Alright team, week two of my favorite topic - setting up your online business for success! I am so pumped by the momentum this topic has gotten in the last week, and hearing your stories about getting websites planned out, businesses planned and dreams realized.
The reality of setting yourself up online is that it's a PROCESS. If you do it sequentially and correctly, you’ll have FAR more success than if you just try to wing it and piece it all together. I want you to know that this process isn’t top secret or complicated; quite the opposite, it’s a simple, scalable step-by-step journey that countless successful online businesses have gone through. And now you will too!
You ready to dive back in?
A quick refresher, this is our step-by-step process:
Set up a simple and functional website or landing page →
Create freebies, blogs and lead magnets that can live on the website →
Drive people to your website to read blog and download freebies...in exchange for their email address →
Grow your email list through these lead magnets, complimentary offerings and service →
Send regular newsletters to your community to keep them engaged →
Use your social media account to share blog posts and offers (drive traffic), encourage followers to get on ‘list’ to benefit from subscriber only offers.
If you haven’t gotten to it yet, I *highly* recommend taking the time to read the blog, think about your website, and make sure you keep it simple and functional.
(Actually, if you want to MAXIMIZE all of this - you’re going to want to first read the blogs on “Business Post-Quarantine: What Stays and What Goes” and “Working on ‘What’s Next’?” to help you get a grasp on the type of business you want to be building and carrying forward. I highly recommend going through the exercises in these posts and having the honest conversations with yourself about what your ideal clients + community needs and how you can provide that for them.)
Ok, back on track.
With that website up and running, you’re going to start working on growing your email list. You guys know this list is pure gold for your business. It’s how you regularly communicate with your people. It’s how you build strong relationships and connections. It’s how you keep in touch when social media crashes. And most importantly - it’s how you SELL to a community of connected, committed super fans who already love and support you.
Are you convinced? Here’s your step-by-step guide:
1 - Create a lead magnet (freebie) that you know your community will love, benefit from, and have to have. It can be a simple 2-3 page recipe guide, 10-minute workout guide, member-only content, early access to an event registration, subscriber only sales...anything that your people will want that you are willing to give away for free.
At this stage you want to SERVE your clients (existing and potential) by giving away so much good and valuable information for free that they can’t help but think, WOW, if this is her free stuff, imagine how good her paid stuff is.
2 - Create a landing page on your website where you can promote your lead magnets. Use social media to spread the word about it. Your website will allow you to create an embedded link/form for people to input their email address, and save addresses either to a Google file, or directly integrate with your email service provider. (PS - your website should also give visitors the option to subscribe on every page, usually a footer or side banner)
3 - Choose an email service provider. Your web host might offer an in-house management system, or you might decide a third-party provider like MailChimp or Constant Contact is for you. There’s no right or wrong provider - go with the one you feel comfortable working in.
4 - Start creating email campaigns. At a minimum you’ll need a welcome email for all new subscribers, and an email for your freebie, discount code or offer attached. Every time someone signs up for your freebie, they’ll get both the welcome email AND the freebie email.
5 - Market your freebies continuously to grow your list. Your job is to create products and services that FIX A PROBLEM IN YOUR CLIENT’S LIFE OR BUSINESS. Just because you fix one person’s problem today, doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t have the same problem 6 months later. If I put out a guide for tax season this year, it’s relevant again next year during tax season. Recycle, repurpose and keep using these lead magnets constantly to drive traffic and keep building the list.
6 - Newsletters and communicating regularly with your list. You are just getting started my friend! This is where the magic happens! Make it a point to regularly communicate with your people (I aimed for once a month when I first started, and then every other week, and now at least once a week). Your newsletters don't have to be big or life-changing. They can be as simple as sharing a win from the previous week, spotlighting a client, or simply checking in to say ‘hi.’
I know this is a lot to take in. This is a great start for you, but you might still have questions. If you do, I’d LOVE for you to join this week’s webinar on this exact topic - Setting Up Your Online Business, where we’ll be diving into this topic in depth live. You and your online business literally cannot afford to miss this game-changing webinar.
It’s going down Friday, May 29th at 1p PST. Register here if you want to learn the specifics, get answers to your questions and put together your game plan for your new 2020.
x, D