Boosting Your Business and Sales In Facebook with a Great Call to Action!

On my last blog post I gave you the basics of what you’d need to get started using Facebook in your quest to generate traffic for your business.  If you still haven’t read that content, you can access it here:

Dirt Cheap Methods of Using Facebook

Now I’m going to tell you how to get that traffic to move towards your marketing message and eventually your business sales funnel.  There are several things that you will need to do to motivate and influence people in order to get them to move to your sales page or squeeze page. This episode we’re going to focus on…

Using a Call to Action! (CTA)

The first thing you need to do is decide exactly what you want your audience to do.  Basically, you are going to ask them to stay engaged with you.  The whole idea is to get your readers to take several small and easy steps on their way to your irresistible offer. 

This is tricky, because each step along the way must LEAD the prospect in a manner that is non-threatening in a sales perspective. You’re not selling…You’re LEADING!  Once you have them in your sales funnel, there are different ways you can sell to them, but during your multi-step process you’ll need to engage them enough to have them move forward with you.

For example, you've got your Facebook business page set up with articles relevant to your niche.  Every now and then, you could refer to an interesting article on your blog, which in turn has a whitepaper, eBook, coupon or other relevant stuff to offer that’s free.

Take a look at Nature Valley Granola Bars Facebook Page. (My wife’s favorite hiking food!)  About every 5 or so posts, they have a posting similar to this one:

They have a link to their site, which usually has…COUPONS!!!  The next step in the natural order of things is the sale.  Pretty simple, eh?

Hook and Reel

Once you get your prospects to your site or destination, you’ll want to ask them to take the next step.  Depending on your where they are in your sales process, you will either sell them or move them closer to your sale. 

Usually, when the item or items are big ticket, the sales process is longer and probably looks like this:

Facebook page à Blog posts à Free eBook à Small purchase like an eBook ($29.00) à Bigger purchase like a course with videos ($ 100.00) Seminar or coaching sessions ($2000.00 and up).

The ultimate thrill for a marketer of this nature is to get you on their paid subscription because they’ll be making "mucho deniro" from you on a regular basis.

Get Prospects to Act…Fast

Sad but true, if people have too long to think about things, they won’t buy.  A good car salesman knows that the second you walk off the lot to think about it, you won’t be back.  (They call prospects like this “Be-Backs” because they know that you’ll never “be back”.)

So, whenever you give them an irresistible offer to act, you need to put a sense of urgency in there.  In my opinion the subtler you can do this the better.  One of the best examples I ever saw of this was a copywriter that said that for accounting reasons, he wouldn't be able to keep selling his course for a while. 

He went on for three or four pages talking about the course and very subtly, he’d mention that even though he was fighting his accountant for months on this, for tax reasons he wasn’t going to be able to offer it after a certain month and that he wouldn't be able to sell it again for 5 years or so.

I think this is the reason why coupons almost always have expiration dates on them.

Keep it Simple…Smarty!

The last bit of advice is that you’ll want to keep the process of ordering simple.  Don’t give any choices as far as products are concerned, and don’t make the prospect go through too many steps in the sales process. 

The only time you’ll want to give prospects more than one choice is how they are going to pay you! 1-800 numbers, Paypal, Credit Cards, whatever.  The more ways to pay the better. 

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Web Savvy Dirt Cheap Methods of Using Facebook to Generate Traffic Web Site

 I’m horrible about spending money on a business, I really am.  I’ll never be on ABC’s Shark Tank, because knowing that I’ll owe someone money would drive me nuts.  

For one thing, I've always believed in starting small and testing along the way.  That way, if a business idea doesn't work out, I’m not out of a lot of cash and I don’t feel guilty about not being able to pay someone their money back. 

Hey, that’s just me.  I paid my little house in the country off, bought a new car with cash and have very few bills. (However, being debt free is a myth.  You still have water, food, electricity, taxes, and now, health care to pay.) I can assure you that there is a lot less pressure in life if you don’t have to worry about these things, and you’ll also have the opportunity to put more money back into your business.

So, if you are looking for a piece of advice that’ll benefit you, here it is:  pay off everything that you can as fast as you can.  You’ll have more financial freedom to explore business options and you won‘t feel stressed.   

Internet Marketing and the Gold Rush of 1849

Now, this section is about getting started in Internet marketing as cheap as possible.  I personally don’t believe you need to spend mega-bucks to get started, but that’s just me.  I think realistically you can get started for $50 or less.  Oh and another thing: DON’T SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON EXPENSIVE INTERNET MARKETING COURSES! 

In 1846 gold was discovered in a stream at Sutter’s Mill, a discovery that would lead to a flood of people moving there in search of more of the precious metal.  However, what most people don’t realize is that most of the money that was made in the gold rush was made by people that sold stuff to the prospectors!  Shovels, picks, mules, and even maps showing where the gold was, all sold to people that were looking to make their fortunes out west!

Meatpacking mogul, Phillip Armour, sold sluices, Automaker John Studebaker sold wheelbarrows, Levi Strauss made covers for wagons, all of them made fortunes from the gold craze.  Henry Wells and William Fargo built their bank from the people that were in search of their fortunes.

And just like the gold rush, there are Internet marketers that will sell you their road maps for success at a very high price.  Not only that, they’ll sell you expensive programs that they’ll claim works wonders for you.  

Many times these are “Black Hat” tricks that will harm your business more than help them.  So, before you buy a course on Internet marketing, check out what others have said about it before you buy it.  (Don’t rely on the testimonials on the sales page either.  Many times those people are paid for what they say or, the marketers are doing each other favors.)

Web Site

Before you begin your Facebook strategy, make sure you have a website in place.  It doesn’t have to be too complex, just a place where you can update your information about what you have to offer prospects and clients in your niche.  This is the place you’ll usually want to send your herd to after you’ve helped them out on Facebook. 

You can have either a simple static Webpage that you hire someone to update, or you can do what I do and use Google’s Blogger.  Google’s Blogger is free, and you can very easily update it all you want.  You can buy a “.com” for around $10.00 a year and have it hooked up to Blogger, or you can have the free extension URL “.blogspot.com”  To me, this is the cheapest way to go.
    

Business and Marketing Plan

I am going to recommend two books in making a business/marketing plan.  One is Guerrilla Marketing and the other is the Guerrilla Marketing Workbook.  The workbook is particularly helpful because it has all of the steps you need to write your USP, marketing and overall business plans in it.  You are actually given step by step plans to write down in your book how to get from “Point A to Point B” in your business. 

But however, you slice and dice it, you’ll need to sit down and come up with a plan of action and a way to define yourself in the market.

Email Auto Responder

Aweber is the best auto-responder on the market, but it’ll run you somewhere around $30.00 a month, or $360 a year.  In my humble opinion, that’s a little high for someone just starting out.  MailChimp however, allows you to gather up to 1000 email addresses for FREE before charging you based on the number of email accounts that you have.  So, if you are new to Internet marketing, you won’t have to spend money on an Auto Responder account before you have any email addresses to begin with. 

Sometimes it takes a while before you get enough traffic generated to your website, much less get subscribers to your email list, so the MailChimp option is a cheaper way to go.

Launching Your Facebook Page

Finally, you need to set up a Facebook business page.  The set up for a Facebook Business page is made through your personal account.  There is a small arrow that you click in the top right corner of your Facebook page.  Click à Arrow à  Create Page and then follow the instructions. 

I’m providing this great video by Theresa Santa at the “iBrand Your Business TV” YouTube channel and you can see it here:

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

How to Turn Your Zombie Facebook Presence into a Living Being!

If you are going to use Facebook to influence people and move them in a direction that you want them to go, you really need to pay attention to this post.  There is a distinct reason why so many companies actually hire people to run their social media marketing programs.  That reason is it takes time.

If you are going to use social media to influence people in a major way, it will take a lot of your time.  Continuous, daily, scheduled time.  You've got to show up…regularly and keep showing up.  This is a relationship game that requires a dedicated time investment.

So, just like all other forms of Internet marketing, the more they see, love, and trust you the better off you’ll be.  This leads me to my topic subject, transforming your zombie like Facebook presence into a persona that people can relate to.

I love meeting people.  Online, offline, I just love human interaction.  In my humble opinion, nothing is worse than talking to a piece of cardboard.  Actually, there is something worse: READING something that was written by a piece of cardboard!

I must confess, this is a facet of writing Blog posts that I need to be more conscious of, myself.  If you can somehow inject some of your REAL personality into your social media efforts, you’ll find that you will have success at a much faster rate. 

On the local news that I watch every morning before starting work, I watch the local news, mostly to see how bad the weather is going to be for the day.  Most of the newscasters or warm and friendly, even when they are reporting accidents and crime in the area (Some of them almost report the death and destruction with glee…but I digress.) 

There is one reporter that is usually at the site of the crime and just about every morning and when she reports the news like a bored zombie.  She looks like she just came from a funeral; her face is sullen and emotionless.  Every time we see her my says the same thing, “Is she really alive?”

So, you need to insert your personality in to your posts whenever you can.  

Talk About Other Things, Even if it’s “World War Z”!

Make sure you talk about off-topic issues once in a while.  Usually, if you do nothing but talk about your niche, no matter how great the information is, you’ll

be perceived as boring.  However, that’s not to say it can’t be related to your core topic in some way.

I used to get Dan Kennedy’s marketing newsletter on a regular basis, and I was always amazed at how easily and seamlessly he could shift to a subject that did not appear to be on the subject of marketing, but was.  He would talk about subjects that were related to his niche like: time management, celebrity issues, TV shows he liked or disliked, etc.  However, these issues did relate to his overall marketing message.

Current Events – Staying Sensitive to Things Around You

If there has been a horrible event caused by natural disasters, terrorism or even a Zombie apocalypse, you will be perceived as unthinking and uncaring if you continue talking about your business.  

So, be very careful when dealing with important social issues.  You can really damage all of the work, time and branding of your business if you ignore other people’s pain and anguish during trying times.

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Web Savvy Facebook Scheduling Tactics to Help Jump Start Your Campaign

On my last post, I told you a few things about how you should be using social media to promote your business online.  I also told you that if you weren’t using social media to influence your clients, customers and prospects your competitors probably were.

You can read it here: Your Competitors Know How to Use Facebook...Should You?

Plan It Out

A planner with lots of room will let
you plan your posts to Facebook

I carry two planners around with me wherever I go.  That’s not an accident, I find that I am far more productive with one than without one.  I hate getting to the end of a day when I’m tired, realizing that I should have completed an important task and I still have to get it done.  

Not only that, but I find that the work I need to do will be done at a much higher level of quality than if I wait until I’m spent.

So, if you are planning on using a social media channel, you may want to plan what you are going to do as far as posting and doing follow ups with people on Facebook.

As I see it, there are 5 phases to gaining popularity on Facebook or any other social media site:

Phase 1 -- Set up your pages.

Phase 2 -- Locate influencers in your market.

Phase 3 -- Contribute to the influencers.

Phase 4 -- Invite them to your Facebook page.

Phase 5 -- Get them into your funnel.

Each of these phases will be expanded upon, but for now, I want to focus on the third phase, “contribute to the influencers”.

Giving Them Something for Nothing

The reason I’m talking about Phase 3, “Contribute to the Influencers” first, is because it’s the one that will take the most time in terms of planning, writing, connecting, and posting your high-value material.

Buy a Planning Book.  Get a planning book that you’ll have plenty of room to write in, and for starters try to write out a schedule of things you want to post about over the next week.  Many social media experts will tell you to try to plan for three to six months, but I feel that most people that are starting out in the social media or the Facebook arena will get overwhelmed. 

Here's how Internet Marketing Expert Michael Hyatt Plans his Posts:

It’s a far better idea to just schedule a week or two at first, so you won’t burn yourself out at the onset.  My way of thinking, is that if you get worn out trying to merely do the scheduling, you’ll never get started.  And if you never get started in social media, you’re leaving heaping piles of cash on the table for your competitors to scoop up.

So…

Step 1 Write out a one to two week schedule on what you’re going to post about. 

TIP: If you get hung up about what to write about in your chosen market, head on over to Amazon and look at books dedicated to your niche.  You need to look at the best sellers in your niche.  There is a wealth of information in the Table of Contents of those books.   You can easily get all sorts of ideas about what to write about by looking at those chapter titles.

Step 2 Research your topics.  Once you have a subject, do some extensive research on what you are going to write about. 

Step 3 Write your post.  For God’s sake, write a well-structured, thought out post.  Your audience is inundated with people that write crap.  I’m not saying that I write incredible masterpieces, but at least their coherent most of the time and I try to disseminate valuable tips and content that will benefit my audience. 

(Personally, if someone writes like a text book or a bestseller, the common man or woman out there might not relate to the message as well.)

Step 4 Post to Facebook and your other social networks.

In my next post, I’m going to show you the best way to set up your Facebook page so that you’ll be asking your herd to go to a page that adds value and enriches their lives.

Until then…

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

P.S.  Here's a two links on posts I've made on the subject of researching topics and niches and scheduling posts.

Your Competitors Know How to Use Facebook...Should You?

If you haven’t been thinking about using social media as a part of your marketing mix, you may want to reconsider.  It’s no mistake that almost all of the big business money and marketing efforts are geared toward Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube and any other fast-moving social media upstart that is rising.   

Facebook is clearly the “Big Kahuna” in the social media war, with over 1.19 Billion active users a month.  The reason for this is its age, overall broad mass appeal, ease of use, and other factors which make it the current social avenue of choice. You can see an obvious lead in this February, 2015 Google Trends graphic:

It doesn’t matter whether you’re running a big company or a small business, you’ll always want to spend time with your prospects and customers.  A good way to do that is to spend some time on Facebook.  Not only are your customers and potential prospects on Facebook, but their family and friends are too. 

And what are they doing?  Well, besides socializing, they are looking for and sharing information.  If prospects and clients that are active in your niche market aren’t asking you questions, or looking at your wares, who are they talking to?  I can guarantee you they are talking to your competitors and looking at what they have to offer.

So, it’s a no-brainer to say that being active on Facebook is beneficial to your marketing efforts.

Think About This Social Media Fact…

If you were to take all of the different marketing methods and line them up side

by side:  face to face selling, over the phone selling, direct mail, advertising, the Internet, etc.  The Internet was usually the big loser in the mix because a static web page had to do your selling for you. 

It was very easy for prospects to just click and move on.  On their own, Web pages usually don’t have much of a personal touch, much less have groups of people frequenting them that were related, or friends or reached out to one and other.  

Social media sites like Facebook, changed much of that.

Now, you can easily inject your personality into your marketing.  Prospects that like what you have to offer, refer to you personally and send their friends to where you hang out.  And the best thing about it is that there are loads of ways you can build relationships using Facebook, to help you connect with people and help build the brand and marketing of your business. 

Get a Grip On This Facebook Thing!

Warning:  Let’s think for a second.  As you know from reading my posts, there is no quick fix, or magic bullet solution to your marketing problems.  You’re building relationships, and depending on what type of business you’re in, THIS TAKES TIME!  So, just like any other type of marketing, you’ll need to take the time and plan out your strategy.  If you haven’t already done your due diligence on creating a USP, marketing plan, budget, then using Facebook and any other social media site won’t work out so well, either.

Building More than Just Brand

If you can understand one key concept about social media sites like Facebook, it’s not just about just building brand, it’s about building relationships.  I’ve always said that if people know, trust and love you, you can sell them much more easily. It’s just like looking for a job.  If you have a friend running the XYZ Zipper company and you want a job there, it’ll be infinitely easier to get a gig there than some unknown applicant.

So cultivating individual relationships and eventually a crowd of people that are familiar with you, your business, brand, etc. is what social media is all about. And as I said before, this will take time, but it will be worth it in the long run.

TIP:  Another great aspect of doing business on a site like Facebook, is that you can get almost immediate feedback on your product or service.  Not only that, but you can also correct problems quickly that would normally take weeks to fix through other channels of communication.   People that market their businesses through social media sites of this nature will also ask questions to find out what is needed in their industry or market.

People are almost more than willing to help you out, so you should make good use of social media feedback whenever you can.

The Web Savvy Traffic Generation of Using YouTube Channels Properly

Last week, I went into great depth on how to create videos that you can upload and use to drive traffic to your website or blog.  If you missed them, here is a list of links to those articles to help you get started:

Why You Should Use Sites Like YouTube To Post Your Videos

What You Should NOT Do When Creating Marketing Videos

The Type of Software and Hardware to Use When Making Videos

Producing Your Traffic Generating Video

Getting Your Video Finished and Formatted Online

If you are going to use this method of Web savvy traffic generation, I have a few extra tips that might help you accomplish your goals. 

Many of the marketers out on the Web that are using video to get people to go to their squeeze pages or websites usually make one fatal mistake.  They create a YouTube video channel, and then they make as many videos as they can to post to that channel. 

The problem with this strategy is that you are sacrificing QUALITY in your video content.  

The Bad Online Video Experience

You are then treated to some guy driving his car trying to look like the coolest Internet marketing guru since the Rich Jerk.  You start watching, and obviously he has not thought one wit about what he was going to say. 

Even if he is telling you something of value that you've never heard before, it takes him so long to spit it out that you become frustrated and finally go elsewhere.  

It doesn't matter that he’s got 500 marketing videos on his YouTube channel, because you just haven’t got the time to listen to his nonsense.  Also, you suddenly notice that his video counts are very low and have been online for over 2 years. 

With all of that, why would you waste your time watching his junk?

The Great Online Video Experience

You find a video with the same title ““Using Social Networks for Generating Traffic to Your Blog” and click on it.  Right from the first second, you notice that

the video quality is great, the person speaking is dressed neatly and is speaking clearly.  

Even though it is exactly the same information as the last individual gave you, it is being said much more concisely, and he is moving through his main points with much better clarity.

Instead of driving his Jaguar past the beach, he is standing in front of a plain background with text popping up next to him, highlighting the key points.  You can tell from the onset, his goal is to make sure you get some valuable information from spending your valuable time watching his video. 

Being Web savvy, you know deep down inside that he’s eventually going to lead you to his sales funnel, but you don’t care!  If the product you eventually buy from this person is as high quality as his video, then you’ll gladly plunk down a good price to get it.

When the video ends, you click on the link to his YouTube channel and notice that even though some these videos have been online for 12 months, there is a rather large viewer count.

Not only are you a little smarter from having watched the video, you are now more YouTube savvy and you make a mental note to start looking at videos with a higher viewer count in the YouTube filter.

Quality VS Quantity

The point of this is, when you make bad videos and start uploading them to your site or channel, you are creating a brand and a presence online for yourself.  It’s exactly the same principle with writing blog posts.  If you write lousy, unfocused posts, nobody will read them and you’ll develop a bad reputation for yourself.

If you'd like to see a good example of an informative, high quality video watch this:

TIP:  Don’t just think about the video itself on YouTube, look at the comment section too.  If people are commenting on your video, write a response that is high quality, even if it is a negative comment.  Thank the individuals commenting and respond with kind words.  

This is what you call PROFESSIONALISM. If the comment is real bad, you can always delete it.  But try to display a professional attitude at all times.  If it is a criticism and it’s valid, thank the person commenting for their input give a nice answer and move on.

TIP 2:  Try to make a quick advertisement at the end of your video about your other videos.  The way I would recommend this would be to remind people of your YouTube channel and that you have more high quality videos for them to watch.  You can also plug your website and what it’s about after that as well.

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Wake Up Dummy! You’re In the Super Bowl Yourself – You Just Don’t Know It!

Without excluding myself, I think most people don’t get what it takes to become a success.  The reason why I’m not excluding myself is because I’m still on the path with the rest of you.  I haven’t

made it to where I want to be in my business, and every day that hippo is riding my back, reminding me that he’s still there. 

Before I get started, don’t start sending me email and comments telling me that you have the solution to my problem, because you don’t.   I’m sure that whatever marketing program you’ve created or are affiliated with on Click bank or whatever, has worked well for you.  As a matter of fact, it has worked so well that you have to lurk around social media sites to find easy prey to sell your stuff to.

In short, there is no quick solution to anyone’s problem.

I’m a copywriter and I network with other copywriters all the time.   If I've heard it once, I've heard it a million times from folks that write advertising copy:

“The client thinks I’m the solution to all of their business problems.”

“The person that hired me thought that their product would fly off the shelf once I gave them their copy.”

“I had to get rid of this client because they wouldn't give me any of the information on their business that I requested.”

I actually know someone that hired one of the top copywriters in the country and paid him thousands of dollars to write a direct mail piece.  I was told that out of the thousands of pieces that were sent out there were only two responses, and that didn't even lead to a sale.

Is it the copywriter’s fault?  Perhaps the sales funnel wasn't thought through well enough.  Perhaps the list that was purchased didn’t target the right market segment.  Maybe a smaller mailing list could have been used to test the copy and the target audience.

Point is, if you are having a lack of success in your life, the person to blame is usually in the mirror.

You Are The Guy Or Gal In The Super Bowl…Believe It Or Not!

I’m not a sports fan at all.  As a matter of fact, I’m rather sports illiterate.  I’m the guy that’s always amazed at how well a basketball player can get that puck into the net using only a croquette mallet.  But I do know one thing, if you see a sports legend today that has made it into the big leagues, much less the Super Bowl, I’d say you are looking at someone that has had to make massive sacrifices to get there. 

They spent long, hard years honing their craft, pursuing their goals, all the while never knowing if they would make it even close to their goals. 

Lucas, Spielberg and the Super Bowl

I’m shifting gears to movies since I seem to know more about them than sports.  However, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are two great examples of individuals that overcame adversity.  Who wouldn't want to be these guys?  They get to make the coolest movies, hang out with giants in their industry, and spend their days creating cool stuff.

However, things weren't always so rosy.

When Lucas was in his 20’s he made his first mega-hit, “Star Wars”, a movie that literally changed the entire movie industry in more ways than one.  But, what most people don’t know is, that while the younger, skinnier George Lucas was in the process of making his big hit, he had a heart attack. 

The enormous pressure he was under by vicious businessmen and investors plus the grueling filming schedule he was under almost killed him.

Spielberg didn't have it much easier.  While filming his first mega-hit, “Jaws”, one of the things he had to look forward to everyday while making the film was extremely rude people that actually bullied him on the set.  Similar to Lucas, Spielberg had to deal with ruthless movie moguls, a crew that was getting into more trouble every day, and a massive mechanical shark named Bruce, that didn't work 70% of the time. 

By the way, both of these guys spent years in the industry prior to this making cheap movies or TV shows.  They were accustomed to doing a lot of grunt work and taking massive amounts of crap from people.

And the Point is Sports Fans:

Whenever you see anyone you admire that is bathing in success, just think, “How much crap did they have to do to get there?”

Chances are they went through an awful lot, and that’s why they are on the field moving the ball towards another goal.

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com