How to Sell People Without Selling to Them? Using Case Studies in Your Marketing.

Social proof is a great way to help sell your product. A testimonial from a satisfied customer can sometimes be more effective than you, yourself, talking about your offer. A great way to make your marketing less “salesy” while still being powerful is to include case studies from people who have used your product/services.

For example, instead of talking about how people need to buy your SEO service, write up an article, blog post, or Facebook post on how one business went from no rankings to #1 rankings and more sales in under 2 weeks with a handful of easy tweaks... and then talk about the process and what your service did. A handful of readers will naturally want to reach out to you to have you do the same thing for them.

This same method can even be used to write blog posts, articles (even ones you can submit to the media), videos, etc. on top of ads you can make. For instance, you could have an article on “how one household decreased their energy costs by 38% with a couple simple tweaks,” and then you can describe what was done, how your product(s)/services helped, etc.. Naturally some people will want to do the same.

So think about how you can use case studies to explain your service/product, and the results customers can achieve, and then do this through articles, blog posts or Facebook posts.

For more great marketing tips to increase your sales, check out this book: 50 Marketing Tips & Tricks Learned After $100 Million in Sales Over 20 Years!

How To Unban Your Banned Facebook Advertising Account

There is nothing more frustrating than going to run a Facebook ad and seeing it disapproved or banned completely. Even worse is when Facebook deactivates your ads account as a whole. People experience this with their business and personal accounts all the time. It can be devastating, especially if you can't get back online. Still, if your account has been banned from running ads, it may not be the end of the world.

New or Reinstated

The First step you will need to take is to figure out what's going on and with which account. If your Facebook business account has been disabled, you may simply be able to create a new one and try to be careful in the future. If your personal Facebook account has been disabled, however, there may be something going that is much more serious. Creating a new personal Facebook account for ads will probably not be possible since Facebook is usually very meticulous about tracing duplicates.

First Things First, Visit The Ads Manager

Before you do anything, you will want to visit your main marketing control center on Facebook, the Facebook Ads manager for business. Once you're in the Facebook Ads Manager, you should see a yellow bar at the top that indicates your account is no longer active. This box should contain a link that you can click. Once you click, it should guide you through a series of instructions and questions that you guide you through the process of reinstating your account.

Alternatively, you can also go all the way up to the support center, which may be hard to spot at first. It should appear in the top-right corner at a "?" logo. A scroll-down menu will pop out. Navigate to the bottom of the screen where it says you need "more help" and contact customer support.

Check Your Email

If for some reason you're not seeing this yellow bar and the Facebook ads manager isn't working for you, check your email. Check both your spam and your inbox folders to see if Facebook contacted you there. This email, too, should contain a link guiding you through the process.

Go Directly To The Source

If neither of the above options are working for you, you can still appeal directly to Facebook, depending on the nature of your concern. If your Facebook ads account was simply restricted, for example, because it was flagged for suspicious activity, you can visit this linkand follow the steps there to contact Facebook directly. Meanwhile, if your account was disabled completely, you can contact them here.

There is a real possibility that Facebook may have been wrong, or we simply made a simple mistake that Facebook may understand. Simply explain your situation politely and diplomatically, and with as much information and detail as possible. If you word your appeal right, you may get your ads account back in business.

Prevention is The Best Medicine

Having your Facebook ads account disabled for any reason can be disastrous, and a downright business nightmare. It may not be the end of the world, but if you can avoid this ordeal, do so at all costs. Prevention is usually key, and you should consider the following points to stay in business and on top of your Facebook ads game:

-Familiarize yourself with all of Facebook's guidelines and Ad policies, any violations could get you cut off the platform completely, and you don't want that!
-Have a legal expert draft your privacy policy, refund policy, terms & conditions, and custom disclaimers. They are required, well-written ones are a plus
-Landing pages, in most cases should include your business name and contact information
-Optimize user experiences. Don't advertise sites full of pop-ups, broken links, or poorly structured text that provides them with a poor experience
-Don't publish ads that are spammy, clickbaitish, or even borderline offensive
-Always make sure all info is 100% accurate and true in all your content
-Once your account is reinstated (if disabled), try to use a different payment method from the old one in order to avoid an accidental penalty from Facebook, and having to go through this again.

Since you're already doing advertising on Facebook, you should definitely check out this free trial of Automated Ads where you can automate your Facebook advertising as though you have a pro ad manager but without the need of paying a fortune!

How Going For The "Big Fish" Deals Can Increase Your Business

Too often business owners try to fight over the scraps. They try to make deals or land sales with anyone and everyone that they can find, regardless of if those deals are barely worth any money to them.

It’s amazing what can happen when you try to go for the bigger clients or choose bigger businesses to partner with. Just a single deal can often make for a very good month (or even year!).

There’s two main ways of doing this. First, you can target more high-end prospects with higher end offerings. By raising your prices and offering more “done for you” services and products, you can try to target the elite buyers instead of focusing on being the low-priced leader barely scraping by. The second way is to try to focus on big “competitors,” or on other business owners who are far bigger than you in a similar market, but not necessarily competing, and then trying to strike a deal with them to sell or promote your offers (for a big cut). If you make this hands-free, super easy, and very profitable for them, you’d be surprised how many are willing to do deals with you.

One way of doing the second suggestion here is by offering to white label your product or service. This is where you allow someone to sell your offer as their own while you do all the work to fulfill it. This can be a win-win for both, as they can get a good cut of the sale for doing virtually nothing except making easy sales for you, while you fulfill the sales, do the support, and make lots of extra sales without having to spend money on advertising or do any marketing yourself. A single big fish deal like this can make an entire business.

One thing that still amazes us to this day is that it’s often just as hard to make a huge sale or business deal as it is to make a tiny sale or business deal, yet the vast majority of people tend to focus on the little fish because they don’t think they’re able to land a bigger deal! This can be applied to almost any aspect of business – whether it be finding big players to partner with, selling high end products / services, or even just being an affiliate for more expensive products! Quite often times it’s just as hard to sell a $5,000 product as it is to sell a $50 product, as long as you’re targeting the right kind of prospects. One just results in you making a lot more.

Try going for the big fish now and then, whether by going after more elite prospects, at higher prices with better offers, or by seeking out big partnerships to do white label deals, where they sell your offers for you for a cut.

For more great marketing and sales tips to increase your business, check out this book 50 Marketing Tips & Tricks Learned After $100 Million in Sales Over 20 Years!.

How to Show Value and Position Your Price to Encourage Customers to Buy

One way to show value and highlight the great price you’re offering your customers is to point out when you are giving a discount or savings, as this lets customers know you’re giving them a great deal and lots of value. A discount also has a psychological effect - we feel we are getting a better deal and are more likely to buy. Seeing that an item is discounted not only is an incentive to buy it now, it can also encourage new users to buy that might otherwise have not considered it.

For example, when listing your price, you might write: "$97 --- 50% Off Today!" This makes people feel they are getting a great deal, helps them justify the purchase to themselves and is more likely to push them over the line.

If you have several similar offers that are slightly better or more/less expensive than the other, instead of just listing off the benefits of each one next to their price, you can also not only list off the savings, but say “Good Deal,” “Better Deal,” and “Best Deal” next to each one (or “Most Savings” or something similar). Never assume that people will just do the math in their head and know which one is the best deal.

Think about how you can apply this to your business. Can you put a savings amount next to a price point (eg, “$97 --- 50% Off Today!)? This makes customers feel they are getting a great deal and can encourage customers to buy that may not have bought before.

After more tips to show customers the value of your product? For more marketing tricks and strategies, check out this book here: 50 Marketing Tips & Tricks Learned After $100 Million in Sales Over 20 Years!

Why Does Everyone Lose Money on Facebook Advertising

If you haven't tried Facebook ads already and you know a lot of people who have, you probably don't want to. They're uncharted waters, and many before you have failed. At least once or twice, sometimes even from business professionals, you've probably heard plain and simple that Facebook ads don't work. Everyone who tries just loses their money with minimal results. First, let's dispel that myth. Not everyone fails on Facebook marketing. It is a highly effective platform, but only if you succeed in utilizing it's tools properly.

1. They Don't Test Their Audiences

Audience testing is going to be the very first step you use to build on your Facebook ad campaign success. The target audience you choose through Facebook will vary based on your industry and business type, and who you're trying to reach with your product. Facebook provides many factors to consider when selecting an audience for your first ad:

-Demographics-Based on demographic factors like age, gender, job title, level of education, and more.
-Interests-Audiences hobbies, interests, and likes
-Behaviors-Behavior patterns typically followed like purchases, website visits, and using a certain device

When you first begin figuring out your audience type it will be anything but easy. It may involve some guesswork and gouging your competitors. Audience testing is the crucial element for long-term success in targeting.

How to Test Your Audience

To test your audience, you'll need to create several separate ad sets. In each one choose your targeting factors. For the best gauge of success, create at least 8 to 10 different sets, and monitor each one's performance using your ads manager.

Over time as you monitor the performance of each ad, look and see which ones are performing best, based on your goals. Are your target audiences visiting your page, engaging in your posts, or finally making purchases?

Keep the audiences that perform best.

2. They Don't Utilize Lookalikes and Customs

As some of your ads begin to perform, entering the ads manager will reveal that you can actually create custom and lookalike audiences. To do this, simply visit the audiences tab in your Facebook ads manager. From there, you can select from custom or lookalike audiences.

Custom audiences are more or less "warm audiences" who have already performed some action on your page in a set period of time. You can choose to market your ad to people based on many factors, including those who have engaged in your posts, visited your website, or watched a certain length of your videos. This is a great way to put your ad in front of people who are already familiar with your brand.

A lookalike audience varies from a custom audience in that it is essentially a "smart" audience more or less cloned from a custom audience. Your custom audience requires 100 members or more, before you can create a lookalike audience. Creating a lookalike essentially spawns an audience of people who share similar interests, behaviors, and demographics with your custom audience.

In this sense, once you've established a heartbeat for your ads campaigns and desired audience, it becomes that much easier to find people just like them. That means people just as likely to become loyal customers.

3. The Pixel Isn't Working Properly

Facebook Pixel is a tool you can use to track audiences who visit your webpage and then transmit that info to Facebook, allowing them to update your advertising algorithms. Go to your Pixels tab in Events Manager, click Create a Pixel, name your pixel, enter your website url to find easy set up optins and make your choice. Then simply copy and paste the code provided by Facebook into your website. Once you're done, Facebook ads will track, optimize, and constantly work to improve your ad performance.

Pixels will work to track actions taken on your website outside of the Facebook page, like visits and clicks, sign-ups, and purchases. If you haven't already synced up your website, it's an absolute must. If you are already using Facebook pixels, there's always a possibility the code may not be working correctly. If you've noticed your ads haven't improved over time, or are simply not performing at all, it may be time to troubleshoot your Pixel.

What if All of This Was Easy?

Facebook ads CAN work and DO work, but you have to utilize all of the tools that Facebook has to offer, and you have to manage them effectively. Doing this is no easy task, but you don't have to be a marketing expert to achieve some level of success, but it certainly helps. Fortunately, there is plenty of help for the rest of us who are less than master's in the art of the Facebook ad. Programs like Automated Ads streamline the management of mulitple ad sets and vastly improves your chance of success without losing your shirt.

There's a lot that goes into launching a successful Facebook ads campaign, but fortunately for some of us, you don't have to do it alone.

Why Some Businesses Fail?

Business is a complex concept that many fail to gasp. A business only emerges to be successful if it is implemented after thorough planning with passion, discipline, and after a great deal of research. Sustaining a business can become extremely difficult after a certain period of time due to budget constraints and poor planning. According to a survey, in the USA alone, 70% of new businesses take a hit within a decade of their conception.

A truly successful business is not one that booms and experiences a short and vibrant period of success. A truly successful company is one that enjoys sustainable success that lasts long term and withstands the test of time. Many business owners make the mistake of ignoring critical issues during the first few years, which in turn damages the business operations down the road in later years, and sometimes it's too late for the problem to be fixed.

A number of reasons can lead to your business becoming a failure. Some of the common reasons are:

1. Weak Leadership

Strong and effective leadership is important in ensuring the success of your business. An ineffective leader ends up micromanaging the employees and will try to control all aspects of the company. Unfortunately a poor leader will fail to understand that for one man, that is simply not possible. As a result, the business environment starts to crumble. A good leader is the one that imparts knowledge to the workers and tries to give specific duties to responsible people. A good leader knows how to delegate so that every aspect of that business gets taken care of quickly and efficiently.

In new businesses there are many different requirements and responsibility for different departments, and this can be difficult to manager at first. Unseasoned leaders are overwhelmed by juggling so many responsibilities and challenges and cave under the stress they can bring. Leaders need to be strong, bold, and unafraid of making quick, but calculated decisions. Good leaders also pay attention to details and are constantly looking for means of improvement. Without good, solid leadership, it doesn't matter how much money a business has or good a product it offers, it will fail.
If you don't plan for the long-haul, your business will fail before it even begins.

2. Lack Of Long-Term Investment

A far-reaching, powerful, long-term vision is essential for a good business. Many businesses make the mistake of getting overexcited during the first few years as soon as they start earning money. As a result they often fail to develop long term strategies for growth, and don't make investments in the future, clinging instead to immediate profits. Such an attitude in business will inevitably lead to poor quality products, stagnant growth and innovation, and customers who will eventually lose business. The customer base will diminish and the business will fail.

3. Lack Of Market Research

Thorough planning and research are needed at the time of launching a business. A primary reason that leads to business failure is that it gets launched without proper research and does not target a specific market. Market research is vital and should be conducted before you even think about starting a business. Even if a business enjoys success for a short period of time, ultimately, it is bound to crash without any kind of research. Without conducting research beforehand, a business might as well be stumbling around blind. How can you expect to succeed in business if you don't know anything about your hopeful customers?

A successful business is defined by the ability to predict the consumer’s requirements and behaviors. With this knowledge they can then deliver products and services that perfectly fit the needs and desires of the needs of the customers they want. You don't necessarily have to have a unique or incredible product. What you do need is to able to offer premium quality to customers who are looking for something from you in particular.

Collecting and analyzing information about market trends and procedures is important in keeping your business ahead of your competitors by offering new products, services, and deals to keep up.

4. Lack Of Customer Retention

Many businesses ignore customer retention strategies because they keep focusing on finding new customers. However, it is counterproductive strategy because old and loyal customers are important not only in increasing the sales of a business, but also popularizing it through good reviews and word-of-mouth. Not only that but old customers are easier, and cheaper to keep, compared to the process of finding new ones.

5. No Expansion Or Personal Growth

Growth does not only mean establishing a business in different locations or expanding operations. It means you also need to keep your business inspiring and innovative. Fresh talent should be welcomed in your business because they bring a lot of modern and fresh ideas to improve your business. Moreover, leaders of a business should also keep attending different seminars and training sessions to make sure they are keeping up with the times and adopting the latest entrepreneurship strategies.

If you want a deep examinations of things that may be holding your business down, you also should considering looking into programs like BizFire's Free Business Analyzer and Growth ToolTOOL, which may provide many valuable insights in a fraction of the time.

How To Optimize Your Content For On-Page SEO

Search engines remain one of the most common tools users are utilizing to find things online, Google of course being the most prominent among them. Search engine optimization is therefore key and making your site visible and getting your content on more eyes. You need traffic to build an audience, and an audience to build conversions. That starts with search engine optimization. There are different types of search engine optimization including off-page and on-page, and the rules vary a little by search engine.

For the sake of this post we will focus on practical ways you can create your written content in a way that optimizes your on-page content for Google.

Choosing Your Keyword

The first step in optimizing any content you write is going to be choosing your “keyword” the keyword is the main word in your text, which you want to stick out to search engines. In other words you want to try and think of a keyword that users searching for what your page has to offer, would type into a search engine. You then must attach that keyword to engaging and relevant content to draw people in.

It's important the keyword is related to the content, makes sense, and provides useful and accurate information, don't use “click-bait” and other deceitful tactics or Google, along with your users, may view you as untrustworthy.

In general, you should try to use “long tail” keywords, or keywords that are written as common phrases or terms people might input into a search engine, that usually consists of four words or more. Before you choose a keyword you'll want to do keyword research. Keyword research involves finding a keyword that is relevant to the content you want to promote, is a popularly used search term, and is easy to rank against the competition. You can use Google keyword research tool or a an automated programs like Web Fire which also tells you how you rank against the competition for your chosen keywords.

Headings, Subheadings, and Plain Text

All of your titles and subtitles should try to include your keyword. Most importantly it should be included in your main heading, and as many subheadings as you can. Your keyword also needs to be incorporated naturally and somewhat frequently (but not too frequently) throughout the body of your main texts. You need to use the keyword as much as you can but essentially without seeming like you're trying to. Because google may penalize you for “keyword” stuffing you don't want to overdo it. In the old days SEO experts used to tell to put the keyword in every paragraph and every sentence that you could, but this is no longer the case.

Many experts recommend a keyword density of 1% or 2% of your entire text bodies, but others say there's really no real rule of thumb.

Images and Alt Text

All content should contain imagery, it makes a post more engaging and for many it just feels more accurate when there's picture in front us to support the text. Relevant images are very important in search engine optimization as well. The “alt text” for instance should be considered. The alt text of in image is simply that let little text caption that pops up whenever you hover your mouse over an imagine.

The alt text of an image plays a role in search engine placement as well and should include the keyword you want to optimize.

Links for Trust and Click-Through

For the sake of search engine optimization every post should have links. There's just something about them that make a page more appealing visually, but they also boost your search engine ranking. Every post, if possible, you should include at least two or three linked references to high authority websites to establish trust.

As you develop more content on your page you'll also want to create links to that as well. Try writing your content in a way that may loosely relate to something you've produced before, and include a link to it. Whenever possible try to get at least two or three links on your page to content you've produced before, as long as its loosely similar subject matter to your current post.

Using Optimized Tools

Optimizing content for SEO is anything but easy. Many times the devil is in the details and it's a lot to remember, but you should get the hang of things in time as you learn more and more. Luckily, there is an easier way. You can also create original, already optimized content using automated programs like Robot Author to save you the time and headache.