5 Tips to Increase Your Website Conversions

5 Tips to Increase Your Website Conversions

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

The truth is websites are completely underrated. There has been a movement in the past couple of years from mentors and coaches saying that websites aren’t necessary when building a business.

I call BS on that one and here is why.

From a personal standpoint, I attract over 10,000 visitors to my website every month using Google and Pinterest.

In 2019 every private coaching client I signed (a minimum $5,000 investment) came from a simple Google search.

Today, I’m making sales every week from people who find me on Google and Pinterest. 

Without my website, none of that would be possible.

However, I get it! When I started my business I had zero traffic and therefore started to believe the lie that a website was pointless.

I’m glad I didn’t fall for that though and instead dedicated my time to not only driving more organic traffic to my website but also optimizing my website for conversions.

If you’re looking for ways to increase traffic to your website, check out this post here.

So, now that we understand how freaking cool websites are, let’s talk about how to optimize them. But, before we dive into these conversions let’s make sure we’re both on the same page.

I’m not promoting you spending the next 6 months trying to build your website, or playing with your website. This is not the answer. 

What you want to do is build your brand foundations, you can learn more about that in my Build a Better Brand Masterclass, and then create a simple website to start driving traffic to. You can always improve your website as more and more people find it.

So read through this post and if you don’t have a website bookmark it and start with my Build a Better Brand Masterclass and if you have a website then let’s get to work.

Website Conversion Tip #1

GRAB THEIR ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY

The average person will make a decision if your website is right for them in 15 seconds. Yes, that is the average time someone will spend on your website, so grabbing their attention and the first impression is crucial.

I look at this like the subject line of an email you want your audience to open or the photo on Instagram that you want your audience to see so they read your post.

This same approach applies to your website. My secret sauce for this is Emotional Branding.

I’ve been teaching the idea of Emotional Branding for years and it’s one of the most powerful pieces you can have in your branding, but more importantly in any situation where you want your audience to stop what they're doing and take action, or in this case explore your website.

Let’s assume for a moment we are talking about your homepage, since this is where most people from Google will land. The easiest way to see how your website is performing is to explore it yourself. 

Head to your website, as a viewer, and write down that you see. What do the images say to you, what is the first language you see, are you excited, stressed, happy, comforted, etc when you first get there? You can also ask two or three of your friends or family to tell you what they see and feel when landing on your site as well.

When you get this information ask yourself, “Is this on-brand for me? Is this correct based on the limited time they spent on my website?”

You’ll start to notice that the more emotionally-charged your images and words are the more likely people will be to stick around. 

Pictures of people work really well in this scenario, strong language or a mission at the top and pointing out the problem your audience is facing are great ways to get started.

Website Conversion Tip #2

CLEARLY STATE THE PURPOSE OF YOUR BRAND

Speaking of the first 15 seconds and the top of your website, the second thing you want to clearly state is the purpose of your brand. This will drastically help you improve website conversions because it gives people the opportunity to say, “Yes, this person is for me or no, I’m not feeling it!”

Despite what people say you actually want the wrong people for your brand to peace out. Why would you want someone who isn’t in alignment with your brand, not your ideal client and likely never going to buy from you hanging out? You don’t.

Having this clear brand statement at the top allows you to state what you do, who you serve, what problem they are facing and how your service or product helps them solve that problem.

For instance, my website says, “As a personal branding consultant, I teach female entrepreneurs who struggle with building a revenue-generating business, how to brand and market their mission and message online to make more money and impact.”

Right away you know what I do, who I serve, what they struggle with and what I help them accomplish. This is important because as a branding consultant I don’t do the physical branding work for you. So when people land on my website I want to make that clear that I’m not a designer. If they know right away there isn’t confusion or false expectations on how I can support them.

Website Conversion Tip #3

HAVE A CLEAR CALL TO ACTION

If someone is on your website, what do you want them to do? It’s a really important question that we don’t often think about. 

Typically there are two options:

Option 1 - Buy your product or service
Option 2 - Join your email list (the inner circle)

This last option is important because if you don’t have this call to action you might miss out on a potential sale. 

Let’s say I visit your website and I love it but I’m not in the market for your services. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll never be in need of your services, but if I have no way to stay in contact with you or learn more about you the odds of me remembering you are slim.

This is why we should always, I repeat always, have an email opt-in. You can learn more about building an email list here.

I prefer to have one core lead magnet that someone can receive in exchange for their email address. When you have one clear call to action it’s easier for people to say yes or no. For instance, my Personal Brand Roadmap is my only call to action on my home page and since making that change we’ve seen an increase in lead magnet conversions of over 60%.

The same is important for your blog as well, always have a lead magnet available on every single one of your blog posts so if someone finds you on Pinterest they can join your inner circle.

Website Conversion Tip #4

TELL A GREAT STORY

This is my specialty and the core foundation of my business. Storytelling is so important, but so many people reserve it for social media and email marketing and completely miss the mark on their website.

Up until this point we’ve talked a lot about your homepage, but there is another important page on your website that gets the majority of your traffic and that’s your ‘About Me’ page.

Your ‘About Me’ page is typically the second most viewed page on your website and rightfully so, people want to know what you’re about, they want to know your story. This is essential because what they are ultimately saying is, “Can I trust this person?”

Your ‘About Me’ page should, in fact, be about you. I know there is a lot of misinformation about what to include on this page and people often say it should only be about your audience, but I disagree.

If I’m going to your ‘About Me’ page then I want to learn about you. If you don’t tell me about you then I’m going to lose interest. So your page should include a clear brand story, as well as more information about you, what led you to where you are today, why you do what you do and who you serve.

By following this framework you’re more likely to convert readers and visitors into community members and paying clients. I know from experience that people have signed up for my programs because of what they read on my ‘About Me’ page.

For your page to perform and increase conversions you have to know your story. This is one of the core pillars of my program You! Branded, in fact, it’s the first module.

You! Branded helps women identify the different chapters of their book, aka ‘About Me’ page. It’s about introducing people to you, sharing your journey and building authority and trust and finally bringing it home to share how you can support them.

There is a fine art in writing your story while also keeping your audience engaged and inviting them in. I’ve got an entire blog on writing your ‘About Me’ page which you can check out here.

Website Conversion Tip #5

SEND A COHESIVE MESSAGE

And finally, let’s talk about a cohesive message for your website. This is where your branding work really gets to shine, and no I don’t mean your logo. 

What I mean by your branding work is how consistent are your images, your brand emotions and your overall messaging? Break this consistency and you’ll break the trust of your website viewer.

If I land on your homepage and discover you are a Relationship Coach for women healing from a toxic relationship and I’m intrigued. So then, I hop over to your blog and your blogs are about building your email list, there is a disconnect and now I’m confused and the trust is broken.

You want to make sure that everything you’re sharing on your website follows the theme of your brand and speaks to a very specific person. One of the pieces to a strong brand is messaging and I believe in building core brand messages for your brand as a whole so you can share those messages everywhere, including your website and always be on-brand.

If your message on your homepage is different from your message on your About Me and your blog it’s going to be hard for me to understand what exactly you do and how you can help me. 

An example would be that you don’t do any core messaging work and you start building your website. You sit down and write your homepage. Then the next day you write your story. Then an individual sales page. If you piece these together they don’t flow and feel like three separate standalone pages.

The reason we want things to flow is that we don’t just want to keep people engaged for 15 seconds as we talked about in tip one, but we also want to keep them on your website for an extended period of time. 

Those visitors are more likely to convert.


CONCLUSION

I know that if you implement these five tips on your website and my top tips for increasing traffic you’re going to find that your website can be a valuable part of your business.

As I mentioned in the beginning and throughout this blog so much of your messaging, story, visuals, etc come from your branding work. If you want to dive deeper into building your personal brand, I have a free Personal Brand Roadmap that you can download here.

P.S. If you want to learn more about the importance of storytelling because I know it’s such a hot topic, and rightfully so, I’ve got a blog post on The Art of Storytelling in Business here.

WATCH THE TIPS AND MORE HERE.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

4 Steps to Create Consistent Content for Your Business

If you’d like to watch the full video, you can do that here.

Content creation, you either love it or hate. I freaking love it and over the past four years of running my online business, I’ve shown up every single week with content for my audience.

I have over 200 blogs on my website, I’ve emailed my list at least once a week and the number of videos I’ve created is crazy. I do it because I love it, but I’ve also found a way to do it without spending all my time on it.

And content has gotten a bad wrap, people are talking about how you don’t need it, but in this blog, I’m going to share why it’s important and how to consistently show up for your audience without feeling stressed and overwhelmed with the process. 

3 LEVELS OF CONTENT CREATION

There are three levels your audience passes through, that you need to be aware of when creating content.

LEVEL ONE IS AWARENESS.
It’s the level in which people learn about you, your brand and maybe your service for the first time. Suddenly you’re on their radar and their awareness is heightened.

LEVEL TWO IS ATTRACTION.
After someone has an awareness of your brand, we then move our attention to attracting them to our inner circle/ or tribe. The goal here is to get people to sign up for your email list. Attracting them with a signature piece of content or, as I prefer, a lead magnet where they have to join your list to get it.

LEVEL THREE IS CONNECTION.
At this phase, we are putting the emphasis on nurturing your growing audience. The goal is to show up for them, connect with them and ultimately lead them to the sale.

Now, of course, someone could see your brand and go straight to the sale.

Somebody could join your list and go straight to the sale, but the majority of the people (think 90% need a little more nurturing and trust building).

Each of the levels shared above relies on content.

You can't really bring people to your brand, make them aware of your brand and what you have to offer if you're not showing up.

You can’t attract the right people and get them ready to join your email list if you’re not creating the quality content they want.

And, we can't really connect with people and build that relationship if we're not showing up and connecting with them consistently. 

So everything that we do as an online entrepreneur is really centered around content.

CONSISTENT CONTENT DOESN’T MEAN POSTING DAILY

When I talk about consistent content people’s immediate reaction is that I’m asking them to post every day, when the truth is far from that.

I actually hate this strategy and don’t use it in my business. I teach a very, very different method inside of Brandmerry Academy that relies on the art of repurposing.

But, what I want to drive home is the element of consistency. Consistency doesn’t mean daily, it means being consistent in your scheduling.

If you decide that you want to show up twice a week, consistently show up twice a week

If you decide you want to show three, four, whatever it is times a week, consistently do that. 

One of the worst things you can do is break your consistency, yet so many entrepreneurs fall off the wagon once or twice and then stop. Rather than hoping back on, it becomes this whole thing of, “Do I hop back on? How do I get back into it? Where do I start again?”

We put too much pressure on ourselves that if something happens, and we don't show up, or you know, we don't write a blog that week that we have to start over from the beginning and that is so not the case. 

That’s why so much of consistently showing up online and sharing content is reliant on our mindset. 

The tips below will only work if you understand that life will happen, you might fall off the schedule a few times, but the best thing you can do is get back up and work on your content creation habits.

Remember the more that you show up, the more consistent you are, the more your audience hears from you. 

The less you show up, the less consistent you are, the less your audience hears from you.

It’s not science.

Ok, on to the 4 Tips to Create Consistent Content in Your Business.

1. STAY INSPIRED TO CREATE CONTENT

You have to stay inspired and motivated. The key to being excited about creating content is to always look for ways to be inspired.

Let me give you an example. 

I know that if I need to create content, my butt goes outside.

If I know that I need to create content, let’s say I want to brainstorm and map out 90 days of topics I head to Starbucks.

I know the type of environments and resources that get me inspired and motivated. What are yours?

We have to put ourselves in places that inspire us if we ever hope to be inspired.

If you're sitting In bed, on your laptop, you're probably not feeling very inspired. 

So not only do we need to put ourselves in situations where we're feeling inspired, but we also have to get excited about what it is we are doing.

So much of getting excited ties back to the purpose of your business. 

Why are you doing this? 
Why should you show up and create content?
Who is it for?

If you haven't figured out the real purpose and mission behind your business, today would be a great day to write that down.

When I tap into my purpose of empowering women to own their story and show up and share that with the world through their brand that keeps me motivated. So, even if I am tired or don’t feel 100% in it, I root myself in my purpose and excitement hits.

The core part of consistently thinking of content topics, consistently showing up and delivering that content and consistently engaging comes from being inspired and being motivated. 

2. LOOK AROUND FOR CONTENT IDEAS

When we start thinking about creating content we sit down with a notepad, in a quiet room and write our ideas.

I'm telling you, I've had the best content ideas in the shower, or walking through the grocery store, listening to podcasts, or scrolling on Instagram, which is not in a dark room with a notepad.

I’m using the everyday moments around me to think of ideas. For instance, when I hop on Instagram I won’t just do it to waste some time, but I’ll set the intention to see if anything inspires me outside of my industry.

Then I use that inspiration to create a piece of content.

This is why I’m a big fan of using Trello or Google Docs as a way to organize a content idea bank because as I’m going about my day, with the intention to look for ideas, I can pause and add my idea to my Trello board and then go back about my day.

What I’m doing is I’m creating a resource of content ideas every single day, rather than sitting down to “try and write” and feeling incredibly lost and stuck.

The biggest mistake I see entrepreneurs make is feeling like it's 100% up to them to come up with topics for their content.

Look around you.
Get inspired.
Don’t be afraid to Google topics and see what comes up.
Search on Pinterest for a topic and see what comes to your mind.
Look in a Facebook Group and search for topics to see what people ask.

Shift the way you go about getting ideas away from sitting down and brainstorming, to setting the intention to always look for ideas.

3. MAKE CONTENT CREATION A PRIORITY

Your content creation and your business in general, shouldn't just fit in where it fits in your schedule. Make it a priority and move the other things to fit around it.

You will get results if you’re carving out a dedicated chunk of time at least once a week to create your content if you’re not then you're doing yourself a disservice.

You don’t need to create every single day, many of my clients have one designated content creation/ writing day a week. And if you do it, for let’s say two weeks, and still don’t find you’re able to create the amount of content you want in that time frame then cut back on the content or master your repurposing workflow.

Do what you can in that time frame and then as your business grows, as you hire more team members, as you get faster and faster writing content and blog posts, then you can start to create more and show up on more platforms.

So many people fall off because they're trying to do way too much when it comes to content creation, they can't keep up with it. 

I am a big fan of bulk scheduling. I bulk create and write my content on Monday’s.

I don't do calls on Mondays and pretty much my entire day is carved out to create my content.

I use this time to write my notes for my weekly live stream, Mondays With Michelle, schedule my social media posts and choose the graphics.

4. CHOOSE YOUR CONTENT PLATFORMS WISELY

When you’re starting your online business you’re thinking, “Ok, I’m going to create a website and hope someone comes to it and then I’ll show up on social media. I’ll create a Facebook group or I'll join some Facebook groups, and I'll show up on Instagram.”

Sound familiar? I know it was exactly what I did in the beginning.

This is why so many entrepreneurs get overwhelmed because in order for your stuff to really get seen on those platforms you need to consistently post, which means daily on Facebook and Instagram.

I used to do this and found myself overwhelmed with the amount of content I needed to create, so I don’t do it anymore and that's because social media is no longer my top tier platform.

Remember back to the beginning where we talked about Awareness, Attraction and Connection? Another way to look at this is through Cold, Warm and Hot Leads.

The majority of people in the Awareness phase are a cold lead, so you’re creating content that pulls them into your brand, if this is social media you’re going to feel like you’re constantly climbing a steep hill.

In my business, I pull in cold leads through my blog, which I optimize for Google and share on Pinterest. Another alternative is Youtube and podcasting. The reason these platforms work so well is because they are Search Engines; your audience is going to them with specific questions and looking for answers, this is not the same for social media.

In addition, your content lives longer on these platforms than say a post on social media, which might last 24 hours if you’re lucky.

If you're not already considering things like optimizing your website for SEO, and you aren't blogging, and you are not using Pinterest or you’re not using YouTube (if you like videos), really consider switching up where you are showing up, it will make a huge difference and will allow you to consistently show up with less content.

Again, if you want more of a deep dive in how to repurpose your weekly video or blog post, check out this blog.

CONCLUSION

Consistently showing up in your brand is important, but it doesn’t mean you have to post daily. Consistently showing up is about having smart marketing in place with systems and workflows that allow you to create content in a shorter amount of time and optimize your content so it lasts longer.

Brandmerry Academy is where I teach my clients how to improve their marketing without relying on social media. To learn more and join the waitlist visit brandmerryacademy.com

If these tips were helpful let me know over on Instagram. I’m hanging out at @michelleknightco.

P.S. Planning and creating your content doesn't have to be a constant struggle. There is a better way to research, plan, and create your content as an entrepreneur and it's all inside the Content Planning Blueprint!

The Content Planning Blueprint is perfect for online business owners who know the power of content creation but are tired of spending all of their time coming up with ideas, organizing their content, and wondering what will attract their dream clients.

In just a few hours, you'll have 90 days of content planned, a repeatable workflow to save you hours on creating and distributing your content every week, and content topics that will keep performing for your brand for years to come! Get your blueprint now >>

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

3 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website

3 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

So you have a website, but little to no traffic. The struggle is real, and something so many entrepreneurs, including myself have experienced.

It took me monthly to build my website and an additional year before I realized that my website meant nothing if I wasn’t getting people to actually view it. Now, just a few years later, I’m getting thousands of organic website visitors every month using the strategies I’m sharing today.

So if you have a website, one you probably spent a lot of time and maybe even money on, and no one seems to see it, today’s blog on 3 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website is for you.

WHY YOU NEED A WEBSITE

There are a lot of online educators and course creators saying that you don’t need a website and I disagree. If you’re running an online business you NEED a website, for one main reason...people are searching for your services online and if you don’t have a website, well they won’t find you.

In addition to showing up in search results, websites serve as a valuable resource for your business.

CENTRAL LOCATION: People want to find what they need and having a central location with the information for your business and services is a great way to do that. Someone doesn’t want to search through your Instagram profile or your Facebook page to learn more about you, they want a one-stop-shop, this is where your website comes into play.

FIND WHAT THEY WANT RIGHT NOW: In addition to having your information in one central location, people also want what they want right away. So if someone is looking for a particular service or resource you want to give it to them, that’s where your website and a collection of resources come in.

A PLACE TO REFER PEOPLE: I don’t know about you, but I love having a place to send people that I know is going to support them at the highest level. This is my website. My website is a resource for anyone interested in learning more about my brand, business and services. Having the information available and in one space makes it easier for me in growing my business.

METHOD #1

HOW TO DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE FOR FREE

One of the most effective and simple ways to drive traffic to your website for free is by using our friend Google.

Think about it, when you have a question or a problem you turn to Google. So every single day your ideal customer is doing the same, looking for your product or service and a solution to their problem that you solve.

If you’re not taking the time to set up Site-Wide SEO (not specifically talking about blogs here) you’re missing out on free traffic.

Today, we’re getting hundreds of organic traffic from Google thanks to landing on page one for multiple keywords.

The best part about Site-Wide SEO is it’s something you can set up for your business on the backend, or hire someone to do it for you, and you don’t need to touch it every single week like you do content.

Today, I blog every week which helps rank for multiple keywords, but in the beginning, I only had optimized my main page SEO and still landed on page one.

If you want to learn more about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) check out this blog.

METHOD #2

MY FAVORITE WAY TO DRIVE CONSISTENT TRAFFIC TO MY WEBSITE

I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it. If you’re not already aware of how Pinterest can improve your online marketing, you’re in for a treat!

Pinterest is how I’m consistently driving traffic to the content on my website. 

While the main purpose of my Site-Wide SEO was to rank my home page for specific keywords my audience is searching for, think Personal Branding Consultant, Branding Coach, etc...I’m using Pinterest to drive traffic to my blog.

Pinterest, like Google, is a search engine, so while many people think Pinterest is a social media platform like Facebook and Instagram they are wrong. Pinterest was designed to get people off the platform, not to stick around and socialize.

Because of this, it’s great for every online business, as it’s experienced experimental growth over the past few years.

The key to Pinterest is content, which I create in the form of my blog posts. Every blog post gets pushed out to Pinterest and using our Pinterest Strategy from inside Brandmerry Academy (http://brandmerryacademy.com) we’re consistently driving traffic to my website (even blogs from 2017 still get consistent traffic today).

So you can see why Pinterest is such a valuable tool in driving traffic to your website and the best part, it’s free (although there is an option to promote pins on Pinterest as well).

**Did I mention Pinterest also helps you rank on Google? Well, it does! When Google sees that you’re getting traffic to your content they love it and it tells them it’s valuable so they’re more likely to move it up.

METHOD #3

HOW TO DRIVE TARGETED TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE

You’ve probably already guessed I’m going to talk about blogging, but we’re going to get a little bit more specific here. It’s not enough to just blog random topics and to just post content without doing a little research.

In fact, taking just a few minutes to map out your blog content ahead of time and think strategically about what content you want your ideal customer to have their hands on will help with website traffic drastically.

So Method #3 is Do The Research. One of the best ways to improve traffic to your website is to create quality content your audience is searching for. This is why I love Ubersuggest and use it in my own business.

Ubersuggest allows you to do thorough keyword research, as well as see what people in your industry are creating content around.

Taking this time before you start writing your content will help. I suggest mapping out 90-days worth of blog topics with keyword research and repeat every 90 days.

SEO, Pinterest and blogging doesn’t have to be overwhelming, we show you how to do it step-by-step inside Brandmerry Academy.

CONCLUSION

Driving traffic to your website should be a top priority. Let’s face it relying on social media to build your business is inconsistent and unreliable, but optimizing your website and using tools like Pinterest can not only bring in the consistent traffic, but also save you time as well.

Inside Brandmerry Academy, we teach marketing strategies that don’t rely on social media. It gives you VIP access to monthly marketing courses on Email Marketing, SEO, Pinterest, Blogging, Video, Podcasting and more.

Learn more about Brandmerry Academy at brandmerryacademy.com.

P.S. I’ve got some other cool blogs and videos for you, that I’m linking below. I mean you’re already here you might as well keep reading.

HOW TO BUILD AN EMAIL LIST

3 MARKETING MISTAKES TO AVOID AS AN ONLINE ENTREPRENEUR

WATCH THE TIPS AND MORE HERE.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

Why You Shouldn’t Rely on Social Media to Build Your Email List

Why You Shouldn’t Rely on Social Media to Build Your Email List

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

The goal of marketing your business should be to build your email list/ inner circle.

There I said it. Why is this your main goal? Because when you have a community you have people to sell too - Community = Profits.

Yet, so many entrepreneurs don’t put enough attention to doing this daily. The reason for this is because of social media. Social media is an amazing business strategy, but in terms of marketing your business, it’s not the best strategy.

If you’re relying on social media to build your email list and make sales for your business and are feeling overwhelmed and inconsistent you’re not alone, but there is another way.

Here are three reasons we shouldn’t rely on social media to build our business and what to do instead.

#1 SOCIAL MEDIA IS MEANT TO BE SOCIAL

The reason the purpose of social media is important is that it was designed to be social. The purpose of these platforms is to keep people on them and engaged for long periods of time, so they’re not ideal for sending people to your website or landing page for your free gift.

While platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn make it easier than Instagram to post external links, the platforms have released statements saying that they favor content that keeps users on the platform.

So while social media might be a great way to engage with your audience on social, it won’t give you the same conversions as other strategies when it comes to building your email list.

#2 YOU DON’T OWN SOCIAL MEDIA

You know this right? Well, if you don’t realize that building your following and community on social media is risky let’s remember the times when Instagram and Facebook went down.

There have been many times in my business when I wanted to go live on Facebook and I couldn’t. Or Instagram was down for everyone making it impossible to post.

Now, while this might be an inconvenience for me it doesn’t really matter because I lead my social media followers to my email list.

Imagine if the only place you can contact your community is social media and this happens during a launch or promotion? Not good! 

And, while you don’t own your email platform either, you can download the name and email address for subscribers making it easy to move somewhere else.

#3 SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT A SEARCH ENGINE

There’s a reason platforms like Google, Pinterest and Youtube work so well at attracting new subscribers and eyes on your brand; they are searchable.

What do I mean? We’ll if you type something into these platforms, often a question, you’ll get resources and solutions to your problem; social media was not designed in the same way.

Sure, you have hashtags and a search feature, but they aren’t optimized for search results and you’re not always getting the most accurate or prominent at the top.

If you’re running a business one of your daily goals should be to attract new people to your brand and business and that isn’t efficiently done if you’re relying on social media.

SO, WHERE DOES SOCIAL MEDIA FIT IN

Let’s talk about the 3 Tiers of Marketing - Know, Like and Trust.

Tier 1: Is the Brand Awareness stage, this is where people get to know you.

Often, this is done by creating content that you put out into the world and using tools like Pinterest, Google or Youtube so people can actually discover your content.

Tier 2: This is the Attraction stage and where you lead your new fans to your email list. You’re attracting them with a lead magnet or free gift in exchange for their email results.

Tier 3: This is where you focus on building trust with your new community members. This is where social media plays a vital role. You want to use social media to nurture your audience, educate them and share more behind the brand and your story. This is when social media makes the most sense.

However, as we’ve mentioned so many people are relying on social media at Tier 1 and are missing out on consistent leads and sales.

CONCLUSION

Social media is great, it’s one of my favorite ways to show up for my audience, but if you’re relying on social media to attract new subscribers and grow your list of potential leads it’s going to be a slow climb.

Using resources like Google, Pinterest, Youtube and more can not only speed up the process but optimize your time and energy in a much better way.

Check out this recent post I did on driving traffic to your website for some additional ideas.

P.S. The foundation of a great marketing strategy is your brand. I made you a free Brand Roadmap that you can download here. The Roadmap will give you the 5-Step Roadmap to build a better brand + 3 mistakes you might be making now!

WATCH THE TIPS AND MORE HERE.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

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MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.

3 Ways to Improve Your Email Funnel (when growing your email list)

3 Ways to Improve Your Email Funnel (when growing your email list)

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

You know you need an email list when running an online business, but what about the funnel? An email funnel gives you a chance to onboard each new subscriber the same. 

Today, I’m sharing 3 ways to improve your email funnel. 

Your email funnel is important and although we typically think of the funnel as a way to sell a course or small-priced offer, it can also be used to get your ideal customer on the phone with you or signed up for your high-level offer.

There are a lot of possibilities with your email funnel, but a few things to keep in mind.
Your funnel should introduce you, the brand, your mission and position you as the expert that can solve their problem.

You can do this in a variety of ways by sharing stories, referencing past blogs or videos, offering inspiration or tips inside the emails and of course making an offer (aka a solution to their problem).

Let’s start at the beginning before we dive into the tips.

WHAT ARE EMAIL FUNNELS?

An email funnel is a staple in marketing your business. When you offer a lead magnet/freebie/free offer, the email funnel is what happens after their email is added to your system (automatically with Convertkit and other platforms).

The email funnel is a predesigned series of emails that takes your new subscriber from not knowing anything about you to ready to invest.

If we think of social media as the handshake, then the email funnel is the happy hour!

It’s where you, the marketer, introduce yourself, tell stories, build trust, position yourself as the expert and offer your product as a solution to your ideal customer’s problem. 

After the funnel ends (typically over the course of a week or two, although 6-month funnels are NOT unheard of) your subscriber goes into your newsletter list and receives real-time emails from you weekly.

HOW TO CREATE AN EMAIL FUNNEL

Before we can dive into the email funnel, we have to talk about what happens BEFORE someone even gets into the funnel.

In order to grow your email list, you want to have:

1. Free gift or Lead Magnet: an incentive for them to give you their email

2. Email Provider + Landing Page: we use *Convertkit in my business, but *Flodesk is another great option

3. Landing Page or Opt-In Page: where they learn more about the free gift and provide their email and name

4. Thank You Page: where they will land after adding their information to your opt-in

5. Welcome Email: this is where you’ll send the free gift or lead magnet

Email Funnel Starts!

This photo gives you a visual of the email automation process.

Ok, on to the tips!

IMPROVE YOUR EMAIL MARKETING FUNNEL

TIP 1: LOOK AT YOUR NUMBERS
So many entrepreneurs begin by focusing on their subscriber count. While that's a great marker for your growth it’s not the only one and sometimes it can give you a false view as to how your lead magnet is funnel working.

Entrepreneurs, myself included, have a tendency to see a low subscriber number from a lead magnet and think, “Well I guess it’s not working!”

Then we scrap it and create something new and 9 times out of 10 it’s not the lead magnet it’s the marketing.

So how do we determine where the holes are and what we need to fix? So glad you asked!

Additional analytics to look at:

• Landing page views

• Landing page conversion (number of views/ divided by opt-ins)

• Open rates of emails in the funnel

• Click-through rates in emails with a CTA (call to action)

Once you have these numbers you can make decisions for improving your funnel.

For instance, this is a screenshot of my lead magnet that is to a cold audience.

This is pretty dang good for a cold audience, considering the industry average is 30%, but let’s say that I had a large number of people visiting the landing page (7,620) and my opt-in number was much lower (currently 4,918) that would make my conversion % lower and tell me that people are interested, but my page is losing them.

I could improve the landing page.

Let’s flip it. Say the page isn’t getting much traffic at all, that would tell me I need to improve my marketing because it’s not getting people interested enough to visit the landing page.

Once they’re in the funnel, looking at the open rate can tell us how our “Subject Line” is performing.

See how having this information can help you optimize your lead magnet and funnel without throwing it all out the window. 

Only paying attention to the number of subscribers is a small game and with marketing, we have to play bigger.

TIP 2: ADD STORY TO YOUR EMAILS
I’m the brand story queen in case you’re new here, in which case WELCOME!

I’ve built my entire business on the power of story and incorporating it into everything I do. The reason for this is that your content is 22x more likely to be remembered if you use story.

Storytelling is also how we build trust with our audience. Because storytelling is vulnerable and often brings up an emotional connection, it allows us to pull our audience in and relate to them and their journey.

Adding storytelling to your email funnel is the step so many entrepreneurs miss...don’t do it!

If you remember from the beginning, your funnel should introduce you, your brand and mission. This is a great time to share stories and paint a picture for your audience.

If your funnel sounds like everyone else and doesn’t focus on the connection people aren’t going to want to buy from you. Remember, they don’t know you! Your lead magnet is meant to attract new people to your brand so you’ve got to take some time to connect.

People buy based on trust and GREAT marketing is always built on storytelling and human connection.

Use your funnel to build trust. 

TIP #3: STOP ATTRACTING THE WRONG PEOPLE TO YOUR EMAIL LIST
So many entrepreneurs are feeling stuck in their funnels which are falling flat because the people in the funnel aren’t right for the message.

I want you to remember that great marketing should attract and repel, that’s why your lead magnet needs to be super-specific for your business and your ideal customer.

Your lead magnet is not for everyone.
Your funnel and messaging and stories aren’t for everyone.
And your offer isn’t for everyone.

If it is you’re going to run into problems if you haven’t already, the key to successful marketing is being specific.

I’ll use my free guide as an example. I created a free Brand Roadmap, which you can snag right here. 

For this guide, I wanted a very specific person to opt-in. I didn’t just want someone who was looking for a quick logo or their colors or a company brand guide. I wanted someone interested in building a personal brand.

So I created a Personal Brand Roadmap and inside the funnel, I’m sharing my top tips for building a personal brand online in order to create a revenue-generating business.

If I made a general brand guide or just shared logo tips, I might attract corporations or people looking for just design.

You have to be specific and you have to create for your ideal customer.

So get specific with who you want to attract to your brand and business, it’s step 2 in my Personal Brand Roadmap and essential in building a profitable business.

CONCLUSION

Building an email automation funnel can be so much fun when you look at it as a way to introduce yourself to each and every new member to your community.

And with these three steps, you’re going to get started with the very best foundation.

Again, you want to start with a solid brand and choose an email provider. You can download my FREE Personal Brand Guide here and look into *Convertkit (the platform we use) here. Note: I’m an affiliate because I love it!

P.S. I’ve got some other cool blogs and videos for you, that I’m linking below. I mean you’re already here you might as well keep reading.

THE THREE KEY PIECES FOR A HIGH-CONVERTING SALES FUNNEL

HOW TO BUILD AN EMAIL LIST

THE TRUTH ABOUT GROWING YOUR EMAIL LIST (GETTING SUBSCRIBERS THROUGH YOUR FREEBIE)

WATCH THE TIPS AND MORE HERE.

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- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -

DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES

START HERE ↠

LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS

START HERE ↠

MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR

START HERE ↠

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- READ THE LATEST POSTS -

---

MEET MICHELLE

Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.

I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.

I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.

This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.