Archives for March 2019

How Do I Get More Productive?

March 22, 2019 by admin

Jini & Audelina (c) Linda Bickerton-Ross

This page is packed full of the secrets to my super powers! I’m going to show you exactly how I managed to build a million dollar business, while raising 3 fabulous kids, dealing with health challenges, and enjoying my passions like art, horses and yoga.

And no, I’m not an energizer bunny-woman with glazed eyes, because I drive myself so hard! I’m actually very peaceful and fun-loving – if I wasn’t, my horses would refuse to hang out with me!

I’m also an “earth mother” type with my kids – I breastfed for five years, the kids slept in our bed. I’ve taught my kids how to cook, sew, knit and crochet! Well, truthfully, the boys never made it past sewing, only my daughter carried on. Oh – proud Mama moment, here’s my daughter Zara, with the organic cotton baby blanket she knit for her new cousin:

Every unit in this module is dedicated to giving you all of the tools and processes I’ve developed to be able to live a full, vibrant life – health, kids, money, animals, peace, hobbies, sports, contentment – the whole shebang, can be yours.

But just before I tell you how, I’m going to give you a brief list of the major projects I’ve accomplished this last year – whilst raising three children, pursuing my passions of painting, horse riding and yoga and spending time with my husband, family and friends. I’m giving you this list now, because I want you to take the tools I’m going to give you in this module to heart and put them into action. So, in the last 12 months I:

Wrote and published 8 new eBooks
Revised and published the second edition of one of my hardcover books
Launched 2 new websites and 3 new YouTube channels
Shot, edited and uploaded 11 videos.
Conducted and published 3 teleseminars
Began work on 2 new healing programs; one is 40% finished, the other 60% finished
Began writing the course material for a new business program (LTYF!), as I write this it’s 70% finished.
Wrote and published 51 blog posts
Set up 3 joint-venture deals with product distributors and provided them with all the materials needed

Now remember, that was all accomplished while raising 3 kids, painting, horse riding, doing yoga and spending plenty of time with family and friends. And that list does not include the ongoing running of my businesses, customer service, managing my team, etc. Our revenues increased 25% during that year.

I’m telling you this because I want you to know that I am not presenting you with nice theories here, but I am giving you the actual blueprint for how to live a well-rounded, balanced life, yet be super successful and productive in your business too.

And the reason I’m working so hard to convince you to adopt my time management strategies is because I want YOU to be super successful too! Nothing turns my crank more than seeing others increase their freedom and bring forth their magnificence – it’s the reason I’m here.

Of course, you may need to tweak the strategies I’m giving you. But for the top strategies I’m giving you on this page, please just try them out first – ideally for one month, but even if you just test them for one week that should be long enough to see the difference. But don’t just test out one or two, you have to adopt ALL of the strategies in this unit, at the same time, to experience the same results. Here we go…

Emails Last

Do not EVER come to your desk at the start of your work segment and open up your email program. Emails are black holes that almost never contribute to your bottom line. But more importantly, they also fragment your concentration and wreck your energy focus for the important tasks you need to get done.

If your business does have time-sensitive elements that come in via email, then go back to the email setup I gave you and make sure that all those time-sensitive emails are sent to your Urgent Biz mailbox and that is the ONLY mailbox you look at in the beginning of your work day.

Also make sure your “new email” sound (of a new email hitting your Inbox) is turned OFF.

So when can I check and respond to emails?

Set the last half hour of your work slot to check your emails and respond to or handle the most important ones. Then, the rest of your emails can be answered here and there as you’re taking care of your kids, riding the bus, or have 5 minutes here and there.

Think about it: Emails do not require focus or extended concentration to deal with. They are the ideal task to fit in here and there. Put the chicken in the oven, then go do some emails. Drive your kid to hockey and do emails while you wait for him. Waiting in the dentist’s office – do your emails.

For those of you who avoid WiFi (like I do) you do not need to have your device turned on while you’re reading and replying to emails. Just download all your emails, then put your device into Airplane Mode while you reply to all of them. Then send them all in one batch and back to Airplane Mode. Of course, it’s best if you don’t hold your device while sending or receiving data – just put it down somewhere and if you can go outside that is best for reducing your radiation exposure.

Surfing, Watching Videos and Emails from Friends

These types of emails and Internet activity may appear in the same place as your work stuff, but they need to live in a completely different category in your brain. You need to think of web surfing, watching YouTube vids and checking out things friends sent you as ENTERTAINMENT or chill-out activity.

They belong in the same time slot as watching TV, reading novels and watching movies.

So set yourself the amount of time each day you need to spend on entertainment. For me it’s 2 hours and I spend it reading a book in bed, right before I go to sleep. I’m not a big TV fan, but my husband is and that’s his way to chill out for an hour or two before bed. If TV is your thing, then make sure you record all your stuff and watch it later so your time is not wasted by sitting through ads!

Most people don’t realize how much of their time is sucked into the TV or surfing the web – which contributes very little to your quality of life.

Turn Off Your Personal Phone

The easiest way to manage phone interruptions is to have a separate business line and personal/home line. Then, when you are working you ONLY answer the business line.

However, I realize that when you are just starting out, you often don’t have the budget for two phone lines. Although don’t forget, you can get a second business number from Grasshopper (worldwide) for a very cheap price – so be sure and check that out.

Young beautiful woman waiting for call isolated

In the meantime, if you don’t get many business calls, then just completely turn off your phone for at least half your work time. Then check messages and spend some time returning only your business calls and leave your phone on if you are waiting for people to call you back. But again, only answer the phone if it is a business call. Let your friends, family etc. go to voicemail.

If you don’t need to wait for any callbacks, then turn your phone completely off again, and continue working.

If you don’t turn your phone off, but set it to vibrate, it is going to result in the same splintering of focus as the ‘ding’ of your email inbox – and that’s exactly what you need to avoid to get quality work done.

I think of my work time as ‘dropping into a zone’ and I need to stay there, I need to stay completely in the flow to be able to work with maximum efficiency. Any noise, notifications, bells, or even music provide varying levels of distraction from the kind of pure focus that will enable you to work at anywhere from double to quadruple the speed of everyone else.

And this will not be stressful! Pure focus is actually rejuvenating and vital. Think of an athlete – after running the fastest 100 metre race they can, do they say, ‘Wow, that was really stressful.’ No. They may be physically tired, but they feel pretty good about giving it their best.

Some people think they work better with music, than without. Again, I say, test it! When I’ve had my kids test this with homework, they’ve all found they do better work, much quicker without music – even when they were convinced the music helped them.

If you’re doing tasks that don’t require focus, like answering emails, or sorting bills, or editing a document for line spacing, etc. then sure, no problem, music is not going to be an issue.

But I’m talking about creating products, or marketing materials, or other important activities that directly contribute to your bottom line.

Plug The Leaks In Your Energy

The final key for this unit of foundational strategies involves some introspection and stepping into your ‘observer self’, to determine where you are leaking your lifeforce energy.

Indians call lifeforce energy ‘prana’, Chinese call it ‘chi’, Japanese call it ‘ki’. It doesn’t matter what you call it. It is the foundational energy that gives us vitality, vibrancy and energy to do all the things that are important to us. Notice I said ‘important’ not ‘urgent’!

Maybe you find yourself wanting to move ahead with your business, passionately desiring the life of your dreams, but you seem to be moving at a snail’s pace. Or you take one step forward and then one step back, or even two steps back. If any of this rings true, then it is likely you are leaking your lifeforce energy out of your body somewhere.

This can be a difficult phenomenon to recognize in ourselves. Close friends or family can probably see it much more easily and clearly than you can. So either ask them for their insights, or step into your ‘observer self’ and take a look at your actions over the week.

Imagine yourself standing off to the side, or up near the ceiling, looking down at yourself – this is your ‘observer self’. So while you are going about your day, talking, eating, etc., your observer self is standing over there, watching you – not judging, just watching and observing.

See if you can observe the instances, or patterns in your life where you get thrown off track, or distracted from your purpose; the places that drain your energy and leave you feeling tired and ‘who cares’ or ‘screw it’ about your goals or vision.

For many people, relationship dramas are a primary leak-hole for their lifeforce energy. Let’s say you’ve just sunk into writing your eBook and you’re making great progress with chapter two. Then your doorbell rings, or your phone rings and it’s your sister, or your mother, or your best friend and they’re distraught, or raging, or sobbing. Feels really important that you rush to their side, doesn’t it? Perhaps it boosts your self-esteem; it makes you feel important, or needed.

But your observer self, looking on, notices that this type of drama occurs on a weekly basis. And maybe each new dramatic event takes 2 – 3 days of dialogue, support, or assistance to resolve. It takes up your time and your energy. When you sit down to work on your book again, you feel drained. You can’t think of much to say and you can’t stop thinking about poor mum, sis, friend, etc.

You must save your lifeforce energy for your business or you will not be able to bring forth your passion and vibrancy to all the people who need it. No excuses. And no exceptions. The tools that I’m going to give you in this module will help you to set stronger boundaries around your time and energy, so that you will have strategies and boundaries in place to handle events like this. But your first step is awareness.

If you do not realize where you are leaking your lifeforce energy (and time!) then you will not be able to stop it.

Others may leak their lifeforce energy into their TV set, or web surfing, or texting, or Facebooking, or by living vicariously through their children or partner.

You MUST save your lifeforce energy for your business.

In the example I gave above, if you had turned off your phone during your work slot, would your distraught friend or family have been able to reach you? If you have a commitment to yourself that you do not come out of your office during your work time, would you have answered your doorbell?

You may even have to have a conversation with the drama queens in your life and let them know that you will not be answering the phone or door during your office hours. And then expect them to test you! Prepare yourself for the test, so that you don’t cave, but stick to the boundaries you’ve set. Take a closer look at some of the challenges leaking your lifeforce – and what you can do about them – in writing…

Think about ways you currently leak your lifeforce energy – and ask your friends and family members for their insight if you need to. Look at relationship drama, TV, web surfing, texting, Facebooking, overeating, living vicariously through your kids or partner, etc.:

Now what can you do to set boundaries around your time and energy, so that you preserve your lifeforce energy for your business and manifesting your purpose here on earth?

Create a Task List right now! Write down the top 3 tasks you need to get done a.s.a.p. (as soon as possible) to create these boundaries. Don’t forget to put checkboxes in front of each task:

Let’s talk about some other ways you can set your boundaries and focus your energy on what’s important to your life.

Focus On Important Tasks Not Urgent Tasks

Being able to discern between tasks that are urgent (gotta do this now!) and important (these will still matter next month or next year) is an essential skill to develop.

So how can you discern which tasks need to be done today, during your work time, and which can be put off and accomplished later?

The simple test is to ask yourself this question: If I DON’T do this, will it make a difference to my life or my biz one month from now?

Let’s look at some tasks that may feel urgent, but when you apply the ‘matter in one month?’ test, you realize they are not important at all:

Answering all my emails.
Cleaning my messy kitchen.
Organizing my computer files.
Dealing with my Facebook messages.
Watching my son’s soccer game, when my spouse is going to be there, and I’ve already attended 3 games this month.
Learn a new photo editing program.
Feed the cat.

Not one of these things is going to make a difference to your business or your life in one month’s time, so they must NOT be allowed to take up your work segment. They can all be dealt with after you’re finished working and are moving about the rest of your day.

Okay, now let’s look at some tasks that will pass the ‘matter in one month test’ as you realize they are actually important items that need to be dealt with:

Write my weekly blog post
Pin a photo with a quote to my Pinterest account
Write an email to someone whose work I love, about possibly collaborating
Apply salve to my daughter’s bleeding knee and settle her on the couch with a movie and a snack
Pick up the phone and talk to two of my customers
Write one chapter of my eBook
Record a half hour audio
Go for lunch with my bestie and brainstorm my latest product idea – take notes.

Do you see the difference? You have to discipline yourself to be ruthless about not letting urgent items creep onto your to-do list or interrupt your work slot. Because they feel urgent! They feel like they’re really important, but when you apply the ‘matter in one month’ test, they are not.

Let’s try it out right now. Look at your day and create two lists of Urgent and Important tasks. Of course, some items can be both, but then they just go to the top of the Important list. So, right now, today, divide your tasks up (using the ‘matter in one month’ test) into Urgent and Important tasks.

URGENT

_____________________________

IMPORTANT

_____________________________

Multi-Tasking Is Not Efficient

I know I’m going against the current zeitgeist here when I state that multi-tasking is actually not an efficient way to work. Sorry! But that’s the truth and here’s why: When you allow (or force) yourself to focus on only one task at a time, you will complete that task much faster. And the quality of work you produce will be much higher due to your intense, laser focus on that one thing.

I’m a mum with 3 kids, 2 cats, a dog, 3 horses and a huge house and yard – trust me, I have plenty of opportunities to multi-task! And when I’m not in my work zone, I multi-task like a banshee. My office or work time is the place where I use my self-discipline to get rid of everything else and just focus on ONE task at a time.

Create Your Task List

Remember that self-discipline is a ‘muscle’. The more you use it, the stronger it gets and the easier it is to use. So here’s how you create that focus on completing only the important tasks – one at a time – in your work slot:

WRITE DOWN each of the things you need to get done that pass the ‘matter in one month’ test.
Now number those tasks in order of priority and logistics. For example, you can’t upload your eBook to your shop page until you have the eBook cover completed – so the cover has to be done first.
Add a checkbox next to each task.
Have that task list right on your desk, where you can see it the second you walk into your work space and sit down.
Use your self-discipline to force yourself to complete the tasks in order and to make sure you do not start any new tasks until ALL the tasks on your list are completed.
Place a tick in each checkbox as soon as you complete each task.

Here’s an example of a priority-ordered task list:

This may sound very simple. But until you actually implement this system, you will not realize its value. The most important parts of this system are the ‘writing it down’ part and the ‘checkbox’ part. Go ahead and try it, you’ll see.

If you get great ideas while you’re working – use your self-discipline to force yourself to stay on task and not go off on a tangent. You can thank yourself for the great idea, jot it down in the margin of your to-do list and carry on.

Again, it is really important to write down that thought, or great idea, because you need to get it out of your head and down on paper. Now your head is clear again and can focus on the numbered tasks on your list. If you don’t write it down, it will keep popping up as you’re working, “Don’t forget about…” and then you’ve lost your focus and slowed yourself down.

Remember at the beginning of this unit, when I wrote this?

… for the top strategies I’m giving you in this first unit, please just try them out first – ideally for one month, but even if you just test them for one week that should be long enough to see the difference. But don’t just test out one or two, you have to adopt ALL of the strategies in this unit, at the same time, to experience the same results.”

Let’s re-cap each of the strategies again to make it easy for you to implement and test:

Close my email app. Do not look at emails until the last half hour of my work segment. Then check my business email box only.

Do not use the Internet for ANYTHING other than completing the tasks on my to-do list. If I don’t need the Internet (I’m writing, or recording, etc.), I close my Internet browser.

Completely turn off my phone (home or cell) at the start of my work slot. If I need to check for messages, I check only once and then turn it off again.

Figure out where I’m leaking my lifeforce energy and STOP. Put up strong boundaries around my time and energy.

Create my Task List and start working through the checkboxes.

That doesn’t sound so hard, does it? And you certainly don’t need to wait until your business is up and running to implement these strategies – you can start right now. Remember, when you’re working through the modules in LTYF, that IS your work time!

Okay, now that you have your foundational strategies for revving up your super powers, let’s carry on and build the rest of your framework…

Filed Under: Run That Beautiful Business, Your Productivity

How Do I Learn More About Social Media Marketing?

March 22, 2019 by admin

Jo Barnes (one of my husband’s friends and a fellow Brit) is doing exactly what I keep telling you to do: Give great stuff away for free!

Jo’s specialty is social media, and what I love about learning from her is that she is so down-to-earth, quick and fun. She has provided us with these free eBooks to get you started in whichever social media appeals to you – download as many as you wish! They are fantastic tutorials and packed with really useful tips gleaned from many years of trial and error. Thanks Jo, you rock!!

DOWNLOAD Facebook Marketing: The Essential Things You Must Know to Generate Leads Through Facebook By Jo Barnes

DOWNLOAD Pinterest Marketing by Jo Barnes

DOWNLOAD LinkedIn Marketing by Jo Barnes

LTYF Breakdown: Now that we’ve sent gratitude to Jo Barnes for being so fabulous, let’s break down the components behind these freebies to see why they make such great marketing platforms for Jo.

Jo is offering great stuff for free, but she knows that the free stuff will likely lead to some actual sales. If you the broad strokes of your solution for free, you can still charge for the details. Here are some other examples:

Example 1: So if you have a health business, your free course (PDF, eBook, or video) tells people which herbs to use to cure acne and then briefly tells them about each herb (constituents, history, extraction, picture) and gives a few people’s stories. Your monetized course or eBook (the one they have to pay for) gives this same information, but also gives the exact dosages and application instructions along with more detail, more photos and more stories.

Example 2: If you have a fitness business, your free course (PDF, eBook, video, or audio) gives people a brief outline of the top 5 most popular workouts to lose weight and sculpt different types of physiques (big and muscular, lean and sinewy, strong but smooth, elegant muscles, etc.) and a photo of what these physiques look like. Your monetized eBook, or training package has people select the type of body they want from the 5 physiques and then they receive a more detailed eBooklet on that specific training method along with an instructional workout video where you lead them through three workouts (beginner, intermediate, advanced) to create that physique.

Example 3: If you are a financial planner, your free course (PDF, eBook, video, or audio) has outlined the Top 10 strategies for maximum growth with varying risk levels. Your monetized package includes an instructional video on 1 to 3 of these strategies (walking them through real life application examples), combined with a one-hour private consult to apply the strategy of their choice to their own portfolio in a way that will maximize their results.

This is exactly what Jo has done here with these free eBooks. She has given you enough to give you a better understanding of each social media, she has helped you, you have received value, and you have a good sense of who she is and whether you jive with her now.

But if you really want to go full speed into developing your Facebook page, or LinkedIn profile, then you are going to want her in-depth course.

And guess what? Each of these free eBooks contains my affiliate link, so if you end up purchasing her paid course, I will receive a commission on the sale. And remember that all LTYF affiliate commissions are donated to charity ♥

This means that Jo will have people thrilled to give her eBooks away to their email list, or run a promotion on their Facebook page (because they will receive an affiliate commission). You see how all these elements tie together? Swipe away, my friends!

Filed Under: Marketing & Sales, Run That Beautiful Business

How Do I Decide Which Social Media Platform(s) to Use?

March 22, 2019 by admin

If you use any social media right now, you’re probably used to seeing ads all over it, usually targeted somewhat at you. A lot of people get anxious about knowing how to use social media “properly” to promote their business. The truth of the matter? Social media algorithms change, and the tricks you learn or figure out or pay for become less effective or obsolete over time. And even though you get instant feedback in terms of likes, comments, views and shares, none of that necessarily contributes to making an actual sale. What people see on social media is momentary, and then they’re on to the next thing. And if the formulas change, they might not even get to see your content. There is still absolutely nothing that compares to a really good email list. Whatever you do on social media, you want it all to point back towards your site, where people can engage more thoroughly with you and sign up for your freebie in exchange for their email. So take the anxiety out of social media marketing and try to remember the one rule that stands while the others change: just post engaging content that can link back to your site.

At the end of the day, it’s not so much about which social media platform performs better than others. It’s more about which one resonates with you the most. Which one do you feel is easiest to use and thus you’re likely to use it the most?

Some people live on their cellphones, so Twitter and Instagram are the backbone of their social media marketing. Others prefer their computer, and others adore video. You will have the most success if you use the media that you feel drawn to and that feel easy and natural to you, or that you feel the highest degree of satisfaction with.

For example, for me, Twitter annoys the crap out of me and I really don’t see the point. If I didn’t have a VA (virtual assistant) I wouldn’t bother with it at all.

I barely spend any time on a cell phone because I want to minimize my radiation exposure – as currently the technology is not safe (for many reasons – see my blog!). So again, I outsource Instagram to a VA.

I also outsource much of Pinterest, because although I enjoy choosing and pinning pictures, my time is better spent creating the in-depth content on my blog and videos. My VA then grabs this content and pins it to Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

After using my VA (virtual assistant) to do these tasks for a couple of years, I then moved everything to a social media manager who posts everywhere on my behalf, twice per day, seven days a week. I just approve the posting content (and correct any errors) at the beginning of the week and then I don’t have to look at any of the social media, or even think about it, for the rest of the week! For me, that is awesome. So I can focus on what I love and am good at, which is creating the content (videos, blog post, books, programs, products, etc.).

But until you can afford to do that – and it is likely sooner than you think – just pick whichever social media appeals to you and use it to drive traffic (visitors) to your website. Google+, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon… I think there are over 300 social media tools now! Use whichever ones you think reach your unique, defined audience. For example, if you’re a budding pop star, you’re not going to use LinkedIn, you’re going to use YouTube. Use whichever ones you like, feel free to try out different ones, use them for a while and see if they feel ‘easy’ to you.

Daymond John is the founder and CEO of the $5 billion clothing company FUBU and he manages his own twitter account – because he’s always on his cell phone and he enjoys tweeting!

The easier and lighter something feels, the more you’ll use it and that’s what good marketing (telling people about your stuff) is all about. When you’re building your business, always go with the flow, go with what feels natural, light, fun, or exciting.

If something feels like drudgery, it’s a waste of your energy to force yourself to do that. Either outsource it, don’t do it, or think outside the box and come up with a workaround that accomplishes your end goal, yet keeps you feeling light and expansive.

The Social Media Golden Rule

Whichever social media you choose to use – and there will be new ones popping up all the time – always, always, always use it as a vehicle to drive people to your site where they can sign-up to your email list.

Your email list or database is KING. It doesn’t matter if your video has a million views, or you have a million Twitter followers; until those people opt-in to your list, you do not “have” them and your sales (or lack thereof) will reflect that.

Email marketing is covered in detail over here, where I show you exactly how, when and why to email your list. For now, just remember to ALWAYS post a link to your site, or a specific blog post when posting to social media. This is so that people will come to your site, and then hopefully sign-up to your email list.

Every graphic you post should link back to your site in some way. If you post a photo of your cinnamon buns, make sure it links to your recipe or story about cinnamon buns on your site. If you share an image on Facebook or some other place that doesn’t allow you to embed a link, then add your website or name to the image itself, so that your website, name or branding is part of your photo.

Remember, that people do not buy your product from Twitter or LinkedIn or YouTube – the point of all these social media is to introduce you to new people, who then follow your link to your site, then opt-in to your email list and THEN you begin building the relationship with them that eventually results in a sale. Let’s get you started…

Write down which social media platforms you like best and think you would like to use to get started:

Now go and sign up for accounts with each one of them. List your account info here, along with your URLs (website addresses) for each social media account you now have (Note: but keep all passwords secure!):

TIP: Here’s the super simple way I keep all my account information organized, from my blog login, hosting account, Amazon account, Facebook account, YouTube channel, and so on. I have a file saved to my desktop called Internet-Accounts and I copy/paste all login URLs, usernames and passwords in alphabetical order. For example – see how I bold the account name so I can scan and quickly find what I want:

Amazon Affiliate
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/
Username:
Pswd:
Email:

BigCommerce
https://shoppe.listentoyourgut.com/admin/
Username:
Pswd:

And so on…

Or, download a password manager like LastPass to manage large lists of passwords automatically.

Add Social Media Icons to Your Site

Now that you’ve decided which social media you like and want to use to build traffic (visitors) to your site and you’ve set up your accounts. It’s time to add those little social media icons, or links, to your site.

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, then look at the social media icons here, at the top of one of my sites – see the little graphics representing (in order) Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube?:

So if you were to click on the Facebook icon on my site here, it would go to my Facebook Page.

Where you could then LIKE me, take a look at my posts, maybe share some of them, and post your question.

Remember, people have their preferred way of interacting. Some prefer to comment on blog posts, or post their questions at the end of your blog, others like to email you directly, others live on their Facebook page and only want to interact with you there, etc.

So you want them to sign-up to your email list and then after that, they can continue their relationship with you however they wish using the social media you enjoy. Meanwhile, your social media continue to drive fresh, new traffic to your site, where they can sign up for your email list.

Many WordPress blog themes come with a social media plugin or widget installed and ready for you to just add your page or account links to. But in case yours doesn’t, or you don’t like the graphics your theme has… it’s Pressie time again!

I’ve put together six different social media icon design sets that you can choose from – depending on which style of graphic you like best. So head on over to the next Module and choose your favorite set – all free.

Yay! It’s gift time again and thanks to some talented and generous designers, I have a number of sets of social media icons (graphics) for you to choose from that you can use on your site – free of charge, now and ongoing.

Pick the set that best matches your existing site look and feel. You will either be able to upload these directly to your blog – your theme may have a social media widget you can customize. Or, you can install a social media plugin first and then upload the icons you like the best. Here’s exactly how to do this easy-peasy:

How To Add Social Media Icons To Your Blog

However, be sure and take a look at whether social media icons already come with your WordPress blog theme, as you might like those just fine. In that case, there’s no need to replace them with one of these.

But if you do already have social media icons installed on your blog, and you would like to change them to different ones, here’s how to do it:

How To Change The Social Media Icons On Your Blog

So whether you’re installing social media icons for the first time, or changing the icons currently on your blog to new ones that match better with your design or theme, here are six different sets of social media icons you can choose from:

Basic Icons set – this set only contains the basic social media platforms discussed in this Module. These are the same ones you saw earlier:

Click here to download this set…

High Detail Glossy set – this is a full set of all the social media icons you’ve ever heard of, and some you likely haven’t!

Click here to download this set…

Fabric Grunge Set – these are really cool if they fit the design of your site:

Click here to download this set…

Glossy Metallic Set – very slick, with a bit of 3D going on here:

Click here to download this set…

Old Bottle Crowns Set – Another funky one for a cool design esthetic:

Click here to download this set…

Clean Metal Set – A very clean, sophisticated set:

Click here to download this set…

Okay, you’re all set! Now you just need to implement: Choose your fave social media platforms, set up your accounts, install the social media icons on your site, and begin the process of getting fluent using them. Don’t worry, the last unit in this Module will give you your action steps checklist to make the implementation easy. But before we get to that, let’s also get some more detailed social media guides into your hot little hands…

Filed Under: Marketing & Sales, Run That Beautiful Business

How Do I Create A YouTube or Vimeo Video?

March 22, 2019 by admin

YouTube has always been a great (and free) place to upload your videos, but it’s even better now, since Google bought it. Google is improving YouTube so that your YouTube channel offers more options and ad revenue opportunities, videos are now getting better search engine rankings (due to improved keywording facility) and there are more post-upload editing and annotation tools (where you can add a website, or instructions to a finished video) available.

A possible downside to Google purchasing YouTube is that they are making it a lot more commercial and this likely will result in less usage over time and people switching to other video platforms that are less ad-happy. But that may take years to occur and for now, it is still the best free video platform to use.

Google has also improved the Help and tutorials sections of YouTube and has some great tutorials on how to produce good videos that grab and hold your viewers attention. However, when you are just starting out, you may want to avoid these as they may work against you by intimidating you and making it look complicated!

One of the first videos I ever shot – that contains a bunch of things I would never do again – is still considered helpful enough to people that it is fast approaching a million views. So at the end of the day, don’t worry about anything and just share something that is useful, or solves a problem, or offers hope, or makes people laugh. That’s really all you need to do and you will automatically get better as you go along.

When you do a YouTube video, remember to tell your viewers you have detailed info or a free report about that topic on your blog – then give the link orally and also put it as a hyperlink in the video description field (ABOUT section), so they can click directly to it. Remember, the goal of all your YouTube videos is to get people to sign-up or opt-in to your email list on your site.

Vimeo has a very basic account available for free and then their paid plans start. They also don’t have the advertising monetization that YouTube has. And obviously, being that YouTube is owned by Google, which video platform is going to get better search engine ranking?!

However, if you want to have a more professional look to your videos, or you want to be part of a developed artistic (filmmaker) community, then Vimeo is definitely better. And if you want to offer private videos, for example, where your videos can only be viewed on your website, or within your membership area, then you’re going to need Vimeo Pro ($199/year).

I use Vimeo to host the WordPress tutorial videos and some of the other content videos on this site. But you’ll notice that I use YouTube for much of the simple how-to vids and other content that helps spread the LTYF program to potential customers.

Whether you choose to go with YouTube, or Vimeo, or both, the same instructions apply throughout this module.

But I’m Ugly, or Camera Shy!

If you don’t want to feature yourself in your videos – although keep in mind a number of homely people have very popular channels, so you don’t actually need to look good – there are a number of ways you can still upload excellent videos without ever filming yourself:

You can get your kids to appear instead of you. Some of my most popular videos feature my daughter Zara, people often enjoy her more anyway!

You can produce videos using pictures with you doing a voiceover. Any video editing software, like iMovie (for Mac) or Windows Movie Maker (free), makes it easy for you to create a video using jpg photos. Then you can easily record a voice track to narrate your video, using the same software. This way you can create videos that are instructional, or funny, or tell a story, or educate.

You can create a slide presentation (with text and photos) using PowerPoint or Keynote. Then you save the slides as photos (jpgs) and import the photos into your video editing software (iMovie or Windows Movie Maker). Paste a track of music, or record a voiceover and you’re done. If you have Keynote (Mac) you can actually save the presentation directly to video.

Either way, it’s a good idea to have a customized background for your slides that contains your website’s URL on the top right corner or bottom right corner. Or have your site URL appear at the beginning and end of your presentation. This way you can drive visitors to your site even if your video is embedded on other sites – in which case your YouTube description and link will not appear. Watch how to create a video using PowerPoint:

Here’s another super-easy way to create an inspirational slideshow video directly on YouTube:

Visit the upload page on YouTube
Click Create under Photo slideshow.
Upload photos from your computer, or select photos from an existing Google+ photo album, and click Select
Drag and drop the photos to rearrange them. When you’re done, click Next
Select an audio track from the library under “Audio”, or select No audio to have your slideshow play without music. (Note: You won’t be able to upload audio files from your computer).
Click Upload when you’ve finished making your slideshow

Perhaps you are doing tutorial videos that involve showing people what you’re doing on your computer screen. Perhaps you are showing them how to use a software, or format a document, or perhaps you want to show things that are on the Internet. In these cases, you would use a Screencast software to record what’s happening on your computer screen. This is also called Screenshot Video.

The best free screencast software for Mac is Quick Time Player. Good paid screencast software for Mac includes Screenflow and IshowU HD. The best free screencast software for Windows PC is Screencast-O-Matic or CamStudio. Two of the best paid screencast software for Windows are Camtasia and SnagIt (SnagIt is much cheaper than Camtasia, but with good capability).

When you are making screencast videos, try to record the screen at 640×360 (16:9) so that the videos do not appear fuzzy. If you can’t do it in 360p, you can set it at 480p (854×480). Do not upload screencast videos in 720p unless you have no other option.

Use a “whiteboard” to draw pictures or figures that illustrate what you’re talking about. Many math instructors use this method, but it’s also become popular for selling products and courses where they have a professional illustrator drawing pictures of people and scenarios as they talk. You can do-it-yourself by drawing stickmen, writing words, drawing arrows, circling text, etc. as you speak.

Most people use their iPad (Bamboo Paper – Notebook is a free app that works well), or a special drawing tablet that hooks up to your computer for this. You can get these drawing tablets with a medium screen size, or a small screen size (cheaper). Personally, I prefer the medium size (8.5″x5.3″) since I find it difficult to write or draw small.

Do a Skype interview with someone and just show and record them on the screen! I have had people do this with me a number of times and I don’t mind at all. Or you can have them large on the screen and you in a much smaller box, so less visible. Free software to record the Skype interview are Quick Time Player for Mac and Free Video Call Recorder for Skype for PC, available here: http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-Video-Call-Recorder-for-Skype.htm

Remember, when you are making screencast videos, try to record the screen at 640×360 (16:9) so that the videos do not appear fuzzy. If you can’t do it in 360p, you can set it at 480p (854×480). Do not upload screencast videos in 720p unless you have no other option.

But I Don’t Have a Decent Video Camera!

Oh this is SO not a barrier to doing videos – let me tell you why… Leonie Dawson built her business to half a million dollars shooting all her videos from her laptop camera. Even while breastfeeding. Really. People do not care, they just want you to be real. Be yourself and your tribe will feel instant recognition and follow you. The rest will mosey on their way – which is good, because they’re not your customer anyway.

No video editing software? No problem. Just shoot short videos, start to finish using your mobile phone, or a Flip video camera (less than $99 and even cheaper used) – which plugs directly into your computer for uploading. You don’t need to add titles displaying your website, you can just give it verbally at the beginning and again at the end.

Are you out of excuses? If video is your thing, or if your site visitors really like video, or your message is a perfect fit with the medium of video, then get your butt in gear! Just start with the simplest, shortest vids you can manage and know that you will get better over time. It’s all good.

That’s really all that’s needed and you can literally start tomorrow. Let’s get your ideas flowing…

Jot down a quick list of video ideas; topics you’d like to present and how you’d like to create the videos for these:

Video Production & Marketing Musts

Whichever way you decide to create your videos, there are a few things you can do to maximize your video marketing:

Give Out Your URL – Always add your website to your video in a spot that cannot be cut without losing the content. Your videos will get picked up and featured on websites and blogs all over the world and you don’t want to lose this opportunity to market your site! It’s also a good idea to verbally give out your website URL during your video as well.

Offer More Stuff – At some point in your video, direct the viewer to your website for more information, or a free eBook, or a detailed blog post, etc. You can add an “annotation” (like a note) to your videos on YouTube that goes to your webpage when someone clicks on it. You can also put a link to your site or page in the video description field that appears underneath your videos.

This is another place where you can implement the “give your best stuff for free” mandate. If you want to use video to advertise a program, or course, or service, or consulting that you offer – make videos that offer specific solutions or help. Use the video(s) as your chance to show people how good your stuff is. This is why you want to give some of your best stuff away for free. You want people to watch that video and be absolutely convinced that:

a) You really know your stuff, they can trust you, you know what you’re talking about
b) You are a great teacher and they will be able to learn easily from you because you explain things so well, or you really motivate them, or you’re funny and enjoyable
c) If you are selling a video-based series, they also get to see the quality of your video and be assured they won’t be disappointed

Here’s an example of a video that delivers in spades on all of the above:

The demonstration is clear and concise
The camera is set up well and you can see clearly everything as he demos
The title is catchy and holds a promise (which he delivers on)
At the end of the video (which is a good length – approximately 7 minutes) he directs you to his website where you can buy his full-length training program and get more excellent quality instruction – just like you just watched.

This video has been watched over 1.2 million times, so he has gotten LOTS of free advertising for his brand, his course and his website from this video – and he deserves it!

Ask Viewers To Subscribe – You can build your YouTube Channel subscribers faster if you ask people (usually at the end) to subscribe to your channel. Your subscriber’s will be automatically notified when you post new videos and you can also email them directly if you have a special offer (but be respectful, you don’t want to anger them and make them unsubscribe).

Be Yourself & Have Fun – You will always engage the viewer better if you are free in yourself and allow your true personality to shine through. You are not a professional news anchor, so don’t try to be! Just have fun and deliver the goods. People will be patient with all kinds of quirks if they sense you are sincere and they get value from your content.

Use Royalty-Free Music – Don’t put any copyrighted music in your video without permission! Expensive lawsuits are never fun. Here are some music resources you can use when the time comes, the tracks on these sites are either royalty-free or very low priced (as low as $1.99):

However, keep in mind that royalty-free only applies to non-commercial uses of the music. Unfortunately, the definition of “non-commercial” is pretty nebulous. From what I’ve seen I would say that it is okay to use the music on a video or page where you are not selling anything – but then you must give the full music credit on the page, or at the end of the video. You cannot use the music IN or as part of the product you are selling (video, audio, etc.) without purchasing a commercial license for the music.

YouTube does have music partnerships with some record labels – or some people have written to the music publisher and obtained permission to use the song – which is why you will see some videos with copyrighted music.

However, there is currently no easy way to discover which songs you can use, so I find it less time consuming to just use royalty-free music – or create your own! Don’t forget Garage Band on iMac– that is a very easy way to start creating your own music and I’m sure there are other apps and free software for easy music creation – just Google it!

If you have a little cash (like $17 or so) and you’re ready to brand your videos by creating a Video Intro that appears at the beginning of every video, then it is worth buying a music track from somewhere like Audio Jungle which will give you some high quality music, but also help to maintain exclusivity (i.e. less people will use paid music vs. free music). For example, this composer on Audio Jungle will give you a good idea of the variety available and how it all works: MojoMusic

The music that plays at the beginning of all the Listen To Your Freedom videos is a ‘video logo’ that I purchased from AudioJungle. Video logos are very short (around 20 seconds) so sell for under $20. The longer tracks of 2 – 3 minutes are more expensive ($30 – $80). The cost of the music varies depending on whether you want to use it only for free content, or whether you’ll be charging for the end product. Or whether you want to use it for one purpose only, or multiple purposes.

Publishing or uploading your videos to YouTube or Vimeo is also very easy as most video editing software (and some video cameras) have one-click uploads to YouTube and often Vimeo.

Monetize Your Vids – You can also click a few boxes on your YouTube channel that tells YouTube you would like to run advertisements on your videos. YouTube will attach the ads automatically to the beginning of your video, or run them along the bottom; whichever option you select. If anyone watching your video clicks on the ad, or watches the entire ad, you receive a few cents in revenue from YouTube. It may not sound like much, but over time, you can build up to $50 or $100/month for essentially doing nothing.

If you select to play the ads that run before your video starts (True Stream or Skippable ads) they are more annoying to your viewer, but they pay a higher ad revenue than the ads that just run along the bottom (which you can close immediately by clicking the X). You might want to upload two videos and put a different ad type on each one, then monitor them to see if having the ad at the beginning affects your watch time (the amount of time people spend watching your video).

It is not enough to track Views, because someone may click to watch your video, encounter an ad and immediately click away. This will still show up in your video view count, but it doesn’t really have any meaning.

If you don’t want to bother to test, then just run the least annoying ads to start with. Once your videos pass a few thousand views, then experiment with using the True Stream ads.

For my videos, I use the low-paying ads that run along the bottom until my videos hit 10,000 views, then I switch them to the True Stream (skippable) ads that run at the beginning – where people can skip after watching 4 seconds:

As you can see above, I also run the Display Ads in the sidebar beside the video – this is just an ad on the page, so doesn’t affect the video or viewership at all.

If you had a video that went viral, or passed a million views, then you could definitely switch to the ads that play in full before your video starts – people are not allowed to skip them – as these pay the highest revenue. But otherwise, I wouldn’t use these ads, or you are likely to severely limit your views, as most people will not sit through the ad.

Take YouTube To The Next Level

If you find you adore doing videos and want to make this a major part of your site promotion (marketing), then YouTube itself has a ton of fantastic (free) tutorials showing you how to make a really superb channel and deliver top quality content:

http://www.youtube.com/yt/creators/

Jody Jelas also has some fun video tutorials and here’s a good one:

Another cool tool is to use a ready-made video intro template – where the music and images are already done for you (you just customize it to your name, site, tagline, etc.). These are also really cheap (less than $10) and you can see a great selection at VideoHive.net

You may also want to customize your content by making use of YouTube trends. If you can create videos for your niche that are related to the currently trending videos, you may be able to piggyback on the trend and get a good number of eyeballs on your videos too. This is probably best used if your stuff is entertainment-based, or you sell trendy products, or your demographic (your customer profile – see Module 4) fits with the viewing audience. Visit YouTube’s official blog to see the latest trending videos.

Lastly, you can also drive some related-content fans over to your channel by leaving useful comments on related videos (other people’s videos in your niche or about your topic). If your comment is liked, your comment will be placed at the top of the comments listing for that video and a lot of visitors will click on your username – which then links to your channel bringing in fresh visitors.

Again, your business is based on your top interest, or passion; you know you’ll be active in that niche and reading or watching other people’s content anyway – don’t miss this super-easy opportunity to leave a thoughtful or helpful comment which takes you only seconds to implement. NEVER use this opportunity to sell yourself, that will just turn people off and get you marked as a spammer.

Just Be Yourself!

At the end of the day, take all the ideas and tools in this Module and stick them in your tool belt for easy access, but above all, just be yourself!

If you are just truly, authentically YOU in your videos, your tribe will find you AND you will have the most success that way too. Don’t try to behave like you think a healer/fashionista/guru/carpenter/designer/chef/coach or beauty queen (to give a few examples) should behave. Just be YOU and share your thoughts, tools, energy, humor, process etc.

For example, Bunny Meyer may not strike you as a particularly mainstream beauty guru. She dyes her hair both black and blond and refers to her fanbase as “the swamp family.” Her self-described hairstyle, “messy and imperfect,” is a true reflection of her uninhibited personality. But Bunny’s openness, self-deprecating humor and strong, confident voice have helped her develop a loyal audience.

Her videos include product reviews, daily outfits and funny rants, averaging 180,000 views each. She has over a million subscribers and an Etsy store where she sells stickers, buttons and travel cups. Because of her large fan base, she has sold over 700 items on Etsy.

Of course, if she knew about LTYF, then she could monetize that million+ fanbase way beyond a few items on Etsy, product endorsement deals and YouTube ad revenue! But never mind, when she’s ready I’m sure she’ll realize she can develop her already lucrative business even further.

What can you learn from Bunny? Viewers tend to respond to authenticity and confidence. You should consider fully embracing what makes you unique, no matter how different you may seem. Whatever you are likely running yourself down for, or wishing was different about you, is probably your unique selling point!

Overwhelmed?

I know I covered a lot of options in this unit. But please know this is so that, as your skills grow, you can keep returning here for ideas.

You do not have to do or even understand most of the techniques covered in this section to get started! The most important items – that you can get going on right away – are:

Get your YouTube channel set up – choose a username that is the same as your site if you can get it, or your own personal name.
Upload your first video – remember, the first time you do something is always the hardest. So just shoot the simplest, shortest video (2 minutes is great) you can, give out your URL, and just begin the process of throwing yourself, your ideas, your solutions out there.
Add the keyword tags to your video that will categorize it so that people searching on that topic can find your video. Just imagine you were searching for your video, what would you type into Google? And those are your keywords. You can also always add your name as a keyword, so people can easily find you. See the next unit, Module 17.8, for how to choose the best keywords for your content.

For now, let’s just get your first video up there – remember the first time you do anything is always the hardest! After that first time, you mow down all your blocks (by taking action) and it becomes easy-peasy!

Now take action!

Your YouTube channel name: ____________________________________________________
Topic for your first, short, easy video:_______________________________________________
Keyword tags for when you upload your first video:______________________________________

Remember, that if you don’t like YouTube, you can always use Vimeo instead. You can get a basic account on Vimeo for free.

One last thing for those of you who really want to run with your video channel and make sure you are uploading the best quality videos you can…

Best Settings For Uploading Quality Videos

Following are the formatting and uploading guidelines that YouTube and then Vimeo prefer; to give your viewers the best quality videos to watch.

Simple YouTube Video Formatting Instructions

Step 1: Open your file with a video editing tool like iMovie, Final Cut Pro, or Quicktime Pro.

In iMovie, select Share > Export Using QuickTime
In Finalcut Pro, select File > Export > Using Quicktime Conversion
In QuickTime Pro, select File > Export > Export: Movie to QuickTime Movie

Step 2: Next, verify your settings by clicking Options à Video settings

Compression Type: H.264
Frame Rate: 30 is preferred. 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97 are also acceptable.
Data Rate: Automatic
Key Frames: Automatic
Frame Reordering: Unchecked

Audio/Sound settings

Format: AAC
Click Show advanced settings and choose Constant Bit Rate as encoding strategy

Other settings

Size: Choose the original size of the video
“Prepare for Internet Streaming”: Fast Start

Make sure that you’re using one of the following formats (YouTube prefers .mp4):

.MOV
.MPEG4 (.mp4)
.AVI
.WMV
.MPEGPS
.FLV
3GPP
WebM

Step 3: Go ahead and UPLOAD your video to YouTube!

Advanced YouTube Video Formatting (Encoding) Settings

Recommended bitrates, codecs, and resolutions, and more

Container: .mp4

No Edit Lists (or you may lose AV sync)
moov atom at the front of the file (Fast Start)

Audio Codec: AAC-LC

Channels: Stereo or Stereo + 5.1
Sample rate 96khz or 48 khz

Video Codec: H.264

Progressive scan (no interlacing)
High Profile
2 consecutive B frames
Closed GOP. GOP of half the frame rate.
CABAC
Variable bitrate. No bitrate limit required, though we offer recommended bit rates below for reference
Color Space: 4.2.0

Frame rates

Frame rates should match the source material. For example, content shot in 24fps should be encoded and uploaded at 24fps. Content recorded at 30fps should be uploaded at 30fps. Content shot in 720p60, should be uploaded at 720p60. Content at 1080i 60, should be deinterlaced, going from 60 interlaced fields per second to 30 progressive frames per second before uploading.

Bitrates

Standard quality uploads

Type	Video Bitrate	Mono Audio Bitrate	Stereo Audio Bitrate	5.1 Audio Bitrate
1080p	8,000 kbps	128 kbps	384 kbps	512 kbps
720p	5,000 kbps	128 kbps	384 kbps	512 kbps
480p	2,500 kbps	64 kbps	128 kbps	196 kbps
360p	1,000 kbps	64 kbps	128 kbps	196 kbps

High quality uploads for creators with enterprise quality internet connections

Type	Video Bitrate	Mono Audio Bitrate	Stereo Audio Bitrate	5.1 Audio Bitrate
1080p	50,000 kbps	128 kbps	384 kbps	512 kbps
720p	30,000 kbps	128 kbps	384 kbps	512 kbps
480p	15,000 kbps	128 kbps	384 kbps	512 kbps
360p	5,000 kbps	128 kbps	384 kbps	512 kbps

Resolutions

YouTube uses 16:9 aspect ratio players. If you are uploading a non-16:9 file, it will be processed and displayed correctly as well, with pillar boxes (black bars on the left and right) or letter boxes (black bars at the top and bottom) provided by the player. If you want to fit the player perfectly, encode at these resolutions:

1080p: 1920×1080
720p: 1280×720
480p: 854×480
360p: 640×360
240p: 426×240

The YouTube player automatically adds black bars so that videos are displayed correctly without cropping or stretching, no matter the size of the video or the player.

For example, the player will automatically add pillarboxing to 4:3 videos in the new 16:9 widescreen player size. If the player is re-sized (i.e. when embedded on another website), the same process takes place so that 16:9 videos are letterboxed when the player is sized to 4:3. Similarly, anamorphic videos will be automatically letterboxed when shown in either 16:9 or 4:3 sized players. The player can only do this if the native aspect ratio of the video is maintained.

You can adjust the fit of your video in our player after uploading your video by using formatting tags.

If letterboxing is added to a video before it is uploaded (i.e. in the case of creating a 4:3 video from a 16:9 master), the widescreen player will add pillarbox bars too, resulting in black bars all around the video (windowboxing) and a bad viewing experience.

Go to YouTube’s Help section for any other questions you might have.

Vimeo Video Formatting Instructions

In order to compress, or format, your video to be uploaded to Vimeo, you will need to export your video from your editing software (like iMovie) into a format that Vimeo accepts.

For the best quality video, export your video as a Quicktime or Mpeg4 (mp4) movie, using these settings:

Codec: H.264

A codec is the format in which your video will be encoded. Vimeo accepts most major video codecs, but for best results we recommend using H.264. If you’re uploading High Definition (HD) video, choose the High Profile H.264 setting instead of Main Profile.

Advanced H.264 settings: To make your uploads extra smooth, choose the following advanced settings whenever possible.

Closed GOP
CABAC (to reduce your file size)

Here are some codecs that will not work on Vimeo: G2M2, G2M3, Canopus HQ.

Frame rate: 24, 25, or 30 FPS (Constant)

Vimeo accepts videos with frame rates of 24 (or 23.976), 25, and 30 (or 29.97). If you know the frame rate of your footage, it’s best to encode your final video at the same frame rate. However, if your footage exceeds 30 FPS (frames per second), you should encode your video at half that frame rate. For example, if you shot at 60 FPS, you should encode your final video at 30 FPS. If you’re uncertain what frame rate you shot at, set your frame rate to either “Current” or 30 FPS. If there is an option for keyframes, choose the same value you used for frame rate. Important: Always choose “constant” frame rate instead of “variable” frame rate.

Bit rate: 2,000 – 5,000 kbit/s (SD) / 5,000 – 10,000 kbit/s (720p HD) / 10,000 – 20,000 kbit/s (1080p HD)

Bit rate (aka data rate) controls both the visual quality of the video and its file size. In most video editors, this is measured in kilobits per second (kbit/s). When you have the option, choose a “variable” bit rate and set the target to at least 2,000 kbit/s for standard definition (SD) video or 5,000 kbit/s for HD. Plus and PRO members have the option of uploading 1080p HD footage, which we recommend encoding at a bit rate of at least 10,000 kbit/s.

Resolution: 640 pixels wide (SD) or 1280 pixels wide (HD)

Common resolutions for SD video include 640 x 480 px (4:3 aspect ratio) and 640 x 360 px (16:9 aspect ratio). The most common setting for HD video is 1280 x 720 px (16:9 aspect ratio). Plus and PRO members have the option to present their videos at 1080p. 1920 x 1080 px is the most common resolution for 1080p video.

AUDIO

Codec: AAC-LC (Advanced Audio Codec)

For best results, we recommend using AAC-LC (low complexity) for the audio codec.

Data rate: 320 kbit/s

For best results, encode your audio at constant rate of 320 kbit/s.

Sample rate: 48 kHz

For best results, set your audio sample rate to 48 kHz. If your working setting is already less than or equal to 48 kHz, leave it as is.

Filed Under: Create Your Own Products, Digital

How Do I Promote My Site While Browsing the Internet?

March 22, 2019 by admin

As you are browsing around the Internet, whenever you read a blog post or forum post that catches your eye, or ends up being helpful, or perhaps you have some helpful comments to add, be sure and post a comment.

Now here’s the trick: Do NOT put a link to your site in the body of your comment, or it will likely be tagged as spam and deleted.

However, you can and should list your site when you register to post your comment (when they ask for your name, email and website). The blog comment software will then automatically hyperlink your name to your website (hyperlink means it will be a live, clickable link). This means that the person reading your comment can always click on your name to get to your site – if you peak their interest or they are curious about you.

Some sites do not ask or allow you to enter your website anywhere. In this case, be sure and use your full name, so someone can Google you. And of course, even if you can enter your site, use your full name as well (or whatever name you publish under).

Another way to drive traffic to your site or YouTube channel, is when you post a review for a product or service – include a creative way to let people know where to find you if they want more info. Most reviews will not allow you to post an URL (website address), but there are ways around that. You can tell people to go to Facebook and then search ‘ListenToYourGut’ for example, or whatever your Facebook page is called. Or you can do what I did recently on Amazon to drive people to my daughter Zara’s YouTube channel (MissZaraPT):

NEVER miss an opportunity to tell people about who you are, what you’re doing, and what you have that can help them.

Always have this in the back of your mind when you are on the Internet and just drop little comments or notices wherever and whenever you can. BUT remember: Do not sell! This will just get you banned and blacklisted. You have to offer something that will help people, and best if it’s free.

Remember too that the quality and thoughtfulness of your comment or review tells people who you are – so make sure that whatever you post on the Internet (whether in a private or public space) reflects the authentic you.

So reflect now on the places you tend to shop on the Internet. Or the forums you visit, or other people’s blogs or videos you watch. Either allot some time each week to making a few comments in these places, or just make a mental note to comment whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Facebook comments are another easy way to leave your comments, or helpful offer or advice – because they always automatically link back to your Facebook page, making you very easy for people to find.

Let’s plan how you can spread the word about what you’re doing and the great stuff you have to offer people…

Take a moment now and make a list of the social platforms, blogs, forums etc. you hang out on, and the online stores where you shop – these are all places you can ‘stealth market’ your site:

If you are NOT doing this yet, then do a Google search for forums or blogs you can start commenting on and write their URLs (web address) here. Remember: Do NOT sell yourself, use your comments to authentically help others, entertain, or o er support or encouragement:

Filed Under: Marketing & Sales, Run That Beautiful Business

How Do I Make My Own Visual Posts For Social Media?

March 22, 2019 by admin

We’ve all seen how quickly a great quote can go viral. Quotes also cause your reader to connect more deeply with you – because a resonant quote shows that you understand how they feel, or you share a frustration, but also a hope, or provide encouragement, or humor to lighten their day. And again, no matter which type of quote you post, a short quote is very easily and often shared among friends and family members (free marketing for you!).

The other reason to artwork your own quotes is that you can easily post your quote in many places:

Your blog
Pinterest, Instagram or any other photo-sharing site or app
Your Facebook Page or personal profile
Set it to music and upload as a video to your YouTube channel – you could also string 3 or 4 quotes together on a single topic, add music and voila you have a video.
Tweet your quote and have your tweet link to your blog or Pinterest pin
Email it out to your list

You can either quote other people – grab topic-specific quotes from quote-sharing websites online – or quote yourself. Either make up a quote, or write down something that you often hear yourself saying, or grab a quote from your latest blog post, or article or eBook.

If you want to use quotes from other people, then just type in the keyword for the quote you’re looking for, for example, you could enter into Google:

Inspirational quotes
or
Sports quotes
or
Encouragement quotes

As discussed above, you can either take a great photo and add your words over top of the photo, or you can use a service like Canva to create a really swanky, designer image quote. Or, you can quickly paint a background and use that instead. Like this one that has gone viral on Pinterest and Facebook, and has even been emailed to people:

Watercolor paints are the easiest way to create a beautiful, totally unique image to put your quotes over top of. And require no artistic talent whatsoever! In fact, you could even get your kids to do them for you. You may recognize this tutorial – it is the same technique, just put to a different use.

Here’s how you can easily artwork your own quotes using just a cheap set of kids’ watercolor paints from Staples, a cheap dollar store brush, masking tape, a spray bottle (also from the dollar store) and pieces of watercolor paper. You can’t use regular paper with watercolor paints as the paper needs to be thicker and absorbent.

And when I say this is so easy, even your kids can do it for you, I’m not kidding. Here’s one done by my friend’s 3-year-old, using exactly the same tools and method I’m going to show you. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? It’s a great background to add a quote on top of:

Okay, so no excuses left and let’s get started!

STEP 1: Tear your watercolor paper into the size of piece that you want. I find a square makes a nice shape for pinning or posting. Just make your fold line, scrape tightly across the fold line (we’re just using a vitamin bottle here to scrape down on the fold line), fold back again to the opposite side and scrape the fold line again, then tear:

You can either use your hands to tear the paper:

or you can use a ruler to tear the paper:

STEP 2: Tape down your piece of paper, using the masking tape, to make a border on all four sides (the tape will form a border underneath the part of your paper that is covered by the tape) like this:

STEP 3: Now use the spray bottle to spray water all over your piece of paper – go ahead and soak it!:

STEP 4: Next, spend some time thinking about which colors would fit the “feel” of your quote. If your quote is peaceful, then maybe you want to use yellow and peach, rather than black and red, for example. Now use your brush (moisten first in some water) to smoosh around in the paint color of your choice and get a nice lot of paint on the brush. Then just put that paint onto your wet piece of paper. You can paint it on, splatter it on, tap it on, dab it on, circle it on – whatever you want! Let your inner child come out to play here and just go for it! It’s impossible to make a mistake:

STEP 5: Wait for your art to dry, then gently tear off the masking tape. Scan the image into your computer. Or you can use your camera or cellphone to take a photo of the image and upload that to your computer:

STEP 6: Now add your quote to your photos by using Preview (on iMac), or Gimp (PC), or Photoshop. Below are videos where I show you how to do this. Free online tools you can use to add text to your images are AddText.com and Fotor.com

OR (changed font color and text position – I like this one better):

Voila! Your original piece of artwork and quote is ready for blogging, pinning, posting and tweeting. How easy is that? Here’s a video where I show you step-by-step how to add the words (the quote) to your artwork on Mac:

And Here’s a video showing you how to add words to your artwork or photo on a PC:

Using Gimp with PC

In keeping with what I’m teaching you, I will now multi-purpose this tutorial:

It will appear as part of the Listen To Your Freedom program, as a valuable tool to help members build their business through social media marketing.
It will appear as a blog post on www.BrainstormYourBiz.com – in this way it will be a freebie to all visitors, but will also show the kind of awesome content people will receive if they join the LTYF program.
I will also post it as an Art Tutorial on my art website, where it will add value to other artists who want to share their work. And who knows, maybe some of them will come on over and join the Listen To Your Freedom (LTYF) program as a result.

Always, always, always multi-purpose your content whenever possible! I will keep repeating this throughout this program, showing you how you can leverage or multi-purpose content (use the exact same content in different ways) to get the biggest bang from your time and effort – and also how to make the same content available to a wider audience by catering to different learning styles. Some people prefer written stuff, others are visual, others want an audio recording they can listen to in their car, or while jogging or gardening. More on how to do this over here!

No excuses now, eh? So listen to your freedom and get painting! Or grab a photo and add your quote to it. Or use a service like Canva to create a really swanky, designer image quote.

Make a list here (or do an Internet search) of some great quotes that are applicable to your business:

Do you already have a photo or piece of artwork you could pair with a quote?:

Filed Under: Marketing & Sales, Run That Beautiful Business

How Do I Create My Own Affiliate Banners?

March 22, 2019 by admin

How To Create Standout Affiliate Banners

As you may have noticed already from cruising websites, there are a lot of ads competing for your attention in the right or left column of people’s sites. Sometimes these banner ads (colorful graphics and text combined) run along the top or the bottom of the site. And in rare cases, they even appear in the middle of a page. Do you already have your own affiliate ads running? Are they delivering as much as they could?

How can you design or redesign your banners to get noticed, and even better, to entice people to actually click on the ad and come to your site?

Let’s start with some basic guidelines to help you design banners (or you can give these to your banner designer that you hire on Elance or Fiverr b) that get people’s attention and get them to take the action you want:

One banner –> One Message

Your banner should only have one message and one call to action. The message should be the TOP benefit the person will experience if they use your product or service. This should be easy for you since you have already done extensive work on mapping out your customer profile and the benefits they will receive from your stuff in previous modules.

Now, for EACH banner, just pick ONE benefit. Here’s an example of some banner ads from Advance America that have done a great job with this.

Let’s dissect these banner ads a bit so that you can see how they are very clear ads with one message that carries their top benefits to their customer:

One Message

Benefit

We’re here for you between paydays	Security, safety, care, help
Clear and simple way to get the money you need	Easy, fast, no-hassle
That’s why we’re here with the money you need	Relief from worry, safety net
For quick and easy financial solutions	Help, easy, fast, solves your problems, don’t worry

So you can see how this company does not use their banner ads to talk about what they do (features). They do not advertise: cheque-cashing service, or loans available, but rather they press home – in a single message – the benefits the user will experience.

This next set of banner ads does a good job of presenting only one message, and the benefit is the free gift. Do these ads work as well as the ads above, which were offering a clear emotional benefit? The only way to know would be to test both formats and see which pulled more clicks and more sales:

This next set of ads for Target also do a good job of sticking to just one message. As you’ll see, some of their ads imply a benefit (save, less hassle from all top brands in one place) and some do not:

Now here’s an example of some ads that have no clear message – don’t ever do this!

Create Simple Ads with High Contrast

In order for your ad to stand out and catch someone’s eye, it cannot be a jumble or crowd of colors and text. Your text color and background have to contrast – so your text stands out. Your images have to contrast with your text – so the text stands out.

Your call-to-action (click here for your free report) also has to contrast with the elements around it. So you see why your ads need to be simple, with one message only? If you try to cram too much stuff in there, or don’t have enough contrast, eyes will just flick over your ads.

The top three examples I gave you above, also happen to be great high contrast ads – for all three go back and see how the colors, text and images really contrast with each other and stand out easily to grab your attention – even though they each used a completely different color scheme and look/feel.

So now let’s look at some examples of bad banner ads, with low contrast, instead of high contrast.

These Sony banner ads are simple, with one message, BUT the contrast is so low, they’re actually hard to read!

This next set of banner ads are also a great example of low contrast ads, designed to catch no one’s attention!

In comparison, here is a set of ads that have good, high contrast (and a good call to action!):

Clear Call To Action

Like your website, your banner ads should also make it very clear what you want the person to do. It may seem obvious that, “Hey, this is a banner ad, you click on it!” But again, you must not assume and instead you must have a clear call to action on your ad like:

Learn more
Click here
See your options
Get X here
More here

Look at these banner ads – can you tell at a glance (cause that’s all the time you get for a banner ad!) what they want you to do? Nope.

Compare those ads with this example and you’ll see how a clear call to action is much more effective:

Create A Variety Of Ads

It’s important to create a variety of banners that display the key elements and benefits of your product, so that you can test them and see which ones work best to entice people to click through to your website.

The banner that you like the best, or that looks the best, may not work the best!

Also, you may get a banner that gets you lots of click-throughs to your site, but hardly any of those people buy anything. Whereas another ad could have a much lower click-through rate, but sell triple the amount, or get you double the number of opt-ins. Again, testing your ads is the only way to really know which ones work the best.

If you want ideas for banner ads and ad design, you can use Moat.com to pull up any company’s banner ads for you, all on one page (for free) – that’s how I got all the banner ads I’ve shown you thus far.

As I mentioned above, you can find a designer that specializes in banner ads on Elance.com – you should be able to get some basic sizes done for $50 – $75. And you can also try Fiverr.com which is likely cheaper, but may not be as professional.

You could also design them yourself, using a free online banner maker. The downside to these ‘free’ banner generators is that when you go to save your design, they often charge you. Also, you can only do really simple banners.

Your way around the fee, or just to do something really quick, is to create your banner, and then use Preview or SnapNdrag (Mac) or Jing (Windows PC) to take a screenshot photo of the banner before you click “save”. Here’s an example of one I did in about 10 minutes:

I then used Preview (Mac) or Photoshop (pc) to add a border around it, which would help it stand out on a webpage:

If you don’t know how to take a screenshot photo, here’s how:

HOWEVER, even better: Canva, is a super cheap design site that lets you design your own ads, banners, and more right in the browser. The images and designs are $1 and up (you pay when you download them), but many are totally free. Look what you can make (I did this one using only free images and fonts!) in 3 minutes:

Whatever your skill set, aesthetic or budget, making a banner doesn’t have to be hard! If you want to do it yourself, remember that it doesn’t necessarily need to be fancy or even particularly attractive to have the desired result.

Standard Banner Sizes

Whether you hire someone to do your affiliate banners (ads), or you do them yourself, you’ll need to know which size and shape of banners you want.

Here are the standard sizes used by most affiliate programs. Think about where – on a webpage or blog – the banners might appear. And make sure you offer a few different sizes and shapes so your affiliates will be able to place them wherever they wish.

Leaderboard (728 x 90 pixel):
Full Banner (468 x 60 pixel):		Half Banner (234 x 60 pixel):

Rectangle (180 x 150 pixel):	Square Button (125 x 125 pixel): Micro Bar (88 x 31 pixel):	Skyscraper (120 x 600 pixel):	Wide Skyscraper (160 x 600 pixel):
Large Rectangle (336 x 280 pixel):
Medium Rectangle (300 x 250 pixel):

Has seeing these banner ad examples and learning how to create your own affiliate (commissioned sales) program got your head buzzing with ideas? If you already have an affiliate program, have you had some “aha!” moments around how you could improve it? If your site is already up, or if you have products (or even just product ideas) you think could be sold by affiliates, or if you want to create some new ads with some new-found clarity, take a minute to sketch out your banner ideas in your notebook, while it’s all fresh in your mind…

The 4 guidelines for creating standout affiliate banner ads are:

Each banner must only have ONE message

Create simple ads with high contrast colors/design

Ad must have a CLEAR call to action

Create a variety of ads

If some ideas for banner ads for your products or services popped into your head while reading this module, then jot them down here (write/draw). Or come back to this section when you are ready to launch your own affiliate program.

Banner Design Software

Another alternative, if you already have Adobe Photoshop, is you may want to purchase this easy and reasonably-priced banner design software from Gary Simon. His WiseBanner software enables you to create really nice banners, with images and text (he has many design templates ready to go) and would certainly save you money in the long run.

Gary has also provided us with his Five Golden Rules Of Affiliate Banner Design to take your affiliate ad banner education a little further. Don’t worry if you don’t understand some of the things he’s talking about, as I said earlier, all you really need to get some good affiliate banners going is to use the four guidelines I gave you above. This is for those of you who want to go a little bit deeper:

Golden Rule #1 – Split Test Like No Other

If you’re a successful affiliate marketer, you likely already know this rule. If you’re new to AM however, it’s probably the most important rule when it concerns your success. Split testing your display advertising (whether it be text based or image based) is absolutely crucial. Designers particularly have a hard time with this concept because of ego, “This banner is awesomely designed, let’s stick it up there and it shall convert.” This is rarely the case.

When we’re talking about banner design, your efforts to maximize ROI are dependent on your willingness and persistence to discover the absolutely best banner design. The only way to do this is to test, test and test. This includes testing the colors, copy, call to action, position of elements, etc.

Golden Rule #2 – You Don’t Need a Visual Masterpiece

This is another thing that a lot of designers have a hard time understanding. Sometimes ugly banners that look like they were designed in the 90’s outperform banners that are much more visually appealing. There are two reasons for this.

(1) Visitors do not care about your graphic talent. They’re usually preoccupied, and their decision to click on a banner has little to do with the use of the latest design trends and fancy effects.

(2) Banner blindness. If you design a really nice banner, there’s a chance it also might be conventional. Just because your banner(s) make effective use of white space, typography, position and colors, does not mean it’s not conventional. Ugly banners can perform well because they break design trends, thus becoming noticeable.

Ultimately, it’s a great idea to test varying styles of design.

Golden Rule #3 – Site-Target Design When Possible

If you’re running a campaign that’s targeting a specific site, always design your banners based on the website’s layout. I personally like to screenshot the website I’m about to advertise on, bring it into Photoshop, and design my banners in the exact location in which they’ll appear.

This allows you to do all sorts of things to maximize CTR (click-through rate) and avoid banner blindness. You can (if the site’s admin allows you), attempt to make the banner design a part of the actual website’s layout. You can choose your colors, copy, font and white space intelligently when you know your banners are going to be shown on a specific website.

Golden Rule #4 – Break Conventions

Don’t be afraid to do something completely off the wall, whether it concerns colors, position, copy, white space, etc. The worst that can happen is you discover it performs poorly against a baseline version. The reward, however, can be enormous. Sometimes it’s difficult to think outside of the box, but it’s at least worth a thought or two when you’re conceptualizing a banner design.

Golden Rule #5 – More or Less? Test

It’s the same as with landing page design: short copy vs. long copy? You don’t really know, so you need to test. Sometimes we have a willingness to include a lot of information, but that’s not always effective. More information means more clutter, a potential for less CTR (click-through rate), a potential for more banner blindness. But more information can also mean higher conversions as you’re sending more informed visitors. On the flipside, very simple banners can yield a higher CTR but with fewer successful goal completions. This is why testing both is a necessity if a highly optimized campaign is your goal.

In the end, effective banner design occurs when you’re willing to test and experiment. As a designer, it can be quite tedious designing a range of multiple banner sizes along with split test variations. That’s why I created WiseBanner (requires Adobe Photoshop). It cuts out nearly all of the tedious work involved in banner design. I hope you enjoyed this article!

If you don’t have the desire to split-test your affiliate banners to see which colors, designs, or text work the best, then simply use the four guidelines I gave you above on How To Create Stand-Out Affiliate Banners.

Alright, now that you know WHY you need to have your own affiliate program, and you know HOW to design and create your own coolio affiliate banners, let’s move on to helping you choose the best system that combines your affiliate program, shopping cart and email marketing platform together – to make your life easier and save you money!

Filed Under: Build Your Own Website, Your Monetization Infrastructure

How Do I Set Up My Own Affiliate Program?

March 22, 2019 by admin

If you’ve been digging through this site for a while, maybe you’ve notice I often talk about the different ways you can feature another company’s affiliate ads on your site – common examples of companies that make this easy are Amazon and Google AdSense.

Now we’re going to talk about setting up your OWN affiliate program, so that other people can run YOUR banner ads on their sites! Or they can link to your site or products in their blog posts, or emails, or course materials (like I am doing throughout this LTYF program). The image on the left here is an example of an affiliate ad/banner – click on it and see where it goes! Or, just hover over it with your mouse and you can see that this banner is my affiliate link (commissions go to our charities at LTYF).

Having your own affiliate program is an excellent way to expand your sales network and your audience – without spending a dime on advertising. It’s a classic win-win: You win because other sites advertise your stuff and expose you to new people and they win because they receive a nice, juicy commission on every sale they refer to you.

An affiliate program can also be used to quickly drive new visitors to your site when you’re just starting out and your site is too new to get good search engine rankings.

For example, after I published my first book in 2000, my husband Ian emailed an online health site called HealingWell.com and asked the owner, Peter, if he could send him my book to look at, and then if he liked it, perhaps Peter would like to carry affiliate ads for the book and earn a commission on every sale?

Peter loved the book and immediately registered for our affiliate program (which was with 1ShoppingCart at the time) and then he carried these banner ads on his site:

For many years, Peter’s site generated us more sales than our own site! HealingWell.com now has over 2 million unique visitors per month (continual source of new visitors/traffic) and continues to be one of our top-earning affiliates. And yes, Peter has remained an affiliate with us non-stop since 2000. All it took was a few emails and a phone call and that resulted in over a quarter million dollars in sales for us and a whacking great load of commission money for him!

Of course, we had numerous other affiliates that generated far less revenue for us and them, it goes to show that you just never know which sites will become your top sellers.

How Do I Find Sites To Affiliate With Me?

The secret to finding good affiliates for your stuff, is to approach sites that are already talking, writing, or videoing about your same topic. Approach site owners who are already selling to your niche.

For example, as I was creating this Listen To Your Freedom program for you, I was doing a ton of research. So whenever I came across a site in this same niche that I thought was really great, I added it to my ‘potential affiliates’ list. Then, when I had the LTYF program ready to go, I approached each of these sites and ask them via email and phone (you’ll always stand out if you follow up with a phone call) if they would like to affiliate with us.

The other way to find great affiliates (commission sales) for your stuff is to do a search on your topic or niche. Then visit each of the sites that come up in the first 10-20 pages of search results and contact the ones you think would be a good fit.

So, if you’re stuck in a scarcity-mindset (make a note to yourself to clear that block to abundance!) you might be thinking: But why would my competitor want to advertise my stuff?

However, if you’re coming from an abundance mindset (like grains of sand on a beach; there is more than enough for all of us) you will realize that successful sites are always open to other great stuff they can bring to their readers and blog visitors. Especially if your stuff expands, or enhances, or pairs nicely with their stuff.

A Match Made In Heaven

Let’s say I have a cooking site and I sell my own recipe books on the site. And you have an amazing new kitchen gadget that will cut food prep time in half. So you send me an email with a link to a demo video and then follow up with a phone call.

When I realize that my commission on each sale of your gadget will be $75 and I don’t have to worry about shipping, returns, customer service etc. am I going to affiliate with you and put a banner ad on my site for your product? You bet I am!

Now let’s say I am also hugely popular on the web and you know I have a large email list, or lots of new visitors every day. You might suggest an arrangement where you send me the gadget for free, so that I can use it and test it out. And then I agree to also blog about it (if I like it) and I place my affiliate link to the gadget in the blog post. In addition, I will send an email to my list promoting the gadget. Is that a win-win for everyone, or what?

Let’s take it one step further. Instead of linking directly to your gadget in my email, instead, you have me link to a landing page or sign-up offer you have set up, where my readers will receive a free gift from you. At the bottom of that page, or underneath the sign-up offer is my affiliate link to the gadget for the people who want to buy right away.

Sales vs. Sign-Ups

WHY would this be better than just a direct sale? Take a minute to think about why you would rather have a list of names and emails, rather than a bunch of sales?

Answer: Are you likely to get more sign-ups to receive a free gift than you are purchases for a product people have heard about once? Sure you are.

Remember that people rarely buy the first time they hear about something, or the first time they come to your site. You will always have much higher sales from building a relationship with them first; educating them about why your gadget is so great and the many ways it will make their life easier and better and save them money (benefits).

Also, what happens when you have your next product ready to sell? If I’ve joined your affiliate program and you have just garnered 1,500 names and emails from my list (the people who signed up for your free offer that I advertised to my list), you have now tripled your email list to use for marketing your next product! Do you understand how that happens? If my people sign up for your opt-in, or they purchase something from you, they are now part of YOUR list. So having an affiliate program can also help you grow your email list quickly.

Are you beginning to see why having your own affiliate program is so exciting and so necessary?

We routinely have people signing up for our affiliate program (or contacting us about it) that we have never heard of. But they have come across our site – because we are in the same niche – and they instantly want to sell my products along with their own. Yay! It’s a win-win.

How Much Commission Should I Offer?

If you are selling a digital product – an eBook, online course, website membership program, audio MP3s, or any other product that can be downloaded – the normal commission on your retail sale price is 50%. And I have seen some offering 60%.

If you are selling a physical product, that has to be manufactured or printed, warehoused, shipped, and you deal with customer returns and questions, then you can offer only a 40% commission and in some cases a 30% or even 25% commission will be accepted – depending on the costs involved in providing the product.

Selling To Retail Stores

If you are selling your physical products to a physical retail store or a wholesaler, they will want a 40% commission. Put another way, they will require a wholesale price no greater than 60% of what the product retails for.

If you are selling physical products (books, supplements, gadgets, bicycles, etc.) to a distributor, they usually want a 60% commission – or, a wholesale price no greater than 40% the retail price.

Choosing The Best Affiliate Program

So now that you understand the monetary value of an affiliate program and how you can use it to introduce new people to your stuff and drive lots of extra traffic to your site, how do you choose which affiliate program to use? If you’re already using an affiliate program, can you still make it work for you, or will you need to switch to something else for better function or compatibility?

Many shopping carts, or CRM systems come with an affiliate program built-in. But sometimes, your email marketing platform will not interface with your affiliate program, so you need to check for compatibility between all your systems before purchasing anything.

However, I have already done the 20 hours of researching and comparing for you (I’m not kidding!) and in the next unit I’m going to lay out all the options for you – based on your needs and your budget. For now, let’s move onto how you can create or overhaul an affiliate program that works really well to attract people to your product or service.

*Make a note in your notebook to come back to this page again after you have chosen your infrastructure components and are ready to set up your affiliate program.

While we’re on the topic, why don’t we learn how to make our own affiliate banners – what works, what doesn’t, and guidelines to whipping up your own great banners!

Filed Under: Build Your Own Website, Your Monetization Infrastructure

How Do I Process Sales On My Site?

March 22, 2019 by admin

Okay, now let’s talk about where/how your shopping cart fits into your site infrastructure. Keep in mind that your shopping cart, your email marketing platform, and CRM (customer relationship management) are all different things.

Your shopping cart is simply the system whereby you:

List your stuff for sale
Process the payment for your stuff
Deliver that stuff to your customer

In the beginning, when you don’t have much to sell, or if your business is fairly simple, then your shopping cart and email marketing functions can be combined. But as some of you know, as your business grows and you add more products and services you may need to differentiate these two systems.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a more advanced feature and not usually something you have to consider until your business is large enough to hire a customer service person – but of course, it would be nice to have at any stage when talking to your customers, if you can afford it.

In an ideal world, you could mix-and-match shopping carts, email marketing platforms and affiliate programs to come up with the best solution to meet your needs. However, in reality, these different platforms often don’t interface with each other (or not very easily); so you will not end up with one automatically centralized database.

This means that if someone buys a product from you, you will not be able to use your email marketing platform to market to them, because their name and email will be sitting in your shopping cart database. Sure, you could import this customer’s information to your email marketing platform, but if that has to be done manually, it means extra time and hassle.

Always try to automate whenever possible because not only will this make your business run more smoothly, but it will make your business scalable; no matter whether you have 50 customers or 500, there will not be any more work for you, and no loss to the quality of care for your customers, if everything is automated.

Alternately, if you spend a lot of time researching (as I have for you!) you can find systems that can interface with each other, or be easily imported. But then you will still have to set up and manage three different systems, rather than just one, so there is a big extra time cost involved.

Of course, there are companies who have tried to combine all these aspects together and provide all-in-one solutions, but I have yet to see anyone who is offering an all-in-one product where ALL the components are equally excellent – especially if you have a substantial online store.

With Infusionsoft, for example, they have an excellent CRM, excellent email marketing program, excellent affiliate program, but their shopping cart is very basic. Their shopping cart is nowhere near as good as BigCommerce, or even Volusion.

BigCommerce has an excellent shopping cart and good affiliate program, but really basic CRM and no email marketing platform.

You see what I mean?

In the next unit you’re going to look at how you can get other sites to advertise you and link to your stuff, via your own affiliate program. After that, I will then guide you through picking and combining the best components (email marketing platform, shopping cart and affiliate program) for your particular needs and your current budget.

So take a deep breath, you’re doing great and we’re nearly there!

Filed Under: Build Your Own Website, Your Monetization Infrastructure

How Do I Communicate With My Email List?

March 22, 2019 by admin

What’s the difference between customer relationship marketing (CRM) and email marketing? The short answer is that email marketing is how you turn your site visitors into your customers and CRM is how you grow your existing customers into great customers. But let’s get into exactly what that means and how it’s done.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is where you can pull up the customer record for Joe Smith (for example) and you can see what he has bought, when he bought that product, which free reports he downloaded, any customer service questions he asked and when they were answered, etc. So that when you are emailing or talking to Joe Smith, you can say, “Oh by the way, I notice you haven’t ordered a replacement filter for your showerhead and it’s been 7 months now – did you want to add one to this order?” Or you can say, “I see that your last order got delayed over the weekend, so we sent you a free widget, did you receive it?”

Joe Smith now feels really chuffed that you know all this stuff about him and he is not just a faceless number in your shopping cart – you see, you are using CRM technology to manage and build your relationship with Joe Smith.

A CRM system also makes it easy for companies that have more than one customer service person to keep track of what’s happening when different operators talk to or help the same customer, at different times. Whatever happens with Joe Smith is logged into his customer record, so the next person can just pull up his customer record when talking to Joe and be instantly up to date.

Email marketing is where you use email as the means of communicating with people who are visitors to your site and have opted in to your free offer, or signed up for your newsletter, or subscribed to your blog, or have purchased something from you.

After someone has purchased something from you, you can use automated emails to get their feedback on your product, or give them something else for free, or offer them your next product or service, and so on.

Mouse Traps Anyone?

Let’s say I’m selling a book on mouse traps and I want to find out if the trap is working well for people. I can have an autoresponder email set up in my email marketing platform to be automatically sent out 20 days after the book purchase, which asks the customer for feedback.

A time-scheduled email that is sent out automatically is called an autoresponder.

I can then have another email (autoresponder) queued to go out in 45 days time (from the date of book purchase) which asks all mouse trap book purchasers if they’re having problems with ants, termites or bed bugs and would they like my free report on that?

Ten days later I can email (autoresponder) all the people who downloaded that report with the first of 3 emails telling them why my eBook on Pest Control is just what they need and how it contains all this detailed how-to information that was referred to in the report. Maybe I want to offer a discount on the eBook (since they’ve already bought the mouse trap book), or a free gift with purchase, or a bonus if they purchase in the next 48 hours.

So your autoresponder (automated emails) sequence for your Mouse Trap book looks like this:

Day 1 – book purchase

Day 20 – Feedback request

Day 45 – Offer for Ants, Termites, Bed Bugs free report

If someone signs up for your free Ants, Termites and Bed Bugs report, then that action (signing up) puts them into another autoresponder sequence that looks like this:

Day 1 – opt-in to free Ants, Termites and Bed Bugs report

Day 10 – Best cleaning products to use (products are affiliate linked to Amazon) for preventing pests and a Discount offer for your full-length book on Pest Control

Day 30 – Link to video on how to Pest-Proof your bedroom

Day 45 – Home remedies for insect bites (affiliate linked to products on Amazon) and time-sensitive discount offer for your book on Pest Control (eg. Offer expires in 24 hours)

Do you see how exciting an email marketing platform can be? And what’s REALLY exciting is you only have to do the work ONCE, in the set up. After that, all these sequences run automatically – while you’re asleep, or skiing, or lying on the beach.

You can also email your opt-ins or blog/newsletter subscribers when you have a special promotion or discount on offer. Or you can send coupons for discounts or free gifts. You can also let your list know when you’ve got a really exciting teleseminar coming up, or when you’ve just put up a really helpful video.

We can get into email marketing (relationship building) more in-depth when you’re ready, and I’ll also show you how to avoid emailing your list too much! All I’m doing here is giving you a basic overview and understanding of email marketing, so you understand WHY you need to have an email marketing program and how exciting that can be for your business.

Free vs Paid?

Many people get confused between what to give away for free and what to charge for. Especially when you’re supposed to be giving your best stuff away for free! So let me give you a few examples to stimulate some ideas for your own content.

Example #1 Professonal Stunt Longboarder

You have an eBook on how to be a pro longboarder. This eBook is a combination of text and demonstration videos.

→ You charge for the eBook (which could also be positioned as a Course, by the way) and you give away your best demo video for free. Which of your videos will produce the most elation (I did it!!) in your viewer? That’s the one you give for free.

→ You charge for the eBook and you take your best video demo and you chunk it down into Parts 1, 2, 3. This then becomes 3 separate emails, each with a message from you, some tips, perhaps a link to a blog post, or an affiliate link to an awesome set of wheels (best for doing the stunt you’re going to teach them) and then Part 1 of the demo video, and so on, for a 3-email series.

Example #2 How To Refinish An Antique Armoire

You have an online DVD course that shows people how to purchase an antique armoire from a flea market and refinish it to showpiece quality.

→ You charge for the DVD course and you select just ONE topic from the course and send an email with some intro text and a video that shows just that one piece of how-to. Maybe you select the topic of how to spot a good buy from a garbage piece at the flea market – that’s hugely valuable, shows your expertise and if someone uses that info to buy an armoire, now they’re going to want your course to figure out how to refinish it!

→ You charge for the DVD course, and you offer a mini-course for free. This mini-course tells them the major (overview) steps involved in purchasing and refinishing an armoire. But it doesn’t give the details; it doesn’t tell them which varnish to purchase, which grade of sandpaper – it talks about why it’s important to choose the correct products, but it doesn’t give out the products or specifications. It also doesn’t contain the videos. It only contains excerpts of 1 to 3 videos (so they can see how good your production, lighting, sound etc. is).

But they have a lot more knowledge than when they started. Probably, if someone wanted to, they could attempt the process themselves – maybe they’re an advanced woodworker and can figure out the details themselves. No worries, maybe that person will then become an affiliate of yours! Or he will refer people to your course.

Example #3 Hypnosis Audios

You have a series of audio-based healing sessions using hypnosis for different conditions: Stop smoking, lose weight, bedwetting, anxiety, insomnia, etc.

→ You charge for your individual audios or sessions and you give away your most WOW audio session for free. What is the audio that is likely to be an issue most of your site visitor’s have? Anxiety, stress, insomnia or weight loss? If you know who your customer is, you should already know the answer to this question. That is the audio you give away for free. Because once someone has a fantastic result, they will tell everyone and they will also come back for help with their other problems.

→ You charge for your audio sessions, but you come up with a free email Mini-Course that will help people with a common problem – Are You Stuck In a Rut? So the first email is a quiz that helps them identify where and why they are stuck, along with a short video from you with some understanding and inspiration in the form of a story. The next email contains a link to an interview or teleseminar you gave on a related topic. The third email contains a download link for a mini-hypnosis session designed to help them feel more positive about their journey or challenges.

Let’s put together YOUR own opt-in that will encourage your ideal customers and site visitors to give you their name and email address!

Jot down quickly any and all ideas of what you can offer your site visitors for your opt-in, or sign-up offer, on your site. What do you have, or what can you create that will let people start building a relationship with you and give them as much value as they would receive from something they purchased from you. What is the most valuable thing you could give them? What would YOU be happy to receive?:

Now that you’ve got some ideas for WHAT to offer people, how do you want to package, or deliver that content/information? To help you brainstorm, which of these appeal to you and would be a good delivery method for your content or message?:

Teleseminar
Audio recording
Video
eBook
Game Quiz with analysis
List or resource
Recipe
Formula
Picture tutorial
Mini-course
Consult
Mini session
Software app
Review or critique
Template form (legal, business, political)

If you’re stuck, go back to the examples I gave you above and adapt one of them to your content or topic.

Next, make a quick sketch here of your sign-up offer; Your headline, very short description, Name and email:

Remember, it doesn’t have to be complicated or even meaty; it just has to be something you yourself would sign up for. You may also have other ideas pop in your head as you read through this module – just go back to your notes and jot them down.

Now let’s continue on with setting up your site infrastructure so that you can receive those sign-ups, then give them their freebie, and then receive their credit card when they come back to buy from you!

Choosing Your Email Marketing Platform

Your back-end email marketing system can be amazingly complex, depending on how big your business is and how many ways you want to be able to interact with your people. Or, it can be fairly simple and basic and you can build it slowly as you go. I’ll give you a few different solutions later from the most basic, up to Rolls Royce and you can choose what fits you best at this time.

However, much as I’d like to keep things simple for you, we cannot really talk about email marketing platforms without talking about how you’re going to sell things from your site. This is because you need to have your shopping cart (or purchase method) interface or integrate with your email marketing platform – so that you can have a centralized database of all the people who are interested in your stuff.

So although I’d prefer you to focus on just your opt-in offer right now, because I don’t want you to waste your money or time (by purchasing only a short-term solution), I’m going to have to get into your shopping cart options and affiliate programs at the same time.

And unfortunately, this is where things get sticky, because we have to balance “perfect world” scenarios with real-life time and money constraints.

Some systems are fabulous and can do everything you’d ever need or want them to do, but they also take a lot of time to learn and implement. So if you’re a mom with two young children, or maxed-out, full-time with your current biz, you’re going to give up in frustration, since you don’t have enough hours in the day to make use of such a system.

This business program is written for people who might not have 12 hours a day to devote to internet marketing – it will still work brilliantly (and much faster!) for those people, but it is designed for people who only have a few hours a day (and sometimes only a few hours a week) to get a viable business up and running, or, to upgrade their current business to a new and improved, heart-driven, more-hands-off, truly fulfilling and successful model. Sound good?

But I Hate Sales and Marketing!

One last thing: don’t let the words ‘marketing’ or ‘sales’ put you off. All both terms really mean is: Communicating and building relationship.

If you have an aversion to these terms it’s because people have used them poorly in the past – pushy, slimy, grabby, or manipulative are words that come to mind. Make sure your sales and marketing activities are never like that! Those methods may work for one-off, or short-term sales, but they are the kiss of death for building a long-term relationship with your site visitors and customers.

Make sure that every time you communicate with your customers (aka marketing and sales), you are sending an email, or shooting a video, or writing a free eBook that YOU would like to receive. It’s really that simple. If you would not be happy, or entertained, or intrigued to see that piece of communication in your Inbox or mailbox, then don’t send it.

Because good marketing results in a real relationship (two-way, not one-way) it totally turns the typical concept of ‘selling’ on its ear.

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

Let me explain: Since my first book was published, my readers (customers) and site visitors have been emailing and phoning me to tell me what they want next. How cool is that? Forget market research, focus groups, testing the market etc. If your people are in relationship with you, they will tell you what they want!

And then when you produce that for them, there is no ‘selling’ involved – because they asked for it and they’ve been waiting for you to do it and get it to them. So when you make it available, they say “Oh thank you! I’ve been waiting for this – just what I need, thank you SO much!” Well where’s the “sell” in that?

Another way your customers will automatically tell you what they want is by the questions they ask. Let’s say you’ve written a book about energetically dialoguing with your body and your book is very detailed, you’ve laid out the process step by step, but yet you keep getting feedback from people saying they love the book but they just can’t connect.

They just can’t hear clearly what their body is saying. So they’re asking you questions like, “How do I know it’s my body speaking and not my mind?” or “Every time I relax, I just fall asleep, so I never make it to the connecting part, what can I do?”

As you ponder their questions and feedback, you realize that what you really need to give them is an audio (mp3 file) to go along with the book. Now you’re getting excited!

You realize that you need to record a guided meditation that takes them into their body wisdom, so they can relax and just follow your instructions. So you get that out to the people who have already bought your book and you add it to your book listing, so new purchasers automatically receive it.

Now you’re getting completely different feedback from your customers – they love it! They’re having great success with it, they tell you about the ailments they’ve cured. Which leads you to another idea…

You notice from the feedback emails you’re getting that people seem to have a number of the same health issues. Don’t forget, you are receiving this feedback regularly because you set up your email marketing platform to automatically send a request for feedback (autoresponder email) 30 days from the purchase date.

So you notice that there are five ailments that people mention over and over again. So you think, hmmm…. what if I were to create guided healing meditations (or eBooks) for these specific conditions. Not only might my existing customers buy these specific meditations, but I could open up a whole new market here. Because many people don’t want to read a book, they just want a solution to insomnia (for example).

And if I don’t call them ‘meditations’ I may also open myself up to the Bible belt market and other markets who don’t like the word ‘meditation’. You see how this process goes?

Does this process sound like your previous concept of ‘sales and marketing’? Probably not. So take this opportunity now to throw out your old conditioned ‘euwww!’ response to these words and embrace what they really mean.

Exchanging Gifts

Selling used to mean ‘convincing people to buy’. But what if it could mean giving people what they’re asking for – for which they say thank-you by giving you money. You give them a gift (product or service) and they give you a gift (money) in exchange.

Selling is simply an exchange of energy and intentions symbolized by the stuff you exchange (gift each other).

Bernadette Jiwa sums this process up perfectly:

sales

noun

The exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something.
A quantity or amount sold.

Actually, sales is understanding how your customer wants to feel, not what she wants to buy and doing everything you can to get her there.

There is no convincing, manipulating or pressuring involved when ‘selling’ means meeting someone’s need, solving their problem, easing their pain, bringing them laughter, increasing their joy. Are you with me?

Take a moment now to close your eyes and let this really sink in. Because switching your old, negative programming to this new paradigm of helping, facilitating joy, alleviating suffering, and helping people by exchanging gifts, will completely change your experience of business. And your sales figures will reflect that.

Concurrently, holding this paradigm of sales and marketing will also keep you rooted in integrity. All your actions, ideas, manufacturing, harvesting, etc. will come from this place of wholeness and integrity. If everyone held this paradigm, there would be no destruction of the environment, or torturing of animals just to provide humans with what they want.

So there you go, let’s be the change we want to see in this world. It all starts with each tiny, little business we start and expands from there. When I threw my first (and I thought only) book out into the Universe, I had no idea that the exact process I outlined above would result in that one book expanding to 16 books, 10 CDs and DVDs, 19 teleseminars, 45 videos and 350 health products – selling to over 60 countries worldwide.

Remember, it’s about communication, not marketing. It’s about doing all you can to give people what they actually want and need, not forcing them to buy something they don’t. And all this automation simply allows for consistent quality and timeliness in your communication and relationships; which allows you to reach, help, and inspire more people, with no drain on your energy or time.

Can you feel the tingle of possibility? Or are you still struggling to envision or trust the process? Either way, keep on reading – there’s no one right way to go at this. Whether you take it all in and implement everything at once, or slow it down and add to your site bit by bit as each piece begins to make sense, doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you learn these processes and find ways to understand them that feel good to you.

Filed Under: Build Your Own Website, Your Email List

Archives for March 2019

Emails Last

Surfing, Watching Videos and Emails from Friends

Turn Off Your Personal Phone

Plug The Leaks In Your Energy

Focus On Important Tasks Not Urgent Tasks

Multi-Tasking Is Not Efficient

Create Your Task List

The Social Media Golden Rule

Add Social Media Icons to Your Site

How To Add Social Media Icons To Your Blog

How To Change The Social Media Icons On Your Blog

But I’m Ugly, or Camera Shy!

But I Don’t Have a Decent Video Camera!

Video Production & Marketing Musts

Take YouTube To The Next Level

Just Be Yourself!

Overwhelmed?

Best Settings For Uploading Quality Videos

How To Create Standout Affiliate Banners

One banner –> One Message

Create Simple Ads with High Contrast

Clear Call To Action

Create A Variety Of Ads

Standard Banner Sizes

Banner Design Software

How Do I Find Sites To Affiliate With Me?

A Match Made In Heaven

Sales vs. Sign-Ups

How Much Commission Should I Offer?

Selling To Retail Stores

Choosing The Best Affiliate Program

Mouse Traps Anyone?

Free vs Paid?

Choosing Your Email Marketing Platform

But I Hate Sales and Marketing!

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

Exchanging Gifts

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