Bob's Work Site

Category: List Building

  • IAmAliveChallenge-Day4

    I Am Alive Challenge – Day 4

    I just realized that my last 2 posts never posted. I have no idea what happened to them. I remember saving drafts while I was writing them. I remember previewing them and I remember publishing them. But nothing. A few minutes ago I lost the start of this post right after I saved the draft. They are nowhere to be found. You can bet I will copy this post before I get out of it. (I just tried saving and it never told me it was saved. Something weird is going on.) (Just tried saving again after previewing and it worked.) OK, onward.

    Since my last two posts disappeared here are the links to my day 2, 3 and 4 videos for the IAmAliveChallenge because I know you have been in suspense waiting to see them and be able to comment on what I need to do to improve.

    1. IAmAliveChallenge Video – Day 2
    2. IAmAliveChallenge Video – Day 3
    3. IAmAliveChallenge Video – Day 4

    Now I am back to where I wanted to start this post. I am really starting to have fun with the IAmAliveChallenge. I am sure what is making it fun for me is learning the video software, OBS. OBS is one of those open source programs which is out to prove they are just as good, if not better, than the most expensive commercially available equivalent. I am not sure what that is for a video program but OpenOffice and LibreOffice are two Microsoft Office competitors which are free and do all the same things. Was also using OpenShot Video Editor but at least for the time being don’t seem to need it.

    Originally, I would shoot the video, use Canva to make a title and then use OpenShot to add the title, clip the start and end of the video to elminate dead air and create the video. It worked but I did not think the videos looked very professional. Check out some of my earlier videos to see what I mean.

    Now I am strictly using OBS. With OBS, you make scenes that use different resources. You can mix media in a scene. For example, part of the screen can be showing you live, next of a video on the internet, both above scrolling text. I don’t know about you but I think that is pretty impressive. You create a scene for each combination of resources you need and switch between the scenes with the push of a key.

    So far I have only scratched the surface of what OBS can do. I have added a sound track to and image I use for my title page. Of course, I have just a live shot, and I have the live shot combined with an image and scrolling text. I need to improve on my switching between scenes. The only disadvantage I have found with OBS is you need to be ready to speak when you start recording or streaming. Having a title page helps offset that problem. Plus, there is always OpenShot if I need to edit a video.

    Until Tomorrow,
    Bob Caine

    P.S. Come join us in the IAmAliveChallenge. Get your free ebook telling you how here. The challenge uses blockchain technology so you get paid for all your content. Join Us it is FUN.

  • I Need The Internet’s Opinion

    Confusion of a businessman with colorful arrow

    This post is going to be short. I finished my video landing page and I would like to get everyone’s opinion whether or not the landing page I just created is good enough to actually use. I don’t know how many times I remade the video for one reason or another. I finally decided I wasn’t going to get it perfect and this one wasn’t too bad. So please be honest in your comments as to the page’s value. Thank you.

    ==> Affiliate Marketing PhD at ClickTrackProfit <==

    I have of course put the page in CTP’s Gauntlet. Unfortunately, the feedback from the Gauntlet isn’t always that helpful. Say, ‘Nice site’, doesn’t really help me make the page better. That is why I am asking for your honest feedback. I am trying with this LCP to ‘Get Out of my comfort zone’ as so often recommended by @jongolson.

    I am looking forward to your comments,
    Bob Caine
    @rcaine

  • Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock…

    Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock…

    It is late at night. You really need to go to bed. But you have to finish your marketing emails. You have text and html versions of the email written. Now it is just have to send them. Tick, tock,tick, tock … Open the mailer, go to send, paste the your email into the mailer, oops needed the html email, copy the html email, paste it in the mailer, get the link, paste it, assign credits, send email, exit – next mailer only 20 to go. Sound familiar.

    Referral Frenzy

    For the mailers you are a member, Referral Frenzy

    • Keeps your login information for dozens of emailers
    • Create and save text and html versions of your email
    • Assigns max credits possible to each mailer
    • Allows you to select email to send
    • Send emails to all text mailers you are a member with a single click
    • Send emails to all html mailers you are a member with a single click
    • Can schedule emails for multiple future dates (great for vacation)
    • Keeps stats for all emails

    I can email the 50+ mailers in well under 5 minutes once the emails are done. This is at least a a 60 minute savings for me. Referral Frenzy has many more features as well. I just listed what I use the most. Oh, I almost forgot, every month you automatically receive bonus credits, up to as many as 5000. Referral Frenzy is an absolute must for affiliate marketing in my option and I would highly recommend it.

    The bad news is Referral Frenzy is not free. The subscription is $15/month or $97/year. I was fortunate to get a lifetime subscription years ago. I don’t remember what I paid for my subscription but it has been worth every penny. Also, Referral Frenzy has a limited number of mailers (approximately 70 of the top mailers).

    An alternative to Referral Frenzy is Viral Mail Profits. VMP takes time to set up because you have to enter each mailer and its information. Of course this is only a one time set up and it allows you to enter any emailer you want. Like RF, you can save a text and html version of the email and send the appropriate one. The biggest difference is that you send 1 email at a time in Viral Mail Profits. You still save time because VMP does most of the switch between programs for you and can automatically walk through a selected list of mailers. I actually use VMP as a supplement to Referral Frenzy for the mailers that aren’t in RF.

    You can use Viral Mail Profit as a free member with limitations but the full capability requires an upgrade. Right now, 3/15/20, there is a lifetime upgrade available for $77. A great value . Marty Petrizza recently purchase VMP so I am sure there are great changes coming. VMP is another time saver that I a very glad I have.

    Until Next Time,
    Bob Caine

  • One of Those Totally Befuddling Days

    I woke up this morning with my mind racing. Running through my mind was all the different things I have learned from the ClickTrackProfit training about building my business and how do I put them together. How do I use content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, blogging and build my list. How do I combine them all into a cohesive marketing plan?

    I have spent the day trying to figure out a marketing plan. For example, I want to put together a plan to recruit referrals for ClickTrackProfit and build my list. I have sent 1000’s of emails and what happens. I get a referral every now and then. Luck of who opens the email when. I have similar results with trying to build my list.

    I need a plan. An organized approach of what to do when. I realize a plan like can be different for every person but there must be some guidelines. I can throw out a bunch of buzz words but I don’t know how to arrange them to work best.

    • Split Testing
    • Content Marketing
    • Blogging
    • Autoresponder
    • Email Marketing
    • Etc, etc …

    Of course, then there is my impatience. I send emails for a week or so about a program. No results. This impatience I can fix. I can force myself to stick with a program and figure out a way to stay motivated. I will do this. I want to get to the magic $2.74/day. (If you don’t know why $2.74/day is important you need to join ClickTrackProfit.)

    I joined ClickTrackProfits many years ago. For reasons long forgotten, I started looking for another training hub. I tried this one and that one. Some that I tried cost $!000’s and had high monthly fees. Every one I joined had the same advice – advertise on Facebook. Finally, I had anther one of my morning epiphanies. I already belong to the best training available. Why did I abandon it? I don’t know but I am back and not leaving again.

    Does anyone know any books, blogs or post that could help me put a marketing plan together? I would really appreciate your knowledge on this topic. Thanks

    Until Next Time,
    Bob Caine

    PS – No Angry Crab Surfing badges today.

    The best training available at any price!
  • Get More emails Opened

    Get More emails Opened

    I finally took the time to consolidate various notes I had regarding email subject lines do’s and dont’s. I have been collecting expert suggestions about creating good emails subject lines for a long time. These notes were in all kind of places; in notebooks, random notepad entries, even post-it notes. Since I have this consolidated now, I thought I would share it and see what others thought of these little nuggets of knowledge.

    Do’s and Dont’s for email Subject Lines

    • Don’t use ALL CAPS – this can trigger spam filters which will send your emails to the spam folder
    • Do keep your subject line between 50 and 65 characters – definitely no more than 71 characters. Sometime shorter subjects can be effective but you should test these.
    • Do review your subject on a mobile phone – A mobile phone can cut off a subject line and leave awkward or inappropriate phrases. Send yourself a test email and review it on your phone.
    • Don’t mislead – you might be tempted to say something wild or even irrelevant in the subject – don’t do it. More people may open the email but more are likely to mark
    • your email as spam.

    Try these techniques to increase your open rates

    • Ask a question – use a question that people are asking about your content. This does require a little research
    • Mention pain points – use difficulties or problems common to your target audience or subscribers. Again a little research may be neede4d.
    • Talk about benefits – write about the benefits related to your content instead of features
    • Create curiosity – one way to do this is to hint at the content in the email. For example, “The answer to [________] is inside this email”.
    • Include first name – this is only for subscribers of course.

    Also, I have another note that says you should repeat your subject line at the beginning of your email. I wasn’t sure where to put that piece of information.

    I hope you find this collection of information useful. Please leave me a comment on any tips you have to increase open rates.

    Thank you in advance for your comments,
    Bob Caine

    PS – The Angry Crab surfing badges were available again today. I am at 5 of the 10 1000 site surfing days with the Angry Crab surfing badges I need. Crabs will probably disappear tomorrow. But there is always hope.

  • Which Form To Use

    Most form builder software offers more than one type of form. Picking the best type for your specific purpose can increase your sign up rate. The 6 most popular form types are

    1. Embedded – probably the most common form
    • Part of page content
    • Doesn’t follow user as they scroll
    • Great for home or landing pages
    • Doesn’t disrupt or infer with content
    • Doesn’t follow user
    • Can be missed if not eye catching or scrolled off screen
    1. Pop-up
    • Pops up after user defined criteria; e.g., time or percent of page
    • User can’t miss a pop-up usually appears in center of screen
    • Disruptive because it blocks content until subscribes or closes form
    • Can annoy visitors
    1. Exit intent
    • Appear when user tries to close screen or leave tab to continue user must subscribe or close form
    • Not disruptive because doesn’t appear until exiting
    • Good for landing page with an offer as a reminder
    • Could promote a different offer which may be more interesting to user
    • Great for pages where content is more important than subscribers
    1. Slide-in
    • Slides in from left or right side of page as opposed to just appearing like a pop-up
    • Can dictate when form appears like pop-ups
    • Usually follow user as they scroll
    • Great when you want content read and the form seen
    • Less annoying than pop-up
    1. Horizontal bar
    • Extends the entire width of display
    • Can be at the top or bottom of screen
    • Can be ‘sticky’ so always visible to user.
    • Not disruptive
    • Can’t put much information
    • Lower conversion than pop-up or slide-in forms because it is easily ignored
    1. Full page
    • Covers entire page
    • Like pop-ups except covers entire page
    • Have to be notice
    • Totally disruptive
    • Use relative content on form

    You may want to split test different form types on a lead capture. I want to try an embedded form vs. a pop-up. One thing to note: don’t use pop-up or slide-in forms for mobile viewing. Some form builders allow you choose which type of form to use when.

    Until Next Post,
    Bob Caine

    The Angry Crab surf badges were available today so I can make progress on my CTP SeaLifeHits Mastery challenge. YEAH!

  • Do You Send a Welcome Email?

    Do You Send a Welcome Email?

    I will bet your first reaction to the title of this post was, “Of course I do.” But you would be amazed at how many people don’t send a ‘proper’ Welcome email. A well thought out Welcome email will get you more opens, more clicks, better ‘deliverability’ and less spam complaints. This is the first email subscribers receive and it may be the most important.

    According to Aweber, welcome emails get open rates 4 times higher and click through rates 5 times higher than emails. They report often seeing welcome emails with greater than 90% open rate and greater than 50% click-through rate.

    Welcome emails are so successful because the subscriber receives them while their interest is high. Often these emails contain an incentive, so the subscribers want their freebies. Or, they are interested in the content of the subscription and want to see what the email says.

    Whatever their reason for opening your Welcome email, you will probably never get a better response from any email you send.

    There are 5 things every Welcome email should do

    1. Deliver the freebie – if you offered a freebie on your squeeze page, your Welcome email should deliver it and make sure it is easy for the subscriber to find. If you didn’t offer a freebie, try offering a blog post that will be of value to them.
    2. Ask to be whitelisted – By whitelisting you, a subscriber is sure to get your future emails. (Providing instructions on how to ‘whitelist’ can be helpful.) A clever way to get whitelisted is to ask the subscriber to reply to the email so you know they received it. This adds you to their contact list.
    3. Set Expectations – Tell the subscriber how often you will receive emails and what type of content will be in the emails. Providing this type of information will reduce unsubscribes and spam complaints.
    4. Introduce yourself – this is the perfect opportunity to begin a relationship with your subscriber. Remember people buy from those they know, like and trust. Introducing yourself or your company and what you are about will help them get to know you. Include your picture ore log if possible. It is never too soon to start your branding.
    5. Build anticipation – you want your subscribers to look forward to the next email; e.g., explain the benefits of being a subscriber, use teasers about future content, unannounced freebies. Anything you can think of the will increase the subscribers desire to open your next email.

    Also, remember the 75%/25% rule from CTP training. 75% pull (provide value) emails, 25% push (sell). I would recommend that at least your first 3 emails, work on building your relationship with the subscriber and give them something of value – tips, links to blog posts, links to pictures. You don’t want to sell anything. Selling something in the 4th email is probably OK or continue to build your relationship. Strong relationships have big rewards later.

    Until next time,
    Bob Caine

    Angry Crab

    PS – No Angry Crab surf badges today so still stuck on 3 of the required 10.

    PSS – My post from yesterday where I thought a CTP CupofTraffic Mastery challenge that would take almost 3 years to complete was too long. Got a reponse from @russellstockley, the owner of CupofTraffic. It said, ” I must admit I thought I had adjusted that one, so your post has prompted me to revisit and you will be pleased to know that you now recieve 8 points for logging in and yes this still means that the task is not instant, but then they are not supposed to be 🙂 ” Thank you @russellstockley.