How Offering A Free Plus Shipping Offer Can Build Your List And Lead To Big Upsells

One of the best things you can do to get people to take action, especially online, is to offer a free plus shipping & handling offer. These offers have an obvious HUGE value because nothing beats free, and by having them pay a small S&H fee, they still see the value in the free product, despite how often times your products’ costs might be completely covered in this S&H fee.

For instance, if you go to a site like Aliexpress.com, which specializes in drop-shipping products of all sorts, you can find lots of jewelry, pet toys, gadgets, etc. for under $2 that already include free shipping. Some of these have perceived values of easily $10 to $30 or more.

That means that your customers get an awesome deal by thinking they got the bargain of a lifetime, while you also get a steal of a deal by getting a new customer at better than no cost to you (if the product and shipping costs $2, for instance, you’re up $3 in profit just by charging a $5 S&H fee).

Obviously, it’s hard to strike it rich at a few bucks at a time, which is why you want to treat these offers as only an entry point into your sales funnel/offers. You want to offer them additional upsells, other products/services on your backend, and take full advantage of their e-mail address to reach out with additional offers in the future, as everything from that point on could be pure profit for you (at least in terms of no advertising costs).

We’ve started entire businesses around this model. You can really up your profits here, like we did, by not only getting lots of front-end buyers in with an amazing free plus S&H deal, but by then offering several related upsells, including a recurring one with a big bonus worth more than the first payment, which can skyrocket your conversions into your biggest money makers in your funnel. This all sets you up to get great conversions both on your cheap front-end to get a lot of buyers, but also get great conversions on your upsells that make your real money. Never underestimate the power of getting something for free or a big bonus with a smaller purchase.

So consider an impulse buy product with a free plus S&H offer where you don’t lose money after collecting the small S&H charge.  Then upsell additional offers to make the most of your money.

For more help mapping out your upsells and sales funnels, so you can look at how you can increase your business, check out this software that helps you build out your sales funnel. BizFire's Free Funnel Maker & Analyzer

Why Content Is Still King

One common and popular phrase that has stood the test of time is "content is king" why? Because it has remained true despite hundreds of other factors like SEO practices, social media, and many other modern trends influencing online businesses and marketing. SEO experts have begun to adopt the philosophy that content is the most crucial factor of the ranking of any website.

Despite the fact that the importance of content is emphasized in many high places, too many aspiring online entrepreneurs have not fully understood and embraced this idea. Many will miss out on the benefits that great and original content can bring to a page. There are many to consider.

First of all, though, it is essential to be familiar with what content actually is. There is no short answer to this question. Content is everywhere and it's used in everything. In blogs, posts and articles you can find it along with web content like an “about us” page or a page describing products and services, all of which are part of the page's content. Moreover, the posts on social media accounts are also considered content.

Many companies and businesses think that uploading content regularly and in large amounts alone will improve the visibility of their sites, ranking, and ultimately, sales. It may be true to some extent that posting content regularly is essential, but it is also important that the content produced is unique and engaging to visitors.

Good content performs the following functions:

• Helps in branding of the business.
• Improves the search engine result page (SERP) ranking of the website.
• Increases customer engagement and attracts more traffic to the site.
• Generates leads and sales.

Types of Content

As discussed earlier, content is much more than just words on a website. It encompasses all those materials that are shareable and easily readable by the users, which will lead to the expansion of the customer base and better brand building.

Some types of content might include:

Written Content

Articles, press releases, academic reports, papers, and blog posts are all written material. Many modern types of content have emerged in the last few years, but written content is still considered an essential type of content because it is imperative in publishing different material. Moreover, it acts as a lead magnet and possible sales for a business.

Social Media Content

Social media content has the ability to reach a massive number of people anywhere in the world quickly and easily. All Facebook posts, tweets, LinkedIn posts, and Instagram media is considered to be social media content because it is shareable.

Multimedia Content

The reach of multimedia content has increased manifold. It is imperative to share visual content and even videos to keep your audience engaged. Thanks to rapidly growing video contributors on YouTube and Vimeo, the influence of video is growing. Different types of videos like interviews, teaching videos, product reviews, vlogs, reviews, and gaming videos are being uploaded daily and in heavy volume. These trends are increasing the importance of introducing different types of multimedia content, especially engaging videos.

It's important to discuss these types of content because even though the definition of content has evolved due to advances in technology and modern trends, content is still king. Why? Because it is used in and by all different types of business and all across various platforms. As the internet world of business becomes more competitive, it's becoming more important to use content as a way of spreading your message on any platform.

Customer Engagement

It is imperative that companies and entrepreneurs keep their customers updated and engaged in their business. The content should be unique and engaging for your users. Engaging content draws people and allows your brand to build a stronger bond with the customers. Moreover, good content will be able to attract traffic to your website, even if you have not implemented any other advanced strategy. Overall, it will increase your ranking on search engines, and customer engagement will improve.

Content marketing is a vital part of business success. Companies that have excellent content are naturally more attractive to more inbound links and traffic, and hence the chances visitors buying your products or services will also be on the rise.

The Statistical Importance Of Content

Different researchers and their analysis of the data have shown that content marketing is extremely important in customer engagement, expanding the customer base of a business, and running a successful blog. For example,

• Around 70% of the markets claim that excellent content leads to more engagement with the users.
• Social media content has become highly effective in B2C businesses
• According to a survey, 85% of people prefer brands that have entertaining content like personalized stories, solutions, and experiences.
• Many people find new businesses and companies via Twitter and Facebook.
• Video creators on YouTube have become a huge chunk of social media influencers as their content is seen by millions of people all around the globe.
• Overall, great content is necessary for a successful business, and it is much easier and cost-efficient to produce excellent content. Hence, content marketing is cheaper than traditional marketing, and it generates more leads than conventional marketing techniques.

Producing various types of content and implementing content marketing strategies can seem very complicated and intimidating. Fortunately, there are many programs out there that can help. Robot Author simplifies the process of creating engaging content to attracting more users to your sites.

How Contests Can Be A Great Source of New Targeted Leads

Contests can be a great way to grab more leads or prospects, get feedback or testimonials from existing customers, encourage participation or attendance on webinars, and more. And, it’s not like you have to give away a car or something crazy expensive. In fact, often times cheaper giveaways will help increase your conversions even more (perhaps because they think they’ll have a better chance of winning?).

For instance, you can run an ad where you’re advertising a contest for a free drone that you’re selling. Anyone who enters you know is probably a potential prospect, as they’re interested in the drone that you sell. When you do that, you can immediately advertise a special deal you have on them in case they don’t win (and offer to refund if they do) and want to get it right away. The benefit here is that you can get dirt cheap clicks and leads when advertising this way (on places like Facebook), all while building up a very targeted list (we’ve built up some big mailing lists and businesses this way at a fraction of the cost of what our competitors pay for ads).

You can also use contests as a way to build up your testimonials. Offer to enter customers into a contest when they submit any testimonials or feedback about your product. People love contests, which is why it can be a great way to get them to take action.

So consider using contests to get lots of cheap traffic and leads to check out your offers. Or, alternatively, use contests to encourage testimonials or feedback on your products.

For more help getting targeted leads, check out the WebFire tool here Web Fire.

How Outsourcing An Offer That You Sell Can Make More Money For Your Business

There’s only so much time in the day, and although it can be a great idea to add extra services that you sell and fulfill yourself, it’s not always practical. This is why it can be a great idea to look for other services or offers that you can sell yourself but easily outsource to others to do with little to no work on your part.

For instance, you might be a web designer that often gets requests to create and add videos to your clients’ sites, but it might either be very time consuming or nearly impossible for you to create nice looking videos to sell as a service even if you could get hundreds to thousands of dollars per sale for them.

Instead of just passing on that easy money, why not look for others online who already offer those services, reach out to them, markup their prices (or make them more “done for you” to increase the value and prices you can charge) and get permission to use their testimonials, social proof, examples, sales pages, etc. as your own (or that you can modify) to sell to your own clients. This can be a great way of making extra money at huge margins.

For instance, there’s often places online like Fiverr.com, Craigslist.com, Freelancer.com, etc., that have tons of workers for almost anything you can think of. In some cases, you can find workers who can make nice looking videos for $25 to $50 (less in some cases) and you could turn around and sell that service for hundreds to even thousands of dollars.

We’ve done that with a variety of services ranging from social media management to video creation, and it’s easy money without any work or extra hassles on our part. And it’s a win-win, because our prospects really wanted those offers and would’ve likely bought something similar at some point, so why not have them buy from us?

Adding a couple of these services of your own can be super easy, add almost no work to your plate, but make you a fortune almost completely hands free!

So be on the lookout for other services or offers that you can sell that you’re able to outsource to others for pennies on the dollar. This can add some easy money to your sales funnels without adding extra work for you to do.

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!.

Pricing Strategies to Increase Your Sales

How can you price your product in a way that psychologically impacts your customer into believing they’re getting a great deal? When people see the difference, between your normal price and your sales price, it influences their decision to purchase. By having a “normal” price listed it creates the impression that the deal they are getting is awesome. They’re getting all this value at a price that is way less than “normal”. People love to believe they are getting a bargain and by listing both your normal and sale price side by side, it highlights the value they’re getting for their money.

For example, when you list your pricing, write it as, "Normally $197 -- Only $97 Today!"

You can also come up with reasons to have such discounts listed. These reasons can be mentioned next to the discounted price as well. These could be things like a holiday special, inventory closeout, end of year special pricing, manager’s special, etc.. Any reason works and makes it seem like a legitimate deal that customers have to take advantage of.

Remember, people love a bargain. So create the perception of a great deal by listing your “normal” price next to your sales price (eg, "Normally $197 -- Only $97 Today!"). Also consider names for special deals just to have a reason for that deal (like a holiday discount or manager’s special).

For more great pricing strategies, as well as little-known marketing tricks, check out this book: 50 Marketing Tips & Tricks Learned After $100 Million in Sales Over 20 Years!.

How To Make Money Using Social Media

It takes a while to understand that social media sites are developed for more than just entertainment and de-escalation of boredom. You can make money through social media without selling anything. These platforms are, believe it or not, perfectly designed to be used as money-making machines. It may take you a little time and a lot of effort to get recognized by other social media users. You'll need to build an image and audience on social media. You'll need to build an audience and engage in an effective social media content strategy. Over time, as your audience grows and you accumulate more and followers a number of new income opportunities may open up to you, and you'll never have to create a store or start your own business if you don't want to. Once you have a substantial audience, here are some ways you can make money with your popular social media account:

1: Brand Promotion:

Some of the most effective marketing is done through ads and promotions online, but not all of it is pay per click advertising. Many companies will turn to famous and popular celebrities to promote or endorse their products. If you become a social media influencer companies may reach out to you for brand promotion deals. Companies know this is a great way, especially to reach a targeted audience.

Example: Look at Tecno Mobile who launched a Tik Tok campaign to reach out to teen users, which comprise about 90% of the website's audience.

2: Shout-outs:

Shout-outs, especially among young people and millennials, are becoming one of the most common social media promotion tactics. You find someone who is a highly influential social media personality with an audience that fits your target market and you get them to give a shout-out to their audience about your page or business. Not only can you gain new customers this way, but also followers and viewers for your other pages online. If you become influential enough on social media, other influencers and companies may reach out to you for a paid shout-out.

3: Selling Arts And Crafts On Social Media:

Millions, maybe even billions of social media users all over the world have a love for the arts. Who doesn't love seeing the creativity of another person in action through arts, crafts, and other special talents. Showing your creativity and talents in action and putting them on display is a great way to build a solid social media following if you do it right. In addition to getting the influence though, it also opens up the door to money-making opportunities. Many artists are already selling on Instagram, and Facebook is starting to break into E-Commerce as well. If you have talents and hobbies you're good at and passionate about, you may be able to turn it into a social media business.

Keeping Followers Engaged With Content

Building a following and keeping a following on social media follow somewhat similar strategies, in they evolve the constant creation of content. You need content that is original, unique, and will keep relevant users engaged, and it has to be constant. Keeping up with all the content you need to keep your following strong can be demanding, but it's very much worth it, and made easier by user-friendly software like News Poster to help get you started with relevant content rolling on your page.

How to Build a List by Solving People’s Problems

So you’re looking to build a list? This strategy is a great way to build a list of people that are interested in your niche. First, find relevant Facebook groups in your niche, join them, and take the time to see what people are complaining about. What are the common complaints that keep coming up again and again? What product or service could you come up with to provide a solution to these complaints? Once you’ve come up with a solution, sell it or give it away for free to build a list or following.

For example, if you run a wedding planning business, join Facebook groups in that niche and see what the common complaints among brides-to-be are. Perhaps they find that it’s very overwhelming, trying to remember everything to organize and knowing when to do what. You could create a timeline checklist, of what to organize when in the countdown to the big day, and offer it free to build a list of potential clients.

So join Facebook groups within your niche and see what the most common complaints are, then find a solution to these complaints and either sell it or use it to build a list or following by giving it away free.

For help with finding leads and building your list, you can check out a demo of WebFire's tools here and grab a special deal!  Web Fire