Platform Archives - Page 25 of 28

Why I Hate Your RSS Feed

December 10, 2015 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 9 Comments

It’s not you. It’s your RSS Feed.

You see, my inbox is a special place. Or…it used to be. Full of meaningful conversations, unicorns, rainbows, and kittens. Now only five emails a day are actually from a person I know. The rest are a cocktail of big company promos, sales pitches, and…email newsletters.

Like YOURS.

Here’s the thing: I actually LIKE email newsletters. I’m kind of a weird hoard-y nerd about them, actually. I love signing up. I like the whole song and dance of looking at how forms are set up, seeing what kind of freebie comes to my inbox, and then getting the first email.

(Do I sound crazy yet?)

It takes a lot for me to unsubscribe. I even stay through sales pitches! But when you sent me that email this morning—you know the one—my finger was twitching over that little unsubscribe link.

Because the one email that gets me off the list is a truncated RSS.

I like YOU. I like your blog or I wouldn’t have signed up. I like your writing, your content, your photos. I gave you something more than a Facebook like or a Twitter follow: I gave you my email and permission to use it.

So when I got your email, I was excited! I anticipated something awesome. Instead I got a tease. Actually, worse than a tease, because I love a good teaser email. The kind that sounds like it’s from my friend. My friend gets me excited about the post and then gives me a personal invitation. Come on over! You don’t want to miss this! he says. (Ramsay from Blog Tyrant is pretty beast about this.)

A truncated RSS is NOT an email from someone who wants a relationship with me. It’s not from someone who wants readers.

Your truncated RSS emails tell me that you want one thing from me: clicks to your site.

And I get it: pageviews are super important. Especially if your biggest revenue stream is from your ads. I’m sure you didn’t think about the fact that giving me an automated email with no actual content of value devalues ME, your reader. You just want me to read somewhere else.

Let me ask you this: what’s your click-through rate? Are you actually GETTING page views from these shortened RSS emails?

I can tell you what you’re NOT getting when you send a shortened RSS. You are not getting me as a reader. If you had sent me almost any kind of email, I would have read it. Remember: you’re a great writer with great content! You impressed me enough to sign up. I would probably have loved your email, even a full RSS. After all, I signed up to read what you had to say.

Maybe I wouldn’t have clicked through to your site if you sent me the whole post. Maybe you would have lost that one page view. If your list is large, this may have been a lot of pageviews lost. I get it. I do.

But I think there is something more important than pageviews, likes, and follows. It’s harder to measure in ROI sometimes because it’s not measured in the same way.

It’s loyalty.

When I give you my email and you send me awesome content, you build trust. You cement our relationship with each email. You remind me why I liked you in the first place. You continue to woo me and tell me I’m pretty, even after the honeymoon period and all the special things you did to get me on the list.

And when you send an email with your new book or course or project or tell me something you’re really excited about, I’m THERE. Because I’m a fan. I’m more than a fan. I’m a LOYAL fan. I may not buy every single product (contrary to popular belief, I’m not made of money), but I can tell you that the every single last product, course, or ebook I bought was through an email list.

Something else to consider: When Facebook changes its algorithm (again) and Pinterest updates the smart feed (again) and your traffic takes a big hit, you know what stays steady? Your subscribers.

Those other platforms are fickle, yet we court and woo them and we chase pageviews. A truncated RSS tells me that email is not your number one priority. It lets me know where I stand in terms of importance to you.

I really don’t want to break up with your email. (Because I like YOU.) But if you are going to add to the noise of my inbox without actually delivering great content, it’s time to see other people.

Sincerely,
A person, not a pageview

PS- I know for some of you, the truncated RSS is because you use a lot of Amazon affiliate links, which are a big no-no in email. That’s a nice, intentional reason to truncate your links.

PPS- I’m still unsubscribing.

Are you making one of these 6 common email mistakes? (You already know one of them!) Click to get your free guide to avoid these pitfalls.

Pageviews vs People: Changing Your Mindset -026

December 2, 2015 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 3 Comments

What is your end goal? Are you chasing pageviews? Dollar signs? Do you want more Facebook likes or engagement? Let’s talk about what the BEST goal really is for you.

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 026

But first! I have a free download for you: a 15 Step Intensive List Growth Worksheet. Click below to snag your download for this actionable worksheet that will give you specific steps to grow your list this month. We are doing this in our Facebook group as well in December, so join us if you want to do this together!

GET YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD NOW!

This past year I had a giant switch in my mind. I wouldn’t have said that I was chasing pageviews, but that’s really where I spent my time. I promoted things like crazy, hoping to see those numbers rise. (I should point out now that I am NOT saying that having better pageviews as a goal is a bad thing!) In June I finally hit 100k pageviews, which had been a long-term goal that seemed TOTALLY out of reach. I celebrated…until the next month Pinterest changed up the algorithm for the smart feed again and my pageviews were literally cut in half.

It’s terrible seeing that. I hate it. But you know what I hate more? That all those pageviews and all that traffic did NOT translate into something more lasting. I got comments. I got some new followers. I got a few email subscribers. But check out those blog stats compared to my mailing list stats for the same blog. Do you see a jump? Me neither. The same steady growth. (If you’re wondering about the jump before April, I grew my list through a book I gave away on NoiseTrade and gained a bunch of followers through that. My point is not that pageviews are bad or a bad goal.

My point is that my mindset was NOT focused on building a lasting audience through my email list. If I had, I would have seen the same kind of jump in the stats for that list. I actually got more subscribers in May when I had half the pageviews that I had in June. That’s a sign of a mindset that is not focused enough on list-building. I want to make an argument that your goal should not be pageviews ALONE, but your goal should be to build an email list that is made up of a lasting audience. That audience should be the backbone of everything else. Period.

This is quite a shift. I know this because I went through this shift this year. Taking time off from promoting my blog heavily or even writing on my blog scared me. It was hard. And strange. Yet I did not really see a change in my income. My residual Pinterest pageviews stayed pretty consistent after the big drop. (Followed by two more months of dropping.) Not much actually changed. Except that on the back end of things, I grew a new email list for this blog by almost 700 people.

Which means that on a blog with pageviews that are maybe a tenth of my larger blog, I built an email audience that is close to half the audience I have for the bigger blog. I don’t do math, but that’s pretty nutty.

10% of the pageviews but 50% of the email subscribers

THAT, my friends, is the difference between focusing on the bottom line of pageviews or a bottom line of building a lasting audience through your email list. I have some really exciting things coming up this month with regards to email lists, so make sure you are subscribed to get all the good stuff!

GET YOUR QUICK FIX!

Why Brand & Platform Aren’t Dirty Words -024

November 19, 2015 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com Leave a Comment

What comes to mind when you hear the words brand and platform?

For some, these are just the tools of the trade: words that have to do with taking over the world online. I’ve been throwing both around for a few years and it doesn’t bother me. At all. But often I have conversations with people where there is a general sense of UGH about both terms.

Why?

I think for many artists and writers, there is the sense that platform and brand are somehow icky things: the antithesis of art. As though promotion somehow negates the quality or the truth in the work itself.

Can we reframe this discussion?

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 024

This is how I see it: when you are talking about brand and platform, you are talking about connecting with your perfect audience. There is nothing icky about that. If you want to write in a cave where no one reads your word, then that’s cool. But if you want a reader or maybe even a bunch of them, then stop thinking of brand and platform as dirty words.

I love thinking of brand like cattle branding. (Not because I’m into animal cruelty.) I like this idea because it’s simple: a mark visibly identifies who owns the cows. At a glance, this brand gives identity. It communicates information. In the same way, as you build your personal or business brand, you are creating something that identifies what you create as YOURS. When you build your brand, you are uniquely marking everything as your own.

As for platform, many people balk at this idea because they think of putting themselves in the middle of a stage in a stadium, shining the spotlight on themselves. People feel like this idea is somehow selfish or self-serving. But platform isn’t about being the center of attention. It’s about gaining visibility. It’s about finding your audience, large or small. Coffeeshop or stadium.

As Michael Hyatt says, “Your platform is the means by which you connect with your existing and potential fans.” (Platform, page xvi)

Platform is about connections and your brand is sort of the vehicle by which those connections come to know, trust, and connect with you. Having a brand means that you have a consistency. It helps people know you better and become familiar with you.

Do you think of brand and platform as dirty words? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

The Free Email Course – Learn to LOVE Your List!

November 9, 2015 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com Leave a Comment

This past year I have become a wee bit email-list obsessed. You MAY have heard this in my podcast interviews (like THIS one or THIS one) and in my solo episodes (like THIS one or THIS one). I’m all about the email list. When I talk to people about email, I hear people say things like, “I know it’s important, but I just don’t have time right now for one more thing,” or “I don’t know what to send and when I DO send, people unsubscribe or don’t open.” I love list-building, but it isn’t EASY. Enter The Free Email Course.

I created this course for you. I want you to LOVE your list. The goal is that at the end of 7 days, you will have more subscribers, more focus, and more understanding of what to send and why.

Your email list is your best digital asset. I firmly believe this. But so many people talk about list-building in a way that makes it seem like it’s a cake-walk, so that when you struggled you wonder, “Am I alone? Or is everyone just lying?” You aren’t alone! But people may not be lying, either. Sometimes online “experts” don’t tell you that not every list is created equal. Some grow faster and easier than others. Some have more engagement. Some are more effective for selling products.

I will bust the myths, show you the mistakes even huge list-builders are making, and help you know what provider to use. This is not simply a grow-your-list-fast course. (There are some others that are great at this!) If you don’t know what to DO with your list, what KIND of subscribers you want, and WHY you are list-building, fast growth is not all that awesome.

Want to sign up? Easy. Click the button below!
GET THE FREE COURSE!

Cultivating Your Perfect Audience – an Interview with Paul Jarvis -020

October 21, 2015 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 2 Comments

Everywhere I turn, I find people touting programs designed to multiply your email list. But is the key to a healthy email list found in numbers? In this interview with Paul Jarvis he talks about his email, the Sunday Dispatch, and why engagement trumps numbers alone.

If you don’t know Paul, he calls himself a freelancer evangelist. He is the type of person who split-tests his profile picture and who also talks about unicorn farts. With a 20-year career as a freelance web designer he is also a prolific writer on sites like Forbes, Fast Company, NewsWeek, and BuzzFeed. You can find Paul on his site or on Twitter, and but where you should really connect is through his email list, The Sunday Dispatch. Oh, and he is co-host of Invisible Office Hours with Jason Zook and he has his own podcast, the Freelancer. Here are some of my favorite Paul pieces:

Audience Growth
What Do You Do When the Trolls Come Marching In?
Whose Playground Are You Playing In?

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 020

Quotable

“People don’t realize they can cultivate an audience of people they want to have in their audience.”

Big Ideas

Paul sends a weekly email called the Sunday Dispatch. It includes articles that will later appear on his blog or in syndication elsewhere, but they come to subscribers FIRST.
He aims to be interesting and valuable to his audience. Many people send what is interesting and valuable to themselves, not to the audience.
To figure out what’s interesting and valuable to THEM, Paul listens. To make it interesting and valuable to himself, he puts his own spin on the content. This also has the effect of being interesting to the audience as well. There is no shortage of articles & content, but people read and identify with his because it’s unique and personal.
Paul uses humor to help get to the ideal targeted audience. He cultivates the exact type of people he wants in his audience and doesn’t worry about the rest.
The numbers on your list are often vanity metrics. It’s the ENGAGEMENT that matters. You want people who support you and your work. This is much harder to measure than simple numbers alone.
Paul unsubscribes people who are rude or mean in responses to his emails. He will also look at how many people have not opened over a quarter and will delete those people.
When you delete people, you are saving yourself money (once you get to that point of paying) but you are also increasing your engagement and open rate.
To test content on his blog Paul uses Optimizely. (Yep, he even split tests his photos.) But he will split test his email subject line using Mailchimp’s A/B testing every time he sends. The winning headline is the one he uses when he posts that content on his blog and other syndications.
Guests posts worked well as he was building and now he doesn’t do guest posting as much but will put his posts up on Huffington Post, Inc, and Medium. If you are posting on quality websites, don’t worry about duplicate content hurting your SEO. Google gets it.
For Paul, the point is to get people on his list, not just get hits on the blog, so everything links back to the sign-up for his list.
Depending on your revenue model, your focus might be different. If you are selling ads on your site, you need page views (or opens & clicks on your list if you’re selling ads on your site). If you are selling products or services, your mailing list might be your best place to sell.
Things are so saturated right now, that it gets hard because of all the noise. Disruptive revenue models are the ways to find new and unique ways to create content.
If you are genuinely excited about the thing that you’re doing, people see that come through and they get excited with you. Plan well, but continue to be excited and keep that moving.

And if you want to know more about the Creative Class (which I can tell you firsthand is an awesome investment!), you can read more about that HERE.