What is it about optimizing your online sales funnel that seems so nebulous and challenging for marketers today?

Not even sure what I mean when I say, "Online sales funnel"?

Then you're in the right spot.  Stay tuned to learn about it from an expert!

optimizing-your-online-sales-funnel

In this episode of the halftime Mike podcast I interview online sale funnel specialist Jeremy Reeves.

Jeremy is one of the top sales funnel experts in the world today. He’s trusted to build funnels for Crazyegg.com computer products and dozens of other Inc. 500 companies.  Jeremy hails from Pennsylvania and is busy online all the time with sales funnel products for copy writing, coaching, and providing direct services.  I’m excited to dive into the details of powerful sales funnels today!

Listen Now:

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Subscribe:  Halftime Mike on iTunes  | Android users via RSS  | Listen on Stitcher.

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Optimizing your Online Sales Funnel for Revenue Growth

1. Background and evolving expertise of Jeremy Reeves

Jeremy started as a copywriter. Copy is important in sales funnels!

Writing:
He uses writing as a strategic tool that help clients sell better. He emphasizes his key to writing as always something that should bring value to his customers. To be successful on this, one needs to focus who is the customer.

People:
Jeremy has a degree in Psychology. He was able to use this background to help him know with ease how people feel, what people think and what resonates on the customer's level of emotional feeling... like what are their frustrations, etc. Out of these, he then comes up with ways to help them.

2. The Online Sales Funnel Defined

Sales Funnels are a means of sequentially walking your soon-to-be customers through a strategic, automated process in your marketing t. Jeremy creates and pulls copy writing content and puts it into automatic sequences: email, rewriting on website or an automatic webinar. Together,these are his strategic mix.

Why is a Sales funnel important to websites today?

More Sales. A Sales funnel comes down to timing. It doesn't work in an instant. Most people are not ready to buy at the first moment of introduction.

It is a step by step process of building relationship with your customers by letting them know about you in the process, and winning their trust before they do business with you. Sharing with them personal stories, making them see that you understand their frustrations and that you can relate to them.

Follow up is important! 
As you help them with their concerns, as a way of giving them value, you can share to them mini parts of your successes and show them how and why what you are doing works - Here you can already insert little pitch of sales into them. Let them see what makes you better than your competitors and why you are the right person they need to solve their problem.

3. Client Stories of Sales Funnel Success

Pat has a 7-figure Personal Training business. He was selling 3 uniquely different products to his audiences. Jeremy's solution was to segment his email list based on unique factors.

Dustin - The method used was to direct Facebook ads to a landing page, leading to a webinar, for this network marketing business. They offered a free bonus webinar, a 2k training course, phone and sales support. He only has to pay $7 per leads, but averages a $57 return on each!

Melissa - She was doing lots of launches per year, making in labor intensive and tiresome. Jeremy did worked with her to create an automated webinar system that runs traffic to it earning $1,300 a day without Melissa talking to anybody about anything. Awesomeness!

Listen to the full stories of each!

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4. What are common gaps and mistakes you see in Sales Funnels online?

People tend to wait for too long to launch. Don't wait for the perfect time and perfect things before moving or starting something. Nothing gets done with that! Get to 80% and launch.

Know your audience!  You can't "scatter shot."  You need to know who you are reaching and how you can best connect on a emotional level with them.  One also needs to answer the question:  How can I prove to them that I am the best choice for them? Be aware of these things while you're looking for Sales Funnels.

5. What are some “Growth Hack” tips you might be able to share that can help our audience?

There are different structures for different types of Sales Funnels. Different factors and steps depending on what kind of product you are selling. Jeremy usually does Mind Mapping of a sales funnel when working with a client on a plan.  Drawing it out visualizes the process and end-game.

Remember....The Customer is the main epicenter of your business. Anything you will do needs to revolve around them. You need to understand your customers. Make sure that what you know about your customers is being expressed and articulated in your copy.

Freedom offer concept - Consider a way to give your clients 5x or 10x the quality of your service than your highest listed price.  Yes, go big!  How can you offer a exclusive, elevated Freedom Offer premium version of your product or service?  You only need 1-3 to act on this to really launch your business forward.

What is your market positioning? Maybe you're on the low end of cost, middle or high classification. Improve your positioning!  Know where you stand in the market. The most critical position to be in is to be in the Middle group. Since all types of competition is here, you need to stand out and know what's different about you.

Next, understand your types of customers. Do analysis. Who is giving me revenues for the least amount of stress?  Doing Segmentation will help you identify this and eventually  gives you the most accurate marketing strategy you can offer your client knowing where they are coming from, where they stand, and where they want their business to go.

All this and more in this podcast episode!

So what’s your key takeaway from this?  What do you need to do in the next 24 hours based on listening?

Share below!

Optimizing your Online Sales Funnel Resources:

 

Help Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet >>.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please “go over to iTunes,  leave a rating, write a review and subscribe!

Thank you so much for your support!

Why the Halftime theme Mike? 

I’m an Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create an updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't. The “halftime” is a key review point where the game stops, the team pulls away to huddle in the locker room away from the fans, and they come out prepared and ready to succeed in the second half.

That’s what this podcast is all about, taking the time to pull away for a bit to evaluate, learn, and set some strategies for your business to succeed in the second half. Join me by subscribing and let me be your “business halftime” to help you find great success going forward!

Subscribe: Halftime Mike on iTunes | Android users via RSS | Listen on Stitcher.

Download this Episode:
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Catch all the episodes of Halftime Mike by signing up for inbox delivery below!

 

 

Lead capture tactics - one of the most important and biggest gaps on websites today!

Most website do not have clearly defined ways to capture leads on their website.  A "contact us" form is not a lead capture tactic!

Lead capture must be part of an integrated online strategy.

Lead capture tactics

In this episode of the halftime Mike podcast I dive into the details on lead capture tactics as they flow within an overall digital marketing marketing strategy.

Listen Now:

Subscribe:  Halftime Mike on iTunes  | Android users via RSS  | Listen on Stitcher.

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Lead Capture Tactics in the Digital Marketing Funnel

Leads are the lifeblood of business.  With the amount of time that people spend online each day, it's imperative that a business have a strategy online for growing leads.  We've talked before about the Digital Marketing Funnel (image below) and past episodes have focused on the Attraction and Engagement strategies within the funnel.  This episode we dive into Lead Capture.  The why, the how, the nuts and bolts to help you up your game online!

Digital Marketing Funnel 1.21.16

Did you know it takes on average 7 points of contact before a sale occurs? Why is that?

A few are ready to buy right away but most are not.  Particularly if you are marketing to them, they were not in "search mode" but were open in "learn mode" to know more about you.  That's an initial introduction but trust and brand recognition has not been established.

Many are in "research mode".

A few are mildly interested but not yet near a point of trusting you.

lead-capture-tactics-2

This is where lead capture comes in!

Somehow they came to your website, whether via a post on Facebook or Twitter, or a Google Search.  With stats showing somewhere in the range of 65-80% of visitors never returning to a website, it's time right then to try and move them into your funnel with a soft lead capture method.

Soft Lead Capture FTW!

A "soft lead capture" is the key for growing leads while visitors are on your website.  Some call it a "Call to Action", "UVP" (Unique Value Proposition) or a "MVP" (Motivating Value Proposition), the key is offering something of value...something that is enough of interest that the user is willing to give you their name and email address (or phone for texting) in exchange for it. It is not your product or service!

It is "soft" because it does not require much to get...name and email is all...and it is not your full product or service, but it something of value that is connected to your business that is of such value that it is enticing for visitors to want.  Here are some keys...

Keys for a Unique Soft Lead Capture:

Examples of Lead Capture Tactics

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lead-capture-tactics-

Tools for Lead Capture online

So back to my original point.  Most businesses are not using lead capture on their websites.  Their "Contact Us" page IS NOT a lead capture tool.  You often need a distinct landing page to send users to or you need a tool that engages the user (pop-up or widget) on the site pages.

Yes, pop-ups work!  They may seem annoying but they do work. Check out this data set on pop-ups performing for more information.  Would a 1375% increase in sign-ups intrigue you?  How about the fact that a sidebar sign-up performed at .4% sign-ups while a pop-up on the same site converted at 5.5%?

You need to use tools!  One tool I can recommend (disclaimer... I'm a co-founder) is Waftio.

waftio-lead-capture-tactics

Tools like waftio let you easily add a lead capture pop-up or widget to your website.  It can even be used as a landing page on your site or as a standalone web landing page.

Configure the options for how it appears, how often it appears, and sync sign-ups with many email marketing services.  There's no excuse NOT to use soft lead capture tactics on your website when Waftio is around!

waftio-soft-lead-capture-tactics ACTION ITEM:  It's time to evaluate the lead capture on your website!  Is it part of a cohesive strategy?  Is it soft?  Does it offer value?

All this and more in this podcast episode!

So what’s your key takeaway from this?  What do you need to do in the next 24 hours based on listening?

Share below!

Lead Capture Tactics Resources:

 

Help Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet >>.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please “go over to iTunes,  leave a rating, write a review and subscribe!

Thank you so much for your support!

Why the Halftime theme Mike? 

I’m an Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create an updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't. The “halftime” is a key review point where the game stops, the team pulls away to huddle in the locker room away from the fans, and they come out prepared and ready to succeed in the second half.

That’s what this podcast is all about, taking the time to pull away for a bit to evaluate, learn, and set some strategies for your business to succeed in the second half. Join me by subscribing and let me be your “business halftime” to help you find great success going forward!

Subscribe: Halftime Mike on iTunes | Android users via RSS | Listen on Stitcher.

Catch all the episodes of Halftime Mike by signing up for inbox delivery!

Ok, I want some questions!

what-questions-do-you-have---halftime-mike

My goal with the Halftime Mike podcast is to be relevant and helpful, giving you practical insights.  So, I really need to know a bit more about the pressing questions and issues you face related to:

It's pretty broad but focused on online ways to help businesses grow leads and leverage.  Anything from website questions, mobile apps, to specific social media platform questions I want to help YOU!

To do that I need to know what questions you have!

Got-questions-halftime-mike

Help me out by posting questions below in the comment area.

I'm going to be taking all comments into consideration for future Halftime Mike podcast episodes.

So please, let me know how I can help you!

Why the Halftime theme Mike?

I’m a Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create a updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't. The “halftime” is a key review point where the game stops, the team pulls away to huddle in the locker room away from the fans, and they come out prepared and ready to succeed in the second half.

That’s what this podcast is all about, taking the time to pull away for bit to evaluate, learn, and set some strategies for your business to succeed in the second half. Join me by subscribing and let me be your “business halftime” to help you find great success going forward!

Subscribe:
via iTunes: Halftime Mike on iTunes | Android users via RSS | Listen on Stitcher.

Catch all the episodes of Halftime Mike by signing up for inbox delivery below!

Again, got questions?  Post it below in the Disqus comments area!

LinkedIn is the preeminent business social network and a place where most business professionals already have a presence.

The key is making your LinkedIn presence work for your business!

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Neal Schaffer is a Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencer two years in a row and creator of the AdAge Top 100 Global Marketing Blog Windmill Networking (recently rebranded as Maximize Social Business), Neal is a global social media speaker who also teaches as part of the Rutgers University Mini Social Media MBA Program. As an author, Neal is best known for his definitive book on social media strategy creation, implementation, and optimization “Maximize Your Social: A One-Stop Guide to Building a Social Media Strategy for Marketing and Business Success” (Wiley).

Neal has also published two other award-winning social media books:

Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing and Windmill Networking: Maximizing LinkedIn.

I was privileged to meetup with Neal recently at the New Media Expo (#NMX) conference in Las Vegas where we sat down and recorded a concise interview on maximizing your LinkedIn presence.

Listen to the Podcast:

Subscribe to my podcast:

via iTunes:  Halftime Mike on iTunes  | Android users via RSS  | Listen on Stitcher.

Key Steps to Maximizing your LinkedIn profile:

1. Start with optimizing your profile

2. Increase your Connections

This helps expand your audience and in particular your "visibility", because when you post an update on LinkedIn your entire network has the opportunity to potentially see that update.  This means that the more connections you have, the more visibility of what you are doing is available to a larger audience.

3. Engage Regularly

Try to be active each day on LinkedIn by sharing some nugget as an update that can be of value to your network.

Some social media tools like Buffer, allow you to schedule a post to your LinkedIn profile ahead of time for example.  The key is to offer real value from your expertise and experience.  Do not sell, simply offer value.

Final Tip:

Whenever possible personalize your invitation to connect on LinkedIn. LinkedIn has some automatic methods to help you increase your connections including "People you may know" that invites you to push a button.  When this is done, there is no chance to personalize the invite.  So, if you don't know the person well, it is more important to be able to customize the invite.  Search for them on LinkedIn and then use the ability to personalize a message instead.

 

Help Spread the Word!

Please let your Twitter followers know about this podcast. Simply click here now to post a tweet.

If you enjoyed this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast, please go over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review and subscribe.

Resources from Neal Schaffer:

NEW! Neal was invited by LinkedIn to contribute to a new eBook "Sophisticated Marketer's Guide to LinkedIn".

Download the ebook here: Sophisticated Marketer's Guide to LinkedIn

Books by Neal: Maximize-Your-Social-Media-Book-Neal-Schaffer

Maximize Social Business - Most recent, published in September 2013

Create and maintain a successful social media strategy for your business!

LinkedIn Books:

Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing

Windmill Networking: Maximizing LinkedIn

 

Download this Halftime Mike episode:

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Subscribe to my podcast:

via iTunes:  Halftime Mike on iTunes  | Android users via RSS  | Listen on Stitcher.

 

Hangout with Mike and Neal at Social Media Marketing World this March in sunny San Diego! Learn more >>

 

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Social Media impacts Marketing, Branding, and more for every business today.

No longer can businesses get away with one way, push communication that shoves "buy, buy, buy" down the throat of consumers! In this podcast, I spend time with Pam Moore, CEO of digital agency Marketing Nutz and a Forbes Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer.

I ask questions about how Social Media has changed business and what today's business needs to be aware of and do in order to truly engage in this socially integrated 24/7/365 world we live in.  Pam outlines keys for businesses today, including the need for brands to listen, be authentic, and transparent.  Pam also covers how to handle negative comments in the "fishbowl" of social networks and why engaging and responding is important, with the caveat that social doesn't mean instantaneous  or being a doormat!

From her blog...

iStock 000002030722XSmall Inspire, Connect, Achieve for Social Business & Social Brand SuccessThe heartbeat of social media is people.

Social media is about people. Business is about people. Life is about people. Yes the technology enables us to communicate, share information, learn, engage and so much more. However, at the core it is all about people.

 

About Halftime Mike:

Halftime Mike podcasts are packed with no nonsense, practical tips for small and medium sized businesses.  Success today demands making adjustments fast and fluidly.  Just like a basketball team using halftime to evaluate the first half and set a game plan for the second half, business leaders can use this podcast to stop, reflect, and then take learning's to adjust and implement within their business!

Subscribe to this Podcast: Halftime Mike on iTunes  | Subscribe via RSS  | Listen on Stitcher.

Play now:  [powerpress]

If you find this podcast of value, please give a rating on iTunes!  That's how we expand our reach and audience!

 Key resources that Pam outlined in the Podcast are included below:

Video: The Heartbeat of Social Media

 

Subscribe to this Podcast: Halftime Mike on iTunes  | Subscribe via RSS  | Listen on Stitcher.

 

For more Halftime Mike podcast episodes, click here:

Trying to take your Facebook Page to the Next Level?

Not sure how to break through and wondering how to get more active fans and a more vibrant Facebook community? Need ideas and direction?

TabSite Monkey

This is the webinar for you!

Join TabSite for an informative Facebook Marketing webinar that will empower you to maximize your organization's Facebook marketing! You'll be equipped with knowledge about choosing and running great promotions and contests on your Facebook Page.

Ready to dive into running a contest or promotion on your Facebook Page to boost engagement, reach, and activity? Needing guidance on how, when, and what to post? We'll cover that and more in this webinar!

Included in the webinar will be action points for:

- Types of Promotions companies can run on their Facebook Page
- How a Promotion can build activity and engagement on a Page
- Tools and Tips for Posting on Facebook
- Methods to give mobile users access to your promotions
- Best Practices for your Page and Promo

 

WEBINAR DETAILS:

WHEN: Thursday, April 25, 2013
TIME: 1:30 p.m. EDT (New York) / 10:30 a.m. PT / 6:30 p.m. London
COST: Free online webinar event

The webinar will be 1 hour in length and will include approximately 35 minutes of input from the TabSite Team followed by a live Question & Answer time to answer attendee questions.

 

BONUS: 1 attendee will be randomly chosen to win a

Free for Life TabSite Gold Plan, a $150/year value.

 

Can't attend the webinar live? Register and you'll be on the list to get a email with video replay link.

Need resources now?

Use Facebook Apps to Boost Page Engagement

How to Post your Promotion and Contest to Facebook News Feed – Best Practices

5 Keys for Facebook Page Contests and Promotions

Learning Generation Initiative, located in Elkhart, Indiana launched a new website developed by Digital Hill Multimedia, Inc.  The new website is designed to better reach current and future students in Elkhart County and surrounding areas.

Learning Generation's new website will allow prospective students to learn about the Learning Generation Initiative, print enrollment application and forms, and receive information about scholarships.  The new website will help the Learning Generation Initiative better serve the needs of students in the Elkhart County area. This new web design features a CMS (content management system) editor allowing for easy content editing and creation of both main and sub categories. The new web design gives Learning Generation Initiative the website control they need to easily manage their website and keep it current with programs offered to Elkhart County and Northern Indiana students.  Learning Generation can add pages, content, pictures, embed YouTube videos and more!

Learning Generation Initiative provides individualized, accessible educational services to adult learners in Elkhart and surrounding Indiana counties, including:

Located at 1396 Benham Ave. Suite A in Eklhart, the Learning Generation Initiative has been serving students in Elkhart County for nearly a decade. You can visit their new website at www.learninggeneration.com.

For over 13 years, Digital Hill Multimedia, Inc. has specialized in Web Design, Ecommerce, SEO, Website Hosting, Social Media, Flash, 3-D Animation, Database Development, and Internet Marketing and Promotion Strategies in Northern Indiana and throughout the Country.  They can be contacted at 888-537-0703 or www.digitalhill.com.

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Press Release by Mike Gingerich, Internet Marketing Consultant, Digital Hill Multimedia

Here's a number of SEO tips I've picked up along the way and a link to the full article...

Search Engine Optimization:

Keyword Introduction and On-page Factors

Following Search Engine Guidelines will Increase Your Rankings

Webmasters and search engine optimizers often search for ways to get their site better indexed and improve their rankings.  You can scour Search Engine Optimization (SEO) forums, read books and talk to other webmasters.  But often, one of the most valuable ranking resources is forgotten: the search engines themselves.  All three major crawlers, Google, MSN (Windows Live) and Yahoo! offer comprehensive, webmaster-friendly help sections on optimizing your site.  Before setting off to optimize your site, make sure you got the basics down by following the rules of the game.  The following white paper is a summation of "keyword best practices," as outlined by the major search engines, to maximize your placement on Search Engines.

"Natural" Search Engine Optimization

The process of trying to get your site ranked better in search engine results has become known as "natural" or "organic" search engine optimization (SEO).  Since search engines are extremely popular with users and bring in pre-qualified traffic, many sites want to know how they can improve their rankings in non-paid search results. Anyone can launch a pay-per-click campaign on Google, but only a few sites rise to the top of search results.  Why is it important to be ranked high organically?  Only 20% of browsers ever click on pay-per-click links.  The other 80% click on the organic results.

Before you can understand how each search engine scores web sites, you need to understand the various factors they consider. These factors can be divided into two categories, on-page and offsite.

On-page factors are concerned with keywords and their placement in the HTML:

Off-site factors are not related to the content of your HTML, but rather to the overall quality of your site, search engines perceive it.  The major off-site factor is Link popularity and everything related to it, such as the following:

Achieve results

You can improve most of the above factors to achieve higher rankings. We recommend that you work on both on-page and off-site factors at the same time. This is especially important for sites targeting general and highly competitive terms. The search engine marketing landscape is simply too competitive right now to ignore either page-related factors or link popularity.

LINK TO SEE FULL ARTICLE: seo-keywords-white-paper1

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