How to Generate New Leads Without Spending a Fortune

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Every brand needs new customers.

Those of you who have been in business for a while may be doing fine generating high sales from your existing customers.

But that business model isn’t sustainable forever. There comes a point when you won’t be able to grow without new leads.

This is especially important for newer companies. Since you haven’t been operating for a long time, you definitely need new leads just to survive.

But where do you find them?

It’s a common misconception that generating new leads is costly. Here’s something to consider. Yes, it’s more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing one.

In fact, research shows that customer acquisition costs can be six or seven times greater than those of retention campaigns.

That said, this doesn’t mean generating new leads has to be outrageously pricy.

According to research, 69% of marketers say lead generation is a top organizational goal for their content strategy.

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or whether your brand is new or old. Everyone can benefit from this guide. I’ll show you my favorite cost-effective lead-generation strategies.

They are easy to implement, and I can assure you you’ll notice results fast.

Automate your marketing process

What are your highest marketing costs?

Time is money. If you’re spending endless hours each day sending out emails and updating social media pages, it’ll cost you big bucks in the long run. Each minute you spend on marketing takes away from your other daily business operations.

Depending on the size of your business, you may have people in place to run some of your marketing campaigns so you don’t have to.

Great, right? Wrong. Think about the costs associated with paying these people. Rather than paying your employees to manually send emails to subscribers or post new content on social media, you can use technology to help.

As you can see from the data, only 24% of companies aren’t using marketing automation at all. The majority of businesses are using some form of automation.

But only 14% of these marketers describe their automation usage as higher than intermediate.

Even if you are doing cold email outreach, you can save much time by automating the process using a combination of tools such as Voila Norbert, Gmass, Dux Soup, and Zapier.

Yes, the majority of these tools won’t be free. But you can still get them for a fraction of the cost of what you’re paying someone else to complete these tasks.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you need to get rid of your employees completely, although some of these tools could potentially save you a salary or two. But with the added free time, you can use your employees for other business operations that generate growth.

Automation needs to become a priority for your brand. These tools can save you money and help you create new leads.

Grow your email subscriber list

This method is somewhat related to the previous tactic.

Before you can use automation tools to email your subscribers, you need to have subscribers in the first place. Run campaigns specifically designed to get more people to sign up for your emails.

For the most part, this won’t be very expensive.

Sometimes, all it takes is a quick redesign of some of your website elements. Make it easy for people to opt in on every page of your site. Give them an incentive to subscribe.

Just saying “sign up for emails” isn’t always enough.

Are you selling something? Give them a discount off their next purchase for signing up.

Email marketing is inexpensive and highly profitable. Most software will cost you a reasonable monthly or annual fee based on the number of subscribers on your list.

While these costs may not sound appealing, research shows email marketing yields a high ROI.

This explains why it’s such a popular marketing tactic.

I get it. It’s 2018, and you’re looking for some new or sexy way to market your brand. But sometimes sticking with the basics is your best bet, especially when you’re trying to save money.

Email marketing isn’t dead. It’s still alive and thriving.

Growing your active subscriber list needs to be an essential component of your content strategy.

Once you add people to your list, you’ll have endless opportunities to market to them. It’s a great way for you to directly drive sales with your new leads.

Start a blog

Blogging is one of my favorite ways to generate new leads. That’s why all my websites have blogs.

There are many benefits to blogging. I could go on and on about this topic, but I’ll spare you for now and just give you the highlights.

For starters, your blog will serve as a way for you to constantly post new content on your website. It’s a great opportunity for you to use keyword research to improve your SEO ranking.

Now you can generate new leads just based on organic search traffic alone because of your blog. Furthermore, the topics of your blog can also encourage sales.

I’m not saying you need to be a salesperson 24/7 with everything you publish. You can still have some fun with your posts.

But ultimately, your blog posts need to have some kind of unifying goal. Use them to create brand awareness, provide informative guides, or, in this case, generate new leads. And your blog post goals can be a combination of these.

Another reason why I recommend blogging as a top lead-generation strategy is because it’s not going to cost you much. The only major cost is going to be your time spent writing.

If you currently have a blog, make sure you are constantly updating it with new content.

Having a blog is one thing, but if you’re only posting once a month or so, it’s not going to be an effective strategy.

Try to establish a group of regular readers to maximize your results and generate as many leads as possible.

Add videos to your YouTube channel

If you don’t have a YouTube channel, you need to create one ASAP. I have my own YouTube channel, and I use it all the time.

Here’s why. First of all, video content is taking over the Internet. Research shows that 82% of Internet traffic will be videos within the next three years.

It’s what consumers want and what they’re used to seeing online. People will search for content directly on YouTube, but that’s not the only way you can use these videos to your advantage.

YouTube content is easy to repurpose.

After you upload something to YouTube, you can simply add the video to your website as well. You can even embed links directly into your blog posts, which I previously discussed.

Send videos to your email subscribers. Share them on social media.

By uploading one video to YouTube, you give yourself an opportunity to add new content on multiple channels, which is why it’s such an effective strategy.

Video marketing is the type of content that consumers prefer the most.

But you may be thinking this sounds like it’s going to be expensive. That’s not true.

Video marketing doesn’t need to be a major cost.

It’s free to add content to YouTube and distribute your videos on all your marketing channels. Really, the only costs will be for the equipment you may have to purchase.

You won’t need to hire a professional cameraman or director. The majority of your video content can be shot and produced in-house.

Just buy a camera, microphone, and maybe some lighting tools. That’s it. The right equipment can also help you run a successful video blog.

These are all one-time purchases, and you don’t need to spend a ton of money on them.

Don’t turn down guest blogging opportunities

I’ve got to admit, years ago when I first started to get approached about guest blogging, I had my reservations. As I mentioned, blogging takes time.

I thought to myself, why would I spend my valuable time producing content for some else’s website when I could be spending that time on my own brand?

I’m assuming that if you have turned down guest blogging opportunities in the past, you had the same thought process. But that’s the wrong mentality.

Guest blogging does promote your brand.

You can generate new leads by guest blogging because your content reaches a wider audience.

People who may not be familiar with your company could be avid readers of the website you’re writing for. Now is your chance to introduce yourself.

Here’s an example of a guest post I wrote for Forbes:

As you can see, Forbes gives me a nice bio at the beginning of the post.

In addition to this information, readers have a chance to hear my voice and learn about my brand. This is a great opportunity for you to add inbound links to your site as well.

And as with your personal blog, this is another great opportunity to improve your SEO strategy.

I’m not saying you need to write for every single website that asks you to blog for them. It’s important for you to make sure the site is reputable and won’t hurt your image, so do your research before committing.

If people aren’t reaching out to you about guest blogging, you can contact them directly and just ask.

What’s the worst thing that could happen? They’ll just say no. This is not a big deal at all. Just move on to the next one and keep trying.

Sites may be relieved to hear you’re willing to write a guest post because it makes their lives easier. It’s one less piece of content they’ll need to produce, and it’s a great way for you to generate new leads.

Build backlinks

In addition to guest blogging, there are other ways for you to get featured on other websites.

Backlinks.

I recommend using a tool such as Dead Link Checker to look for broken links on websites within your industry.

Then, reach out to the web administrator to let them know they have broken links.

You’ll be doing them a big favor because broken links can hurt their SEO.

Instead of them removing the link completely, you can offer a solution. Send them a piece of content from your own website that’s a suitable replacement for the broken link.

This isn’t a guarantee and may not work all the time. They could just take your advice and not use your website as the replacement.

But that’s a risk you’ve got to be willing to take. The fact that you’re doing them a favor should help your cause and increase the chances of you getting featured on their site.

Contribute to forums

There are plenty of places online where users connect with each other through forums.

Some may be industry-specific, while others are for the masses. You may want to consider answering a question on platforms like Quora.

Here’s a scenario to show you how successful this strategy could be for your company. Let’s say someone asks a question related to your industry on a forum.

You answer the question and provide a link to your website—maybe even a link to one of your blog posts or informative guides on the topic.

You just generated at least one new lead from the person who asked the question. But do you think they are the only person on the planet who needed help with that topic?

If the forum is popular enough, your post could become a top search result when other people look for answers to that same question by using a general search engine.

The more traffic gets driven to that page, the more traffic your website will get.

In addition to writing on forums, you can comment on other blog posts. The idea is the same: contribute to the discussion, and drive traffic to your site.

Just don’t spam other posts. That won’t be as effective.

Use the Twitter advanced search query

Similarly to our last example, you can use Twitter to discover prospective leads.

Use the Twitter advanced search query to look for general terms related to your brand.

As you can see, the search options give you a chance to get specific with what you’re looking for.

See what some of the most recent tweets are on a topic. Reach out directly to those users, and offer your services.

The reason why this is such a great option is because you can narrow your search based on a wide range of factors.

For example, you could make sure the prospective lead is in your geographic market territory and that their tweet is recent enough to be applicable.

Responding to tweets from a year ago wouldn’t be a valid strategy because that person probably found a solution by now.

Respond to comments on social media

Businesses need to have an effective social media strategy to be relevant in 2018.

You’ll have to pay for some of your advertisements. But sometimes, you can get new leads just by reaching out to your followers directly.

People have questions. Answer them. It’s that simple.

I’m talking about direct messages and comments on your social profiles.

Responding to people on social media will help improve your engagement metrics. Ultimately, this will help you generate new leads.

Here’s an example from the Best Buy Facebook page:

A customer had a question, and the BestBuy team responded with a helpful answer. They even provided a link to their website.

I know this can be difficult, depending on how many social media followers you have. Some of you may get hundreds of messages and comments among all your channels on a daily basis.

Don’t be overwhelmed.

You should be thankful so many people want to interact with your brand.

Now is another reason why you should take advantage of the automation tools we talked about earlier. You can get all your social media messages delivered to one inbox.

Then you can respond to them in the order they were received, as opposed to having to go to each platform independently.

Again, this type of software isn’t usually outrageously priced. You should consider it if you feel you’re getting bombarded with social media comments.

Conclusion

It’s possible for businesses to generate lots of new leads without spending a ton of cash.

You can use automation tools to help save you time and money on marketing. Do everything possible to get more subscribers to your email lists.

Start a blog, and contribute to it on a regular basis. And don’t turn down guest posting opportunities.

Add content to your YouTube channel to increase your video marketing efforts.

Contribute to online forums and build backlinks to increase traffic to your website. Use the Twitter advanced search option to find prospective leads.

Don’t forget to respond to consumer questions on social media.

If you follow these tips, you’ll be able to generate new leads on a tight budget.

What cost-effective strategies is your brand using to generate leads?

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SPI 322: How "The Rideshare Guy" Created a Business Helping Uber and Lyft Drivers

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The other day I asked my Uber driver if he’d ever heard of a guy named Harry Campbell. “Isn’t that The Rideshare Guy?” he asked. And that’s exactly who we have on the podcast today!

Harry is the creator of TheRidshareGuy.com and author of The Rideshare Guide and he helps people who drive for rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft. He shows them how to make more money—essentially how to have a better career driving for rideshare services. I also caught up with him recently on an episode of Tactics in a Tesla on my YouTube channel—if you’ve ever been interested in driving for Lyft or Uber, that episode is a great place to start.

I just had to get Harry on the podcast as well, so today we’re talking about how he did this, how he’s growing his blog, and how he’s serving over 200,000 unique visitors per month. Harry’s story is so much more than just a story about a rideshare guy—this is an inspiring journey for anyone who’s thinking about launching a business in a niche market. This is a great example of how to stand out, how to monetize, ways to think about your content strategy, and so much more. We even talk about how someone could use rideshare driving as a way to network and even sell for your business. There’s a lot to dive into today, so let’s get to it!

I want to give a big shout out to my email service provider, ConvertKit, for just being on top of it. I’m sure you’ve heard about the recent GDPR stuff—well they were some of the first to come out with information about how to stay on top of that. This tool is amazing for getting your email list up and running and it’s full of fantastic automation features like tagging and segmenting. If you want to get a forty-five day free trial—you can’t get this anywhere else—check it out at SmartPassiveIncome.com/convertkit45. [Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for ConvertKit.]

Thanks for Listening!

To share your thoughts:

To help out the show:

• Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.


• Subscribe on iTunes or download our mobile app.

Special thanks to Harry Campbell for joining me this week. Until next time!

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How to Keep the Culture That's Driving Growth as Your Startup Scales

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When your business is growing fast is when your culture is most at risk. Only your team can preserve it.

June 13, 2018

6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

 A company's culture is and always will be, the root of all growth, innovation and momentum.

In a recent study called “What leaders need to know about organization culture,” author D.D. Warrick writes that “organizational culture can significantly influence the performance and effectiveness of a company; the morale and productivity of its employees; and its ability to attract, motivate and retain talented people.”

In other words, cultivating a strong company culture sculpts strong teams, empowers individuals to apply their passions to a communal vision and encourages the open transparency crucial to engendering and sustaining a collection of flourishing, synchronous and diverse minds. Warrick, goes on to highlight that “cultures are like precious and prized treasures” that need to be maintained to dazzle. But a strong company culture is more than just a treasure -- it's a living organism that when exercised and nourished, can be the most valuable strength a company has. Why? Because it can breath new life, inspiration, and passion into your company and your people every day.

Related: Good Company Culture Removes Barriers Hindering Success

Maintaining the culture of a startup or small scale company is one thing, but keeping it healthy as a company grows is another. A growing company's culture may be susceptible to weakness, downfall and neglect due to scaling operations, scarcity of resources, changes in management, etc.

Here are three ways to ensure that your corporate culture stays healthy as your company scales.

1. Base your company culture in an easily replicable, transportable, people-focused tradition.

Right from the start, basing your company culture in a tradition is a great way for the underpinnings of your culture to scale accordingly. Furthermore, rooting that tradition in your people will ensure it's scalability. Your people alone will be the fuel of your culture. 

At Wve Labs, our cultural tradition, capable of traveling anywhere we might expand to, centers around storytelling. Two years ago -- when we had just five employees -- I decided to incorporate storytelling into the core of Wve to heighten human connection, collaboration and closeness. Hearing and telling stories empower our people to be themselves, to grow and to share. We are now a workforce of 85 with offices in four countries, and storytelling is still going strong. Each week, our teams meet within their respective offices and tell stories about interesting client interactions, exceptional experiences with other employees and personal learning takeaways. At the end of “story time,” we collectively vote on our favorite story. That story is then pushed out and shared with our other offices. This way, our culture transverses the boarders and oceans that divide our workforces. Practicing storytelling keeps positive energy high within the office, eagerness to work hard spry outside the office and overall extraordinary international culture alive throughout our brand.  

Tell stories, ring a bell to celebrate achievements and milestones (as seen in The Intern), start a company holiday. Create a tradition as focused on your people because it is scalable. That way, as long as you have people, your culture will thrive. 

Related: Your Company Needs an Innovation Culture, Not an Innovation Team

2. As you expand, understand the culture outside of your company culture.

Failing to do so might just kill your company culture altogether.

An article published on Innov8 points out that  "one of the biggest downfalls of corporations is not recognizing the importance of understanding culture when operating a business." Culture outside of your business, that is. Consider cultural characteristics like gender roles, decision making processes, values, unaccepted behaviors, etc. Understanding the life and motivations of the new people who will soon become part of your own company culture will facilitate smooth integration no matter how fast you scale.

In just six months, Wve Labs expanded from Los Angeles to the U.K., Hong Kong and India. All of a sudden, we found ourselves in three very new cultures. In each location, we made sure to open the dialogue around both our company culture and the culture we scaled to. We turned to our new team members and learned from them.

Culture is magnetic. It has the ability to pull impeccable people into seamless collaborations. Anytime your business grows, it’s important to figure out what attracts and what opposes. That way, you’ll minimize any possible growing pains.

Related: Should You Scale or Should You Grow? (The 2 Strategies Are Not The Same.)

3. Build a team of culture guardians. 

Designate particular individuals within your company to keep an eye on everything culture within your company before, during and after scaling. This is a surefire way to gauge the expanding health of your corporate culture. Oftentimes, these individuals will present themselves on their own, so be on the lookout. They may come to you or one of their superiors with ideas on how to enhance performance, workplace culture or happiness within the company. These are the people you want on your team of culture guardians. 

Encourage this team of culture caretakers to communicate, educate and demonstrate the cultural ideals of your company. Since they embody everything your company culture stands for already, radiating and spreading those feel-good, community-based and meaningful-work vibes will come naturally. As your company expands and new hires come aboard, your culture will stay strong.

Take Google, for example. Google constantly maintains and alters their culture because it’s key to their success. Google knows that all business starts with people, as does company culture. They know their people are their culture. Every Google employee is their very own culture gaurdian. 

If your business is growing fast, and you feel your culture might be at risk, implement a tradition capable of scaling. Focus on your people. Look at culture from a holistic approach. Empower employees to contribute to, shape, change, transform and cultivate company culture. If you do at least one of these things as your company scales, there’s a good chance your company culture will flourish at the same rate.

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Copyblogger Book Club, a 'Killer' Resource for Content Writers

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Did you know that Copyblogger has a book club?

It’s very new, so it would be understandable if you didn’t! We’re just in our second month, and this month we’re going to tackle an ultra helpful resource for anyone who wants to sharpen up their “killer” skill set — Ryan Levesque’s Ask.

Ryan is a friend of mine, but that’s not the reason I’m recommending his book. I find that even for those of us who are sold on the benefits of audience-friendly automation, the whole “where should I start” thing can be a lot to think about.

Ryan developed the Ask Method as a step-by-step process for learning more about your audience, then serving them better based on that knowledge.

In the book club, we’re going to unpack the four cornerstone pieces of Levesque’s process, with a week on each one. We’ll talk about some easy, practical ways to implement each strategy quickly. We’ll also share tips and insights we’ve learned in our own experiments.

We conduct the book club inside our Killers and Poets Facebook group — a cozy, drama-free little corner of Facebook where we like to talk copywriting strategy, ask and answer questions, and occasionally commiserate over those head-desk career moments. (Hey, we all have them.)

(If “killers and poets” seems like a weird phrase, here’s where it comes from.)

I totally get it if you’re paring back your time on Facebook — so am I. I’ll often dash on, swing by Killers and Poets to see what’s up, then dash out again. The community is growing but still compact, so it’s not a time sink.

Here’s the link to join the group.

Please note that you will not be approved unless you answer the questions! They’re there to keep the spammers to a minimum, and they do quite a good job of it. Your answers don’t have to be amazing; they just have to make minimal sense in a language I can read. 🙂

You are welcome to buy the book or get it from the library, and the links here are not affiliate links.

Book club conversations are easy to find inside the group — we’ll be marking these threads with the hashtag #bookclublevesque.

We had some fun conversations around last month’s book, and I know we will with this as well. Hope to see you there!

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Do You Have Commitment Issues?

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Ask anyone who is married or has been in a long-term relationship for a significant stretch of time and they’ll tell you that these kinds of relationships take a lot of work. The initial courting and dating period can be all kinds of lovey-dovey, because it’s all so exciting and new.

Then she notices that he chews with his mouth open. And he sees her without her makeup on for the first time. And they get into their first fight over something that is decidedly trivial, like forgetting to put the toilet seat back down. Relationships take work. After that honeymoon period is over, you come to realize that the other person is only human with all sorts of flaws and shortcomings. It’s when you’re going through a rough patch that you need to work the most on your relationship. That can be uncomfortable.

Some people might struggle with these kinds of relationships and they start to retreat. They become more distant and despondent until they finally break up. It’s not that they’re incompatible with their partner; it’s that they have commitment issues. They’re too afraid of leaving behind all the other fish in the sea. They’re too afraid of what else they could be missing out on. What if she isn’t the one? What if there’s someone better?

Your relationship with your online business works in much the same way. It takes work. There are going to be rough patches when you’ll question whether it’s worth all this effort. You’ll be tempted to just drop it all and walk away out of anger or resentment or frustration, because your online business isn’t living up to your expectations. The honeymoon period is over and you start to notice some of the other opportunities out there. Maybe they’re more attractive. Maybe they’re better. But maybe they’re not.

If you want to be successful in business, just as if you want to be successful with your personal relationships, you have to be willing to stick with it, work for it, and see it through. Yes, it is absolutely true that some of these relationships can be toxic and it’s best if you walk away. But it’s also absolutely true that even the best relationships (and businesses) aren’t always going to come up rainbows and unicorns.

Working on your online business, whether that’s e-commerce, blogging, affiliate marketing or anything else, can start to feel less enjoyable over time, because it’s starts to feel like an obligation rather than a passion. It can start to feel like a burden when you lose sight of why you’re doing this in the first place and you lose the kind of passion and enthusiasm you had when you first started.

But this is the most important time for you to stick with it, because that’s the only way that you’ll be able to reap the reward. If you give up, you’ll just feel resentful and neglected, like you wasted the best years of your life. It doesn’t have to be this way.

To be successful in business, to be successful in your personal relationships, you have to be willing to give it your all. You have to be truly committed to its success, and not put in only a half-hearted effort. If you only half commit to something, you can expect to reap absolutely zero of the promised rewards and benefits. You have to commit yourself fully and make it a habit.

If you don’t take your goal seriously and you let your efforts slip here and there, you’ll ultimately fall down a very slippery slope where this online venture dissipates entirely. Let’s say that you want to put up a new blog post every day. You keep this up for the first week or two, but then you have one especially tiring day or you’re feeling especially uninspired.

You rationalize to yourself that letting this habit slip for just one day really isn’t going to make that much of a difference. Except you’ve now set a precedent and you let the next day slip too. And the next. And the next. All of a sudden, you’re only blogging once a month at best… and you wonder why your blog isn’t as successful as you’d hoped it would be.

If you find yourself questioning why you haven’t achieved your online goals, you’ve got to ask: Do you have commitment issues? Are you unwilling to put the whole of yourself into something worthwhile?

Click Here To Download John Chow’s New eBook, The Ultimate Online Profit Model!

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Behavioral Data Is About to Take a Back Seat to Declared Data

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Marketers need to know the difference. Do you?

June 12, 2018

7 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Marketers can infer a lot about consumers through behavioral data -- from their go-to Starbucks beverage to their favorite time of day to shop. But behavioral data provides only half the story: Who’s the Starbucks order for? Why is the consumer always shopping at that specific time of day? And what’s he or she shopping for, anyway?

Related: Access to Data Is Great, but It's How You Communicate It That Matters

Even just one detail could change how marketers approach a particular consumer. If, for example, our consumer is picking up Starbucks for her co-workers as part of her job duties but doesn’t drink coffee herself, that changes how a coffee house with her data will see her.

Alternately, if she’s always shopping at two o'clock in the afternoon because that's when her baby typically naps in the stroller, the store she visits can adjust its offers accordingly.

In fact, behavioral data can be misconstrued by the customers themselves. MediaPost explained how simple signage made to discourage bad behavior -- like, say, asking tourists not to take stones from a stone forest, because that destroys the habitat, or asking hotel guests to reuse their towels -- actually encourages the bad behavior that's being targeted. The reason? Such signs show people that everyone is engaging in the bad behavior, thus normalizing it and even encouraging it.

If the average Joe is getting the wrong message from the data provided, then what’s to say brands aren’t doing the same thing?

Not all data is created equal.

Behavioral or transactional data is based on a moment in time. It’s a snapshot of a behavior a customer engaged in or an action he or she took at a particular moment. A lot can be inferred from this data, from an affinity for dogs to a dairy allergy.

Declared data, on the other hand, is data gathered directly from consumers themselves; businesses take the step of asking the customer a follow-up question that can fill in a blank, providing a decisive rather than assumed answer. 

“Transactional first-party data can help answer a lot of questions marketers want to know, like who did the purchase, what did they purchase with, when did they purchase it,” Ben Cockerell, vice president of marketing at Jebbit, a declared data platform, told me when we spoke recently.

"[But declared data] is limited in answering 'why,'" Cockerell continued. "I’m not a golfer, but my dad is. His birthday’s in July, so I’ll look for something online for him. Afterward, I’ll be followed by Callaway golf ads for a month.

Related: 4 Ways a 'Data-Driven' Approach Anticipates Buyer Behavior

"It’s all based on valid first-party data that dropped me into a bucket that says, ‘This is somebody who bought a driver; we should market a three-wood to him.’”

Cockerell explained that taking this logic a step further and confirming some assumptions from the transactional data reduces wasted ad spend: "Golf companies with the data wouldn’t serve me a bunch of ads, knowing the golf club was a gift," he said. "The data could provide a more accurate customer experience.

“Having that one little piece of information would allow them to create an experience that would garner more loyalty,” Cockerell added. “They could instead email me a month before my dad’s birthday next year with a recommendation for that year’s gift. The point is that relying strictly on inference, even with first-party data, is not as strong or relevant as declared data.”

You need to scale the conversation for the long haul.

Behavioral data can actually be a disadvantage to companies because it can negatively impact consumers' brand affinity or trust: Relying strictly on transactional data about what someone has purchased or how he or she has interacted with an ad isn’t always a strong indicator of how that consumer will behave in the future.

Brands, in short, have to avoid misunderstandings -- and avoid simply throwing customers for a loop by using details picked up from their long-forgotten interactions. This can actually feel invasive to customers. Insteads, brands need to figure out how to engage in explicit and transparent conversations that are mutually beneficial.

Marketers realize that the most valuable data points are the ones that come from their customers themselves. ClickZ found that 39 percent of businesses it surveyed were asking customers direct questions already, but the problem with declared data revolves around something else: scale.

Indeed, many businesses understand that despite the inherent value and accuracy in first-party data, the question is one of scale: How can those businesses obtain the information they need, themselves, without relying on others’?

The mobile revolution has made declared data both possible and scalable in recent years. According to TechCrunch, mobile internet use surpassed desktop use in late 2016, but Grafik found that the number of mobile conversions still lagged behind those occurring via desktop.

Certainly there’s a lot of money in mobile -- to the tune of $153 billion in 2017, according to Mobile Marketer. So, this channel provides an opening for declared data to be captured and utilized.

In a Q&A with Origami Logic, Mayur Gupta, the global vice president of growth and marketing for Spotify, pointed out that marketers are operating in a fragmented ecosystem; he said said they still have to find ways to bring their data together.

Considering that consumers spend nearly five hours per day on their smartphones, according to Tech Crunch, and that much of that time is in short increments of a few minutes, brands can move to ask pertinent, relevant questions.

Providing interactivity and an immediate payoff is key to grabbing consumers’ attention and getting the data brands need.

The key is to think about reach versus relevance. When radio was mainstream, the scale of that medium was enormous, with few competing platforms and limited stations; everybody was listening. The downside was that there wasn’t a high degree of relevance, and this issue continued when TV became mainstream. Cable TV, meanwhile, has shifted the landscape a bit, with more niche channels and demographics, but this medium has moved brands away from scale.

So, the challenge is for the mobile revolution to deliver both scale and relevance through declared data: If a brand has the right pieces of declared data on the consumers it wants to reach, it can personalize its approach and achieve the same relevance it previously could achieve on a one-to-one basis.

Related: 9 Cool Ways You Can Use Data-Driven Marketing to Gain Customers

Analyzed in isolation, behavioral data is likely leading brands astray -- and hurting their chances of building relationships with and loyalty to their customers. By investing in declared data, brands can provide a better experience that ensures that both sides of the conversation are getting what they need.

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15 of the Best and Most Unusual Online Courses for Entrepreneurs

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Improve your outlook, boost your marketability and get a leg up on trends with these digital lesson sessions.

June 12, 2018

14 min read

Real-world experience is the world’s best teacher, but there’s a wealth of knowledge online to help teach ourselves what we don’t have the opportunity to learn from a mentor or navigating life itself. With the help of online courses, we can apply some structured guidance to how we approach our interpersonal interactions, entrepreneurial pursuits and even the way we think. These hyper-focused, organized lesson plans can help us hit refresh and streamline our paths to success.

The following list of online courses covers a range of subjects, some but not all of which have a direct tie to running a business. From AI to VR to happiness to time management, entrepreneurs need to master a wide range of skills.

Related: Are Free Online Courses Worth the Time and Effort?

Most of the courses below come at an cost (often low), though some offer free temporary access to videos and other materials. Read on for an overview of 15 of the best courses out there for entrepreneurs who are lifelong learners.

1. Learning How to Learn

The popular Coursera class “Learning How to Learn” gives a glimpse into the learning styles and tricks that artists, musicians, writers, mathematicians, scientists, athletes and other experts swear by.

The course, which takes 12 to 16 hours to complete, dives into brain science to explain to students what’s really going on when they’re trying to retain new information, focusing on two different learning “modes.” It also details how the human brain “chunks” information, storing it in a way that will make it easier to retain later. Plus, it dispels common misconceptions people have about how they learn best.

Overall, the course is designed to help anyone, at any level, studying any subject, change their approach and be more successful learners. Even if you think you’ve mastered a subject, you may have more to learn about how to apply that knowledge, which this course can also help with.

2. Intro to Artificial Intelligence

Whether or not you already work directly with AI in your job or company, chances are you interact with it indirectly in your personal and professional life. For a crash course on AI and its applications, head to Udacity for Intro to Artificial Intelligence.

Over a four-month span, students learn the basics of machine learning, as well as how statistics, logic and planning come into play with AI. From there, they move onto the applications lesson segment of the course, which provides insights into image processing, natural language and processing robotics.

This online learning program is based off a course offered at Stanford University, taught by Sebastian Thrun, co-founder of Udacity, CEO of the Kitty Hawk Corporation and founder of Google’s self-driving car project, and Peter Norvig, director of research at Google. There is a prerequisite for the course, however: a background in probability theory and linear algebra.

Instead of letting robots take over the world, why not learn how they work and how we can control them? There are a variety of online courses that will teach you the basics of robotics, such as how to build them and their history, anatomy and more. FutureLearn’s Begin Robotics explores the history, anatomy and intelligence of robots.

3. Content Marketing Essentials

Online learning platform Udacity offers a whole program devoted to digital marketing, and Content Marketing Essentials is one of its components. The creator of the course, marketing software company Hubspot, has developed the syllabus to help students plan a content marketing strategy and measure its reach and effectiveness.

The first lesson segment involves planning content to best communicate a marketing message. Next, the program dives into content creation through storytelling, curation and other techniques, followed by distribution, promotion and tracking.

In addition to creating and deploying the content, this crash course also provides tips for designing the user experience (UX) of a website where content lives, to make it resonate more with readers. Lastly, the course provides real-world examples of careers in content marketing and gives prospective hires and hiring managers alike a sense of what makes a successful job candidate in the field.

4. Google IT Support Professional Certificate Specialization

If you’re running a small operation with a team of folks who each wear a lot of hats, the Google IT Support Professional Certificate Specialization might be an effective way to acquire tech support skills for your company.

Google and Coursera announced their partnership on the program earlier this year, initially offering scholarships to cover costs of those interested in preparing for entry-level IT work. Since then, they’ve opened the five-course program to the public -- and it’s applicable to all aspiring in-person and remote IT professionals, not just those looking for a foot in the door at Google.

The certificate program, which takes about eight months to complete at eight to 10 hours a week, involves “video lectures, quizzes and hand-on labs and widgets.” Students learn the fundamentals of IT troubleshooting and customer service, operating systems, system administration security and more.

Related: Google Is Offering Free Career-Prep Courses to Help You Get a Job

5. The Complete Crowdfunding Course for Kickstarter & Indiegogo

Udemy, another online learning marketplace, hosts a vast range of courses for entrepreneurs at all experience levels. But for those seeking funding to get a product off the ground, the Complete Crowdfunding Course is a great place to start.

The four-hour course provides a “step-by-step approach to growth hack your crowdfunding campaign,” from the lead-up to the campaign launch to the follow-through after it ends. It helps students decide whether a crowdfunding campaign is right for them, shares tips for the market research and pre-sell process, helps you track your campaign with analytics tools and more. It also shares valuable insights into the Kickstarter and Indiegogo algorithms.

As one user points out in a testimonial on the landing page for the course, the information provided “could be useful not only while making and/or preparing to make your own crowdfunding campaign but while building any kind of audience in general.”

6. How to Come Up With Killer Business Ideas: Complete Workshop

If you’ve been slogging away at a job that doesn’t fuel your passion, and you dream of starting a side hustle or quitting to try entrepreneurship, the first thing you need is a great idea. If you have  a concept in mind and want help shaping it into a viable business, start with this workshop on How to Come Up With Killer Business Ideas.

In this seven-hour course, instructor, experienced VC and Sprintkick founder Evan Kimbrell reassures students that some of today’s most successful businesses “started with an idea that was terrible,” and that their founders experienced “failure, ridicule and frustration.”

Getting from “terrible” idea to wildly successful business requires a set of skills, which Kimbrell outlines. These include assessing the marketability of an idea, spotting market inefficiencies and implementing cutting-edge business models. The course covers goal-setting, testing and more and is a fit for aspiring entrepreneurs or “veteran entrepreneurs who want to master the skill of idea generation,” according to its description.

7. Productivity and Time Management for the Overwhelmed

It might seem counterintuitive to think about carving out time for a course titled Productivity and Time Management for the Overwhelmed when you’re already feeling overbooked, but consider it an investment.

It only takes two hours to complete, and its description acknowledges how busy its prospective students are with the warning: “schedule time to take the course with your full attention.”

The course diagnoses inefficiencies in how students manage their time and helps them construct a plan to boost productivity. It helps anyone who’s overwhelmed take control of both their mindset and their energy level, as well as develop new daily habits and strategies that jibe with their personality. It doesn’t just encourage learners to stop procrastinating, but it examines why they may be doing so by addressing “silent killers” of productivity, from “waiting for things to be perfect” to “the myth of multitasking.”

As one student writes in a testimonial, the course is “A good reminder of things you probably already know … and a good reminder that knowing is not the same as practicing.”

8. Why Ethics Matter: Ethical Research

This six-hour ethics course on digital education platform FutureLearn can help any entrepreneur seeking to reduce bias in their work. If you or one of your employees is conducting research, perhaps trying to tap into a new market or talent pool, this course will challenge your approach and help you yield fair results.

First, it asks students to reflect on their personal morals, shaped by their life experiences. Then, it touches on historical events that have played a role in establishing what constitutes ethical conduct in today’s world. It even presents case studies that show ethical research in action.

When the course is complete, students will have a foundation in how to build an ethical framework for research, applying key principles of common codes of ethics in their own research pursuits. This course is available free of charge for up to four weeks of access.

9. Critical Thinking

Entrepreneurs are some of the best problem-solvers out there, but everyone has room to brush up on the critical thinking skills necessary to fulfill societal needs and improve efficiency.

Clocking in at just one hour and six minutes, the Critical Thinking course on Lynda.com can benefit anyone. It reminds students that the most effective thinkers are those who make conclusions for themselves, rather than leaning on others. Critical thinking requires self-reflection and information synthesis, and this course shares strategies for how to get to the root cause of a problem, define it, break it down into smaller increments, ask the right questions -- including the “five whys” and “seven so-whats” -- and more.

The course also incorporates tools for learners who want to pass on what they’ve learned to others, such as members of a team, and help them become better critical thinkers as well.

10. Body Language for Entrepreneurs

Whether you’re leading a meeting, negotiating with partners or making a media appearance, it’s crucial that you master Body Language for Entrepreneurs.  

This course teaches “nonverbal communication to increase your income and influence as a business owner” in a variety of scenarios including networking, public speaking and delivering an elevator pitch, in order to nail not just what you say, but how you say it. On the flip side, students can apply the strategies they learn from this course to get a better read on prospective hires, potential clients and others.

As the course description points out, “93 percent of our communication is nonverbal,” and it’s visible in your online presence, during your interactions with customers, as your connect with colleagues and in just about every other professional scenario involving another human being.

11. Intro to Virtual Reality

Like artificial intelligence, virtual reality is a fast-emerging technology with a range of business applications, many of which have yet to be realized. At Entrepreneur, we’ve profiled businesses that employ VR to assist with everything from employee training to store design.

In partnership with Google’s VR division, Udacity offers a free, two-week Intro to Virtual Reality course that outlines the basics of the technology. It covers optics, displays, stereopsis, tracking and major hardware platforms, and it walks each student through the creation and deployment of their own VR application using the Unity development platform.

From the history of VR to the importance of creating a comfortable experience -- one that achieves “presence” for the user -- the lessons in this comprehensive course will make VR less abstract to anyone looking to learn more about the buzzy medium.

12. The Science of Well-Being

The Science of Well-Being is a 15-hour course that defines what makes people happy and how they can achieve happiness for themselves. It was created by Laurie Santos, a professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University who teaches “Psychology and the Good Life,” the school’s most popular course, according to The New York Times.

With a foundation in psychological research, the 15-hour course explores common misconceptions about happiness, how biases influence well-being and how to overcome them, and ways in which re-evaluating one’s expectations can help.

From there, the course describes how students can build new habits to increase their happiness. Santos uses the term “rewirement” for this process of shifting one’s mindset and harnessing the environment and support network around them to improve their well-being. Over four weeks, she guides students through implementing a new wellness strategy as the final assignment for the course.

13. Blockchain for Business: The New Industrial Revolution

Confused about what blockchain is, let alone how it might apply to your business? Blockchain for Business: The New Industrial Revolution may be for you.

Over five and half hours, this course breaks down how blockchain technology works and today’s conception of the potential impact it could have on society. By the end of the course, you’ll have a firmer sense of what “mining” is, what “decentralization” truly means and how blockchain is shaping the future of everything from currency to contacts -- really any kind of transaction or exchange.

It provides some examples of how large corporations -- including UBS, Allianz, London Stock Exchange, IBM and Kodak -- in a range of industries -- from finance to retail to logistics -- are already using blockchain to improve security and efficiency, as well as what developments are on the horizon and what the challenges the tech will face in scaling.

14. Introduction to GDPR: General Data Protection Regulation

Has Facebook’s data privacy reckoning over the course of the spring gotten you concerned about how you’re handling your customers’ information? Did all of the privacy emails ahead of the GDPR deadline make you wonder whether your company should have sent one?

This six-hour course addresses the changes under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, which went into effect on May 25. It’s a tool for any business leader who aims to learn “how to handle data in the digital economy safely, securely and respectfully,” according to its description.

Data is the byproduct of individuals’ interactions with companies, and although GDPR only applies to businesses with European users, it’s a best-practice framework for any company that wants to be responsible with personal data. The course walks learners through the history of data regulations, the aspects companies need to navigate to comply with the law and what it looks like in practice for any company strengthening data protection.

Related: The 5 Worst Leadership Qualities: How Many Does Your Boss Have?

15. Managing in Difficult Times

When the going gets tough, leaders have to step up. And the way managers comports themselves during those times is the true test of their leadership ability. The hour-long course Managing in Difficult Times provides an overview of how to weather any obstacle or lull, despite low morale.

For one, preparedness is key. This course explains why foreseeing and accounting for tough times is crucial, despite a leader’s need to balance this instinct with optimism. Then, when those difficult times inevitably come, it’s up to the leader to react in a way that keeps the team on track, productive and willing to carry on.

From empathy -- seeing things through an employee or team member’s eyes -- to cost-cutting to seizing opportunity even when things seem bleak, this course is designed to make leaders more self-aware and ready to take responsibility for and overcome challenges.

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Your Narcissism Is Killing Your Employees' Productivity. How to Avoid the Pitfalls.

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The key is to understand how your narcissism is affecting others and actively work to adjust and adapt your behavior.

June 12, 2018

6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Narcissism appears to be on the rise among today’s business and entrepreneurial leaders, if you read the business pages and academic research on a regular basis. And this isn't always a bad thing: Narcissists can be compelling leaders capable of executing grand strategic visions.

Related: How to Work With a Narcissist

But all too often they are described as highly self-absorbed individuals who believe they are superior to those around them.

And while successful entrepreneurs tend to have high levels of self-confidence and an intense drive for success, often they'll fall prey to the problems associated with the darker aspects of narcissism: Specifically, they take unnecessary risks, hold too tightly to their vision when change is needed and fail to recognize the work and sacrifices of those around them.

In our new study, which was published in May in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, my research partners and I sought to gain a better understanding of just how problematic narcissistic leaders are, and what they might do to lessen the negative outcomes. We surveyed 262 employees and their (262) direct supervising managers over a four-week period at a large Chinese technology company.

Overall, we found the harmful consequences of narcissistic leaders to be wide-ranging.

Just how harmful is a harmful narcissistic leader?

We began by asking leaders at the tech company we targeted to complete a widely used Narcissistic Personality Inventory test. Employees, meanwhile, were asked to report on their organization-based self-esteem, meaning the degree to which they felt they belonged in their organization.

Related: Your Narcissistic Boss Could be Great But Is Probably Just Hurting the Business

As researchers we were operating on the understanding that the need to belong is a fundamental human need and motivator, but that narcissistic leaders fail to satisfy this need among their employees because of their high levels of self-concern.

Those high levels mean leaders like these ignore the feelings of others. Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, for example, was often described as highly self-absorbed and inconsiderate of others. She was often criticized for being habitually late to meetings and dismissive of her constituents’ ideas and suggestions.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, is also said to be highly abrasive, and to tend to berate employees who fail to live up to his impossibly high standards. One former engineer at the company referred to critical interactions with the SpaceX CEO as an “Elon ass-kicking” and said some employees felt “crushed under the weight” of those interactions. Not surprisingly, both Musk and Mayer have been recognized as some of the most narcissistic CEOs in the tech industry.

Our study found that 51 percent of employees with narcissistic leaders disagreed or strongly disagreed with statements asking if they felt valuable in the workplace. Moreover, this diminished sense of belonging had wide-ranging consequences on these employees' behavior. Specifically:

• 34 percent of employees surveyed disagreed or strongly disagreed with statements asking if they helped other group members with their responsibilities
• 31 percent of employees disagreed or strongly disagreed with statements asking if they spoke up to their leader about their own improvement-oriented suggestions
• 37 percent of employees agreed or strongly agreed with statements asking if they badmouthed their leader to their coworkers
• 18 percent of employees agreed or strongly agreed with statements asking if they intentionally tried to disrupt task completion by ignoring their leader’s requests

Such behaviors are troublesome enough for established companies, but for startups -- whose survival depends on quick action and cooperation from all employees -- the consequences can be dire.

How can narcissistic leaders avoid the pitfalls of their personalities?

We asked employees to report whether their leader consulted with them before making decisions. While this kind of consultation is an influence tactic leaders use to gain employee support, it can also signal to employees that their contributions are valued.

We found that among narcissistic leaders, 27 percent frequently consulted with employees while another 43 percent consulted with employees to some extent.

Importantly, we found that when narcissistic leaders consulted with employees, the detrimental outcomes stemming from such leadership were not simply reduced, but eliminated completely. Here are three takeaways:

Actively listen.

Active listening means that you concentrate on the message being communicated; you don't just passively "receive" the message. Unfortunately, most narcissistic leaders have difficulty focusing on what others are saying and often ignore their advice.

One classic example of a narcissistic leader who altered his behavior to more attentively listen to others was Steve Jobs. Much of Jobs’ success upon returning to the helm at Apple in 1997 was attributed to the drastic change in his interpersonal behavior from his prior tenure in 1985.

Not only was he more willing to listen to his employees, but he was described as someone who “seemed to relish other people’s ideas.” Our research indicated that employees are likely to discount their narcissistic leaders’ more abrasive qualities when those leaders take the time to actively listen to their suggestions.

Invite involvement.

Don’t just listen. Invite employees’ involvement in the making and development of decisions. Our study demonstrated that when narcissistic leaders invite employees to participate in leadership processes, those employees experience a sense of ownership in the process that can help alleviate the leader’s more harmful tendencies.

In particular, such behavior signals to employees that their narcissistic leader is not only willing to listen when they, the employees, have concerns or suggestions, but actually desire to receive those employee contributions.

Be accessible.

According to Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, the best leaders “make a religion out of being accessible.” Likewise, our research emphasized the importance of narcissistic leaders making themselves accessible to individual employees.

Despite his narcissism, Welch often sent personal notes to his executives and met one-on-one with employees at all levels. Such behaviors were part of the programs Welch instituted to enhance employees’ “feelings of ownership and self-worth” in the GE culture. We found that the individual attention employees receive when they're consulted provides the interpersonal interaction they crave, but rarely receive, from their narcissistic leader.

Due to the dynamic environment of the typical entrepreneurial venture, communication and cooperation from employees is a necessity for continued growth and survival. Although entrepreneurial leaders may be more narcissistic than their counterparts in non-entrepreneurial vocations, the pitfalls associated with their tendencies may be avoidable.

Related: 8 Traits of Healthy Narcissism That Drive Success

The key is for such leaders to understand how their narcissism is affecting others and actively work to adjust and adapt their behavior.

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How To Hire An SEO Company

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Getting a startup website off the ground is the vital first step to establishing a good online visibility. With nearly every company today putting efforts on their digital marketing, it’s not enough that you got an advertisement rolling on digital platforms; your business itself must be fully available on the digital landscape.

As cited from Entrepreneur ,93% of online experiences starts with searching. That being said, leaving Search Engine Optimization (SEO) from your marketing strategies is simply a big mistake. When a tactic is properly executed, it can work great to give opportunities that may not not have been presented themselves otherwise. This is the reason why it is vital for every business to invest in SEO the early stage.

But before you jump to hiring an agency to help your business with its SEO needs, there are things you need to consider first to ensure you’ll be getting one that would really benefit your company. Below are three of our top tips to get you started:

Review Their Portfolio

Looking at the website of an SEO company, it’s likely you’ll find a list of clients they have previously worked with. Albeit there are some reasons for a client or two to remain private, the majority of them has no problem with putting their links on that website. In fact, some consider it as free publicity.

On the other hand, if their website has no list of business clients or any proof that they have worked for actual companies, you can consider it is a potential red flag.

Identify Your Goals

Once you identify a number of potential companies, the next step is to have a firm goal of how you would want to make the SEO campaign work for you. Usually, goals as such include increasing exposure, boosting leads and most especially getting more conversions.

However, these are already given and can be too general. What you might need is to specify your goals and give tangible figures for them to work on so you can easily track things once you start collaborating with them. For example is the number of unique visitors you’re aiming to have.

Do A Deeper Background Check

Of course, to win clients, companies would likely list testimonials with success stories. And whilst such are good reference, you need to conduct a deeper review towards the companies you’re eyeing.

The stories that would really help you are those you’ll hear from average clients. Ask them about their experiences from the company. It’s better if you can get a hold of at least three clients who availed their SEO service.

The stories you would want to hear are those from the average clients. What was their experience with the company? If you can, try to get a hold of at least three businesses that have used the agency’s services. Don’t only ask about the end results, know how the day-to-day processes gone like communication with them, especially for urgent matters and report deliveries.

Wrapping Up

Apparently, choosing an SEO company to work for you is like hiring a new employee. You wanna be sure that you’ll be able to reap benefits after investing into them. Though the decision process could be nothing but tricky, the above mentioned tips shall help you hire the right agency. And if you want to, I would love to recommend an SEO service in the Philippines offered by Carl Ocab Digital Marketing. You can apply the tips above when deciding to hire them.

Guest post by: Edwin Deponte

Photo credit = pexels.com

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Why Giving Clear Instructions Can Increase Your Marketing Response Rate

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Don't confuse your prospects and customers by sending direct marketing pieces that make them wonder what to do next. Instead, spell out their next steps clearly.

June 12, 2018

5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The following excerpt is from Dan S. Kennedy’s book No B.S. Direct Marketing. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | IndieBound

Most people do a reasonably good job of following directions. For the most part, they stop on red and go on green, stand in the lines they’re told to stand in, fill out the forms they’re given to fill out, applaud when the “Applause” sign comes on. Most people are well-conditioned from infancy, in every environment, to do as they’re told.

Most marketers’ failures and disappointments result from giving confusing directions or no directions at all. Confused or uncertain consumers do nothing. And people rarely buy anything of consequence without being asked.

When I held one of my mastermind meetings for one of my client groups at Disney, one of the Disney Imagineers we met was in charge of “fixing confusion.” At any spot in any of the parks where there was a noticeable slowing of movement (yes, they monitor that) or an inordinate number of guests asking employees for directions, he was tasked with figuring out the reason for the confusion and changing or creating signs, giving buildings more descriptive names, and even rerouting traffic as need be to fix the confusion. “It isn’t just about efficient movement,” he told us. “It’s about a pleasing experience. People don’t like not knowing where to go or even what is expected of them.”

In-store signage, restaurant menus, icons on websites -- everywhere you closely examine physical selling environments and media -- you’ll find plenty of assumptions made about the knowledge people have (and may not have) and plenty of opportunity for confusion. In a split test in nonprofit fundraising by direct mail, four different business-reply envelopes were used. One was a standard pre-paid business reply envelope with the standard markings. The second was the same, but with a large hand-scrawl-appearing note, “No postage stamp needed. We’ve paid the postage. Just drop in the mail.” The third was a plain, pre-addressed envelope with an actual stamp affixed. The fourth was the plain, pre-addressed envelope with an actual stamp affixed, plus the hand-scrawl-appearing note, “No postage stamp needed. We’ve paid the postage. Just drop in the mail.” To be fair, the last two add obligation to clarity, and they were the winners by significant margin. But the first envelope was the biggest loser by a very big margin, even against the second, simply because the first presumes knowledge on the consumer’s part that’s not there. Not long ago, I got a statistically meaningful increase in the conversion of visitors to buyers at a website by switching from just a “Buy Now” button to the same button, plus the words “Click This Button to Buy Now.”

When you put together any marketing tool, ad, flier, sales letter, website, phone script, etc., or any physical selling environment, it should be carefully examined for presumption of knowledge on the consumer’s part, for lack of clarity about what’s expected of them, or for wimpiness about asking clearly and directly for the desired action. Stop sending out anything without clear instructions.

It’s also worth noting that people’s anxiety goes up anytime they’re asked to do something but are unsure of what to expect. In my book No B.S. Guide to Marketing to Leading-Edge Boomers and Seniors, I share an example of a marketing device and copy we routinely use for professional practices, such as chiropractic, dental, medical, financial advisors’, or lawyers’ offices titled “What to Expect at Your First Appointment.” Anxiety about anything uncertain grows more acute with age, but it’s not unique to boomers and seniors. Removing it with very clear instructions, directions, descriptions, or information is a smart strategy.

Lastly, you should consider the physical device of the order form. The late, great direct-response copywriter Gary Halbert claimed to often spend as much time on the copy and layout of the order form as he did the entire sales letter. In one part of my business life, professional speaking and selling my resources in an in-speech commercial, I’ve taken great pains to create order forms that are passed out to the audiences, or at the rear-of-room product tables, that mimic the best mail-order order forms in completeness and clarity, and I credit my order forms with aiding me in consistently achieving exceptional results -- including selling more than $1 million of my resources from the stage per year, for more than 10 years running. A lot of businesses don’t even use order forms when they could and should.

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Elon Musk's Flamethrowers End up on eBay and Brands Throw Shade at IHOb! Here Are 3 Things to Know Today.

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Stay in the know in 60 seconds.

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7 Ways Site Owners Can Improve SEO Rankings in 2018

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Search engine optimization is very tricky because each year Google is making changes to their algorithm. The old fashion techniques are no longer working as well, and bloggers are trying to find creative ways to rank their content. It essentially comes down to the following:

If you can rank your content higher than your competition, you’ll be able to drive a lot of traffic to your website. With the popularity of social media, this targeted traffic can double or even triple within a short time. With that said, I’ll be exploring 7 ways which bloggers can increase their rankings in 2017. I’ll visit what expert bloggers are saying about linking building, and what strategies they have been using to get an edge on their competition. Let’s get started.

1 – Focus on Web Analyzer tools

These are tools that provide you with a lot of interesting data. We are now in a time where you shouldn’t be wasting time building links that don’t add value. This means you should know who your competition and what they are doing to outrank you in the SERP’s. Many new web analyzer tools will provide you with loads of great information like:

• Who links to your competition


• The value of each link


• The referring domain


• The referring anchor text


• Current keyword rank in search engines


• And much more.

What all this information does is help you focus your attention on the data that matters. This will help you put your time, effort and skills where they matter most. But, it’s important you use only the best web analyzer tools so do your research online and start to research some of them.

2 – Optimize Your Website

It’s important to optimize your website for performance because other factors matter when it comes to ranking. There are now over 200 ranking factors and load time, mobile compatibility, clean design, and reduced clutter are all included. If your site is lacking in one of these areas, it can quickly pull down the rankings of your site as a result of it.

With a very high performing site, you are increasing the user experience, and this means a lot to search engines. This is especially true with mobile speed and responsiveness as well. Companies like Google are in business because they provide people with information in an organized fashion. Not only that, they provide people with the best information available online. The next time you are skimming through your website, look for ways you can optimize your blog it going forward by either changing the content font, color, and making it mobile compatible. You also want to test the current load speed which must fall below 3 seconds.

3 – SEO Traffic, Remarketing and Emails

With so much emphasis on ranking higher in the search results and getting as much free organic traffic to your site as possible, site owners should want to take as much opportunity of this high-quality traffic as possible. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by setting up a remarketing campaign through Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, or any other remarketing platform.

When moving forward with a remarketing campaign, it’s important to make sure you have ad creative for all sizes and ad spots possible. Digital Monopoly Perth has a great article on their site that shows all of the sizes and image formats that are currently being used for Google Adwords.

The best way to rebrand and remarket to an audience is to have your ad banners display your logo, site colors, and also a call to action that will remind them on why they were previously at your site in the first place.

At the same time, while we are talking about the importance and value of search traffic, it’s key to get these users on your mailing list as well. You can see a perfect example of how this is being used at TerritorySupply.com. This site ranks very well for a wide range of products they have listed on their site. While the average person is going to visit the search from a search they did in Google, it’s likely most of them won’t make a purchase the first time around. The best way to turn this organic visitor into a longterm visitor and potential customer, is to offer them a free 20% discount coupon and getting them onto their mailing list.

This is a tactic that is being used by millions of sites, but only a small portion of those sites are doing it correctly. Take advantage of what popup tools like OptinMonster have to offer, by creating different popups and call to actions based on the pages your audiences are visiting, and also where they are coming from. Remember, most SEO visitors to your website will leave and never come back after the first visit. It doesn’t have a lot to do with your content, but instead that there are simply too many sites and distractions out there already.

4 – On-Page SEO

Many bloggers spend too much time building external links but fail to optimize their own website. There is no point in building links with strategic anchor text if your website doesn’t have the same keywords in the title, description, and URL. You should spend a lot of time with on-page SEO and understand what keywords work best at ranking your website. Personally, I think you should be focusing on the title, URL, description, and body. In the body, you should include not only targeted keywords but some which are related to the main keyword you are trying to rank for.

It’s stated, 75% of your ranking has to do with on-page SEO so you should work very hard on optimizing your site, and content.

When it comes to On-Page SEO and ranking factors, there are always going to be debates and discussions on which methods work best. Fortunately, there are now more reports out than ever before, showcasing which factors are likely working best. You can see a preview of these ranking factors in the graphic below from SearchMetrics.com.

5 – SkyScraper Technique

For you to outrank your competition, you’ll have to get creative, and nothing is more creative than the skyscraper technique. It involves finding related content to yours which has been published and looking for broken backlinks within the content. When you locate them, you need to first figure out what you can do to replace this link. Since your searching on a relevant blog, you know you can write content which is better, and up to date. After, you simply contact the blog owner letting them know about your content, then asking them to link to it as a replacement.

Many blog owners don’t have a problem replacing low-quality content with higher quality content. If the link is broken, then you’ve increased your chance of securing that link. However, just make sure you focus on quality when writing content, and you find a blog which is related to your niche. The last thing you want to do is ask for a link for a non-relevant blog.

When it comes to using any type of SEO or ‘working strategies’, it’s important that you are still relying on new and working SEO methods, and not old ones. A good way to stay updated with these changing trends is to keep an eye on what your competition is doing, while also looking at the most recent infographics, case studies and SEO reports from different agencies, especially like the one below.

6 – YouTube Traffic

This platform has changed the way people interact online so make sure you make use of it. With the right type of videos, you can generate a lot of traffic to your blog within a short time. However, for you to benefit, you’ll have to start creating videos which are not hard at all. You can use affordable software, and many of the operating systems come built-in with a video recorder, camera, etc. Do some research on YouTube looking at what others have created in terms of video, and try to create something better. Here’s the trick,

Once you go live, you want to make sure you optimize your video by adding the right keywords in the title of the video, description, and you add a link to your blog. You can add links to your social media accounts too. Again, create high-quality videos offering a lot of great value, and you’ll increase your brand awareness within a short time.

7) Social Media Traffic

The biggest networks are Facebook, Twitter and Google+ so use them to build an audience. Imagine having 100,000 Twitter followers, and what this can do for your traffic when you share a valuable post with them. Top bloggers generate 5,000 visitors within minutes after sharing their recent content with their followers. You can also build your brand by taking advantage of Facebook Ads which is great to promote an event, brand, post or even take a survey. Social media is able to connect and engage readers quickly so don’t let this avenue slip out of your hands.

Here’s the great thing, to join these networks doesn’t cost any money, and all it takes to increase traffic is a retweet from a power blogger in your niche. It’s important to network with other bloggers within your niche because they’ll be more than happy to share your content with their followers. Whenever you decide to share your content on social media, it’s important to make sure you optimize your title and add keywords within the description before sharing. This helps build engagement too.

Getting the Most Out of Your SEO Efforts in 2018

As you can imagine, with more websites and blogs on the internet than ever before, it’s going to be tough to rank your site on the first page of Google — however, it still is possible. Bloggers, brands, and businesses that want to rank higher in Google, need to put in the time and effort to make sure each of the factors above are implemented and live on their sites asap.

Follow these SEO tips, implement them into your site, and then watch and see as your SEO and site traffic continue to improve.

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10 Secrets to Starting Your Own Small Business

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Entrepreneur and creator of Business Boutique Christy Wright shares her tips.

June 12, 2018

5 min read

This story originally appeared on GOBankingRates

Christy Wright is the creator of Business Boutique -- a business that equips women to make money doing what they love. Last year, she wrote the best-selling book Business Boutique to give women a step-by-step guide on how to start, run and grow their businesses to the level they want.

Related: 15 Weekend Jobs and Side Gigs to Boost Your Income

“As a certified business coach and a Ramsey Personality, I travel the country helping women pursue their passions by helping them move past fear, let go of mom guilt, set goals and succeed,” said Wright. “But that’s just what I do during the day. At home, I’m a mom of two wild boys and a wife to a very patient husband. I’m pursuing my passion, and I hope these tips will help you do the same.”

Keep reading to get Wright’s 10 secrets to starting a business.

1. There’s never been a better time

Thirty years ago, business was vastly different, and starting a business wasn’t for everyone. Now things have changed. The barrier to entry into the marketplace is lower than ever before. You don’t have to have a bunch of investors or even a brick-and-mortar store. You could start your business today with nothing more than your idea and a Facebook page.

2. You don’t have to be ‘business-minded’

You don’t have to have an MBA. And you don’t have to be a certain “type” of person to start a business anymore. In fact, I see more “accidental entrepreneurs” than I do people who set out with the goal and intention to start a business.

3. Solve a problem

Businesses exist to help people, so your business needs to solve a problem that people face. Consider what needs you fill, what problems you solve and why people should care about your business. This is the value you provide, and it’s what you market and ultimately charge for.

Related: How and Where to Get Startup Business Loans

4. Work with what you already have

Your business has the best chance to make money, and therefore be successful and sustainable, if you keep costs down. A great way to do this is to start with what you have. When you look at your resources with new eyes, you’ll be amazed at how much you have that you can put to use. If you already know what you need for your business, challenge yourself to be as resourceful as possible with what you currently have. It can help you save a tremendous amount of costs.

5. Bartering could be your best friend

For the activities that you can’t and shouldn’t do yourself, barter. You have something to offer that people need, and people have something to offer that you need. What can you trade to get services or supplies while you’re getting started? Be sure to give yourself credit for the valuable talents you have, and don’t be afraid to offer them in exchange for the talents of others.

6. Get creative

Creativity allows you to bypass many startup costs. Who do you know who can help? Which connections might be able to assist you? The connections you already have can help you get around your biggest expenses -- like a workspace. With a little creativity, you always have more options than you think.

7. Treat your business as a business

There’s a difference between a hobby and a business. A business makes you money. A hobby costs you money. It sounds simple, but many people miss this reality. So if you want to turn your hobby into a business, you must treat it like a business. That comes from recognizing and accepting the reality that in order for it to work, it has to make you money.

8. Keep your accounts separate

Your business needs to have its own checking and savings accounts instead of co-mingling with your personal finances. This helps keep your money separate, which makes life much easier for you.

9. Having a plan is a must

Begin with the end in mind. Many people slide into business instead of being intentional. When you don’t have a plan, you can end up overwhelmed and discouraged. Think through the details and the pricing of your business, which includes covering the bases of how you’ll operate. Having a plan gives you focus and control, and helps you have fun with your business.

Related: 13 Million-Dollar Businesses That Turned Down 'Shark Tank' Deals

10. Do it scared

So many people have the dream in their heart to start something, but they stay stuck because they are scared. They aren’t “ready.” Entrepreneurs face real fears every day at every stage. But the successful ones do it anyway. If you’re waiting until you’re ready to try, you’ll never try it. Ready is a myth -- so push past your fear, put in the work and it will be worth it.

(By Gabrielle Olya)

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