Further Your Education
Not one marketer knows everything there is to know about online marketing. Not even the multi-millionaires. One thing that sets successful people apart from those who fail is their hunger to learn.
They work on learning things they’re not even actively doing – things they outsource. Because knowing all of the ins and outs of your business will allow you to quickly determine the fastest, best way to achieve a goal – and you can pass that information along to any freelancer you work with.
Start developing tech task skills. This is a hard one for newbies. Some don’t even know how to make a hyperlink online, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of – unless you’re resistant to the learning process.
Just about anything you could ever want to know about technical tasks in this business is taught free online. Whether it’s making that hyperlink or installing a blog, uploading a zip file or getting a launch to go live – videos are all over the place, walking you through it step-by-step.
Feel overwhelmed watching a video tutorial? Well, that’s what the pause and rewind button is for. Don’t use the overwhelm excuse – just get busy learning and implementing, and don’t worry if you flop once or twice – you’ll get the hang of it!
Get a handle on your time management. Part of your education has to be knowing how to better manage your time. We’re all guilty of messing this one up, but you have to practice better habits so that you get more done.
This is especially crucial if you’re in the beginning stages of your success and bill collectors are breathing down your neck. You have no time to waste – and that means no Facebook scrolling, no game apps on your smart phone – just pure, dedication to your work.
There are tools you can use, such as egg timers, timer apps on your phone, and even sites that shut down your computer from all outside sites so you can’t play around when it’s time to work.
But nothing beats self-control. And if you’re the type of person who will simply reboot a computer so you can play a game and get around a safeguard, then you need to master this concept so that you won’t cheat yourself out of productivity.
Earlier, you learned about a book called Time Warrior. This has an individual lesson on each page, so you can flip to any page each day, get inspired, and keep on task. You also want to focus on your priorities.
Why are you doing this? Is it to give your kids the best life you can offer them? Is it because you’re tired of living a tight financial life on your retirement income? Is it because you have dreams of a luxury lifestyle and right now, it’s not happening? Concentrate on the why and it makes doing the what a whole lot easier.
Become knowledgeable about your niche. Not one good leader knows it all. Not one. They’re constantly educating themselves for their audience. And you have to do that, too.
If you’re teaching about a niche topic, you need to do some things like this:
- Buy books on your niche topic and read a variation of viewpoints. So in the weight loss niche, you might read about the benefits of raw foods one month, and the benefits of low carb the next!
- Watch videos of your competitors or leaders in your niche online. Find out how they inspire and educate, and learn tips you didn’t even know yourself.
- Sign up to Google Alerts to stay on top of the niche news, or check in daily to see what kind of groundbreaking or fresh information you can share with your audience.
- Keep an eye on forums and blogs to see what concerns your audience has. When we say “your audience” we mean the niche audience, not just those following you in particular. If something has happened in the niche that panics them, you’ll read about it and be able to address it to your audience.
Depending on your niche, you might be able to attend workshops or seminars or even join local meet up groups with others for your topic. These are always great ways to absorb information you can share later with your people.
Practice your salesmanship skills. No one wants to land on a sales letter and find a lukewarm page that practically apologizes for asking you to buy something. Consumers like confidence – and they want you to feel comfortable getting them excited about your product.
Otherwise, they won’t feel good about it and won’t convert into a buyer or loyal follower. So how do you further your education in sales? There are several ways you can do this. Most importantly, be observant about what’s working for others.
Visit sales pages in your niche and see what types of power words they’re using. What color scheme is most often used for the minisites? Pay attention to price points and length of copy, too. Make notes!
Secondly, you need to invest in courses and books that help you understand consumer mindsets. Don’t look to yourself for that – you’ll lie to yourself, saying things like, “I hate being sold to,” and that won’t help you craft copy that converts.
There are tools that have plug and play elements in them for sales copy. It’s like a bare-bones theme where you fill in the blank. So, the software might create a headline that says, “Tired of Not [fill in the blank]?” and you would then insert the thing people are trying to achieve, such as:
- Losing Weight Fast Enough
- Making Profits Off the Stock Market
- Being Able to Find Mr. Right
All of these types of tools are very cookie cutter, so you might want to tweak them for originality. For example, if the tool says “Tired of Not _____?” you would change that to something like “Frustrated That You Can’t _____?”
It helps to have a framework to act as your springboard for ideas on where everything goes in the copy. You also want to split test different variations of your copy, so you can start seeing what your particular readers enjoy most.