,” there could be two reasons.

Either your web designer is modifying the site and it’s not finished yet, or you’ve been hacked.

Your Site Displays Another Website

Some hackers will redirect your site to an adult site by placing redirect code in your files.

Look for a new file or existing file that contains something like this:

<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0; url=http://example.com/” />

Your Browsers Shows a Screen of Death

Your browser might be the first to alert you that your site has been compromised.

If malware is detected, the red screen that says, “The Website Ahead Contains Malware!” is a sure sign that your website needs deep cleaning.

You See Weird Code at the Top or Bottom of Your Website

The hacker might not have been successful or they may have been interrupted, leaving code fragments on your site.

It will look like a bunch of gibberish to the average person and will often be displayed at the top of bottom of the site.

Your Site Loads Crazy Slow, or It Crashes

Hackers may be using your site to send spam emails by the thousands, in which case your entire server and the sites hosted on it will slow down.

It is possible that it’s another site on your shared server that was hacked. Here’s hoping, except now we feel bad for them.

Your Emails Go to Spam

ISP’s maintain spam lists to blacklist domains that send out 1,000’s of spam emails.

If your site is being used to send out emails by a hacker, then your domain may be blacklisted.

If this happens, even the emails you personally send out will be marked as spam.

Admin and Public Sections Look the Same

If the admin section of your site and the public section of your site look the same, then the hackers may have been skinning your admin section to look like your public facing site.

This type of hacking comes with not-so-clever additions promoting the hackers’ prescription drug or adult site of choice.

Viagra Has Taken Over Your Site

You find words that you didn’t type in weird places or added links for products that aren’t yours.

These links might even be given stealth placement inside technological or scientific words.

And sometimes the links are in another language.

Weird or Unusual Activity

You suddenly see a crazy traffic spike for a post you made two years ago.

Or it seems like everyone in Russia has suddenly jumped on your website for no apparent reason.

Maybe you see extra comments that cannot be explained.

The big indicator here is a sudden spike in foreign traffic.

Google Tells You There is a Problem

Google watches your site for problems when it makes its scans. If it finds one, it will report back to you inside Google Webmaster Tools.

Unfortunately, it will also tell your visitors as well when they try to come to your website. This is what causes those warning boxes that pop up in your browser when you visit a site.

You Find Something Wrong in Your Files

If you’re a developer or you can work on your own code, you can monitor your site yourself for strange activity.

PHP files in your theme, the .htaccess file and the extra files in your WordPress home directory are all common places to find hacked code.

You’re looking for hidden or obfuscated code. You can scan your entire file structure for “base64” or look at the ends of PHP files for anything you don’t recognize.

Sucuri SiteCheck Tells You There is (or was) a Problem

Sucuri SiteCheck will scan your website against a database of known problems and determine if it’s been hacked.

It looks for 10 different items to make sure your site is safe, including viruses, spam and redirects.

You can get a manual scan for free or sign up for $89.99 a year to have your site regularly scanned and cleaned. https://sitecheck.sucuri.net/scanner/