Monetization Magic

Colorado Website Development

Monetization Series

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We’re kicking off the year with a series of training events on how to monetize your existing business.  If you’re just starting out, these training events will help you too.  The trainings are 3 hours in length and cover some amazing content.  This is the roll up your sleeves information that you need to actually get into action.  No fluff. No hype.  This is the real deal!

Just as results come from our thoughts which are transformed into our feelings which is typically transformed into action, I want you to get the results.  It’s great to receive great information; however, most folks get all motivated and then somewhere on the way to the action step, something happens…maybe confusion sets in or life happens or something doesn’t work out right and the action step doesn’t quite get put into place.

Well, no more, I say!  I want you to get the awesome results that you’re after so I’m including a Q&A call after the training call so that you’ll have time to put the training into action and if something is not working right, you can ask questions and get back on track!  What?!  You mean I get support for the training?!  Yes!  That’s right!  This is Build It Yourself training; however, you can consider it your “Get It Done” training.  I want you to get the pieces done so that you can move on to the more exciting bits of what you do!

Yes, we’ll be dealing with technology; however, I want to help you through and shield you from as much of the crazy coding as possible.  We’ll be doing some cutting and pasting but that’s about the worst of it.  You don’t need to be intimidated by technology any more!  You can literally look over my shoulder as I do the actual work to get these items done (as in “off your to-do list!”).  As a bonus, you may also get some insider information from me along the way about no cost and easier ways of getting these items done.

The topics for the training events are as follows:

  • Build Your Bodacious List
  • How to Build an Income Producing Website
  • Traffic Creation Made Easy
  • Newsletter Creation Made Easy
  • Time Leveraging for the Already Overwhelmed
  • Social Media for Lead Generation
  • 10 Steps to eBook Creation
  • How to Create Your First Audio Series
  • Membership Programs
  • How to Automate Your Operations (and get your sanity back)
  • Teleseminar Creation
  • No List Marketing:  What to do while you’re building the list
  • How to Use Webinars to Expand Your Circle of Influence
  • How to Create Joint Ventures
  • Proper Pricing Strategies
  • Creating Holiday Cash
  • Creating Workshops
  • Product Creation

Note the exact names for these events will likely change; however, the topics will remain the same.  Most of these events will include live training, webinars and the Q&A call after you’ve had time to implement the material.  The live training and webinar will both be 3 hours in length.  That is 7 very full hours of content!  The training will be held on the weekends.

I’m attempting to accommodate folks from all walks of life which different demands on their time so some of the training is held on Saturday morning, some on Sunday afternoon.  If you are unable to attend the training due to physical or time constraints, it’s no big deal, it’ll be recorded so you can catch up on your schedule.  You can even submit your questions to me for the upcoming call on the AskSoftwareGirl! tab and I’ll do my best to address your question on the recorded Q&A call so even if the Q&A call happens in the middle of your night, you can rest assured that your concerns will be addressed.

Each of these trainings is easily a $397.00 value.  If you register early enough, you will receive significant early bird pricing.  For example, the Build Your Bodacious List class will be this weekend, January 7, 2012 and there is current early bird pricing for registration of $97.00 available on the Monetization Series page at http://monetizationmagic.com/monetization-series/.

 

 

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Social Media creates Backlinks via the Law of Curiosity

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What are “backlinks”? Backlinks are links that are directed towards your website. Also knows as Inbound links (IBL’s). The number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity or importance of that website. Backlinks are important for SEO because some search engines, especially Google, will give more credit to websites that have a good number of quality backlinks, and consider those websites more relevant than others in their results pages for a search query.

When search engines calculate the relevance of a site to a keyword, they consider the number of QUALITY inbound links to that site. So we should not be satisfied with merely getting inbound links, it is the quality of the inbound link that matters.  This goes back to our original premise of creating value.  A search engine considers the content of the sites to determine the QUALITY of a link. When inbound links to your site come from other sites, and those sites have content related to your site, these inbound links are considered more relevant to your site. If inbound links are found on sites with unrelated content, they are considered less relevant. The higher the relevance of inbound links, the greater their quality.

For example, if a webmaster has a website about how to rescue orphaned kittens, and received a backlink from another website about kittens, then that would be more relevant in a search engine’s assessment than say a link from a site about car racing. The more relevant the site is that is linking back to your website, the better the quality of the backlink. Search engines want websites to have a level playing field, and look for natural links built slowly over time. While it is fairly easy to manipulate links on a web page to try to achieve a higher ranking, it is a lot harder to influence a search engine with external backlinks from other websites. This is also a reason why backlinks factor in so highly into a search engine’s algorithm.

Lately, however, a search engine’s criteria for quality inbound links has gotten even tougher, thanks to unscrupulous webmasters trying to achieve these inbound links by deceptive or sneaky techniques, such as with hidden links, or automatically generated pages whose sole purpose is to provide inbound links to websites. These pages are called link farms, and they are not only disregarded by search engines, but linking to a link farm could get your site banned entirely.

Another reason to achieve quality backlinks is to entice visitors to come to your website. You can’t build a website, and then expect that people will find your website without pointing the way. You will probably have to get the word out there about your site.

One great way to get the word out about your site is through social media like Facebook.  Simply place a “Like” button on your posts and when people read your article and click on the button it is posted to their Facebook wall.  Others will see what they liked and naturally be drawn to your post to see what their friend liked!  This is based on the Law of Curiosity.  The Law of Curiosity occurs when someone is actively engaged in an activity that creates interest for those around him (or her).

To create your own “Like” button, simply go to: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like and use the configurator by typing in the URL of your post in the “URL to Like” field in the configurator and clickety-click on the Get Code button.  Then simply cut and paste the code above or below your post via the HTML area of your website.  Voila!  Insta-LikeButton!

How to Use a Blog in Event Planning (Part 4 of 4 )

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The Rest of the Year (continued)

Video is another important feature. You may have a video portion of your website for conference videos, but a once a week update or feature with a few with links to your other pages are an easy way to keep traffic flowing and people interested.

During conference use

Special download area can be used to allow conference attendees to obtain a copy of the speaker’s slides along with any special conference material that is included with the price of the conference ticket.  Once the conference sells out, you can offer a backstage pass to those not attending to still generate interest.

Your show daily should be in electronic form and be emailed to conference attendees (you do this don’t you?), it should also be in the blog every day of the show. Even if it is posted elsewhere on your website, you can do a preview with a link to that page where the daily resides. This is called spreading the wealth. The more places something lives, the better the chance it is going to be found and read.

Take a few videos during the show in the form of interviews, highlights of speakers, backstage photo opportunities,etc.  post them to YouTube or Vimeo and then embed them in the blog. Make them interesting and (intentionally with purpose) raw, that gives the impression that it is breaking stuff. This also gives non attendees and “aw shucks” moment that maybe they should have been there.

How to Use a Blog in Event Planning (Part 3 of 4)

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Preconference use (continued)

Information about the host city. This is a great way to get the community behind you. In the weeks prior to the conference, feature local restaurants, shops and hotels and let the venues know that you will be doing this, ask them to contribute an article. They will love the exposure. You may ask these local vendors to offer a discount and you can put the code in your blog.

Video from past conferences. This is a great place to highlight snips from past events and talk about them. If someone did a crazy crowd sourced jig and someone posted it to YouTube, embed it in your blog. This builds excitement and makes people want to attend.

Post conference use

Surveys for venue, speaker feedback could be hosted on the blog.  Calendaring for the next event could be hosted.  Attendees could tell their friends about the value they created at the event to entice others to attend the next event.

Write recap articles, post video (or highlights with links to your video pages) and thank your sponsors and attendees.  Spread this out over a few weeks, you can get a lot of mileage out of this tactic.

The Rest of the Year

Feature sponsor press releases throughout the year, if XYZ company has a new product and they have a press release, post it (and then send the link to the sponsor). They will love this because not very many events care about them beyond their sponsor dollars. This is a great way to show that you value them.

The same can be said for speakers. Let the world know what they are up too since they presented at your conference. If a speaker went on to become President or a Nobel Prize winner, this gives your conference or event added credibility. Ask speakers to provide articles on the industry.

You can also do something that almost no show does and will truly set you apart from the crowd. Feature some of your attendees in the months between events. Pick some attendees from your list and call them and interview them. Ask them what they learned at your event, why they loved it and how this learning has impacted their daily lives. Ask them why they would return and use this as an extended testimonial. A WARNING – Make sure that the focus is on the attendee, not the event or conference. People love to get kudos and be mentioned, it helps them in their career and it helps them with the boss. Talk more about their accomplishments than the events. This is loyalty that money cannot buy…. Again, do not cut corners, you may be tempted to have a testimonial part of your website which is critical but if you do not do longer pieces in blog format, you are missing an amazing opportunity.

How to Use a Blog in Event Planning (Part 2 of 4)

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Sales

A lot of times speakers will have published a book, are able to offer special offers on continuing training/coaching or have upcoming events of their own that attendees would be interested in.  Assist them in extending those offers to the audience in return for a percentage of the total sales.  Partner with a travel agent and negotiate a special rate for travel and hotel accommodations.  Partner with the venue’s kitchen to arrange for a special deal on meals so that the conference attendees are not inconvenienced by having to go offsite for a meal and assist the venue in generating revenue.  Allow them to purchase conference materials (coffee mugs, stationery, t-shirts, etc.) online and ship them before the event to generate interest.

Preconference use

A room and/or ride share area can be arranged for those needing assistance with room or ride accommodations.  A forum can be put together to help future attendees to communicate and generate interest for the event.  Information about the venue and amenities can be communicated to assist attendees in getting ready for the event.  Pre-conference training calls can be coordinated via the blog along with pre-conference material lists or training materials or assignments can be posted via the blog.  Encourage potential attendees to link to the blog post via Twitter or Facebook to generate interest for their personal tribes.  Advise everyone when the Earlybird registration deadlines are approaching.  Create a tweet session the night before the big event to elevate the excitement about the upcoming event.

Tell attendees about important happenings and press releases. If you are announcing that there will be a networking reception on the first night of the conference, this is one of the outlets you should use.

Inform attendees about a new speaker or go in depth on each speaker. This is especially useful, take one speaker per week (day) and feature them. Write an article about them, their accomplishments, their expertise and why attendees would want to attend their session. You could also have the speakers write a guest post which they like.

The same can be done for sponsors. Talk about event sponsors and what they bring to the table and why attendees should visit their booths. A WARNING – DO NOT make blog mentions or blog articles part of a sponsorship package, this will free you up to talk about lower level or new sponsors that may have an amazing product or service but may not have the funds for the larger sponsorship, it shows that you value them and that they are important as well.

Announce milestones, if the conference has reached an attendance record or the early bird is ending, make it a post in addition to the other places you will announce it.

How to Use a Blog in Event Planning(Part 1 of 4)

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What is a blog?

Wikipedia defines a blog as (a blend of the term web log)[1] is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.  Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.[2]

In case you were not aware, you are currently reading a blog.

How long does the event occur?

Let attendees know in advance when the event will occur.  Also advise them the hours of the event.  Sometimes events are scheduled earlier than 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m.  Typically your event will last 3-5 days.  Typically people travel the day before and the date after.

What happens at the event?

Travel, sleeping accommodations, networking, sales, coaching, food consumption, gift consumption, entertainment, sightseeing, training, event testimonials, speaker feedback.  These are all topics that can be covered in the blog and points that could be coordinated with reliable sources at the venue.  Addressing these topics ahead of time will generate interest for the event and set the expectations of the event attendees.

What is needed at the event?

Tell attendees what to bring, what to leave a home, what the weather will be, remind them to bring business cards for networking.  Will they need paper and pens for note taking or are you supplying those materials?  Will recording and videoing be prohibited?  Advise attendees of the expected attire (high heels or hiking boots, shorts or slacks, polo shirt or sport coat and tie).  Will there be any formal events?  Advise attendees of any special points that they would want to be aware of such as being prepared for a day at the beach or morning yoga or whatever you might have planned that they would like to be aware.  Will you have special accommodations for disabled attendees?

Generating interest

Interest can be generated by giving prospective attendees a brief overview of the benefits that will be gained by attending the event.  Will they also receive a DVD of the event?  Will they receive valuable knowledge at the event?  Do you have testimonials from past attendees?  All that can be shared via e-mail.  Invite them to bring a friend/business partner/team for free or at a deep discount.