Peter Butler – Page 8

Peter Butler

We Cracked the Code!

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Had this question from a client, Nathan Peart of Scope Drafting this week!

He needed to know what happened after people got his “5 Things Potential Owner Builders Must Know!” report.

Here’s the question –

If I have these people on my email list do they automatically get a copy of new posts on my website or do I specifically have to send it to them.

Thanks, Nathan Peart

Damn good question and a perfect segue for the code we just cracked.

The answer? Up until now you would have to email or send it to them separately.

So what code did we crack?

The RSS code! What is RSS?

It stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. It’s a really cool way to get your website “posts” or articles blasted out on auto pilot.

Here’s what happens “without” RSS.

You add a post (article) to your website. It gets published. You then want to email that post out to your list.

So you copy and paste it into your email software or Smart Email Software. You send a test, yup, all good to go. You save the email campaign. You then send the campaign.

Easy enough but time consuming! And therein lies the problem for many professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners, time, there ain’t enough hours in the day. So…

Here’s what happens “with” RSS.

You add a post to your website. It gets published. It automatically gets sent out to your list! End of story!

How good is that? No copying and pasting. No testing, no nothing. The only reason you’ll go to Smart Email software is to check your results and statistics. How many read it, who opened it, who clicked on what link (yup, you can do all that too in Smart Email).

What will it really do for your business?

  • Save you a big chunk of time
  • That gives you an incentive to communicate more often
  • That makes your prospects re-look at your business or offerings
  • That makes your previous or old clients think of you again
  • That means your client base are more likely to call you again
  • You’re also more likely to get a new referral because you’re a “top of mind” thought again

So that’s the code we cracked in Smart Email! RSS Integration!

If I knew the code cracking project was going to cost over $20,000 and take 18 months I wouldn’t have gone there. But we did and with the help of David, my tech and his analytical ways and our dedicated team we’ve now made this available for our Smarter Website Members and Smart Email Clients.

Before I outline how the plans work. A reminder, don’t forget that 7 months ago we added “Surveys” to the built in suite in Smart Email Marketing. Have you thought about surveying your clients, or prospects?

Your website needs to be on the WordPress platform or be a “Smarter Websites” website for this to work (of which all our sites are). That’s why they soar the Google charts but that’s another story.

(If you don’t have a “Smarter Websites” website but are interested in converting let’s have a quick chat. Contact Peter here.)

For Smarter Website Members and Smart Email Clients Only:

We have created two RSS template designs in the templates folder to make getting started easier.

Smarter Websites Members:

Smarter Website Standard 110 Members – you get this functionality as a part of your membership. All just a part of the ever increasing service offering we provide for you.  Part of ‘love’ if you like. Just give us the nod by reply email and we’ll activate it for you. We have extensive instructions on how to set it up.

(We can do that for you but there will be a one off fee of $385.00 which includes a personalised branded template)

Smarter Website Basic 55 Members – you will need to upgrade to a Standard 110 Member. Well worth doing simply because of the time you’ll save PLUS the extra’s that the 110 Members get as a part of the membership.

You can see the detail of that here – Smarter Website Member Program.

I have a detailed guide on how to set up the RSS for your blog or Smarter Website.

Smart Email Clients:

This will only work for you if your website is based on a blogging platform. It’s all do-able and certainly worth you finding out what’s involved in converting your website over so let’s have a quick chat.

Contact Peter here.

Don’t Do This Unless You Want SPAM, It’s Just Downright Dumb!

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The bane of all business owners is Spam. We can waste so much time filtering and dealing with it, even with all the great tools out there.

But some people seem to have more of a problem than others. Why?

How did they get your email address to start with?

Spam bots and email scrapers!

I see web masters place and display an email address on a web page.It’s a short cut because –

  • Makes their job simpler.
  • In their zest to “knock out” websites.
  • Easy for the web visitor to contact you.

But guess what?

It costs YOU!

Sooner or later the spam bots will get it, then that email address is burned, only forever.

(Put your web developer in a headlock if they’ve done this to you)

What can you do about it? Nothing, it’s burned. Get a new email account.

What’s the better solution? A spam free contact page that has a code to protect it against spam bots, something that us humans have to fill out.

It’s a better, smarter and more professional way to go anyway. Clients love it, most contact forms have a drop down selection of reasons for contacting you, this simplifies the enquiry process. Some have a cc option too which can be useful.

Anyway,l was just doing some reviews for prospects and it never seems to amaze me, here we are in 2011 and this bad web practice still goes on.

Seriously, slap your web master, they’re costing you time and money! Does my head in!

One Simple Step To Doubling Your Web Leads.

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You’ve got a great looking website, you’ve got some traffic, you might even have some great lead generation strategies in place.

Your website has some brilliant content along with powerful testimonials. All with a bent for a good user experience.

So how can you increase your website enquiries and newsletter sign ups?

You already know that not every web visitor will contact you straight away, maybe they’re just doing their due diligence on you and they’ll come back later when their ready… right?

Good luck! You need to be more strategic than that.

A smarter way to go would be to grab their details so you can stay in touch, keep them up to date and continue to foster your relationship with them. Let’s face it, they came to your website for a reason.

That’s why referrals are so great, they already “know of” you because of the referral introduction. That’s why being able to grab the details of web visitors will “start” that relationship journey for you.

You need to build rapport with your web visitors, and that generally takes more than one “touch”. Make sense?

Plus then you do not have to try and “sell” your stuff – you’re simply informing, educating and relating to prospects and clients. You’re being the “consultant” and helping them to make the right decision.

So how to double your lead sign ups? And on autopilot!

An unobtrusive newsletter pop up! Emphasis on “unobtrusive”.

As visitors go to leave your website you politely ask them if they would like to get latest news and updates from you. Simple!

We are very careful not to pee people off. I personally get annoyed if a newsletter registration pops up and gets in my way.

So we use a tool that will only pop up when they go to leave (that’s how we set it up anyway). You can see it in action here.

Smarter Websites Demo!

This has doubled my sign up rate, consistently, over the last 18 months. In that time it has helped me to convert leads into paying clients to in excess of $35,000. A no brainer to my mind!

Content for Smarter Websites Members ONLY!

Most of the WordPress plug ins we use are free. This particular one is a paid for version but we have made this available for all our members, at no charge, in the members area.

If you’re a Smarter Websites Basic 55 or Standard 110 Member you can download it through the member’s area but you will have to install it and set it up yourself.

To access it simply log in and go to the Members Area, WordPress Plug Ins section.

Our Premium 220 Members get the set up and configuration included at no charge BUT –

Smarter Websites Basic 55 Members – pay a one off fee of only $110 or upgrade to the Standard 110 Member plan and we’ll install, set up and configure it for you (plus you get other big benefits too, you can check that here)

Members Program Levels

Smarter Websites Standard 110 Members – a “ONE OFF” OFFER – Click on the link below, request your install today then we’ll even configure and set it up for you, at no charge! A Bonus – normally reserved for Premium Members Only!
(We may not install it today, but we will do it asap, but you have to make the request today)

Smarter Websites Premium 220 Members – simply reply email and it will be done within 24 hours.

This is just one of many new and exciting Plug Ins we’ll make available to our members, don’t miss out on the tools to build your online lead generating money making machine.

Do the numbers, double your sign ups and improve your conversions from leads to paying clients.

Smarter Websites Basis 55 Members – Install It For Me or Upgrade Me Now!

Smarter Websites Standard 110 Members – Install It Now! Please!

Smarter Websites Standard 220 Members – Reply Email or – Install It Now!

Don’t Make This Mistake, It Could Set You Back Years!

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My brother had a vision when he was kid to “Live On An Island”. I can remember it as clear as yesterday. I just figured it was kid stuff. You know, “When I grow up I’m going to be a policeman or a nurse or fireman”.

But go figure, my brother has done it!

“Harry” Butler, my brother, met Jim Alston 6 years ago, and Jim had exactly the same vision when he was a kid.

Jim already had a big head start on Harry and had created the unique “Wilderness Island”. So with Harry’s expertise in fishing and the gulf area the logical step was to partner up.

So Jim and Harry are now living that dream (I’m so jealous).

That started 5 years ago. Let’s fast forward 4 years.

Imagine if your business was featured on National TV.

How good would that be?

You would have your website all set up, right? So you’d be able to market to the flood of enquiries?

What about if some of the countries top journalists did a huge feature article on you?

Complete with a professional photo shoot and you had absolute rave reviews in this article.

You’d want to show the world, right? You’d do a “Show and Tell” on your website? Of course!

What if you’d made it to the TOP Australian Publications, at least 7 times?

So you’ve featured on TV and the best of the best in the print media, multiple times!

When I watched my brother, “Harry” Butler, feature on National TV I was rapt for him. Here were 2 great mates, in not only 1 but 2 separate 30 minute TV segments all about them and Wilderness Island.

They’d hit the big time with all this free publicity.

You’d expect that phone to ring, of course! And ring it did!

But like this instant world we live in it only rang hot for a week or so and then it was back to business as usual. This was back in September last year, 2010. Business after the show was marginally better but not cranking like it could, or should, still too many gaps between bookings.

Fast forward to January 2011.

Oh, what else I found out in the meantime was they’d had other national media exposure. Imagine being featured in at least 7 national magazines. Unbelievable, all this free publicity! Wouldn’t that be a boon to your business?

The trouble is these guys were great hosts at the island, but they weren’t marketers.

These guys were sitting on a gold mine but the dots weren’t connected (and not enough money was flowing their way)

What was missing? A lot!

Very little credibility, no real relational aspects on the website, no lead generation, no social media connection, no guarantee and also hard to navigate! Apart from that it was all good! (sarcasm intended)

The website experience was like going into a furniture store, walking around, nobody even acknowledging you and so you walked out.

Too many dots not connected. It only takes one piece missing in your marketing and sales process and it’s an uphill battle.

So check your own site!

Here are the 5 Quick Checks.

Credibility!

Do you have any? Easiest way is to use testimonials. “What others say about you is infinitely more powerful than what you say about you!” People underestimate the power of this.

How many sites say “We care” or “Our clients come first”? OMG, seriously, whatever! Boring, inane, meaningless crap the same as everyone else’s crap.

Other ways are to show the evidence of what you do works.

Relational!

Try to connect with your prospects at an emotional level.

Who are your prospects? Remember, you might like your site, the colours, the logo, the content, the whatever, but what do your clients “feel”?

What do they need? You want to see them convert from a visitor to a prospect or client right?

How can you fix their problem or meet their needs and connect with them?

Don’t make this mistake!

Online marketing of your business and conversion is often a 2 or 3 step journey. If you think they’ll visit your site, pick up the phone and be ready to part with their hard earned cash or sign up then good luck with that .

In the Wilderness Island project I didn’t really know the audience. It turns out they have 2 ideal client types –

  • Those wanting a private island wilderness getaway experience.
  • Those passionate about fishing.

Obviously we wanted to leverage from this free publicity. So we got permission to use some video footage of the TV series showing the outcome of the user experience, in this case, big fish being caught.

That also helped to build the other need on your website.

Authority!

By using that video footage showing these guys in action showed they know their business. Remember, we need to try and capture the imagination of 2 types of clients here so that makes it a little trickier. It doesn’t have to be video but you need a way to show that you know your stuff. Read on…

For the private island getaway wilderness experience prospect:

Who are they? Those who want something quiet, away from the night light glow of the cities, solitude perhaps but certainly peace and tranquillity. So we’ve used imagery on the peaceful and tranquil scenery, details and shots of the simple down to earth activities and testimonials and posts around previous guest’s feelings about their stay on achieving that experience.

For those into fishing:

Who are they? Fishing is not a matter of life and death to these people, it’s much more serious than that! They border on being fanatical, some almost obsessive. We need to paint the picture of them catching their dream “prize catch”.

How do we do that? Using lots of stories, photos and videos of the thrill of the experience! So this is a content driven style website.

Authority (and credibility) can be established in many ways – before and after images, statistics about results, valuable content that actually helps your audience (tell them what to do but not how to do it) and it goes on.

Great, so we’ve got both our ideal clients there now, they’re engaged them but what’s next?

Lead Generation!

Give them lots of content to get them engaged but have something extra up your sleeve. Simply have an offer of “I’ll share this with you and all I need is your details to send it to you” process or sequence.

Then you can start the 2 or 3 step journey to converting them into a client.

To have success online we need to take what it is we do in real life and try and take that online. And sometimes it’s not as easy as it sounds. You might not “get it right” first time round.

When I started one of my own “compelling offers” it didn’t convert that well, but with fine tuning, well, you too can create an online lead generating money making machine.

With the Wilderness Island project we’ve had an extra measure of success.

My bonus! I’m up in Wilderness Island now as a bonus simply because of the results. And we’ve got some brainstorming scheduled so it’ll be a win win. And I know I’ll actually catch a decent size fish cause that’s what they gurarantee!

Which is a great segue into the 5th key.

The Guarantee!

What guarantee do you offer that removes the fear from the prospect from doing business with you?

It’s like any objection in any sales process, if you can craft your guarantee to deal with their objection, their fear or concern then you’re miles ahead of your competition. No time on this post to drill down into this, that’s a post in itself.

So your own personal website checklist!

  • Credibility
  • Relational
  • Authority
  • Lead generation
  • Guarantee

What about your business?

How did you score? What can you change?

How do you show the results, the outcomes that people achieve?

If you’re a networker, meeting lots of people but not converting then why?

How do you convert visitors into prospects? If you get web visitors and don’t get their details then why?

What credibility measures do have in place? Are you “connecting”?

If your website is not giving you the results you need maybe we should talk. I’ve never done this before but this is a one off opportunity to talk one on one with me.

Just give me a quick call and we’ll talk about reviewing your website and sales process. Here’s my number – 0413 733 272.

Big post, time to wrap up, got fish to catch.

Plus, don’t forget to check out the website to see how we achieved all of the above –

http://www.wildernessisland.com.au/

and you can also join our FaceBook page if you like eco island and nature experiences or fishing (Plus you can keep a check on our marketing if you “Like” us) –

http://www.facebook.com/WildernessIsland

Talking to Jim he now realises that he wish he’d known that he needed a marketer to build his website, not a web designer. It cost him years. Here’s Jim’s rave –

Hey Peter,

Just wanted to say thanks for the fantastic job you’ve done on the new Wilderness Island website.

It’s already out-performing the old site which has been up and running for nearly 3 years.

I’ve found it very easy to navigate through the pages and it is very comprehensive in the detail.

I loved your idea about the social media, (Facebook and Twitter). I’ve been reading up a bit about it and all the smart businesses are getting onto it so I was very pleased to know that you are keeping a pace of things in the web world.

We already have a heap of fans and steadily building.

A lot of my friends and business associates have commented on the new site and are considering changing web masters so I have and will continue to pass on your details to them.

Thanks for all your effort, the new site is really starting to generate some serious business results.

Cheers,

Jim Alston, Wilderness Island.



5 Have To’s For Website Success!

Google Beta Testing Search Results… On… People In Your Social Circle…

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Yup, True Story –

On the phone yesterday with John Denton of Business Ready For Sale. We’re both in the same BNI (Business Network International) chapter. Plus we’re good mates.

I was doing my due diligence on BNI chapter websites and John Googled “BNI Australia”.

We were both astounded at the results, check it out. Here’s the search term and number of search results shown.

And here is the Social Media Beta results shown down the bottom of page 1, complete with my mug shot with 3 links, what a bonus, 1 to my LinkedIn profile, another to my core website and another to a page within my website.

So what does your online social profiles say about you?

Best you get cracking and check your short bio’s on FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube and whatever other’s you have in the mix.

Make sure you OPTIMIZE your social profiles otherwise you’ll be LOST in the myriad on wannabe experts in your field. Here’s 3 Tips straight up on optimizing LinkedIn.

Get Extra Traffic To Your Website 101.

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Here’s one way YOU can increase your online exposure!

Last week I did a post on the “Top Social Media Marketing Tool For 2011 Is…”

I had 3 direct email responses to that post which was great, love feedback, always good for the ego. 2 are shown below, 1 guy wants to remain anonymous.

Here’s Jurek Leon’s response –

And here’s Andrew Fleming’s email response –

But for those into leveraging results here’s an even smarter way to go.

Reap the benefit, take time to make a comment yourself at the bottom of post’s.

Why?

You get online exposure, you get a link back to your website and everyone’s a winner threefold. So if Jurek and Andrew had made a comment on my website then I love that, the world gets to see interaction on my site and they will pick up a back link plus maybe some traffic to their own site.

Who wants more website traffic? So Andrew and Jurek, it’s not too late. (Late Notice – Andrew did make a comment in my little “shout box” on the home page of my site). Another interaction tool I use.

You might as well make a comment. You’ve taken the time to read it so you may as well as get another benefit apart from the content.

So, You! Make a comment NOW!

At the same time if you want your mug shot to appear with your comment here is how you do that. (If you’re a Smarter Websites client you’ve probably already got a Gravatar, it uses your email address to recognise you)

If not, go get a Gravatar !

Go make a comment NOW! It’s not hard, right now, right below!

To read last week’s post on the “Top Social Media Marketing Tool For 2011 Is…” – Click Here To Read…