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New Blog Content Over HERE >>>

Thanks for stopping by the Charge What You Deserve Blog.  I’ve been up to a lot lately (mostly up to no good and have a new blog over here:

Tom Buford Marketing

I’m having a great time with the new blog and will still be covering a lot of information on how to Charge What You Deserve and GET IT in your business, but lately I’ve been enjoying sharing a lot of content on how you can effectively market your products and programs.  SOOO, is that sounds groovy to you and your biz, please stop by and check out the new site

Peace out
Tom

 

Getting Traffic to Your Products & Programs

Hey there.  I just created a video that covers some steps to get traffic to your
products and programs so that you can increase your sales.  I hope you enjoy!

I want to ask a big favor too.  After you are done watching, leave a comment
below and let me know what you think.  I would also love to know what else
you need help with.  Thanks!

Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what else you want help with.

Cheers

Tom

 

Guest-Blogging Your Way to More Subscribers

Are you ready to start guest-blogging your way to more subscribers? That’s today’s topic.

If you’ve been on the internet for any length of time, you know that a blog is an ongoing online journal on a certain topic, which usually invites interaction with readers in the form of comments on the blog posts. Many blogs allow or even encourage guest posts from other writers in their industry.

By becoming a guest blogger on a popular blog, you can get additional subscribers in two main ways:

1. It increases your trust factor. In order for people to give you their name and email, they need to trust you. As a guest blogger on the blog of someone they already know, like and trust, you have the opportunity to have a little bit of that trust rub off on you. This vote of confidence goes a long way in gaining the trust of potential new subscribers to your email list.

2. It extends your reach. By guest blogging you significantly increase your center of influence, beyond those you normally reach.

If you want to have success with guest blogging you need to understand the target market of the blog you’re visiting. Your posts should connect with the audience and offer them value. Do this by studying the blog  – what have readers responded to in the past? What topics are typically covered? How long are the posts? Do they include multiple images or none at all? You want to look like you belong, while still offering something uniquely yours.

When trying to find blogs to guest appear at, start with who you know and who knows you. Then start looking for leaders in your field and approach them. You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to secure guest-blogging spots. All bloggers need content, and it takes a lot of time and energy to create so you are providing them a service. It’s one day they don’t have to think of what to write!

Recommended Resource:

If you’d like to learn more about guest blogging – I highly recommend you check out this report:  How to Blog Tour

Once you’ve secured a blog to post on and you understand what the readers want, it’s time to sit down and write. Here are some tips:

-        Begin with the end in mind. Choose a goal for each blog post. In this course, we’re working on building your subscriber base, so your goal will be to send the readers to sign up to your email list. Think about your ‘irresistible offer’ and work your way backwards from there.

-        Write useful information, but don’t give it all away. Remember that your goal is to bring them back to your own website to sign up for your list. Craft your post so that the reader is impressed with the information, but left wanting to learn more. Then create your offer to send them exactly where they’re dying to go.

-        Respect and thank the blogger. Do everything you can to make your visit is a pleasant one for the host and the readers. That means offering to add the post yourself, thanking them publicly for accepting your post, promoting your post via Twitter & Facebook, and anything else you can think of to be a very welcome guest. That way you’ll be welcomed back again, anytime!

Guest-blogging is one of the best ways to reach a targeted market.  Try it out and you’ll see that building an email list doesn’t have to be complicated or confusing – you simply need to take action!

ACTION STEP:
So right now, make a list of five sites you could approach to guest-blog.  Then go do it.  Yes, right now!

Cheers
Tom

PS. If you’re thinking about guest blogging be sure to check out this course. It’ll save you time and get you better results: How to Blog Tour

 

Pricing Strategy – 4 Tips to Setting Prices Based on Value and Not Time Exchanged

Trading dollars for time will always limit your income to the number of hours there are in a day, a week or a month. This can be a frustrating trap that you need to break free of.

One of the most effective ways to set yourself free from trading dollars for time is to begin establishing your fees based on value. At the end of the day that is precisely what service professionals are being hired for; to offer value to their clients.

So why is it that we set fees based on the number of hours that we work or sessions that we provide? Because that’s what we see others doing. But that’s NOT what the most successful coaches out there are doing. They are charging what they deserve by setting fees based on the value that they deliver.

Alan Weiss, business guru and author of Million Dollar Consulting, describes it like this:

“The secrets of receiving high fees are:

1. Base fees on the client’s perceived value of your assistance.

2. Ask for them.”

Nothing more.

Review and add to your “value inventory” all the time. These are the things that you need to be focusing on. It’s not about how many sessions a coach offers her clients; it’s about the results that she delivers. I can’t stress this enough!

Here are four things to keep in mind when establishing fees based on value:

1. Take time to nurture the relationship with your clients and prospects.

2. Never feel obligated to share details about your business such as the number of days in the week or hours in the day that you spend working.

3. Don’t blurt your fees too soon.

4. Don’t negotiate your fees without removing value. This may sound cold, but it really isn’t. Once somebody sees that you are willing to go down on yours fees, they immediately devalue your service and feel they can get away with it again. This doesn’t serve you or your clients.

Be sure to leave a comment below and let me know what you are doing to Charge What You Deserve.

Cheers

Tom

 

How to create an email marketing account and attach your free offer

In my last post I talked about how to create an irresistible free offer so that you can begin to build a profitable, consent-based email list.

To recap, the 5 steps are:

1. Create an irresistible free offer
2. Create an email list and attach your freebie
3. Create an opt-in page
4. Add additional follow up emails
5. Get traffic to your free offer

Today I want to dig a little deeper into step #2 and show you exactly how to set up your email marketing account and attach your new “freebie” to your auto-responder.

An email marketing account is simply an account that allows you to build a database of subscribers who are interested in learning more about you and your business.  This is a simple way to get people to know like and trust you.

The most effective email marketing accounts with protect you from any SPAM issues while allowing you to reach out to your entire list, or a segment of your list, with automated follow-up and broadcast messages.

My favorite resource for this is Aweber.com.  They are not only reliable, but they follow the strictest anti-spam regulations which will ensure that you.  Aweber has some very good video tutorials that will help you set up your new account so don’t worry about the “techie” side of this.  You can also pay a virtual assistant via IVAA.org to set it up for a nominal fee.

Once you’ve set up the email account with Aweber or another list management company of your choice you need to attach your free offer to the first follow-up message.  This way the new prospect will automatically receive what they signed up for without you having to sit near a computer responding to each and every new sign-up

You can add a PDF attachment to the message or create a separate web/blog page with a link to your free offer.  If you’re using audio or video, the file will be too large to add as an attachment, but using AudioAcrobat.com will allow you to create a simple link that you can share within the message that will take your prospects to the content.

Next I will talk about setting up your opt-in page so that you can begin getting subscribers and build your brand new community.

Be sure to ask any questions here:
http://TomBufordMarketing.com

 

Attract Ideal Prospects with your Irresistible “Freebie”

In my last post called “5 Steps to Building a Responsive Email Marketing List”

I talked about specific ways to build a profitable, consent-based email list.  In other words, you are building a strong relationship with a community of people who are sincerely interested in what you have to offer.

To recap, the 5 steps are:

1. Create an irresistible free offer
2. Create an email list and attach your freebie
3. Create an opt-in page
4. Add additional follow up emails
5. Get traffic to your free offer

Today I want to dig a little deeper into step #1 and share some ideas about creating a free offer that your ideal prospects will love to sign up for.

Your irresistible offer can be anything from a free report or list of resources to a simple audio tutorial where you share your thoughts on a specific idea.  There is no reason to make this long or complicated.  After all, this is a free sample of more to come.  Don’t put so much pressure on yourself that you never get out of first gear.  In fact, it’s my experience that many people appreciate a concise solution when they are signing up for a free offer of some sort.  The idea is to get it out there in a big way and use this to establish a strong relationship with a large list of potential clients and customers.

Here are FOUR simple steps to create your free offer:

1. Decide on the topic that you want to dig into
This should naturally lead to your paid solutions so be sure to keep a theme going here.  Be as specific as possible.  You won’t attract many prospects if you set out to solve every problem for every person.

2. Pick a title for the freebie
Don’t get too cute here.  Keep it simple and be sure that people know what they are getting.  An example if you share pricing strategies with service providers might be “5 Deadly Mistakes to Pricing and what to do if you’ve made them.”

3. Outline and create your free offer
Turning a simple word doc into a PDF or creating a short MP3 audio is certainly sufficient.  If you have the ability to add graphic design, etc then knock yourself out, but the most effective freebies will share valuable content without having to try to rely on fancy design elements to please the prospect

4. Attach your free offer to your auto-responder
I like to use Aweber for email marketing software.  They have an impeccable reputation and cost less than twenty bucks a month.  That’s hard to beat for the value that you will begin to build by implementing consent-based email marketing into your business.

In my next post I will dig into step #2 and explain how to set up your email marketing account and attach your brand new irresistible offer to it so that you can get ready to build your community practically on auto-pilot.

 

5 Steps to Building a Responsive Email Marketing List

Building a profitable business takes time and energy.  But using effective strategies such as creating a strong, responsive email marketing list can shave months if not years off of your efforts so that you can enjoy your business sooner rather than later.

I love having an email marketing list, or “community”, that I can stay in touch with anytime I need.  Having an email list has allowed me to build a strong relationship within my community and position myself as an authority that people know, like and trust.

If you sell, or want to sell, any type of service then creating your own community is a powerful way to grow your business and enjoy it to the fullest.  Here are the five basic steps to creating an effective, profitable email marketing list of your own.

1. Create an irresistible free offer

It’s not enough to offer a newsletter or ezine anymore.  People are already overwhelmed with the number of subscriptions that they have.  But people who are on the internet are searching for information and if you can offer a free offer that will provide them with some valuable information many people will happily exchange their first name and email address for this info.

Your free offer can be a written report, short audio or video tutorial, compilation of articles you, or someone you trust, has written, a list of helpful resources, free teleseminar, free interview, etc.

2. Create an email list and attach your freebie

I use Aweber to manage my email marketing list.  They are reliable and affordable.  You can set up your account and attach your free offer to the auto responder, or follow up email.  If you are offering a free teleclass, etc just provide the call-in details in the follow up email.

3. Create an opt-in page

This is where people will sign up to receive the free offer.  Be sure to include a catchy headline, bullet points about what is offered and an opt-in box so that they can enter their name and email address.  You will use your email marketing account to create the opt-in box.

4. Add additional follow up emails

You want to continue to follow up with more valuable information.  You can add articles, audio and video tutorials, new teleclasses, etc.  This is your opportunity to build a long-term relationship with your community.  But also keep in mind that it’s important to promote relevant products and services that you offer.  Some people will stick with your free offer, but others will want to take that next step with you.  Don’t keep it a secret!

5. Get traffic to your free offer

After steps 1-4 are set up you only need to focus on getting traffic to your opt-in page.  You can use any or all of the following to cover your traffic: social media, joint venture teleseminars, article marketing, guest blogging, speaking, etc.

I hope this helps you move forward with your own email marketing.

 

I just wanted to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

I hope that whatever you’re doing and wherever you are that you have a great weekend and enjoy time with friends, family or taking time to be with yourself!

Even if you don’t celebrate the holiday I want to let you know that I am thankful for YOU and your taking the time to read my emails, listen to my calls and, in general, put up with my eccentricities

Cheers
Tom

 

Make More Money With a Smaller Market – 5 Reasons to Narrow Your Niche As a Service Provider

It’s like pulling teeth to convince some service providers that they NEED to narrow their niche. I understand that it can seem very scary at first, but service providers such as coaches, trainers, speakers and consultants need to recognize that they can’t work with everybody. And, in fact, they will be able to actually help MORE people by narrowing their niche. One of the best marketing tips that I ever got was that I needed to make my market smaller.

Here are 5 reasons why it’s important to narrow your niche if you’re a service provider.

1. You’ll know what to sell.
To be successful, you need to create solutions to urgent problems. You can’t identify a market’s urgent problems if your market is “everybody.” But these problems become very easy to identify once you begin to narrow your niche.

2. You’ll know HOW to market.
Every market will have a different set of emotional “hot buttons” and triggers. They will also identify with different types of marketing approaches. This is a great reason to narrow your niche. Once you learn exactly who your market is, you will know exactly how to market to them.

3. You’ll know WHERE to find your audience.
Trying to solve all problems for all people creates an obvious problem: where do you begin? When you narrow your niche, you will know exactly where to find them. They will be hanging out on very specific forums, blogs, social media sites, networking groups, etc. One of the greatest challenges that many business owners face is knowing exactly how to find their market. Fine tuning your “who” will make the “where” a simple question to answer.

4. You’ll spend less money on marketing.
Since you now know exactly who you want to work with and where they’re hanging out, doesn’t it seem fair that you can expect to spend less on your marketing budget to get in touch with them? Yup! This is a great way to really get the most bang for your marketing buck.

5. You’ll be able to work less and make more.
Wow…now that’s a good reason to narrow your niche! And it’s a valid reason to boot. The more you can narrow your niche, the more efficient you can work. Your thoughts, energy and marketing ideas can go into “ultra laser-focus” mode, making you a lean, mean, money-making machine. OK, no more metaphors, but you get the picture.

So, what can you do with this new inspiration to narrow your niche?

Action step:
Take out a sheet of paper and write down exactly who your ideal clients are and what they need MOST that you can supply. Answer the following questions:

Who are they?
What do they like?
Where do they hang out to learn or gather information?
What hobbies do they have?
What’s their biggest fear?
What’s their biggest desire?

Take 10 minutes to answer these 6 questions and you’ll see that your marketing vision will become much clearer.

 

Build a Large List of Hungry Prospects with an Expert Interview Series

Service professionals and other business owners often struggle with two important details in their businesses:

1. Having a product to sell
2. Having an audience to sell TO

Creating a simple expert interview series is a great way to kill two birds with one stone, metaphorically speaking of course.

But first, what is an expert interview series?

An expert interview series is simply a compilation of audio interviews with experts on one specific topic or a variety of topics that, when combined, create a valuable information product.  For instance, the first audio product that I created for my company, Charge What You Deserve, was a compilation of expert interviews on the topic of fee-setting and how service professionals can actually attract better, more eager clients if they start charging more for their current services.

I combined these audio interviews with word-for-word transcriptions and a short outline into a valuable, best-selling information product.  By the way, all of the interviews were done over the telephone.

An expert interview series can come in physical form, such as CDs and a transcription workbook, or it can be delivered in a digital format, such as MP3 audios and PDF workbook.

So, as you can probably guess, the act of conducting and compiling the interviews yields a very valuable product that can now be sold.

The next step is to build a list of prospects who are eager to buy the interview series.  This is actually very simple if you plan ahead and arrange for your experts to share your project with their “fans”, newsletter subscribers, blog readers, social media followers, etc. by sending them to your website for a sample of the interviews.  Then you just need a way of capturing contact information, such as a simple opt-in or sign-up box, in return for the sample you provide.

Don’t let the technical aspects trip you up.  The entire “flow” of building a list of prospects, creating an interview series, and generating an income from it is actually quite simple and the project can be very rewarding and a lot of fun.  This doesn’t, and shouldn’t,  have to take months to complete either.  The key is setting the intention and moving forward.

Hopefully this has helped to inspire you to create an expert interview series of your own.  Remember, the content that you share can be life-changing for those who are ready to receive it.

If you would like to learn more about how to pick a hot topic, find your experts, and create a valuable information product you will be interested in the Interview Wealth Home Study System.  You can get all of the details here: Interview Series Profits

 

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