The dream is to sit on the beach while the money rolls into your bank accounts. You no longer have a job or even need a job. The days of crappy bosses are over. You know that no matter what, a residual stream of income will flow into your bank account every month. So how can I achieve this dream. How do I create passive income? What is the single greatest component of passive income?
As the waves roll in, you relax and sip a Mai Tai on the beach. Your carefree and you’ll never have to worry again.
What is the single-most important component to passive income to allow you to relax on the beach?
Except… that’s just the dream. What’s the reality?
First, most passive income is going to take a little work to maintain. Unless you’re getting dividends from a multi-million dollar stock portfolio or you’re a trust fund baby, you’ll need to do some stuff to make sure that money keeps rolling in each month.
Second, spending all of your time partying and no time accomplishing anything gets real old, real fast. Twenty somethings I’ve known who made seven figures and thought they would party the rest of their lives found out that never ending partying with never ending hangovers gets old, fast. Then again, if that really is your dream, then more power to you.
But here’s the secret to passive income that most people miss entirely:
The single greatest component to passive income
In order to get passive income – that is, income that comes to you without further work – you first need to work.
If you go to a job where you get paid $20 an hour, after a week you get a check for $800.
But when you’re building a passive income, you might work weeks or months before you start seeing returns.
There is no passive income free ride.
Instead, passive income comes after you do the work.
You’ve got to do some serious work first. Or else you buy a site or program that has been already created.
When you change your mindset from, “get rich quick” to “do the work now, get paid for a long time later,” it becomes much easier to set a goal and then put in the time each day to getting closer and closer to that goal.
That’s why the first step to passive income is action.
A Shiny Star of Passive Income
Noah Kagan
Let me offer you what might be the ultimate example of creating a passive income stream with a lot of hard work:
Before expenses, Noah earns $357,000 in passive income…
per MONTH.
Wrap your head around that.
And he calls his “community of hustlers” site “The #1 Business Channel for Entrepreneurs.
…Noah reveals his passive income channels as an entrepreneur and YouTuber. Watch closely and you’ll see that a lot of his income streams aren’t passive at all. Rather, they’re the accumulative result of years of hard work and dedication, which now allows him to step back when he likes and still earn this income. By the way, he also reveals they invested over $400,000 into videos for the site, so take that into account as well.
But now matter how you slice it, Noah has done very well for himself.
And remember, he would never be earning this amount of money ‘passively’ if he hadn’t first worked his tail off.
Key Takeaway
Passive income requires hard work and dedication upfront.
Or if you don’t have the time, or you want to take a short cut, then you can buy a site, programs or funnels.
Here are 10 passive income membership sites that allow free access
The access gets you 10 courses and resources. The funnels progress with more paid training and resources Ultimately you can purchase a membership resellers license. So basically, a short-cut to owning your own passive income membership site.
Each of these sites has reseller rights available for purchase. This is a fast, easy, and efficient way to create an automated membership site, providing you with passive income and building your list at the same time.
So whether you do the work, or whether you buy the work done for you, there is a whole lot of work to be done to create a passive income stream. But wow, are they so worth it!
PS – My special offer for all Passive Income enthusiast! This is a great course at even a better value,Passive Income Strategies – 90% off – use coupon code “90%OFF2DAY”
Backlinks—real, genuine, earned backlinks—are a crucial component of SEO. Everyone is after SEO links to top linking sites, and so the sites continue to grow with continued linking. It’s a repetitive phenomenon that feeds upon itself; the “SEO vicious circle problem.” Don’t follow the crowd. Here is how to outfox the SEO vicious circle problem.
You can’t buy backlinks in bulk and expect to get results because, well, big brother… er… I mean, Google, will know what you did. Since backlinks are crucial, what do you do to outfox the SEO vicious circle problem.
You can buy real backlinks, but it’s super expensive and super slow to do that, and it’s still not always a good thing to do.
It’s far, far better to earn your backlinks the old-fashioned way, by creating outstanding content that others link to.
But there’s that problem we mentioned:
According to a study conducted by Ahrefs — an internationally recognized SEO, keyword, and backlink authority, — top pages in the top spots get the top number of backlinks.
And thus … “the vicious circle of SEO.”
SEO Viscous Circle
Here’s how they explain it:
It’s the theory that people are most likely to link to top-ranking pages. As a result, those pages get links at a faster pace than all other pages on a given topic. Thus, they are almost impossible to beat in the SERPs. – Ahrefs
But if you dig deep into their study, you’ll also find the solution.
And it’s a solution that even the newest marketer can use to begin getting backlinks and free traffic from Google.
Ready? Here it is…
How to outfox the SEO vicious circle problem
The secret to building organic backlinks is to rank number one for low or no competition keywords.
In the experiment, pages in the top spot for low and no competition keywords earned an average of 24 backlinks every single year.
That’s because as the top pages get more exposure, they also get more backlinks. The key is valuable, in-depth content for keywords that have virtually no competition.
If you watch the news in your niche, you’ll begin to notice that new terms are coined. If you are the first to create quality content for those terms, you can build links organically. And when that term is well known and well used, you’ll be so far ahead of the competition that no one is likely to touch you.
You can also search for keywords that are already in use but have no definitive content. You then create that content to become the go to source for that information.
In both cases, be sure to update your content regularly to continue receiving backlinks and maintain your page 1 position in Google.
Mr. Fox says Rank #1 by using low competition key words
As your articlesrank #1 for multiple keywords, you’ll start to get backlinks. Each top article on a low-competition keyword is working hard at bringing you traffic 24/7/365. And if you build a stable of these, then you’ll never have to worry about how people will find your site.
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TikTok might be the latest, greatest social media channel, but don’t think for a second that Instagram is to be ignored. You can build a huge, active, and engaged audience on Instagram using this strategy. Read this Mini-Case Study: How to Achieve 90,000 Instagram Followers in 365 Days.
Instagram has over 2 billion monthly active users, it was the most downloaded app at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. Instagram users are active, with 59% of users logging in daily.
The most expensive influencer charges $1.015 million per post, and yet the most liked photo on Instagram is a photo of an egg with 59 million likes.
The egg was dethroned as the post with the most likes. How can it achieve more followers?
In other words, while people are making big money on Instagram, if you can post something more interesting than an egg, then there may be hope for you, too.
But hang on. I do not want to be posting old, or inaccurate information just to make a story.
Almost three years after the egg’s historic rise to record rank and stardom as the most-liked post on Instagram, it has been knocked down to second place. Surprisingly the roust didn’t really cause a huge squawk…
And the egg’s replacement? A post from Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi celebrating the victory of the World Cup.
Messi’s post has received more than 70 million likes compared to the egg’s 59 million.
It’s not surprising, given the worldwide fame of the World Cup, and also of Lionel Messi himself. Messi is reportedly the third most followed account on the Instagram platform. He follows Instagram’s own account and Cristiano Ronaldo, who is another soccer player.
Now let’s get back to the 90,000 followers. Here’s how “SocialMediaQueen” built her following from zero to over 90,000 followers in 365 days:
Content is key to achieving followers
First, you need content. A LOT of content. But that’s true on any platform. When you’re trying for organic growth, you’ve got to put your message out there several times a day.
And the content must be valuable your audience.
Generally, content has value if it’s entertaining, encouraging or educational.
If you can manage to hit all three, then that’s even better.
New ideas are not critical to achieving followers
Second, you don’t need new ideas to make this work. If you can find a hundred different ways to say ten different things (that’s 1,000 posts right there) then you’ve got what it takes.
Remember, not everyone will see all of your posts. And no one will remember all of your posts, either. Repetition of message works great if you can just find news ways of conveying your message.
For example, “Don’t give up, you can do it.” How many different ways do you think you could convey this message? There’s no doubt you could find a thousand different quotes, anecdotes and stories with this theme, or perhaps even ten thousand.
I whole heartedly agree, and believe this to be accurate. Expressing content differently can create unique perspectives. It is not surprising that given different personalities, possessing different skillsets, interest and ideas, repurposing content, (stating in different ways) can have very positive and beneficial results.
Take for example this egg, as compared to the “superstar” egg.
Now I would argue that although they are both eggs, that “my egg” has a unique, rather picturesque, way about it that expresses it’s unique character in a lackadaisical sort of way. Something in which that rigid, and straight-upright superstar certainly lacked…
Just say’in.
Consistent scheduling and variety to achieve 90,000 Instagram followers
Third, you’ll need a content schedule to keep you on track. Here’s Katelyn’s weekly schedule:
3 photos or carousels
4-7 Reels
9-15 Stories
1-2 Videos
This is as much as 27 pieces of content every week, or approximately 100 per month. That sounds like a lot for one person to create, but keep in mind the plan is to grow your following. And an aggressive schedule will do just that.
If you check out Canva you’ll find templates for creating quality content quickly. Sit down once per week and create all of your content for the week, or even spend an entire day making content for the month.
Notice, too, that on Instagram you can monitor not just your number of followers but also the number of accounts you reach. Even if you fall short of 100 posts per month, you can still reach a large number of people on Instagram. Even starting from scratch, you can reach 25,000 people every week.
Note that the vast majority of your reach will likely come from Reels, since the algorithm is currently pushing those.
There are additional steps that you should take and activities that you can do to engage and attract followers. Beyond content and being active, here are three strategies that you should incorporate into your normal day to day activities to build your followers.
Use relevant hashtags: Using relevant hashtags can help you reach a wider audience and attract users who are interested in your content.
Collaborate with other users: Collaborating with other users, especially those who have a large and engaged following, can help you reach a new audience and gain more followers.
Use Instagram Stories: Instagram Stories allow you to share more personal and behind-the-scenes content, which can help you connect with your followers on a deeper level and encourage them to follow you.
It is also important to be authentic and genuine in your interactions with others on the platform, as this can help you build a loyal and engaged following.
By implementing these strategies and focusing on a clear theme or niche, you can attract users who are interested in your content and build a loyal and engaged following on the platform.
And lastly, remember that it does take time. There are those that do rise to fame and stardom quickly, however this is the exception and not the rule. Not everyone can be egg-ceptional.
Thanks for hanging in there with me tonight. It’s been a long day.
I’m going to show you a simple formula to make your content addictive, memorable, and attention grabbing to the point where people are dying to read it and buy your products. And this is all by creating an incomplete marketing strategy.
But first, let’s find out what a Zeigarnik is and what it can do for your bottom line…
The Zeigarnik Effect states that people tend to remember unfinished or incomplete tasks better than completed tasks.
For example, waiters are better at recalling orders they have not yet delivered than orders they’ve already fulfilled. An order that’s unfulfilled is unfinished, but an order delivered is finished.
Your audience is no different. They crave completed stories. They crave resolved problems and answered questions. And they crave achieved goals.
Incomplete marketing strategies trigger the Zeigarnik Effect
Soap operas do this all time.
“Tune in tomorrow to find out if Jane’s two headed baby survives diabolical doctor Dan’s nuclear attack.” (I don’t watch soap operas, but that sounds about right…)
News Channels do this.
“Join us after this commercial break to discover which product in your bathroom cabinet is making you unlikeable, ugly and sterile.”
Video games keep their players super addicted using this very technique.
Your goal in using the Zeigarnik Effect is to open loops that your audience desperately wants to close. Think of a cliffhanger and you’ll know what I mean.
For example, in social media you can create open loops between posts. Ask questions and post regular updates on a continuing story. Take your followers on a journey and so forth.
In your content, let readers know there is a big payoff coming soon….
But first you have to cover important ground to get there.
In your emails, create teasers at the end of each email that makes the reader look for your next email. “Look for my email tomorrow where I’ll show you how to feed 12 people using one chicken, 6 ketchup packs and a blow dryer.”
And this was really an article in the New Yorker Magazine, so it is actually old news.
If you would like to see the article for yourself, here is the link.
And no, I didn’t follow up with them to see if this article was a barn burner for them. But I bet it did make for some interesting comments.
The “Intentional” Incomplete Marketing Strategy
Now here’s a simple formula you can keep on your desktop to remind you of how this is done:
“In a moment I’m going to show you [something powerful, strange or amazing] but first let’s take a look at [something needed to set up the powerful, amazing or strange thing].”
Again…
“In a moment I’m going to show you ___ but first let’s take a look at ___.”
Incomplete Marketing Strategy Triggering the Zeigarnik Effect can add up to big Bucks!
“I’m about to show you the exact formula I use to earn no less than $3000 for every email I write, but first let’s talk about how to build a million-dollar mailing list.”
“As promised, I’m going to show you the 5 secrets to winning or placing in every single gardening contest you enter, but first let me tell you the super embarrassing story about the first rose contest I ever entered.”
When you Zeigarnik your readers using this method, you’ll find far more of them happily read the full article or watch the full video. It makes a much better reading or viewing experience for them and they’re more likely to consume more of your content as well as pay more attention to your product offerings.
But there are two pitfalls to avoid when using this method
First, don’t overuse it.
I’ve seen sales videos that use this method several times in one video. This angers and annoys their viewers and ultimately reduces. That’s because when you use the Zeigarnik method occasionally, you peak interest.
But if you use it over and over again, people will become weary of continually being strung along for the ride.
Second, don’t let people down.
Make sure you fulfill your promise and more. I’ve also seen sales videos that promise to reveal certain information if the viewer keeps watching only to never reveal it. Prospects hate this, as they should. The marketer has failed to make good on their promise, the prospect is angry for having wasted their time watching the video and nobody wins.
It might take a little practice to master this technique, but it’s well worth it. There isn’t a seven figure marketer out there who does use it, and now you can, too.
And for one last example of the Zeigarnik effect, you might check out the first paragraph of this article. 😉
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Once upon a time, email marketers sent out long emails that told stories, revealed how to do things, and sold products. Increased anti-spam measures require more due diligence to get your emails delivered to the recipient’s inbox. You may need some adjustments. Here are 6.5 easy steps to increase your clickthrough rate.
The problems came:
Emails being sent to the promotions folder. IP addresses blocked. Spam filters removing emails from existence. Domain names needing to be verified. Or Apple opening emails and scanning them so that you have no idea how many real people opened your emails.
Does email marketing still work? You bet it does. Email marketing is still the most cost-effective method to reach your audience and make sales.
But times change, and the way we email market needs to change as well. You will need to make adjustments to keep your click through rates up. If you strategize and adjust accordingly, you may actually be able to increase your clickthrough rates with these easy steps.
When you send out that email that took you so long to thoughtfully construct, it could evaporate into the mists of time never to be seen. It would be like you never wrote it at all.
But, place that same content on your website, and you can spark conversations while you cut your workload in half. Instead of writing an email and an article, you focus your efforts on just the article. Now you can send social media traffic to your article and also continue to refer back to it in future pieces of content and future emails, too.
Now, I’m not saying you should stop emailing. Not at all. But instead, you might update your email process so that it looks like this:
Adjustments to improve clickthrough rates
By sending out a short, catchy email that directs your subscriber back to your website, you’re increasing the odds the email will land in their personal folder. And you’re also going to increase your open rate as well.
Place your real message on your blog. Then send your readers a super short, catchy email that lets them know if they want to continue reading, here’s the link to do just that.
1: Send out short emails.
When you write to a friend, are you usually sending them a thousand words? Not likely. Google likes to decide what emails get through and which are relegated to the promotions bin.
2: Place your real effort on creating a database of content.
Instead of having to write articles and posts in addition to your emails, you get to focus your efforts just on the website content.
When you create something, you want it to be seen and accessible for longer than 10 minutes in someone’s inbox. Placing your content on your site instead of in emails allows new visitors to binge read your stuff and get to know you. And it has SEO benefits as well.
3: Encourage discussions on your site.
Some of your best ideas for future content and products won’t be your ideas at all. Instead, they’ll come from your readers. Give them the chance to interact with you and your content.
Encourage their feedback. Ask them questions. See what they have to say. And make new contacts and friends while you’re at it.
4: Use the ‘to continue reading’ phrase to boost clicks.
Using this method you’ll likely see your clickthrough rate greatly increase over time.
First, you’re sending out a SHORT email of just a few lines. Make no mistake, you still need to put effort into this email to get the click.
Entice them with the solution to a problem or with a great story. Then let them know that to read more, they simply need to click. This works like magic once you master the technique.
5: Segment your lists.
When you send them to an article about driving targeted traffic, offer them a cheat sheet or list of resources to get their email address.
Yes, you already have them on your primary email list, but now you also know they are specifically interested in driving traffic, too.
6: Whenever possible, use story telling.
Storytelling is pure magic for capturing attention, removing barriers and even making sales. Start many of your emails with a story and let them click the link to find out how the story turns out.
6:5 Send regular, short emails with appropriate wording.
Choose your words carefully. For example “Make Money” is sure to get your email sent to the SPAM folder. Try sending one short email every day for a month. Pay attention to your click through rate and see how it improves over the course of the month. And then decide if this method is right for you.
Improve clickthrough rate and keep you out of SPAM Jail
If you don’t include an unsubscribe button in your email, you might go to the SPAM folder.
If you don’t address your recipient by name, you might go to the SPAM folder. (Don’t use “friend” of “Dear” for example)
If you use all-caps text or extreme punctuation !!! or ???, you might go to the SPAM folder.
If you include strange formatted fonts, you might go to the SPAM folder.
If you include links to fraudulent websites, you might go to the SPAM folder.
And a whole host of additional issues that you can learn more about in these resources.
GetResponse does a great job with providing and assessing data. They have an extensive Email Marketing Benchmark Report that is worthy of your time to review. Perform A/B testing and benchmarking and follow best practices.
Groove provides extensive best practices to follow to help prevent your emails from being kicked out by SPAM filters that IT companies utilize.
These adjustments can help preserve, or even improve your email clickthrough rates. The first step in any email marketing campaign is getting eyeballs on your content. You’re dead in the water if you can’t get your email to the inbox folder.
The best bloggers out there are absolutely killing it, earning far more than most people can even imagine. How do bloggers make money? Stick with me, and I will share 10.5 tips from one of the best: how do bloggers make money?
One of the best is Ryan Robinson. Ryan earns more than $30,000 per month simply from his blog. Not bad, right?
In Ryan’s case, it took him over two years to begin generating serious income from his blog. He launched the blog in 2014, and the first monthly income report he published was in 2018 for $9,322. But he has gone on to be a leader in the industry, and one well worth taking note of.
Generating traffic organically takes time and patience but it can pay off. Ryan says he doesn’t expect a new post to rank on page one of Google any sooner than after six months, if they rank at all. Blogging will not get you rich overnight, but if you keep at it then you could build to a serious income over time.
Here’s how Ryan has found success:
1: He writes massive 10,000 word posts. These are enormous authority articles that sometimes rank for the most popular of keywords, such as “business ideas” which is a 100,000 monthly search volume keyword.
2: His favorite post is the listicle; huge, exhaustive lists such as ‘101 Business Ideas’ and ‘70 Genius Ways to Make Money Online.’ These posts could easily be Kindle books but he chooses to place them on his site to bring in traffic.
3: His other favorite type of post is the ‘how to’ guide, such as How to Start a Blog and How to Start a Freelancing Business While Working Full Time. These are long, detailed and all-encompassing guides that Google loves to rank high.
4: 92% of his income comes from affiliate sales. His top three affiliate products are Bluehost, Dreamhost and Flexjobs.
5: Ryan writes about freelancing and making money online because he’s worked as a freelancer and because there is substantial affiliate income to be made in this niche. He doesn’t recommend choosing a niche just because you love it unless you know ahead of time how you’re going to monetize it.
6: Ryan focuses on getting backlinks because Google determines your ‘social status’ with your niche via the number and type of backlinks you have. Some of his backlinks come from major sites such as Hubspot, GoDaddy, Yelp, Money.com, LinkedIn blog and Sitepoint.
7: To get prized backlinks from major players, Ryan schedules a call with them, interviews them and then mentions them in his article. He says this dramatically increases the odds they will back link to you, as opposed to simply writing about someone and then telling them they are mentioned in your article.
8: Ryan continually updates his content and then places an ‘updated on date’ tag next to the title. He does this because Google encourages content creators to continually update their content.
9: He uses personal anecdotes and stories in his articles. He likes to open with a story and continue the personal tone and his own thoughts throughout the article, and it works.
I’ve had a lot of “holy shit” moments trying to sustain a profitable business.
Ryan Robinson
Stay on your course
10: Ryan stays focused on this blog. He hasn’t started a second and third blog on other topics and he’s not doing anything outside of this niche. He does, however, still do some freelancing work, which makes sense since he writes about the freelancing experience.
10.5 Most of his posts don’t do all that well. Crazy as it might sound, his average blog posts only garner a few hundred views per month. And yet his top 15 posts bring in a flood of traffic that compensates. You never know which posts are going to explode, which is why you just have to keep writing your best. Sooner or later, you will hit posts that drive traffic, and that traffic will then discover your other, less popular posts as well. And with proper blogging strategies, quality products and a keen focus on SEO, you will grow your blog over time.
I do encourage you to check out Ryan’s Blog. His site is quite extensive with a ton of resources. There are a lot of resources avaialbe and some great information.
And you’ll want to check out his free tools and resources too. I used his free key word tool to do a little research for this blog. Or check out his AI powered SEO title generator. I think you will find they are great free tools.
This is just another way to answer the question of how do bloggers make money? Provide value. Provide good content in an informative and entertaining way. And of course providing any free tools that provide such a great value goes a long way in driving traffic and monetizing your blog.
Is there one silver bullet for blogging?
There is a lot to know about blogging, and I certainly don’t know much at all. But the one thing I do know, is that there is no one, single solution. Find the right blend that meets you, and your audience. Ryan appears very straight forward and seems to have a genuine desire to provide value to help others. In my opinion, that is a huge first step.
Follow what others successful entrepreneurs and bloggers do. I always find their success stories interesting and inspirational. It isn’t too hard figuring out how Ryan has made money with his blog. Especially today, as he candidly shares so much of his information, and provides value through resources and tools and learning.
However, seeing success and doing it are two different things. No matter how you see it, Ryan’s Blog is impressive and inspirational. And if you’re still reading this to the end, you must be a do’er too. So let’s roll up our sleeves, get to work and find our own path to success. Then we can personally answer the question: How do bloggers make money? How do YOU make money blogging?
I hope to hear from you and learn from your success.
Holidays, no matter how obscure or strange, can be excellent marketing tools as well as a springboard for ideas. Get creative. Go social. Blog to your heart’s content. And don’t forget to use #hashtags. Here are 131 January inspirations and ideas on how to make money online. #makemoneyonline.
Last update 1/5/2023
What better excuse to send an email to your list than to remind them that today is National Peanut Butter Day, and if they tell you why they like creamy better than chunky or vice a versa, they get a 21% discount off your product?
National Backward Day might be a time to offer your products at backward prices ($79 instead of $97, for example.). Or perhaps even for free as a marketing special.
National Hangover Day? Send them your own personal hangover cure. If you don’t have one, make it up with humor.
Don’t let the blues slow down your marketing
If you have red hair, then on National Kiss a Ginger Day you might wear a t-shirt or carry a sign that tells people it’s Kiss a Ginger Day and make a video of yourself in a public place trying to get air kisses or handing out Hershey Kisses.
Boundless Ideas Create Money Making Opportunities
The ideas are boundless and many of these offer excellent chances to inject humor into your online marketing strategies. The more creative you are, the more money making ideas you can generate. The more ideas you generate, the more money making opportunities you will discover.
The more serious causes are even easier; simply give your readers a tiny education or story about the cause and let them know you’re donating a certain percentage of all sales made that day.
In the list of holidays I’m also including hashtags to help you with your social media marketing as well, so that you can pick up some new subscribers from your holiday campaigns.
January Awareness Causes
National Blood Donor Month – Encourages Americans to donate blood after a shortage of donations during the holiday season.
National Braille Literacy Month – Raises awareness of the importance of braille to the blind and visually impaired community.
National Hobby Month – Inspires people to pick up a new hobby or get back into an old one!
National Hot Tea Month – Celebrates a nice cup of tea to warm you up from the inside out!
National Mentoring Month – Promotes the growth of mentoring in all forms.
National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month – Raises awareness about the modern-day issues of slavery and human trafficking.
National Slow Cooking Month – Encourages making delicious food while saving time by using slow cookers.
National Sunday Supper Month – Aims to bring back the tradition of families eating supper together on Sunday nights!
January Holidays and Dates
So let your creative juices flow and unleash those marketing ideas. Here is a long list of January dates that you can surely come up with crazy, fun, goofy, or even serious ideas, if that is your inclination. The point is, there is no shortage of topics to boost your marketing and sales. How do you make money online?
The world loves pets! Online marketing to pet owners is one of THE fastest growing money making opportunities online. Just ask WhiskersWorld! They love pets!
14 National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day #hotpastramisandwichday
14 National Vision Board Day #visionboardday
14 Organize Your Home Day #organizeyourhomeday
15 National Bagel Day #nationalbagelday
15 National Hat Day #nationalhatday
Nothing says marketing better than a hat or cap
15 National Strawberry Ice Cream Day #strawberryicecreamday
16 Blue Monday #bluemonday
16 National Fig Newton Day #nationalfignewtonday
16 National Nothing Day #nothingday
16 National Religious Freedom Day #religiousfreedomday
“Content is fire; social media is gasoline.”
-Jay Baer
16 National Without a Scalpel Day #withoutascalpelday
16 Appreciate a Dragon Day #AppreciateADragonDay
17 Benjamin Franklin Day #benfranklinday
Talk about Benjamins on Benjamin Franklin Day! #Make Money
20 National Buttercrunch Day #nationalbuttercrunchday
20 National Cheese Lover’s Day #cheeseloversday
Kaboom! A case study on using cheesey marketing at HerBusiness. I rest my case!
Join the Most Supportive and Collaborative Network for Women Entrepreneurs Who Are Ready to Grow and Scale Their Business at HerBusiness. They know the benefits marketing with cheese!
20 National Disc Jockey Day #nationaldiscjockeyday
21 National Granola Bar Day #nationalgranolabarday
24 Beer Can Appreciation Day #beercanappreciationday
Now if Beer Can Appreciation Day isn’t a money maker, then I don’t know what would be!
When it comes to making money online, creativity often wins. Apparently that is what 208Tees has learned. Awesome Etsy Store
Get attention. Create Controversy. Stand out and do something unique. Every online marketing strategy should include mixed content no an ongoing basis.
Need help? Talk to Lisa at MarketYourCreativity.com She is a master in the world of online marketing!
24 National Compliment Day #nationalcomplimentday
The world needs a lot more complements! I will just leave that one there.
24 National Peanut Butter Day #nationalpeanutbutterday
25 Library Shelfie Day #libraryshelfieday
25 National Irish Coffee Day #nationalirishcoffeeday
25 National Opposite Day #nationaloppositeday
Opposite day is probably the lowest hanging fruit on the list.
26 National Green Juice Day #nationalgreenjuiceday
26 National Peanut Brittle Day #peanutbrittleday
26 National Spouses Day #nationalspousesday
27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day #holocaustremembranceday
27 National Big Wig Day #nationalbigwigday
27 National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day #bubblewrapday
A great benefit with online content and the unique use of various forms of media like memes, gifs and videos, is that you have the potential of something going viral, or just lasting for a super long time. The longevity of some content is incredible.
28 Data Privacy Day #dataprivacyday
28 International Lego Day #legoday
28 National Blueberry Pancake Day #blueberrypancakeday
28 National Daisy Day #daisyday
28 National Have Fun At Work Day #funatworkday
28 National Kazoo Day #nationalkazooday
Kazoos are just annoying. Sometimes being annoying can help you stand out in the crowd. Just don’t over do it.
31 National Hot Chocolate Day #nationalhotchocolateday
31 National Inspire Your Heart With Art Day #inspireyourheartwithartday
31 Plan for Vacation Day #planforvacation
There is no end to dates for content creativity
I didn’t even scratch the surface. The only thing that is holding you back is that you were not aware of what a great opportunity this is. Now you know. Dates are a great way to market your products and make money online. Or to support a cause or a community event. Oh yeh, and some more good news. The dates just keep coming, along with celebrations, recognitions, and holidays. I will be back in February!
Until then, be creative, and tune up your marketing strategy to include some additional creatives.
Whether you’re trying to get more people to interact with your written content, such as your blog, or you want more people to leave comments on your videos, such as on YouTube, here’s a trick to improve SEO rankings.
Why do you want people to interact with your content? Because it will often give you a better standing in SEO. For example, part of YouTube’s algorithm is to look at how many comments your video gets. The more comments you have, the higher your video might rank in search.
And when you get your readers and viewers to interact with your content by leaving their own comment, you also increase their perceived ‘ownership’ of that content. They are more likely to share it on social media as well as view more of your content in the future.
Now then, how do you get comments?
Input, Feedback, Likes, Shares…. all improves SEO Rankings
The usual way is to simply ask, and that does work. “If you’ve enjoyed this video, please like and leave a comment.” Or… “Which do you prefer, chunky or smooth peanut butter? Please leave your comment below and let us know.”
Now here’s how you can take this simple technique of asking and double or even triple the number of responses you get as well as increasing the quality of those responses dramatically:
Make it into a contest.
At the end of your video or article, let them know that the BEST comment will get a free valuable gift.
Yes, this freebie might be one of your products, but it doesn’t have to be.
I was watching a YouTube video of a gal talking about a certain kind of jewelry. She was wearing one of these necklaces throughout the video, and at the end she said she would send this necklace to the person who posted the best comment.
How do I improve SEO Rank? Have a contest to create excitement and scarcity.
What a great strategy!
This necklace is something every viewer has been looking at and admiring for the entire video, and now they’re told they can OWN it?
And it gets even better, because at the very beginning of the video she said, “Stay tuned to find out how YOU can receive THIS necklace in the mail.”
This no doubt increased the average viewing time her video received because people were sticking around to find out how to get the necklace.
And the reward was very specifically targeted to the exact audience who would want the reward, since the video was about this specific type of jewelry.
The cost to her? I doubt it was more than $10. And yet there was a true element of scarcity because in this case the necklace was vintage (approximately 50 years old) and not something people could buy at their local store.
What I love about this is that the prize would be physically mailed to the recipient. Because it was lightweight the postage wouldn’t cost much regardless of what country it would be sent to.
And scrolling through her comments it was obvious that people really were going for the gold in trying to have the most interesting, wittiest or most helpful comment of everyone there.
She uses this technique with many of her videos, which gives her an immediate bump in views from her regular audience as well as a ton of comments. Views in the first 24 hours are especially important on YouTube to help with getting your video seen by more people.
Growing Comments
She states in the description below the video that she will choose the winner in 30 days. But since she does not show the date the video went live, she continues to get more and more comments even when her videos have been up for months. She also uses this reward system to encourage viewers to become subscribers so they know when she posts a new video, too.
SEO Tools on Mangools / SERPWatcher
Depending on your niche, you might have to get creative to make this work for you. If you have electronic products, then the key is to offer something of high value, like a course you sell for at least a couple hundred dollars.
If you teach dog training, maybe you could give away adorable handmade dog sweaters. Let your own dog be the model. If you have a book, then that could be your prize.
Try this on your next couple of videos and watch the magic happen in the comments section.
If a person visits your website and leaves, chances are that he or she will not come back, especially if they have no compelling reason to do so. After all, we all behave rather impulsively on the Internet, so much so that we can easily forget where we were or where we had been a few pages ago. To make money online, you need business strategies that focus on capturing visitors to your list.
Did you know that squirrels can only find about 26 percent of the nuts that they have stashed away? Yep, that is according to a study done at the University of Richmond.
If we be werkin’ on list building as hard as squirrels be werkin’, we’d have a hella’ list!
And boi’ do they werk’ for those nuts! Have you ever watched how diligent these little critters are when they are searching for that nut they stashed away last week? Or was it 3 days ago? Apparently, they don’t remember so well either.
Maybe it be sumpin’ to do with how hard they hide em’ all in the first place?
Not sure if this is the smartest or easiest way to accomplish things. But they are dedicated little buggers!
An he be werkin’ so hard! Is he tryn’ to figure out how to make money online…
Sometimes I feel a little like a squirrel. (Probably more often than I should admit!) In fact, sometimes after hours upon hours of work, I will be searching, (to no avail) to find that website that I had previously visited. I have to go back and search my browser history to locate it. (My bookmarks are so full that even they are hard to navigate). And these poor squirrels don’t have any form of history cheats that they can use. You wouldn’t think it would be that hard. Guess maybe I’m just getting old and forgetful. Or maybe I have too many tendencies like squirrels. Anyway, enough of the squirrel tales.
Think about all the pages you surf through. Unless there is something specific that you want to remember and bookmark, you will likely not go back to the page unless there is a compelling reason to do so. This is just the nature of the internet.
We can’t expect visitors to our site to return either.
Some may say that creating unique content will keep visitors coming back. Yes, I agree. This may be true to some extent, however you can’t rely solely on unique content. Unique content is a core foundation for any site, and really goes without saying in my opinion. Unique content should be a given. But alone, it is not the entire solution. The ultimate, long-term solution lies in converting your visitors into subscribers to your mailing list or “opting-in” on their first, and possibly only visit. Once on your list, the contact becomes an asset to your business.
Converting Site Visitors to Make Money Online
The bottom line is that your visitor may not come back to your website again. If 1,000 visitors visit your website, leave, and never come back again, you can imagine the amount of potential revenue that was a missed opportunity. This is even more severe if you are paying for advertising!
As your visitor comes to your site, or before they leave, you want to convert him or her onto your list as a subscriber via a simple opt-in form. You do this by asking for your visitor’s name and email address through your opt-in form.
Various Business Strategies to convert
Securing an opt-in can be accomplished in several different ways. One of the most familiar ways is the old standard, “sign up for our newsletter” option or “subscribe” to receive updates on courses, products or services.
Or some use pop-ups, so when the reader is leaving, (or performs a particular action) a message pops up to provide their contact information. Bots are a big trend now. And they help with a plethora of things beyond securing contact information. (This one is on my recommended list – Learn how here).
One of the most common ways to get opt-ins is by providing something for free, such as a report, pdf form, ebook, or access to a library as examples. The key here is that this must be valuable to the reader.
Freebie Caution
But here is a word of caution about giving freebies. Make sure it has value. Focus on a quality product. If you’re giving away a crappy offering, it will have negative consequences. Even though you may have got an opt-in to your list in exchange for the crappy freebie, the reader won’t be pleased. Therefore, they will likely unsubscribe, and worse yet, will forever associate you and your site with that crappy freebie. They will be left with a negative perception that is nearly impossible to overcome. Make sure to provided quality, valuable content.
Here is one of my Best Online Business, Affiliate Marketing Tips
This is an insider secret about how I validate the value of my giveaways with my audience.
When a reader sees what you are offering for free is regularly prices at $X, then it validates to them that the product does indeed have value.
The Insider Secret Strategy
Don’t just tell them the value. Show them…
…or better yet, let them discover on their own when they sleuth the product and find your regular sales page.
You see, you had designed and provided a is completely separate dedicated “sales page” I refer to this as the “back door sales offer“. Not only does this provide promotions flexibility, but it also helps validate the value to the reader when they compare to your regular product page, with the “standard” price.
My subscribers and regular readers of my blog know exactly what I’m talking about. I use this tactic on a routine basis.
Site B: This is the same product “free, back door offer” that I use for promotion purposes.
Setting up an alternate “free version” page is an ingenious way to highlight the value of the product at it’s regular price. It also gives you great flexibility in promotion strategies AND helps grow your list when they sign up for your free offering!
Giving Away Value
This is a favorite strategy to grow my lists. I will gladly forgo the $27 subscription fee to get a new opt-in of a member of the correct target audience for my products and business.
As my regular readers know, I have multiple, interconnected funnels that run on autopilot, with low priced, mid-range priced and high-ticket priced sales. When you take the “bigger picture” into consideration, the $27 free offering to add an interested, targeted new member to my list is a no brainer.
Because here’s the deal
Once you have your visitor sign up to your mailing list, you now have an ongoing opportunity to nurture and grow this relationship, build “ know, like and trusts” and ultimately increase sales down the road.
Here are 3 more examples of the paid page, vs. free access back door link:
So for the reader, if they have an offer to get a product for free, that is normally priced at $27, it feels more compelling, and validates that the product’s value is $27, and they are getting it free.
My insider secret value tip of the week!
Use it to build your online business, and make money online! Follow my blog for more affiliate marketing and online business ideas, strategies and tips. I hope you find it helpful and valuable for implementing into your business strategies.
So In a nutshell, (SQUIRREL!!!)
Squirrel! Do you know how to make money online?
….don’t get distracted. It all comes down to this: Convert as many visitors into subscribers as possible to grow your list with valuable assets that will capture the revenues that you rightfully deserve – this is the smart and easy way.
P.S. If you liked this tip, you can get more tips and tricks from my 12-Day Challenge and Training. It’s free for top tier marketers ready to take the next steps to a high-ticket product launch.
If your easily distracted with affiliate shiny object syndrome, we can help!
Out of money with a stack of bills on his desk and creditors calling, he knew it was time to do the one thing he never wanted to do again…
Find a job.
Embarrassed by his failure and dreading a job search, he put off looking for work for one more day and went to see his Grandma Elsie, because she always had a way of making him feel better.
Sitting at her kitchen table, he found himself telling her everything. He told her how he came to create his products, why he loved his products and how he knew that his products could transform the lives of thousands of people if only someone would listen to him.
He told her his story with feeling and passion, and she listened closely to every word he said.
When he was done, his Grandmother took his hand and told him the following,
“If you will tell people your story, just like you told me, they won’t be able to stop themselves from buying your products.”
Not believing her, he went home to start his job search that night. But as he sat at his desk thinking, he decided he didn’t have anything to lose. So, he turned on his video camera, adjusted the lights and told the story of how he came to create his line of products.
When he was done, he dried his eyes, posted the video to social media and got ready for bed.
But he didn’t sleep well at all.
You see, he had sales notifications hooked to his cell phone, so that each time one came in, his phone would ring.
The first ring came about 10 minutes after he posted the video, while he was brushing his teeth.
The second one came in a minute later.
And then it happened. The sales started pouring in so fast, his phone didn’t stop ringing for nearly 3 days.
He never did look for the job.
Instead, he became a master storyteller, and ever since then just about every product he promotes sells like crazy because of his stories.
You might say he’s got the Midas touch, all because of a little piece of advice his Grandmother gave him.
“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” – Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Storytelling… for online business??
You’ve heard that you should use stories in your marketing strategies.
But how the heck does that work?
You’re not a storyteller, you’re an entrepreneur, right?
It’s not your job to tell stories.
Or is it?
If you’ve visited entrepreneur.com then you know it has a ton of content. You’ll find how-to guides, news and a whole lot more marketing strategies.
But consider this: Out of all that content, the stories are the most popular.
Here are the 3 most-read pieces of content on Entrepreneur:
And you’ll see the same trend on nearly every website you visit.
People LOVE stories.
And if you can find ways to incorporate stories into your own marketing strategies, you’ll go far.
Why Use Stories in Your Marketing Strategies?
Because storytelling for your online business is a powerful marketing tool. Just look at a few of the benefits…
Engaging customers – if you want to reach customers on a deeply personal level, you’ve got to use stories
Engaging employees – stories help employees to connect with the business and feel they are a part of something important.
Creating memories – the longer a prospect remembers your business, the more likely they are to buy. Stories resonate on a deep level with people, creating stronger memories than just about any other type of message.
Triggering emotions and feelings – people might justify a purchase with facts but it’s the emotion that sells the product. No emotion means no sale.
Develop customer loyalty – when customers emotionally connect with a business, they become loyal to that business. Apple customers are a great example of this.
Competitive advantage – storytelling allows a business to stand apart from competitors by connecting with the audience on a deeper level. Stories leave lasting impressions while facts do not.
Persuasiveness – stories are a great way to overcome objections and persuade customers to buy.
How Story Telling Increased the Value of an eBay Item by 6395%
Is this the best way to make money online? You’ve heard the advice:
Use stories to sell.
“Storytelling is the easiest form of selling.”
“People buy when you use stories.”
But what does that mean exactly?
Are you supposed to invent some fairy tales to sell your stuff? Or maybe create this epic rags to riches story of how your product saved your life and made you rich, handsome and irresistible to women?
Today we’re going to cover why you might want to use stories to sell stuff, why storytelling works and how to create these stories yourself even if you think you can’t write a good story to save your life.
Stories will always sell better than facts. People love stories, they remember stories, and stories have the ability to influence customers on a deeper subconscious level than just about anything else.
In 2006 New York Times Magazine journalist Rob Walker wanted to discover if story telling really is the most powerful tool of all.
He began his project by collecting 200 thrift store items with an average cost of about $1.00 apiece. He took special care to ensure that nothing he purchased was particularly valuable.
He chose things like a plastic banana, an old wooden mallet, a plastic motel room key and so forth. Nothing with any real value.
Then he called 200 professional authors and asked them to join his “Significant Object Study” by writing a story about one of the objects.
How to make money online
He then auctioned off the items on eBay using the stories he had received from the authors.
You can guess what happened next. One of the items was a small plastic bust of a horse’s head. He’s paid $0.99 for it, and he sold it – with a great story in the description – for $62.95.
In total he spent $197 on the items and sold them for almost $8,000. That’s a markup of more than 6,300%. These stories transformed otherwise worthless objects into things of highly perceived value. Wow, talk about a great story about how to make money online!
Stories play on our emotions, and when we feel these emotions we become less objective. We can even become easily duped into buying and doing things we might not otherwise do, which is how con men have thrived through the centuries.
These items were essentially junk. They cost $197 and he sold them for $8,000. Wow, what a great way to make money!
If you would like to see sample objects and the stories that sold them, along with the prices they reaped, you can go to this site:
Ask yourself: How many more of your products and services could you sell if you created brilliant stories to go with them?
Online Business Strategies
Two Types of Marketing Stories – Mastering Them Both
When it comes to online marketing, there are two main types of stories and how to make money online.
Type I
There are stories that are directly related to your online business and your business strategies.
These are the stories of how your company came to be, how each product was developed, the customers whose lives have been transformed, the objections that are overcome and more.
Every one of these stories is something that will be unique to your brand.
It takes some skill to create these stories. In fact, after you read that issue, you’ll know exactly how to craft these stories using templates and the key ingredients necessary to make the stories super effective for your business strategies and opportunities in selling your products, affiliate marketing, and growing your online business.
Type II
I want to direct your attention to the second type of story that some affiliate marketers use to great effect, and it’s essentially any interesting story that can be tied to the product.
No doubt you’ve seen these affiliate marketing strategies via email and in social media.
Someone tells the story about how they took a trip and everything went wrong. Then they segue into a promotion by saying, “But when you become the next XYZ member, you’ll never have to worry about anything going wrong again.”
Or they tell the story about how their dog got lost for three days before finding her way home, and then segue into how the customer will never be lost with the ABC product.
With this method you can essentially use any interesting story to capture the prospect’s attention before tying it into your product or service.
The affiliate marketing that I really get a kick out of are those goofy stories and photos for health problem cures using strange methods to get the reader’s curiosity. Just another example of using stories.
“Morning Routine” story
“Tropical Loophole” Story
What I like about the story telling method is you don’t need to become great at storytelling as long as you can find a way to tie a story to the call to action you want the audience to take. Or in the example of the affiliate marketing strategies above, the more creative and crazy you are, the better in some instances.
In other words, this second method is just about as easy as finding a story that you want to use, rewriting it into your own words and then using it. Or is your of the creative type, take an idea and turn it into whatever fits your online business.
It really is a massive shortcut to storytelling success.
Let me give you an example…
I went online and found a story at random that I’m about to share with you. The story promotes no product whatsoever; it’s simply entertaining.
But since people love stories so much, maybe you can find a way to link this story to your own product.
At the end I’ll suggest some possible ways you could segue this story into a call to action, regardless of what niche you might be in.
And of course, this is just an example.
You could do something similar with most any story that strikes your fancy. Just be sure to rewrite it into your own words, first.
Here it is:
An old tired-looking dog wanders into a guy’s yard. He examines the dog’s collar and feels his well-fed belly and knows the dog has a home.
The dog follows him into the house, goes down the hall, jumps on the couch, gets comfortable and falls asleep. The man thinks its rather odd, but lets him sleep. After about an hour the dog wakes up, walks to the door and the guy lets him out. The dog wags his tale and leaves.
The next day the dog comes back and scratches at the door. The guy opens the door, the dog comes in, goes down the hall, jumps on the couch, gets comfortable and falls asleep again. The man lets him sleep. After about an hour the dog wakes up, walks to the door and the guy lets him out. The dog wags his tale and leaves.
This goes on for days. The guy grows really curious, so he pins a note on the dog’s collar: “Your dog has been taking a nap at my house every day.”
The next day the dog arrives with another note pinned to his collar: “He lives in a home with four children — he’s trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?’
Possible segues…
1: If you’re feeling as tired as this old dog, I might have the solution… (Could be vitamins, exercise, meditation, etc.)
2: Have you got small children that sometimes drive you a little crazy? Here’s how to make your complicated life a whole lot easier… (Child rearing product)
3: Do you want to get away from it all? We’ve got just the vacation / spa / weekend getaway for you.
4: Notes on a dog’s collar are one way to communicate. Here’s another with (insert benefits)…
As you can see, with just a little creativity you can bend a story to fit many different products and services.
Where Can You Find Stories Like This?
They are everywhere.
First, look at your own life. You already have a thousand stories of your own that you can put to use, based on things that you’ve done, places you’ve gone and interactions you’ve had with other people.
Next, use sites like Quora, Bored Panda and Reddit to find stories. Adapt them as necessary and don’t plagiarize. And while you are pursuing stories, you can always pick up affiliate marketing tips and online business strategies
Wherever you are on the Internet, keep your eyes peeled for good stories.
When you watch television or movies, watch for plotlines you can use for stories.
When you read, look for stories.
When you talk to people, listen to their stories.
Stories are all around you and you’ll find there are far more within your reach than you will ever need. Keep a log of stories you read and hear, and choose the ones the ones that work best for you.
Here, I’ll share one of my favorite webpages with you:
It’s 99 super short stories that will knock your socks off. I’ll place the first story here, and then you can visit this site to find the other 98.
Today, it’s been ten years since my abusive ex-fiancé sold my favorite guitar. He sold it on the day I left him. When I went to claim my belongings, he was proud that he had sold it to a pawn shop. Luckily, I managed to track down the guy who bought it from the pawn shop. He was really sweet, and gave it back to me for free, on the condition that I accompany him on his front porch for an hour to play guitar with him. He grabbed a second guitar and we ended up sitting there on his porch for the rest of the afternoon playing music, talking, and smiling. He’s been my husband for nine years now.
Holy smokes, great story.
Stories are everywhere. Take some time this month to find some great stories and to adapt them to your own marketing on email and social media.
And then next month, you’re going to discover how to create your own stories specifically tailored for your customers about your business.
Once you’ve mastered these two types of stories for your business – general stories that can be segued into your business and stories tailored to your own business – there will be no stopping you.
You will have a much easier time getting followers on social media.
You will build your audience and email list faster.
You will get more listeners on your podcast.
You will make more sales.
Your customers will be more loyal to you.
And you’ll be making MORE money while doing LESS selling.
There simply is no downside to mastering the use of stories for your online business. Add it to your list of ways to make money, and include in your business strategies.
