How NOT to Promote Affiliate Links on Facebook

A few weeks ago, I shared my plans to start the social media project and what it is all about right here.

In a nutshell, I plan to try various strategies to build a social media following outside of Niche Pursuits and see what kind of revenue I can generate from that social audience.  In my last post, I explained exactly how I built a brand new Facebook page to over 10,000 followers in just 17 days.

Now that I have a good core audience, I want to start testing out different ways that I might be able to monetize it and figure out which strategy works best.  So, about a week ago, I began my first experiment.

Today, I'm going to share how well I was able to monetize this audience over the past 7 days and what some of my experiments will be in the future.

Spoiler alert: my attempt to promote affiliate links on Facebook didn't go as well as planned.

How Big is My Facebook Audience?

As part of the social media project, I want to keep you updated on the growth of my social media following and then of course the revenue generated.

Although I put a pause on aggressively growing this Facebook page (until I figure out how to monetize it), it still has been growing a little bit.  

So, that is an additional 1,500 since the last time I reported.  Not bad since we did not do anything at all to gain these followers other than post a few times a day on our Facebook page.

We could grow it much faster if we wanted to spend a little money, but for now, I want to figure out how to monetize the audience before I throw money at it.

The Organic Affiliate Promotion Experiment

As I thought through different ways that we could try to monetize this audience, I figured we should start with the easiest and then move up the difficulty scale as needed.

The easiest experiment to do was simply posting affiliate links on our Facebook page.  So, that's what we did.

We have been posting memes or articles or other thoughts about 3 to 5 times a day for the past month and the engagement has been really good.  So, all we did was swap out a couple of those regular posts with more promotional posts that included an affiliate link.

We simply linked to an Amazon product with a special Amazon tracking ID so that we could see exactly how many clicks there were.

However, there was one small twist.  Because I happen to sell some physical products on Amazon that is related to this niche, I linked with an affiliate link to my own products and offered a coupon code.  So, in our Facebook posts we basically said, “Hey, check out this product and take 10% off when you use coupon code “10percent”.

I figured, we could get a little affiliate commission and sell some of my own physical products…win, win!

So, how did the experiment turn out?  Not that great to be honest.

As you can see that in just over a week period of time, I was able to send 253 clicks this particular Amazon tracking id (which was set up specifically for this experiment).  Unfortunately, I didn't make a single sale.  Ouch!

Now, I could try to hide how bad this experiment went, or I could try to figure out if there is a better way.

As I look back, I'm not surprised at how poorly it did.  After all, usually the easiest ways to do things don't end up being the best way to do things.  So, lesson learned: posting a bunch of affiliate links straight to your Facebook audience isn't a great way to monetize that audience.

But that is what this project is all about, trying different things to see what works and what doesn't.

In it's current form, I wouldn't recommend posting affiliate links straight to your audience in order to monetize it.  There's got to be a better way.

Even though I didn't make any sales directly through my affiliate link, it DOES appear that those social media posts did drive 1 sale.  In my Amazon seller report, I can see that the coupon code that we only shared on social media was redeemed one time.

So, technically I did make about $40 from this social media experiment by selling one of my products.  I'm not sure why Amazon associates didn't track it, but clearly the coupon used was only shared on social media.

Then, How Do You Promote Affiliate Links on Facebook?

Clearly, I've found one way NOT to promote affiliate links on Facebook.  Perhaps there is a better way, but I'm still searching for it.

From what I see, my engagement rate would go way down every time I posted an affiliate link.  So, if you want to quickly kill the engagement of your audience, post more affiliate links.  I think I would be okay with posting 1 in 10 posts with an affiliate link, but no more than that.

But as you can see, even that 1 in 10 probably isn't going to get you very good results if all you are doing is literally posting the link with a short description.

I'm going to attempt to figure out some better ways to monetize my Facebook audience with a few experiments in the future.  My hunch is that promoting affiliate links directly on Facebook will never work very well, but that building an audience and getting them into a private Facebook group or onto an email list and then monetizing from there will work much better.

My Next Experiment: Contest!

So, for my next experiment, I plan to try a contest.  I've run several contests before, so I know with a little bit more confidence that this should have a better result. (Getting more than $0 would be a better result in this case).

In fact, even getting a new email on an email list would be a better result than I did with posting affiliate links right on my Facebook page!

The Plan

1. Run a contest to giveaway a free product.  In my case I will be giving away one of my own physical products that I manufacture and sell on Amazon.  However, you could just as easily give away any product that exists on Amazon.  You would just buy it and ship to the winner when the contest is over.
2. The contest will run 7 days.
3. In order for someone to be eligible for the free product, they have to input their name and email address (building an email list!)
4. Entrants get more “points” for sharing the contest on social media or via email.  I'll be using contest domination to manage the contest.
5. At the end of the contest, I'll announce the winner and ship them the free product.  However, I'll also offer a discount to anyone that didn't win.  I'll link to my product on Amazon through an affiliate link to track everything.
6. I'll also have an autoresponder series that goes out to everyone that joined the contest.  They are now on my email list and I'll try to monetize that email list through the autoresponder series.

That's the plan in a nutshell.  Get people on my email list and then sell products.

Yes I will try to add some value through the email list as well, it won't be pitches 100% of the time.

As part of this experiment, I will also be spending a little bit of money to “boost” my post on Facebook about the contest.  This will ensure that this contest page gets in front of more eyeballs and eventually results in more contest entrants.

I hope to start running this contest in the next few days.  However, with the holiday season upon us, I might not be able to report on anything until the new year.

In the future, I also plan on trying a few other things including launching a paid Facebook group and member's area for my niche, buying a social media account, and sending people to pages with more affiliate content or ads on them.  I'll share more details as I go.

Overall, I'd love to hear your thoughts on my past and future social media experiments.

The post How NOT to Promote Affiliate Links on Facebook appeared first on Niche Pursuits.

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How to Create an Actionable Drip Campaign

I know how much time and effort you put into building your email subscriber list.

But growing that list is only half the battle.

Now that you have a way to contact these subscribers, you need to make sure your messages trigger a response.

I’ve seen many companies having success with adding customers to their email lists but struggling with the content portion of their email marketing strategy.

Simply put, they don’t know what to write in their emails or when to send them out.

Each message you send needs to be carefully calculated.

Timing is everything.

That’s why I love to use drip campaigns to elicit an action from the recipient.

If you’ve never heard of a drip campaign or haven’t used one, I’ll cover the basics before we move forward.

Drip campaigns are sometimes called:

• automated email campaigns
• auto-responders
• life cycle emails
• automated email campaigns

Automation is the key term associated with this technique.

Drip campaigns are a series of emails that get sent to subscribers in a predetermined order.

Although it may sound simple, this email strategy is highly beneficial to your marketing strategy.

Drip campaigns are commonly used to communicate to new subscribers or someone who made a purchase but didn’t join your email list yet, but you can use them at any time.

I’ll give you some tips about the best uses of drip campaigns and show you how to create one.

Here’s what you need to know.

Focus on personalization

Although drip campaigns are automated, you don’t want your message to come across that way.

Subscribers want to hear from you, not some computer.

Make sure your emails don’t sound like cut-and-paste or cookie-cutter templates (even though they might be).

I’m sure you’ve received emails that start with

“Dear valued customer,”

That’s boring.

You won’t get any actionable response from someone if they don’t even finish reading the message because they got bored.

After the message gets sent, the subscriber needs to:

1. receive it
2. open the email
3. understand the content
4. identify the call to action
5. complete that specific action

Personalization can help you accomplish these things.

Marketing experts agree this is an effective tactic:

Automating your email responses doesn’t mean you should ignore best marketing practices.

A recent study from OneSpot and the Relevancy Group showed personalized emails positively impacted:

• open rates
• click rates
• conversion rates
• average order amount

Pairing that strategy with your drip campaign is a no brainer.

Use the recipient’s first name within the body of the email.

Try personalizing the subject line as well.

You don’t have to always use their name to accomplish this.

Here’s what I mean.

Which one of these two subject lines sounds more appealing?

“A special offer for a loyal customer.”

Or…

“I’ve got a special offer for you.”

The second choice is the clear winner.

It’s personalized from the sender (I) as well as the recipient (you).

You should also end each message with a personalized signature.

Here’s a great example from Ian Blair at BuildFire:

Ending a message this way will remind the reader it’s coming from an actual person—not an automated computer system.

It’s more effective than saying

“Sincerely, The Management Team.”

The email sender field should also come from your personal email address as opposed to customersupport@companyxyz.com.

Here’s what the sender field looks like in that last example:

Implement these personalized touches in each email to get a more actionable response from your drip campaign.

Use a drip strategy to grow your email list

You can actually use a series of automated messages to add subscribers to your email list.

I know what you’re thinking.

How is it possible to send someone my drip campaign if they aren’t already on my email list?

Well, it’s possible.

This method works particularly well for ecommerce sites.

Customers can purchase something from your website without signing up for emails.

It’s the perfect opportunity to send them triggered emails so they complete an action.

In this case, the action would be joining your subscriber list.

Here’s how you do it.

Take a look at this part of the checkout process from Lululemon:

Entering an email address is required for customers to complete the purchase.

Why?

The company wants to send you updates about your order.

If the customer unchecks the box that signs them up for promotional emails, these order updates can double as a drip campaign.

Here’s the sequence of messages:

1. order confirmed
2. package shipped
3. items delivered
4. follow-up

You have four opportunities to get this person to opt in to receive future emails.

Just make sure you execute this drip in a timely fashion.

The order confirmation message should get sent instantaneously.

Have a clear call to action in this message that entices the recipient to join your subscriber list.

Discounts work well.

For example, you could offer them 25% off their next purchase if they join your list.

Even if they don’t do this yet, don’t worry.

You still have three other opportunities to get them to subscribe.

Stick to the script.

Update them on their order status, and remind them about the benefits of your subscriber list.

Remember, you have their name, so don’t be afraid to use it.

As we discussed earlier, adding a personalized touch can help with your conversion rates.

If you’re using a service like MailChimp to contact subscribers, you can create a survey directly on their platform.

Take advantage of that resource with the fourth message of this drip series.

Ask for the customer’s feedback.

Were they satisfied with the order process?

Was it delivered in a timely fashion?

Are they happy with the performance of the product?

Most importantly, don’t forget to pitch your subscriber list.

This is your final chance to get the customer to opt in.

It’s also a great way to enhance the customer experience, and it shows you’re constantly trying to make improvements.

Send a welcome message to new subscribers

Drips are also effective once you’ve added subscribers to your list.

In fact, the first messages new subscribers get should be in a drip sequence.

Once someone joins your list, you should automatically send them a welcome message.

Set up your double opt-in landing pages the same way.

You can take your welcome message one step further and increase the personalization of future email content.

Here’s what I mean.

Let your subscribers choose what kinds of emails they want to receive.

Do they want promotional messages like flash sales and other discounts?

What about notifications whenever you launch a new product?

Or maybe they just want to receive your newsletter?

Ideally, they want to receive all of the above, but let them decide with your welcome message.

The Drip email marketing service allows you to set this up with a triggered link.

But I’m sure whatever software you’re currently using has a similar feature.

Here’s an example of what the message would look like:

What the customer clicks on will determine the rest of the drip sequence.

This keeps all their messages relevant, improving your unsubscribe rate.

They won’t think they’re receiving any irrelevant messages since they are getting exactly what they asked for.

It’s perfect.

The CTA should still be similar in each drip sequence.

Having consistency will help drive the actionable response you’re trying to get from these messages.

Building a drip campaign

Now that you know the basics of drip campaigns, it’s time to create one.

You can do this with your current email marketing software.

Although the wording may slightly vary depending on your service provider, these are the basic steps you’ll need to take.

I’ll use HubSpot’s platform in this example since their navigation is user friendly and easy to understand.

Step #1: Go to the “Productivity” tab, and select “Campaigns”:

The “Marketing Dashboard” is basically your homepage from the user side of the platform.

Step #2: Create a new campaign:

Here, you’ll see any previous marketing campaigns or pending messages.

Click on “Create a new campaign” in the top right corner of the screen.

Step #3: Select a template:

For our purposes, we’ll select the template builder and email options.

Once your template is customized, you can start working on the content of the message.

Remember the points we talked about earlier.

Personalize.

Keep your message short and to the point.

The CTA should be the focal point of this message if you’re trying to elicit a specific user action, whatever that may be.

The tone of your message should reflect that goal.

Step #4: Schedule for automation:

Now you can step up the frequency of your message.

For example, you’ll want to make sure your welcome message gets sent to a new subscriber right away as opposed to a day or two later.

Setting up a drip campaign isn’t difficult.

The process is very similar to how you’re currently using your email marketing software.

You’re just not going to send out each campaign individually.

Set it up, and let the triggered response drip the sequence depending on the subscriber’s preference.

Measure your success

Automated messages don’t mean you can just set your campaign and forget about it.

You still need to track your results to see whether each drip campaign was successful or not.

Look at the basics like:

• open rates
• click rates
• bounce rates
• conversion rates
• unsubscribe rates

Conversions will be the true measure of the success of each campaign.

While the other factors will help contribute to that number, the conversion has to be your ultimate goal.

Take a look at the possible paths an email can take after you send it out:

Measuring your results can help you determine what factors are preventing the recipient from converting.

For example, your open rates may be high, but click rates could be low.

Make the necessary adjustments.

Try to reposition your CTA or change the wording to entice an action.

This is a great opportunity for you to start A/B testing your email messages.

Conclusion

Drip campaigns are an effective way to improve your existing email marketing strategy.

It’s easy for you to set up as well.

Even though your subscribers are getting an automated response, it’s important the message doesn’t come across as automated.

Use the personalization tips outlined above, like using the subscriber’s first name and sending the message from your personal email address.

This will help you get more conversions.

While welcome messages are one of my favorite ways to start a drip campaign, you can also use drip emails for people who haven’t subscribed to your email list yet.

Just send them updates when they buy something from your ecommerce store.

Once your campaigns go live, keep track of the results to measure your success.

Make any changes to get optimal results from each campaign.

What kind of personalized CTA will you use in your next drip campaign?

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How to Use Surveys and Interviews to Generate More Money for Your Business

Businesses are at the mercy of their customers.

The customer determines whether a company thrives, survives, or fails.

That’s why you’re spending so much time, effort, and money on various marketing campaigns.

Targeting new customers.

Trying to retain existing customers.

Figuring out how to squeeze some additional profits from your best customers.

It may be exhausting, but it’s absolutely necessary.

All of these efforts can be summarized with two questions:

1. What does the customer want and need?
2. How can I provide them with those wants and needs?

That’s what it all comes down to.

What’s the most inexpensive and reliable way to get inside the minds of your customers?

Just ask them.

That’s right.

Asking your customers for feedback directly can allow you to make the necessary adjustments to accommodate their requests.

As a result, you can make more money.

Surveys and interviews are the best tools to help you get accurate comments, concerns, praise, or criticism.

Plus, it shows your customers you care about their opinions.

When customers don’t think you care about them, they’ll stop buying your products and services.

Based on the study above, we can see it’s by far the number one reason on that list.

Surveys and interviews are a great way to kill two birds with one stone.

You get valuable information that can make you more money, and it reinforces the message that you care about your customers.

It’s a win-win scenario, and everyone’s happy.

If you’ve never created a customer survey or conducted an interview with one of your clients, don’t be intimidated.

Believe it or not, it’s actually pretty simple.

I’ll tell you exactly what you need to know to get started.

How to create a customer survey

Before we go any further, let’s start with the basics.

You can’t distribute a survey until you create one first.

Once the survey gets built, you can distribute it on all of your marketing channels and communication networks.

But we’ll get to that soon.

For now, I’ll show you the best way to make a survey on a platform that is free and easy to use.

Building a survey with SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is one of the most popular platforms to create a survey on the Internet.

The fact that they have a free option makes it easy to try it.

Step #1: Create a new survey

The first thing you need to do is create an account.

It’s quick, and you can even sign in with your Facebook or Google profile to make it even easier.

After that, navigate to the “My Surveys” tab at the top of the screen.

Just type in the name of your survey, and click “Create Survey” to continue.

Step #2: Choose a template

SurveyMonkey lets you build a template from scratch.

You can do it, but I think it’s way easier to just go with one of their existing templates.

In fact, it’s one of the reasons why their platform is my favorite choice.

For our purposes, we’ll navigate to the “Customer Feedback” templates.

I’ve selected the “Customer Satisfaction Survey Template” because it will work well for us.

Feel free to browse the other options to see which one fits best with the kind of information you’re trying to gather.

For example, if you’re looking for feedback about your website, there’s a separate template for that.

Step #3: Add questions

Each template will come preset with a bunch of questions based on the category.

But you can change the order, modify the questions, or create custom ones by using the question bank.

Your questions should be simple and easy to understand.

The questions should also be related to one another.

Find out exactly what kind of results you want to get from this survey.

I’ll discuss that in greater detail shortly.

Step #4: Distribute the survey to your customers

Now that the survey is created, you need to get it to your customers.

This is another reason why SurveyMonkey is a great option.

You have many different methods of distribution.

Sure, you can build a survey on Facebook and share it with your friends.

Or use your email marketing software to create a survey and send it to your subscribers.

But why do that when you can build one here, and it’s compatible with all your platforms?

This will save you a ton of time and make it way easier to analyze the results.

Step #5: Analyze the results

It’s not quite time to make any drastic changes to your business yet.

For now, you need to get organized.

Wait until you think there are enough responses before you do this.

Don’t try to figure out what your customers want if it’s been only 12 hours since you created the survey.

Give it some time.

While your company is obviously a top priority for you, taking this survey won’t be at the top of everyone’s to-do lists.

Give your customers an incentive to provide feedback

As I was just saying, this won’t be a priority for all your customers.

Can you blame them?

Sure, responding to a survey or interview may ultimately improve their experience, but not everyone will see it that way.

Some customers will see it as a demand on their valuable time that could be spent doing something else.

Sometimes, a little motivation can get them to respond.

Take a look at how Jack Spade does this with a survey distributed to their email subscribers:

Getting a 20% discount for taking a survey is definitely more appealing to a customer than a solo plea “Please take our survey.”

Do you notice anything else about this pitch that’s appealing?

Quick.

As I said before, your customers don’t want to waste their time.

Acknowledge their time as valuable, and make sure the incentive is worth their trouble.

For example, offering a 10% discount for an interview that’s going to last hours and involve the customer testing out new products isn’t something you can reasonably ask.

On the other hand, giving out $100 gift cards for a quick survey that will take only two minutes to finish doesn’t make much sense either.

The key is finding that middle ground.

I’d say offer a minimum of a 20% discount for any survey the customer can take online in less than five minutes.

For in-depth interviews that happen in person or over the phone, offer an incentive that’s more valuable, like free products or gift cards.

It’s worth it to you to give stuff away to get more survey results.

Ensuring you get as many responses as possible will give you the most accurate results.

If only 20 people fill out your survey, they can’t speak for your entire customer base.

Set an objective, and stick to it

Let’s re-visit the point I was starting to make earlier when discussing the questions on your survey.

Your questions should be related to one another as well as your goal.

What is your survey or interview trying to accomplish?

Here’s an example from Barkbox:

This survey is super specific.

It was only sent to customers who ordered the October box.

All the questions will be worded accordingly.

But what’s the objective?

Let’s say they want to improve the overall quality of future delivery items.

The questions would focus on which products the customer would like to see again and which products they could live without.

Another objective could be about ways to generate more money. The questions could be then about the order frequency.

Is the customer happy with getting a box delivered once per month?

Maybe they would prefer getting weekly deliveries.

Each box would have fewer items and cost less, but the company would make more money over time.

Or they could deliver boxes every three months for even more money and cut down on shipping costs.

Either way, the questions would still center around the specific objective.

If it’s a simple survey, you may not even need to send an external link to the customer.

You can embed the survey directly in the interactive email, just like Expedia does with this one-question survey:

The primary objective for a goal like this could be PR.

They want to be able to say “X” number of customers or “X” percent of people had a good flight.

But at the same time, they’re still letting the customer know they value their feedback.

Establish a comfortable rapport with customers during an interview

Interviews can be tricky.

While surveys are often cut and dry with multiple choice responses or something of similar nature, interviews are typically in-depth.

It’s best to use interviews when you want to get a response that’s more thorough and open-ended.

A simple “satisfied” or “unsatisfied” survey response won’t do the trick here.

I recommend interviews for companies who have brick and mortar storefronts.

That way, you can see the customer in person.

It also increases the chances that the customer will be open to the interview.

In fact, a recent study by the Harvard Business Review suggests face-to-face inquiries are 34 times more likely to get a response than email questionnaires.

When a customer is in your store, politely ask them if they have five or ten minutes to get interviewed.

You want the customer to feel as comfortable as possible during the interview.

That way you’ll get accurate answers.

One of the main problems with face-to-face interviews is that you may need to take some of the responses with a grain of salt.

I’m referring to the psychological tendency that’s referred to as the social desirability bias.

Here’s what I mean.

The customer you’re interviewing may not be thrilled about every single aspect of your business.

But they’re happy enough to continue shopping at your store.

When you ask them questions about their satisfaction, their response may not be 100% truthful.

They are more likely to tell you what you want to hear as opposed to how they really feel.

This customer knows they are going to keep seeing you, and they don’t want to make things awkward by saying they think a certain product is bad.

Instead, they could avoid confrontation and just focus on the aspects they’re happy with.

This is no good.

You need the interviewee to feel comfortable enough to tell you how they really feel.

That’s the only way you’ll be able to make the right improvements.

Let them know as soon as the interview starts that you value their opinion and want to hear criticism.

You won’t be offended or upset if you hear something negative.

If you can’t establish this rapport with your customers, the interview results may be skewed.

Conclusion

If you want to generate more money for your business, you need to figure out what the customers want.

How do you find that out?

It’s easy.

Just ask them.

Use tools like surveys and interviews to get constructive feedback from your customers.

You can find out what you’re doing well and what you need to improve.

Conducting surveys and interviews regularly will show your customers you care about them, increasing their loyalty to your brand.

To get as many responses as possible, offer your customers an incentive for taking the time out of their day to complete a survey.

Each survey and interview should focus on one particular objective centered around a specific goal for your company.

Any time you’re interviewing a customer in person, make them feel as comfortable as possible.

This will help you get the most accurate responses.

Combining these tactics will generate more money for your company.

Does your business prefer to use surveys or interviews to get valuable feedback from your customers?

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How to Ensure Your Company Value Proposition Is Consistent on Every Marketing Channel

Where can your customers reach you?

I’m willing to bet you’re active on multiple platforms in addition to having a website and potentially a storefront location.

Those of you who don’t have multiple marketing channels have a separate issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

But for now, let’s assume at the bare minimum you’ve got a:

• website
• blog
• Facebook profile
• Twitter account
• Instagram page
• LinkedIn account
• YouTube channel

You may even be active on other networks like Snapchat.

With so many channels for marketing distribution, it’s essential you have consistency across all your platforms.

Creating symmetry on all of these distribution channels will make it easier to brand your company.

Once you’re able to establish a brand name that’s recognizable, it’s easier to acquire customers and increase your conversions.

Any disconnect between platforms can create confusion for the consumer.

You don’t want them to see contradicting information on your channels.

It’s likely consumers will see your company on more than one platform.

In fact, the average Internet user has more than seven social media accounts.

You’ll definitely see some overlap between your Facebook fans and Instagram followers.

As part of your marketing and conversion strategy, you’re probably promoting multiple profiles on one channel.

For example, let’s take a look at a recent blog post from Savvy Apps:

From their website, their encouraging users to share this blog post on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and email.

It’s essential these people see the same message across all platforms.

If you’re having trouble maintaining consistency across all your marketing channels, I can help you out.

Here’s what you need to do to set yourself up for success.

Start with images

Pictures are powerful and resonate more with people than words do.

While someone may not always remember the name of your brand, they’ll know whether they’ve seen your logo somewhere.

According to a recent study, people remember about 10% of information three days after it’s been presented to them orally.

But if an image is added to it, 65% of the info gets remembered.

Images are also more memorable than just plain text:

Furthermore, the majority of people are visual learners.

Don’t confuse people by using different logos on various marketing channels.

Keeping everything aligned will help reinforce your brand and make it easier for them to remember you.

I’ll show you how I accomplish this.

Take a look at my Facebook page:

Instead of using a logo, I use my face.

That’s because I’m trying to promote and brand myself as part of my overall marketing strategy.

I want people to know who I am and what I look like.

Now let’s review my YouTube channel:

Notice the consistency?

Not only do I use a picture of myself again, but I use the exact same image.

This way, there’s no confusion for users.

I’m not the only Neil Patel on the planet. This way, they don’t have to wonder if this is the same Neil.

Plus, you can see in the top right corner of my YouTube channel that I’m also providing a link to my website, Facebook, and Twitter profiles:

Speaking of my Twitter account—yes, you guessed it correctly.

I keep it consistent by using the same image.

It should come to you as no surprise that my LinkedIn profile uses the same picture as well.

I could go on and on, but I think you get my point.

I practice what I preach.

While using a personal photo may not always be the best way to brand your company, having a logo that’s consistent on every marketing channel is probably your best bet.

Some companies like to change or alter the theme of their logo around the holidays.

For example, you might use an American flag around the fourth of July or add a turkey to the logo around Thanksgiving.

That’s fine, but just make sure you change that image on every single platform rather than just one or two.

Establish a voice for your brand

Consistency goes beyond visuals.

It also has to do with the type of persona your company takes on.

The language you use on a daily basis will vary depending on your current customers and target market.

There’s not a one-size-fits-all answer for this.

For example, if your company sells surfboards in southern California, your marketing channels can probably get away with using slang terms like:

• rad
• groovy
• stoked
• gnarly

But if your company sells life insurance on a national scale, it’s probably in your best interest to avoid slang altogether.

This goes for all written words on each one of your marketing channels.

The description of your Facebook page should have the same tone as the replies to user comments on your Instagram profile.

Your unique language is a great way to create more engaging content, which is a priority for marketers.

This is also essential for your blogging habits.

If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you know my tone reflects the way I present information on my other marketing channels.

I write as if I’m speaking.

My content is very informal and conversational but also packed with information.

I present a new video on YouTube in the same way.

Earlier, I mentioned responding to user comments.

Not only should your voice and language be the same when you respond to all the comments, but you should be responding on every platform too.

Don’t just respond to Facebook comments and ignore customers on your blog or Twitter.

Answering comments is a great way to build relationships with your customers.

Discounts and promotional offers

Another aspect of consistency has to do with your offering to your customers.

Let’s use a hypothetical example to illustrate my point.

Pretend your ecommerce company is offering a site-wide sale: 50% off everything, no exceptions.

The sale lasts for one week, and you promote it on Instagram and Facebook.

Backtrack a few weeks prior to the announcement of this sale.

Let’s say a Twitter user tweets at your brand, asking when the next sale is. Your repose shouldn’t be, “We rarely offer discounts.”

I realize this example may be a little extreme, but I’m sure you get what I’m trying to say.

Certain luxury brands may never put items on sale as part of their marketing strategy.

But a brand that offers items for 50% off on one platform shouldn’t be telling consumers on another channel they don’t often have discounts.

It’s contradictory and confusing.

Evaluate your call to action

What kind of action do you want users to take when they are interacting with one of your marketing channels?

Do you want them to sign up for something?

Are you trying to make a sale?

There are lots of ways you can present your CTA, and you can A/B test different options to see which one works the best.

You can’t afford to ignore it as part of your marketing strategy.

While your CTA wording or button placement may vary slightly based on the platform, the overall message should be consistent.

Again, there’s not one right answer for this.

It depends on your company’s goal and marketing strategy.

Here are some examples of what your CTA could focus on:

• Customer acquisition
• Retention
• Sign ups
• Downloads
• Social shares
• Sales

First of all, you need to make sure all of your marketing channels have a CTA.

You’d be surprised how often I see companies forget to do this.

They have a profile set up on multiple platforms, which is great, but some of these pages neglect to encourage any form of an action from the customer.

Once all of these are in place, they should have the same message.

An easy way to accomplish this is by having all your CTA buttons link to the same landing page.

That way, you can see which profiles are having more success and adjust the placement, wording, or color scheme of the underperforming CTAs accordingly.

Contact info

Here’s another one you would think should go without saying, but again, I’ve seen many companies have an inconsistent approach to this.

Ask yourself two questions:

1. How do you want customers to contact you?
2. How do customers want to contact you?

There’s a difference.

Your best bet is to provide different options, but they need to be consistent.

As you can see from the data, the majority of customers don’t want to get an automated response from a computer or something similar.

In fact, the majority of people prefer talking to someone.

Whether it’s over the phone, in person, via web chat, or email, they want a direct line of communication with a customer service representative.

Here’s an example of something I saw in one case.

I won’t use their name because I don’t want to embarrass them.

They were a regional company that offered both products and services.

On their website, their phone number was plastered across the top of their home screen in big bold font.

All of their CTAs directed the website visitor to “Call Us Today!”

This held true for buying a product, scheduling a service, or just an inquiry.

While I didn’t think dealing with customers over the phone for each problem was the most ideal option, it was clear the company felt it was the easiest method for them.

The business also had an Instagram profile with a decent following for a small and somewhat local company.

But their phone number was nowhere to be found on their Instagram.

That lack of consistency prevented them from generating new leads on that social platform.

Not all their followers will go to the company’s website to find their contact info.

That’s why I recommend giving users as many options as possible to contact you.

But if you’re going to limit those choices to just phone or email inquiries, make sure all your platforms have that information available.

Conclusion

Consistency is key.

It’s one of the best ways to brand yourself and your company.

That way it will be easier for customers to recognize your business and what it represents.

Start with your images and logo.

Make sure it’s the same on all of your marketing channels.

You can use the examples I gave you earlier with my Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles as a reference for how to accomplish this.

Next, you’ll want to maintain the same voice, tone, and language across all of these platforms.

Establishing a unique voice will help you create a better connection with your customers.

Just make sure your language is appropriate for your target market.

If you offer discounts or promotions, those should be the same on every marketing channel.

Make it easy for customers to get in touch with you by offering consistent contact information on all of your profiles.

What do you need to change on your marketing channels in order to stay consistent with your CTA and value proposition across them all?

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The Top 20 Elements That Add Credibility to Your Website

Before you start trying to drive traffic to your website, you need to master one factor.

I’m talking about credibility.

Without a credible website, you’ll struggle to get more customers and increase conversions.

Plus, credibility shows you’re trustworthy.

If you’re offering something without a trusted name or brand behind it, people will be hesitant to buy what you’re selling.

Why?

Well, with so many other options available on the market, it’s too easy for people to find what they’re looking for somewhere else.

This goes for ecommerce stores, blogs, or any business that has a website.

If a visitor sees a red flag on your website, they will leave.

It’s that simple.

Some of you may not even realize you have components on your site that drive people away.

That’s why I came up with this list of the top 20 ways to add credibility to your website.

Even if you don’t necessarily have elements driving people away, you can always add more components to improve your credibility.

Having a trustworthy website will also improve your search ranking in Google’s algorithm:

Being credible will drive more traffic to your site as well.

This doesn’t just go for websites that sell a product or service.

If you have an informational site, credibility will make it easier for other websites to cite statistics, images, infographics, and other data off your website when they conduct research on the subject you cover.

This will also help drive more traffic to your site.

No matter what type of site you operate, here are some easy ways for you to improve its credibility.

1. Limit advertisements

While advertisements may be a nice form of income for you, they aren’t popular with your visitors.

How much do you rely on ads to make a profit?

If it’s just a small percentage, I recommend getting rid of them altogether.

If you’re an ecommerce site or have a website that makes money from other revenue streams, ads aren’t always necessary.

But say you run a blog and ads are your primary income. In that case, you’ll need to keep them as limited as possible.

Take a look at the types of ads people dislike the most:

Take these numbers into consideration.

Avoid popup ads, and use minimal banner ads.

Although 43% of customers still dislike banners, it’s not as high of a number compared to some other options.

2. Customer service that’s easily accessible

If someone visiting your site has a question or problem, they shouldn’t have to hunt for customer service options.

This should be readily available.

When customer service is unreachable, it makes the visitor feel uneasy.

Especially if it’s during normal business hours.

Note how Apple Support gives customers a variety of ways to reach customer service:

They even have a recommended option.

People love to have choices.

Not everyone wants to pick up the phone.

It’s great when companies have customer service available via online chat.

If you can swing it, give it a try.

3. All your contact information

This should go without saying, but you’d be surprised how often I can’t find contact information on websites.

When I see that, I think it’s sketchy.

What are they trying to hide by withholding their phone number?

Make sure your site has:

• physical address
• email address
• phone number
• links to social pages (Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn)

Failure to do so will make your page appear untrustworthy.

4. Reviews and testimonials

Showcasing customer testimonials on your website helps generate social proof.

This is especially true if you can get a testimonial from an expert in your industry.

You should also have a place on your site where customers can leave reviews.

While good reviews are obviously what you’re looking for, some unfavorable comments may actually boost your credibility as well.

If all customer feedback on your website is positive, it may appear fake.

Even if some people didn’t have the best experience with your business, allowing them to leave a review for others to read will establish trust.

It also helps prove you’re an actual business and not a scam.

Interact with the customers who left a review on your site.

This will help build credibility as well.

5. Security badges

What kind of security measures are you taking to protect users who visit your website?

Showcase those badges on each page.

Studies show that people trust the Norton AntiVirus seal the most compared to other badges.

If you use Norton, proudly display that badge on your site.

If you’re looking for services to improve your site security, Norton may not be a bad place to start based on this information.

6. Validation from other media sources

Have you been featured in a magazine, newspaper, or on a website?

Any positive press about your company should be proudly displayed on your site.

If established media sources have verified your business, it will increase your legitimacy in the eyes of anyone who visits your website.

Find a good spot on your page to add any videos, screenshots, or links to all those stories.

7. Awards

Your website is a great place to show off any awards or achievements.

Whether it’s local, regional, or national, anything helps.

Even if you won an award a couple of years ago, put it up on your website.

Showcasing awards from the past shows you’ve been credible for a while.

It establishes your company’s history over time.

Companies that have been in business for longer periods tend to be well established and appear more credible than those that just started.

If you’ve been operating since 1950, don’t be afraid to plaster that fact on your website.

8. Social proof

We just talked about how customer reviews and testimonials can help establish social proof, but you can take this one step further to add even more credibility to your site.

Do you have any partnerships or relationships with celebrities?

Use that to your advantage.

Look at how IcyHot does this on their website:

The picture of Shaquille O’Neal is the first thing you see when you visit their page.

Knowing such a prominent figure stands behind the brand helps reassure visitors the product is legitimate.

This added comfort builds trust between the brand and the consumer.

9. Guest posts

Guest posts are one of my favorite ways to build credibility.

There are two ways to do this, and you should take advantage of both:

1. let guests blog on your website;
2. write posts for other websites.

Here’s why both can lead to success.

By allowing other people to write on your website, you show visitors that someone else is willing to associate their name with your brand.

This is especially true if that person is an authority figure or person of importance within a particular industry.

But you should also try to get featured on other blogs as much as possible.

It will give you a chance to get your name exposed to a wider audience.

Since an established person or brand is letting you write on their page, it automatically tells their readers you are a credible person.

You can include a link to your website, which will drive more traffic from people who already trust you.

Both of these strategies, especially combined, can drastically improve your business.

10. A design that’s simple and professional

Keep your website simple.

Don’t go overboard with flashing lights or other bells and whistles.

It needs to be clean.

Take a look at the top factor that influenced credibility based on visitor comments:

Over 2,600 responses were factored into these results.

The design look had the biggest impact.

11. Typography and grammar

In addition to the design, you should also consider your typography.

Don’t choose a font that’s difficult to read.

Use a large font and short sentences whenever you’re writing.

Make sure you proofread everything too.

Grammar mistakes and spelling errors are a great way to show customers you don’t care enough to check your work.

That will put you on the fast track toward losing credibility.

This can easily be avoided if you take the time and effort to make sure your writing is grammatically sound.

12. Ease of navigation

Customers shouldn’t struggle to find what they’re looking for on your website.

The menu options should be limited so it’s not too overwhelming.

Adding a search bar so your readers can look for something specific is a great way to improve your navigation as well.

All of this helps enhance the user experience, which helps with your credibility score.

13. No glitches or technical errors

You also need to make sure your website doesn’t have any bugs or glitches.

If a customer clicks a certain link, it should bring them to the right page.

Any error messages will hurt your credibility.

To prevent these problems, you need to do regular maintenance on your site.

14. Page loading speed

Let’s take our last point one step further.

In addition to not having any errors, your website should load fast.

It not only affects your credibility but also helps with your conversion rates.

The faster your page loads, the higher your conversion rates will be.

It’s that simple.

Don’t try to find the cheapest web hosting service on the market. You get what you pay for.

It’s worth it to pay a little extra to avoid technical glitches and always have fast loading times.

15. Photos and biographies of your staff

Adding a page that introduces your staff to your visitors will help establish trust.

It shows you’re not some nameless and faceless brand—real people work for your company.

This simple page will make it easier for customers to relate to your business.

16. Clearly state all policies

Don’t assume website visitors know your company policies.

All of these should be clearly stated on your website.

This will help you from a legal perspective as well in case there is a dispute.

Make sure things such as your return policy or money back guarantee are outlined in detail.

If you’re an ecommerce business, consumers may be hesitant to shop if they don’t think you stand behind your product.

17. Back up all your data

Any time you’re referring to statistical information, studies, or other data, don’t forget to cite your sources.

It’s easy.

Just say something like, “According to research conducted at the University of XYZ…”, and include a hyperlink to the original source of information.

This will show people visiting your site you’re not pulling numbers out of thin air.

If you read my blogs regularly, you know by now I always hyperlink data claims to their sources.

18. Be upfront about your prices

Don’t try to sneak hidden fees past your customers.

It’s shady.

Let’s look at the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment:

Don’t wait until the last minute to tell customers you’re charging them tax, shipping, or other fees.

You should have all your prices clearly listed on the website.

Adding extra costs in the shopping cart could make the customer think you’re trying to sneak one by them.

It’s just not good business practice.

You also shouldn’t say things like “Contact us for pricing.”

Why wouldn’t you just list your prices?

What are you trying to hide?

Those are questions that will go through the customer’s mind if you do that.

19. Make sure everything is up to date

Companies make changes over time.

That’s understandable.

You may move, get a new phone number, and hire a new manager.

None of this is unreasonable.

But failure to update these changes on your website is a big problem.

If customers are trying to call you and they are getting a phone number that’s out of service, that’s an issue.

Or if they try to mail you something and it gets returned back to the sender, that’s a problem.

I’m referring to physical mail as well as a bounced email.

This can damage your reputation.

Earlier I mentioned that it’s a great idea to add employee photos and bios to your page.

But you need to keep those up to date as well.

Let’s say your company’s Vice President has their photograph on your home page. Underneath the picture, it says, “Call today and ask for me directly.”

Imagine someone calls only to find out this person no longer works there.

How does that make you look?

It hurts your credibility.

The customer may think that person never worked for you.

It’s just not a good situation for anyone involved.

20. Secure the checkout process

Refer back to that graph we just looked at regarding shopping cart abandonment.

Note 18% of those respondents said they didn’t trust the website with their credit card information.

In addition to adding security badges to your page, you have to make sure your checkout procedure is secure.

Look at this example from Dick’s Sporting Goods:

The secure link will make their customers feel comfortable about entering their personal information, including a credit card number.

Conclusion

Having a credible website is essential for every business.

If your site looks sketchy or untrustworthy, it can drastically impact your traffic and conversions.

Making minor adjustments to your page can really improve the way it’s viewed through the eyes of a visitor.

The tips I gave you on this list are really easy to implement.

First, remove anything from your site that appears untrustworthy.

Next, add certain elements that improve the overall credibility.

It won’t take much time at all.

Trust me, you’ll notice a big difference right away.

What type of feedback have your website visitors given you about the user experience and navigation on your pages?

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