Over the last little while, I’ve shared a few tips on getting more done with less time and obviously, our focus has been on keeping things together through the many wonderful distractions of summer. But keep in mind, the approaches we’ve discussed can certainly apply all year round. Most of us started our businesses because we wanted freedom and really, we have it right here for ourselves when we need it.
My time here is done (for now), but I thought I’d do a little wrap up of what we’ve talked about, so you can create the schedule for your business that you want.
• Be Disciplined: It may seem contradictory to tell you to be disciplined when you’re actually seeking freedom, but the more disciplined you are, the more time you will have to do what you really want to be doing. Setting your work hours and planning your work days go a long way to ensuring you have time to do everything you set out to do.
• Be Flexible: On the other hand, not everything has to be written in stone. Sometimes we take on more than we can chew. Other times, we focus on things that just don’t work and we need to make a change. Don’t be afraid to make changes that are good for you and your business.
• Get Help: I can’t stress it enough, but don’t go it alone. If you’re doing everything, you’ll forever be chained to your computer. Hire an assistant, take on a business partner or even barter where you can.
• Focus on What You’re Good At: When you have a team in place, it’s easy to focus on the stuff you like to do and do well. It’s much easier to stay disciplined and motivated when you get to do what you love.
• Plant the Seeds Now: Whether you’re planning a vacation or something unexpected happens, having things in place will help you go far. That includes building your team, growing your mailing list, developing a steady stream of traffic and all the things that you need to keep your business moving along.
I appreciate the time you’ve given me here and I hope that the time you’ve invested will give you back manifold. Enjoy the rest of your summer and enjoy every moment of what you do.
In previous posts, I’ve talked about answering emails being a huge distraction, but there’s a bigger distraction lurking about 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. Yes, I’m talking about social media. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest, it’s easy to get sucked into the virtual social world.
Last time we talked about drumming up some business in summer and I encouraged you to think about what’s on the mind of your customers to create your summer marketing plan. Well, today’s post goes perfectly with that. Holidays and observances are a great way to tap into what’s happening in your customers’ lives. Some holidays are widely celebrated and some observances are a bit quirky and fun. Either way, they can all be great for blog post ideas, creating product promotions and more.
Observances:
National Smile Month
A lot of people tell me that their business slows down in summer. And unless you sell vacation packages, swimming pools and water wings, I suppose it can happen. But here’s the thing…all you need to do is what those travel agents and swimming pool sellers do to get things revved up for summer. No, you don’t have to sell vacations and pools, but you do need to understand what your customers are thinking about in the summer months and cater your marketing to that.
• What are your customers’ worries and concerns in summer? Are they concerned about the safety of their home while they’re away on vacation (perfect for home alarm and monitoring companies)? If you’re in the B2B market, are they worried about having time to get their work done in the summer? Grab a piece of paper and a pen to write down every worry you can think of and how it relates to your business.
Summer should be about enjoying yourself, getting outside and hopefully getting away from it all. Of course, most of us don’t have the luxury of avoiding work all summer long. Sometimes, we’ve got to roll up our sleeves and get busy, but it’s not always easy if you work from home. I’m sure just about any home or Internet business owner can relate.
• Set your work hours: It’s business organization skills 101, but it’s an important aspect to staying focused. If you set your work hours, not only will you know what’s expected from you, but so will your friends and family. Take out the calendar and figure out what will work for you from week to week, so there is no confusion for anyone, including yourself.
• Try multiple short trips away from home: While there shouldn’t be anything stopping you from taking an extended vacation, if it does cause you stress or you don’t have the help you need while you’re gone, try a few short trips. A few days away here and there can be a whole lot of fun and can reduce the overwhelm when you return to your computer.
• Turn the phone off: If you don’t have to answer calls from clients or customers, turn your phone off while you’re working. That means no text messages or personal emails too. If you do have a business line that you need to answer, don’t give that number to your friend who keeps trying to get you to head to the beach or a patio to sip margaritas.
If there’s one thing that’s become clear, it’s that email marketing takes work, but it’s very much worth it. Your email list is an invaluable asset to your business that allows you to stay in touch with your target market, send them commercial offers and to cement a loyal relationship from them.
Choose the right autoresponder service: While there are many choices and it might be difficult to decide which is right for you, you can change things later on. Sometimes moving lists is tricky, but it can always be done.
Set up your offer: Know what value you are going to bring your potential subscribers and shape your offers around that. Create at least one opt-in page that will be central to your list building efforts.
Get to know your audience: Use the tips for engaging your subscribers to understand what they need and deliver it to them. This includes understanding the types of products they would find helpful and creating or promoting them as well.
Track your results and tweak: The more you grow your list and the more you email them, the more data you will have at your fingertips to improve your results. Do more of what works and toss out what doesn’t.
We’re now to the point in our discussions where we’re ready to talk about improving your conversion rate; that is, how to get as many of your prospects to become paying customers.
Some studies have shown that it’s best to send out your e-mails on Tuesdays and Thursdays, right around midday. Of course, there is a risk that if every other marketer sends their emails at that same time of day, your email may get overlooked. Plus, your mailing list isn’t the same as everyone else’s, so you won’t know until you test out the best time.
With respect to quality, it’s absolutely essential that you double and triple check that there are no spelling or grammatical errors in your e-mail solicitations. Even among readers who claim not to care much about such things, you’re hurting your hard-earned status as an expert in your niche.
Now that you’ve built up your mailing list, you’ve got to deliver on the promises you made to the individuals who signed up. These promises consist of both the promises you explicitly made (“sign up and I’ll email you a free report”), as well as the implicit promise you made to provide them with information they’ll find useful and valuable.
Chances are you’re not the only business that’s operating in a particular niche..and if you are the only person offering a particular product or service, it probably won’t be long before competitors appear on the scene.
Make sure you’re putting at least as much effort into building your mailing list as you are to your social media efforts…hopefully more. Getting “Likes” on Facebook is one way of gauging your popularity, but you can’t control how your message is spread to your Facebook connections, and it can be difficult to effectively communicate with them directly.
Two things should be immediately apparent from your opt-in page: (1) what a person will receive if they sign up for your mailing list, and (2) why that thing would be valuable or useful to them.
Your mailing list sign-ups are going to come from two sources – people who have never been to your website before, and those who have.
Go back and look at what’s worked for you in the past. If you’re using Google Analytics or some other analytics service, carefully go through the numbers in order to identify the techniques that you know work well. As the say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Squeeze pages are important because building your mailing list is an essential part of doing business online. In fact, building your list of email contacts could be the single most important element of your online marketing success. And one of the best methods for getting new prospects to give you their email addresses is through the use of well-designed and well-implemented squeeze pages.
