How to Start and Build a Profitable Podcast with John Lee Dumas

How to Start and Build a Profitable Podcast with John Lee Dumas Podcast: Play in new window | Embed Right click to download the .mp3. On this episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast, we talk all about creating a brand new podcast. My special guest is a recent Best of 2013 iTunes award winner, John Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire. His show is unique in that he broadcasts seven days per week, which takes a crazy commitment! John has interviewed over 425 people to date and his interviews tell the stories of entrepreneurs who have “made it” in their niche. The stories of his guests are inspiring to say the least and help others out there who are looking to take their own entrepreneurial leap. I wanted to create this episode at this specific time because at the time of this recording, I’ve been podcasting for almost a full year, and it’s been an extremely rewarding experience. I LOVE podcasting. It’s opened so many doors for me, introduced me to an entirely new audience, and has allowed me to expand my brand beyond my Facebook trainings. It’s also given me more confidence in my business and has created opportunities for me that I would not have been given had I not created this show. I highly recommend podcasting to anyone that is looking to expand their brand and take things beyond their blog and website. This episode is extremely valuable. There are tips for those just thinking about starting a podcast, or just starting out, AND there are some great ideas in there for those that have been podcasting awhile and want to take their show to the next level. So we have something for everyone here! In this episode, here’s what we’ll cover: How to get started with podcasting How John went from having zero online presence to building a six-figure monthly income Tips for those questioning whether or not they have what it takes to podcast The minimal equipment needed to start a podcast Steps needed to produce a podcast How podcasts are found in podcast directories The importance of great show notes and how to best utilize them How to monetize a podcast The importance of intros and outros, and how to get them done well What aspects of podcasts you can outsource And so much more! Items mentioned in this episode include: Entrepreneur on Fire John’s story [video] John on Twitter John’s blog post on podcast sponsorships Podcasters Paradise Blue Yeti Heil PR-40 Logitech ClearChat Headset Skype Audacity GarageBand Libsyn Amazon S3 iTunes Tim Paige (for intros and outros) Voice123 My first interview on Entrepreneur on Fire My second interview on Entrepreneur on Fire Go here to get John’s eBook, Podcast Launch FREE until February 1st! Click here to download the transcript. Right click to download the .mp3. Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed) Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield

How to Start and Build a Profitable Podcast with John Lee Dumas

How to Start and Build a Profitable Podcast with John Lee Dumas Podcast: Play in new window | Embed Right click to download the .mp3. O...

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10 Commandments of Using Pinterest for Business

Would you love to tap into the power of a social media site that can send you more referral traffic than Twitter? Bring you more leads than LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube combined? Convert more fans into paying customers who will easily share your content with their friends? I know, I know. It sounds impossible, right? But, if you haven’t been living under a rock for the past few months, you would realize that I am not talking about some social media pipe-dream – especially if you have heard about the rise and rise of Pinterest. Since launching 2 years ago, Pinterest has achieved all of the above and more. It surpassed 10 million users, faster than any other stand-alone site in history. It outstripped the traffic of Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined, and it is now capable of driving more referral traffic than Twitter. Got your attention yet? What is Pinterest? To use Pinterest for Business, you need to first understand what it is, how it works and how to make it work for you. Pinterest is a stand-alone Visual Social Network built around engaging visual content. Users share visual images from the web, by “pinning” them on to a series of virtual PinBoards. “Pinners” can create, share, collect and repost information in picture, image or video format. This great video from MDG Advertising gives one of the most comprehensive overviews of Pinterest that I have seen. Enough of the stats. Let’s talk strategy. Firstly you need to decide if Pinterest is the right fit for you – not all social media sites suit all business types. However, so far, I have not seen many businesses who would not benefit from a presence on Pinterest, especially with the use of some creative marketing, as outlined below. With such huge potential for driving traffic, there are some must-know actions you need to take NOW in order to leverage Pinterest’s massive potential for referring customers to your business. Let’s call them the 10 Commandments of Pinterest. They are the 10 keys that YOU need to apply, in order to harness the referral power of this exciting, visual and fun social media platform. The 10 Commandments of Using Pinterest for Business #1 Plan for Pinning Success As tempting as it is to jump in and start pinning, I recommend that you do the following first: Take time to set up your account properly. Think about what you will be using the account for. If you are a Public Figure, you will most likely use your own name, but if you own a business, set up an account in your business name, using your logo. Ensure that you include key words in your description. Set up the links to your website and social media channels on your profile. Prepare Your Blog for Pinning. Install these tools: Pin It Button for Websites – on your website or blog. Embed the button wherever you have “pinnable” content – including your blog, content pages, and products for sale. Follow Me Button for Websites - on your home page, email footer and newsletters/email marketing. Pin It Bookmarklet on your browser to make it easy to pin from the web! Install the Pin It Button on your Blog! Integrate with other social media platforms. Add Pinterest sharing buttons and apps to other social media platforms, such as Facebook. Give a Call-to-action to your Google+, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn Followers to follow you on Pinterest! Integrate, integrate, integrate! Link Facebook and Twitter. Facebook links only to your personal profile (not Pages), so you may find it better to link to Twitter for business posts. Post to Facebook selectively as relevant – all linked Pinterest posts are now featured in a Facebook “album”. Linking Facebook and/or Twitter to your account gives your pins more exposure. Choose which pins are posted out on an individual basis. Research what your ideal client is pinning. Search under Keywords and Categories on the Pinterest Dashboard. Create your boards with an ideal client in mind. Provide answers to their questions. Feed their inspirations. Solve their problems. Set up your initial “Boards”. Choose topics or categories that reflect your business values, culture, interests, products and services. Be creative with your Board Names! Winner of Best Australian Blog 2011 (Nikki Parkinson www.stylingyou.com.au) showcases her brand, culture, interests and blog posts. Her Boards capture her “real-girl guide to fashion, beauty and life”. #2 Check the Source Before You Pin Here are some steps you need to take to Pin Ethically: Be Copyright Savvy. Read the fine print first! Check the Source of the Pin. This is so important. When re-pinning, click before you repin to see if pins are sourced to a legitimate website. If content has been “re-sourced” with a false URL to another site, don’t repin it – report it or leave a comment. Give credit where credit is due! From Pinterest’s “Pin Etiquette” Guidelines – Credit Your Sources! Add a watermark. When pinning original content, consider adding a watermark of your website or logo to your image, to preserve pin integrity. This way the image will always stay connected to your website, and will continue to promote your brand, no matter what! Note that the website is also on the pin! #3 Pin Strategically This is the fun part. Now you can really get pinning! Pin across a range of Boards. Add pins gradually, and start new boards as you feel necessary. Be creative with your board names, captions and pins. Follow, Follow, Follow. Start following users and/or individual boards that are of interest to you. By following and engaging with users (see Commandment #4) and repinning their content, you will begin to build your own community of followers. If you sell products, add prices to your pins. Type the price (ie $9.99) into your Pin Description and Pinterest will automatically add a price banner to your pin! By including prices in their description, Roots Canada highlight their products. The Price Banner is added automatically. Add weblinks to your descriptions. The more information about the source of original pins (preferably your website) the more longevity your pin will have for brand awareness. Edit the pin and add the correct permalink to blogposts so they can be traced correctly. And check that your pin-links work! Space Your Pins. Don’t do a pin dump! Pinterest is unlike Facebook and Twitter where the feed-time is limited. Pins will remain in view for days or weeks due to the cyclical nature of their exposure. Pinning for a few minutes a couple of times per day is enough to get you started. Time Your Pins. Take note of the times when your fans are pinning – be flexible, and if all else fails, 2-4pm and at night are popular for pinning according to Pinterest. Weekends are too in my experience. Edit your pins before publishing – Be creative (and cheeky!) with your descriptions. Include key words. Correctly enter your links. #4 Be Social Pinterest is Social. If you want build relationships and get noticed on Pinterest, be social. Treat it just like any other social media platform: Comment and Like. Just as you would on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or GooglePlus, be sure to comment on and “like” the pins of other users and businesses. Use Names and Tag. Use @tags to notify the user you are engaging with. Use hashtags (#) to highlight keywords. By using names and tags, you will be a step ahead of the large majority of Pinterest users with respect to engaging with other users. Track pins from your website. In order to be social and say thanks, here is a great “ninja trick”. Type in the following link (using your own url), and it will show you all the pins/repins made direct from your website. Let’s use Amy’s website as an example: A quick search at www.pinterest.com/source/amyporterfield.com displays a long list of pins & repins from Amy’s blogposts. Say Thank You. This is one of the most under-used social actions on Pinterest. Regularly check your Re-pins. Go to the board of the person who has repinned your pin and make the effort to thank them for repinning. Just like RTs on Twitter, or Shares on Facebook, the Repin is a valuable thing. Don’t let it go un-noticed. Please note: Pinterest may suspend your commenting privileges if you are deemed to be doing “heavy commenting” (ie for autobot/spam reasons). Be aware and prioritise or space out your comments. Track Repins. Say thanks! #5 Produce Visual Content Ask yourself this: How can I create content that is visually engaging and “pinnable”? Think of the image as the 1st Impression. Make it count! And remember, 80% of all Pins are Repins, so tap into the action with your own, original content! Choose great images for your blog. If you have interesting, engaging, quality images, your content is more likely to get pinned. Pin different types of images. Include photos, infographics, videos and text. Don’t discount text. A great font on a simple background, does a “pinnable- image” make! Pin Videos. Video is the most under-pinned visual format on Pinterest… but the most engaging! Be one of the first in your niche to use Video. Oprah is leading the way by using Video effectively on Pinterest – many boards contain video of her own shows and interviews, as well as those of other thought leaders. Use Image Creation Tools. My favourites are: Instagram, Pixlr, and Tweegram . Snagit is also an excellent tool for adding effects to images and video, and I have just discovered the wonderful Pinstamatic. See Commandment #9. Use whatever program helps you to make an eye-catching picture or text image to share on Pinterest. Be creative with them! Keep it Simple. The more simple, visual, clear, and succinct it is, the more it will get repinned. Make pinners want to click on your pin! Experiment with Size. Taller pins are more noticeable in the newsfeed. Your pin can be 554 pixels wide without restriction on length, but up to 5000 pixels high. Create Infographics. An infographic is a graphic, eye-catching visual representation of information, data or knowledge. Consider investing in having an infographic designed to provide information useful to your core audience – it makes for a highly “repinnable” image. Here is one we designed for you! The 10 Commandments of Pinterest - www.sociallysorted.com.au (as featured on www.amyporterfield.com) The 10 Commandments of Pinterest by www.sociallysorted.com.au (as featured on www.amyporterfield.com) #6 Remember to Create and Curate Use your boards to share great content of your own as well as that of others – or put simply, create as well as curate content. Don’t just self-promote. Have a balance of your own content and the content of others. Showcase the lifestyle/beliefs/interests behind your brand, as well as your products, services, blog posts, events, designs/portfolio, and behind the scenes fun with your team. Be creative! Oprah showcases the “lifestyle” and core values behind her brand better than anyone. Showcase Other Pinners. Feature brands or businesses that you admire, that you work with or that you want to work with. Pin videos, blogposts, tips, quotes, websites and videos from others in your field. If you are a community group, promote your members and their businesses. Become the go-to-source for information. Providing how-to information, training videos, infographics, tutorials, tips and ideas from your own business as well as others will establish you as an authority in your niche. Establish your Pinterest Profile as the one to follow! Find fresh pins to share. There are 5 feeds you can follow: Pinners You Follow (default feed), Everything, Videos, Popular & Gifts. Visit Everything and search under keywords relevant to your target market. This helps you find new content to repin that isn’t already circling around your current followers. Also pin directly from websites – this creates “new” content. Learn from other brands who pin successfully. There are some great brands pinning on Pinterest, including Whole Foods Market, Oprah, Mashable, Daily Grommet and more. All of them have one thing in common. They create and curate content, and they showcase the “lifestyle” around their brand rather than merely self promoting. Daily Grommet showcase their products “of great utility, style or invention that haven’t hit the big time yet”. Their boards include competitions and a clever “video of the day” for featured products. #7 Promote Creatively While Pinterest began as a platform to organize and share the things we love, it has huge potential for promotions, competitions and selling products. As always, the key is to add value and engage. Promote creatively and respectfully (and check Pinterest’s Terms & Conditions). Use a “Call-to-Action” in your Pins. A call-to-action pin description sees an 80% increase in engagement. Use Pinterest to promote (and conduct) a competition. Give a call-to-action to enter your competition on a pin and promote through your blog and other networks. Make the competition dependent on pinning, repinning, commenting or liking. Add keyword, category or hashtag requirements, or have the entrants email you a link to a board they create. The options are limitless! Yasso has done this well with their Pin-it-to-win-it contest. Yasso asked their fans to create a “Yasso Frozen Greek Yoghurt” board, then email Yasso a link to the board to go in a draw. The Board with the most followers won a bonus prize. Think outside the square. Create buzz and viral sharing. Allow users to post on a competition board. If you run an event, have an events board – allow attendees to post on the board and announce it at the event. Or have a board to showcase your team/culture that staff can post on. Merge online with offline interaction. Kotex ran perhaps one of the most exciting and innovative campaigns yet, with their Women’s Inspiration Day Promotion. Click here to see a video about their innovative promotion on YouTube. Kotex achieved 2,284 interactions and 694,853 total impressions from their innovative campaign based on sending “inspiring women” gifts based on their own Pinterest Boards. What can YOUR business do to get creative on Pinterest? #8 Don’t Neglect SEO & Referral Traffic Keep SEO in mind when setting up your pins, but remember that the magic comes from referral traffic via Pinterest and not the direct links to your pins. The most important “link” Pinterest will give you, is the link to other users. Build relationships and the people will come…as well as the SEO. Set your pins up to be noticed. Use keyword-rich and eye-catching captions, and add hashtags and urls to your descriptions. Remember to add categories to your pins. Think in terms of incoming and outgoing traffic. What content will bring users to your site, what action do you want them to take when on your site (how will you entice them to stay?), and what content do you want them to take away with them? Understand Search. Pinterest search shows up Pins, Boards and People who have chosen keywords in their title. Target your account description, pin descriptions and board names to suit. Use the maximum space to describe your business in the “about” section of your profile. Enter your website and social media links. Use it to potential! Pin original images and content from your website where possible – as it should be the place where you want traffic to go! Use permalinks and not the url when pinning blogposts. #9 Use Tools Take advantage of the awesome Pinterest Tools available! Check some of them out here .The following tools are super-useful for leveraging the power of pinning – I have featured one tool to help you pin on the move, one to help you track your stats, and one to help you create eye-catching pins! The Pinterest Mobile App Simple but effective for pinning when you have a spare few minutes! Also helps to spread the timing of pins out throughout the day by being able to pin quickly. Warning: Addictive. Pinerly Pinerly is a content management dashboard for Pinterest users that includes tools that allow you to track pins via campaigns, and access statistics. It also suggests Pinners to follow and the best times to pin. Scheduled pinning will be released soon. Worth checking out! Pinstamatic I just LOVE Pinstamatic. It allows you to design funky “original” pins including quotes, website clips, music/audio, twitter profiles, calendar dates, map locations… and even has its own photo filter like Instagram. Now we have no excuse for not creating our own content on Pinterest! Made in minutes using Pinstamatic. Your Turn! #10 Research and Measure As with all other social media networks, it is vital that you track your success with Pinterest: Track your “Recent Activity”. Located on the LHS of your home page – look at recent followers, likes, comments and repins. Research the Pins, Boards and Brands that get results. Click the Pinterest button and search via keywords – under pins, boards and people. Use the findings as a guide for future blogposts and pin titles. Work out what works! Check your Website Google Analytics. Look at referral sources from other sites (including Pinterest) and take note of the keywords that people are searching for when they find you. It is not just big companies reporting great stats– in recent months my own social media blog has revealed Pinterest to be the 2nd and 3rd highest source of referral traffic. Now do I have your attention? So, what about you – Have you started playing with Pinterest? Have you seen results in your referring traffic, sales or brand exposure? Any tips to share?

10 Commandments of Using Pinterest for Business

Would you love to tap into the power of a social media site that can send you more referral traffic than Twitter? Bring you more leads than ...

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Create a Google Account Without a Gmail Address

Create a Google Account Without a Gmail Address Last year, I wrote a post about a new sign up form that created a Gmail account, a Google profile and a Google+ account instead of a simple Google account. At that time, the updated form was available when you clicked "sign in" and then "sign up" from Google's homepage, but now it's displayed for many more Google services (some exceptions: Google Calendar, Google Books, Google Wallet) and it no longer asks you to join Google+. It's interesting to notice that the only Google service that uses the new form and lets you use your own email address is Google Drive. You just click "I prefer to use my current email address" and skip creating a Gmail account. Here's the link to this version of the form: https://accounts.google.com/SignUpWithoutGmail. You can also use URLs like: https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount?service=cl to see the old form.

Create a Google Account Without a Gmail Address

Create a Google Account Without a Gmail Address Last year, I wrote a post about a new sign up form that created a Gmail account, a Google p...

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Get More Facebook Fans

This session is Part 1 of a 3 Part mini-training all about Facebook marketing. On this episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast, we are diving into Facebook Marketing. Specially, I’m going to give you three strategies that are working RIGHT NOW to attract more quality Facebook fans. Why are Facebook fans important? Well there are a few reasons. First, when you grow a big community of loyal fans on Facebook, your chances of getting seen and heard inside Facebook increase. It’s really just a numbers game. The more fans you have talking about you, liking your posts and sharing your content, the more often people on Facebook will see your content. You want an army of raving fans talking about you – and Facebook can do just that! Also, your Facebook fan count acts as social proof. That means when someone comes to your Facebook page and sees you have a few thousand fans (or more!) they think, “Ok, this company is legit.” Crazy, I know. But true! We want to become fans of pages our friends and peers like. The more fans you have, the more new fans you can get. In this episode, here’s what we’ll cover: In this episode, I share with you three super simple, but highly valuable, Facebook fan attracting tips. Implement these and start seeing more fans overnight. Simple as that! Strategy #1: The Facebook Like Box join me on Facebook A Like Box helps you attract Facebook fans that are genuinely interested in you and your business. Here’s why you should add a Like Box to your website: Your website audience is a warm audience and are very likely to follow you on Facebook too. It’s easy to implement (takes less than 5 minutes!) and is one of the more effective ways to grow a quality fan community. The Like Box will get you more fans, but NOT move your existing website traffic over to Facebook. Strategy #2: Target Friends of Fans with Facebook “Like Ads” A Like Ad can be shown to the friends of your fans and does not require any special copy or images. It's easy to set up, inexpensive and extremely effective! A Like Ad can be shown to the friends of your fans and does not require any special copy or images. It’s easy to set up, inexpensive and extremely effective! Here’s why “Like Ads” work like gangbusters: These ads are the simplest ads to set up, and the cheapest too. When you attract fans who are friends with your existing fans, you are more likely to attract a “quality” fan. When you run Like Ads, your exposure, reach and impact on Facebook increases quickly. Strategy 3: Increase Your Engagement Here’s how engagement will help you attract more fans: One of the most common reasons why people on Facebook struggle to get more fans is that they don’t have any engagement on their Facebook page. When you don’t have engagement you won’t be seen in the news feed and the news feed is where all the action is on Facebook. When you get people talking about you on Facebook (liking your posts, commenting and sharing your content) your exposure organically increases (meaning you don’t have to pay for the engagement, it just happens natuarally). When your exposure increases, your fan base increases. I will show you how to make sure you never have another moment where you say, “I can’t think of anything to post on my Facebook page today!” Remember! This episode is Part 1 of a 3 Part Mini Facebook Training. In episode 8 I will show you how to promote your programs, products and services on Facebook and in episode 9 I’ll show you the smartest strategies to use when selling on Facebook. So make sure you don’t miss those upcoming sessions!

Get More Facebook Fans

This session is Part 1 of a 3 Part mini-training all about Facebook marketing. On this episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast, w...

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Gmail Search Results

Gmail only shows the real number if there are very few search results. Otherwise, you'll see "1-20 of many" and you'll have to keep clicking "next" or use the URL trick to skip many pages of results. If you really need to find the number, there's a trick that still works. Gmail shows the number of messages for each label, so you can create a new label and then label all the search results. Here are the steps: 1. enter your search query 2. click the "select" checkbox next to "Refresh" to select all the messages from the page 3. click the new link that shows up: "Select all conversations that match this search" 4. click the "Labels" dropdown, select "Create new" at the bottom of the list and enter the name of a new label. Try something like "Temp", "Temporary", "Search results". Click "Create" and then "OK". You should see a message similar to this one: "All conversations have been added to 'Search results.'" 5. find the label you've created in the left sidebar (you may need to click "More" to find it). Go to that label and you should find the number of search results. Now you can delete the label from the Gmail sidebar. Click the arrow next to the label and select "Remove label". Obviously, this doesn't delete your messages. And here are the steps for keyboard shortcut fans: Shortcut for focusing the search box: / Enter the query Shortcut for selecting all messages: * then a Click "Select all conversations that match this search" (no keyboard shortcut) Shortcut for the "labels" dropdown: l Enter the name of the new label Press the down arrow Press Enter 3 times Shortcut for opening a label: g then l Type the first characters from the label's name Press Enter { Thanks, Eliezer. }

Gmail Search Results

Gmail only shows the real number if there are very few search results. Otherwise, you'll see "1-20 of many" and you'll hav...

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Google Hides Too Many Search Results

A blog can be the most powerful web marketing tool at your disposal, but only if your ideal customers can find it. In this article I’ll show you some simple changes you can make to your own blog that will help increase your search engine visibility, drive more traffic to your blog and generate more leads and sales for your business. Start with keyword-rich topics. Why are blogs such powerful tools for SEO (search engine optimization) and online visibility? Because every blog post you write becomes another web page, and every web page is another opportunity to rank well for a specific search your ideal customer is doing right now. Or in a month. Or in a year. Because good, evergreen content will continue to attract visitors to your blog or website for years, generating more leads for your business. There are a number of ways to generate content ideas for your blog: Turn customer questions into “Dear Abby” style posts. Scour sites like Quora, Yahoo Answers, LinkedIn or other forums where your prospects may be asking questions. Take some keywords that you’d like to rank well for and run them through Google Adwords Keyword Tool. This free tool shows you how many people are searching for your phrases each month, suggests related phrases that might be better opportunities, and lets you know how competitive that search is. (The higher the competition, the tougher it will be to crack the first page of the search engines.)

Google Hides Too Many Search Results

A blog can be the most powerful web marketing tool at your disposal, but only if your ideal customers can find it. In this article I’ll sho...

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