Why blog posts now need a call to action

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online-business-blog-posts-need-call-to-action-1Once upon a time, you could build a blog post and people would come and they would subscribe just because the opt-in form was in the sidebar.

No more. People are wary of getting more emails. They tend to swoop in, get what they need, and quickly leave.

So you need to integrate a call to action (CTA) into the blog post itself. A call to action is an offer of some type and you ask the reader to take action to get whatever you’re offering.

A CTA can grow your list and your sales much faster.

What kind of CTAs can you include?

First, let’s talk about the content

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by Ellen Finkelstein

Trends for online marketing in 2017 and beyond

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How are you going to compete with all the marketing noise out there?

As I’m sure you know, the Internet is a busy place. Think about all the social media notifications you get, for example. What makes one stand out over the others?

And then think about how you can be the one that people remember! Be the turquoise when everyone else is gray!

Have you ever signed up for a free online report, gotten on someone’s email list as a result, but when you starting getting emails, you had no idea who they were from? That happens to me quite a lot and I end up unsubscribing.

How can you be memorable?

I have a coaching client who teaches mortgage loan officers how to be memorable so they can get more leads and close more mortgage loans. She creates quirky images that are very memorable. And her techniques are designed to keep her customers “top of mind.”

Here are some trends for online marketing that will help you be memorable, leading to more engagement and more sales.

1. Engage regularly

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by Ellen Finkelstein

What are my 1st 5 actions to get my business started and quit my day job?

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1st-5-actions-to-get-my-business-started-1

This question came from my recent survey. It can be overwhelming and confusing when you are working full time and therefore have so little time to build a new business. But quitting your day job might be your dream!

How do you start? Where do you start? How do you make the right decisions?

Where are you starting from?

Your 1st 5 actions will depend on where you are now. If you have no idea what type of business you want–who you want to sell to and what type of products you want to sell–then you have some preliminary work to do.

I have a blog post, What Should I Do?, that will help you.

Let’s assume you’re starting from scratch but have some basic idea of what you know and like. Here are your 1st 5 actions:

  1. Decide on a direction and a strategy
  2. Research keywords and niches
  3. Choose a domain name and web host
  4. Set up a website with WordPress
  5. Decide on a marketing strategy

online-business-sales-funnelWould you like to know what comes after that?

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by Ellen Finkelstein

4 secrets to choose the best images for your posts, webinars, sales pages and ads

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online-business-bare-4-secrets-choose-best-images-for-slidesYou use images in your business for 3 reasons:

  1. To help people understand what you are saying
  2. To help them remember what you are saying
  3. To persuade them to take action

Images will do the following:

  • Get more people to read or view your content
  • Increase engagement (clicks and shares)
  • Improve conversion rates

Where should you use images?

Everywhere!

  • At the top of each blog post and, if possible, scattered throughout your posts
  • On sales pages–again, scattered throughout
  • On webinar slides
  • In social media posts — pretty much a necessity these days
  • In ads
  • In e-books and reports

Can you think of other places?

How do you choose the best images?

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by Ellen Finkelstein

7 post types that get the most shares and links

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online-business-7-post-types-1A main business purpose of writing a blog post is to get it shared and linked back to. (Another is to get subscribers and customers/clients.)

So which post types should you write so that more people will share it and link back to it?

Two online organizations, Moz and BuzzSumo, combined their knowledge and data to analyze the shares and links of over 1 million blog posts. Wow! You can read the full article here.

Here’s a summary of the results: Read More

by Ellen Finkelstein