Show Notes Archives - Page 2 of 19

Non-Smarmy Marketing with Nathalie Lussier

May 15, 2017 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com Leave a Comment

If you’ve been around for a while, you know that at Create If Writing, I’m all about growth without the use of smarmy tactics. The kind that make you feel gross in your SOUL. Who better to talk about non-smarmy marketing than Nathalie Lussier of Ambition Ally, one of my favorite companies, both in terms of products and values. In this interview, Nathalie shares about starting her company, what’s working in list growth right now, and how she commits to non-smarmy marketing.

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase something after clicking through, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you!

Listen to Episode 102 – Non-Smarmy Marketing with Nathalie Lussier

Links from the Show:

Our Sponsor, PopUpAlly Pro from Ambition Ally
This week’s free training: Email Automation

Non-Smarmy Marketing

Nathalie recently shared a post on her blog about the dangers of income-claim marketing. This is essentially selling your product based on the success you’ve had in the past, not the value or service or outcomes they’ve provided.

These numbers CAN be a good thing because we are curious. We’d like to know what goes on behind the curtain and behind the scenes. But those same numbers may not be the best way to get people to BUY. It can be a trap for both the consumer and the producer because neither may be able to replicate those numbers. The consumer may be disillusioned or dissatisfied and the business may find themselves trapped trying to go bigger or repeat the same numbers. It’s not a sustainable way to grow a business.

Whatever we are offering needs to solve the problem that people are having. Go back to your core values. For Ambition Ally, the values are solving problems through software.

(PS- I LOVE how simple that description is. Can you describe what you do in this concise, clear way??)

Tips for Non-Smarmy Marketing

Start by solving problems
Test and find what works before you market it (like Nathalie did with the 30-Day List Building Challenge)
Consider marketing by sharing the outcome, not based on your own past successes
Don’t lose sight of your core values & your WHY

What’s Working in List-Building Right Now

Exit Intent Pop-Ups – Since Google has made its update penalizing sites that are using intrusive pop-ups on mobile, it may be a good idea to consider that desktop might be next. An exit intent pop-up shows up when someone moves to click away from your site and doesn’t impact the user experience while reading the post.

Scroll-Based Pop-Ups – On mobile, these don’t show up until someone has scrolled through 80% of your post. This keeps you Google-friendly and is great also for the reader.

Content-Based Pop-Ups – Using a tool like PopUpAlly Pro, you can choose for certain pop ups to show up on certain categories of pages. This gives a more targeted invite to your email list.

Mistakes That People Are Making

Vanilla Calls to Action – When you run across a sign-up form that says “Sign up for my newsletter,” there is no REAL incentive. Write unique copy that is inviting and clearly shares the incentive for signing up.

Make It PERSONAL – Your language should speak to a person so they read it and KNOW it’s speaking to them. Being specific and speaking to exactly to what people are looking for really helps.

Don’t miss the Idea Sanctuary, the newest video series from Nathalie Lussier helping you sift through all your ideas and refining and polishing them so you can launch them. (I just finished the first video and love it!)

What is YOUR biggest non-smarmy marketing tip? Share in the comments or hop into the Facebook community so we can discuss!

Seriously Simple Social Media Strategy

April 30, 2017 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 7 Comments

I’ve got a fantastic free resource for you today, Seriously Simple Social. It’s a guide to the major platforms (with my commentary, of course) and some helpful links to get you started with the various aspects of each. You can create your own simple social media strategy! Keep reading to learn more, or pick up your guide through the form below!

Listen to Episode 58 – Seriously Simple Social Media Strategy

This week, Blab died. Did you know Blab? It came crashing onto the scene a little over a year ago with it’s four-way split screen, live chat, and the ability to create what was essentially a live TV show without needing to know any tech. I hadn’t used the platform in months (mainly due to scheduling conflicts, in turn mainly due to four children), but I am sad to see it go.

The reality of social media, however, is that it won’t all stick.

And even if it DOES stick, how can you manage all the platforms? Secret: you can’t. I mean, you can have a presence on a lot of platforms, but if you’re trying to be active, managing multiple accounts is overwhelming. Spreading yourself too thin may make you less effective, not more.

How Do You Create a Simple Social Media Strategy?

I’m all about the strategy. I’m all about the WHY. If you know the purpose behind everything, things fall into place with more clarity and cohesion. (For more on this, check out my Foundation Series mini-course!) The general why behind a social media strategy is to make you more effective without wasting your time or resources. You’ll also have a specific why that centers around what you hope to accomplish.

To create a simple social media strategy, you’ll need to consider four main things:

Your Purpose: the specific why of your blog or business and the goals that you have.

Your Platforms: the social platforms you will use.

Your Plan: the way you will handle the posting and scheduling.

Your Particulars: the details about how many posts, when, and what your specific follower counts are.

Sometimes I think the hardest part of this altogether is the platforms aspect. Because there are SO MANY. How do you choose? How do you manage them all, or even the few that you decide to use primarily?

I created a resource that I hope will make this simpler. It breaks down the most used platforms and provides links & resources to help you utilize them. Plus you’ll be guided to create your own simple social media strategy. Because who DOESN’T want a strategy that is smart, but also SIMPLE?

The key with social media is to find the platforms that fit your goals, your specific content, and your audience. (Need help with your audience? Check out my Find Your Perfect Audience series!) This will not look the same for everyone, even in the same niche. It’s great to know where your kinds of people hang out, but you also might find that YOUR people, the ones who really jive with YOU, are somewhere else altogether.

Managing Your Plan and Particulars

After getting past the overwhelm of the social platforms, people often get stuck when it comes to setting up workflows and systems to keep things running without taking up all your time. Systems are processes that you use to simplify, schedule, and automate your workflow.

For example, if you were just trying to manage Twitter through Twitter itself, you would be logging on multiple times a day, trying to find content to share, sharing your content, sharing other content, and spreading these posts out across the day. Whereas using tools, you can have one night a week (or choose your own time) where you schedule content to share for the week. You could set up a time to check your notifications daily and use an app to kick you off Twitter after 15 minutes so you don’t fall into the abyss. This will save you time and make your strategy more effective.

The tools to do this can be super overwhelming! You will need to choose a few tools to make these platforms work well and to set up systems. You’ll need to balance interacting in real time, automation, and scheduling. (Know the difference between scheduling and automation?) The Seriously Simple Social Media guide will also help you navigate the various tools, but you’ll have to try on what fits for you.

Keeping Up With Social Media Changes

As I mentioned at the start, platforms come and go constantly. As I started writing the guide Blab (RIP) was one of the major platforms that I planned to feature. Then I heard rumors Blab was going away, so I downplayed but still mentioned it. And moments after I finished what I thought was the final draft, I saw the headline that Blab ended. Like, right that second. Making my guide out of date, five minutes in.

IT’S HARD TO KEEP UP.

The best way to keep up is to follow the people who know what’s up. Subscribe to relevant emails (see my list of favorite email lists to subscribe to) and listen to weekly podcasts or check blogs from people who are keeping up. Here are a few great people to watch:

Social Media Examiner– everything social & internet

Sue B. Zimmerman– Instagram

Jenn’s Trends– Instagram & more

Madalyn Sklar– Twitter

So, How Do You Get Started?

Take some time to think about the platforms that are already working or that you already have an audience. If you’re totally new, check out my guide to see the platforms and hop on a few to see what’s happening and what feels good for you. Don’t give up on any immediately. I was a slow go-er on a few, then really ramped up. And some that I used to use a lot (*cough* Instagram *cough*) I rarely even open on a weekly basis.

Use the free guide to plan your strategy, then stick to something for a few months, evaluate what’s working and what’s not, and adjust as needed. You can TOTALLY create your own simple social media strategy to make your more effective and keep you from overwhelm.

Just get started. Like NOW. Grab this free starter guide that will help you manage the overwhelm.

Questions? Comments? Issues? Leave me a comment or shoot me an email!

Stop Buying Courses – 098

April 17, 2017 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 4 Comments

A few weeks back I told you to stop creating content. Now I’m telling you to stop buying courses. What gives? Keep reading! Or listen to this latest episode.

Listen to Episode 98- Stop Buying Courses

Thanks to our sponsor: AmbitionAlly, the creators of PopUpAlly Pro! I use and LOVE this plugin. Check it out HERE.

Confession: I’m a course junkie.

Not even just a course junkie, but a resource junkie. I love to learn and I love to buy resources that help me learn. These days that’s mostly courses. I LOVE courses. So why am I telling you to stop buying courses?

First, for context, you should check out my post about why you should stop creating content. The main point there is the same main point here: Be a good steward of what you HAVE. Whether you are creating or buying more, first take care of what you’ve got.

So…if you’re a course junkie like me, what do you do? How can you be a good steward with the courses or information sources you have?

Stop Buying Courses…and DO THIS

1.Make a List. Whether you are a spreadsheet person or something else, you need to make a list of the things you’ve purchased. Am I the only one who has bought a course and then FORGOTTEN I BOUGHT THE COURSE? Yep. Done that. So keep a running list in a Google doc or somewhere of what you own. Don’t waste your money! Track it.

2. Make a Plan. There are two parts to this. The first is that you need to think about what gives you the most ROI. (That’s return on investment.) What will bring you cash or benefit first? Consider what course might bring you a return for the time or money invested first.

The second part is that you may need to go in order. If you want to make money with Facebook ads, you need to drive them to something. So you might need to take the course that helps you to create a product that you’ll sell through webinars through Facebook ads, you’ll need to first take the course on courses, then the course on webinars, then the course on Facebook ads. Make sense?

First, plan around ROI. But within that, you’ll need to plan in the order of how the pieces fit together.

The actionable part of this is that you need to plot this out on a calendar. Make an actionable plan to complete the courses & resources so that you have the space to apply it.

3. STOP BUYING COURSES. Once you have your list and have your plan, do not invest in any more resources. Yup. Stop buying courses until you’ve complete the plan and the list.

The caveat, of course, being if you find a really great deal that will expire. But you should ask these questions:

Do you NEED it?

Can you FINISH it?

Will you have time to APPLY it?

Ask those questions before you invest in any new resource or even tool. (Because often tools take time to learn and set up.) On then should you ignore the advice to stop buying courses.

With all this in mind, I DO hope that you’ll sign up for the Profitable Blogging Summit. It’s not a course, but it’s a summit with 30 + actionable sessions that can act as a course in terms of training and information.

So why would I tell you to stop buying courses and invest your time in the summit?

I ask you this because you can go in with a plan. You can apply the three pieces of advice I gave you in a smaller sense with investments you make. Make a list of the schedule. Make a plan of what sessions you’ll watch. And take some time off during the summit week to invest your time in the summit.

I recommend this not just because I’m biased as one of the hosts. But because it was so hard NOT to take notes during these interviews. That’s how actionable the sessions are. I plan to watch them again and to watch the ones that I didn’t record. This is GOOD STUFF.

So despite my advice to stop buying courses, you should invest your time and money in the things that move you forward. I really do think that the Profitable Blogging Summit will do that!

How to Find Free and Legal Images for Your Blog

April 10, 2017 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 2 Comments

Whether you love to take your own photos or not, most bloggers need to find free stock images or free photos for their blog at some point. But as a few recent horror stories have shown, how to find free and legal images for your blog is NOT so simple. Here are three things you need to know!

Listen to Episode 97 – How to Find Free and Legal Images for Your Blog

Thanks to PopUpAlly Pro for sponsoring this episode! Find out more about PopUpAlly Pro!

How to Find Free and Legal Images for Your Blog

Before I get to the tips on how to find free and legal images for your blog, I want to share the horror stories. You MAY have already read these, but they are scary. The first is from Allison Puryear who shares that she was sued for using an image that she got from a stock photo site. (Language warning in case that offends you!) Her malpractice insurance saved her, but the interesting thing to note is that the lawyer she spoke to said that this is COMMON. Because photographers are doing this on purpose as a cash flow. That stinks. But it’s legal.

The second post is from Chrystie of Living for Naptime and she shares how several years ago, she used a photo from a Google Search (hey- a few years ago MANY of us did that ignorantly) and lost $7500. She also explains that this was an intentional practice of the photographer.

You might think that this won’t happen to you, but there are three key things that everyone need to consider if using an image that they did not take. Let’s get into it.

Three Things to Know Before Using a Photo on Your Blog

Permission – if the photo is able to be used by a third party (that’s you)
Attribution – how you need to give credit for the image source
Usage – in what ways the image may be used legally

Often people stop at permission. We KNOW now that we shouldn’t use an image we find on Google. But we may NOT consider the fact that we still might have to put a line underneath the image that tells where it came from and who took the photo. We also might assume that because we find a free photo or even PAY for a stock photo that we can use it on the cover of our book or sell t-shirts using the image.

But PERMISSION does not mean that you can use an image without attribution or anywhere you want. You MUST consider all three.

Every site for stock photos is different, but you want to look for the licensing and attribution information. It may help to email the company itself if this is unclear. This may vary from image to image on ONE site, which is the hard thing. You might get used to no attribution on a certain site because most don’t require it and then not realize that ONE of the images does. Pay attention!

Or use a site like Pixabay, where all images fall under the Creative Commons 0 license, where you can use it for commercial purposes with no attribution. Be sure if you are searching for Creative Commons photos that you STILL read the license, as there are several different kinds of Creative Commons licenses.

Be sure that even if you are PAYING for a photo, you read the fine print. You want to be as careful as possible, especially considering that some photographers are intentionally using this as a means to make money. Smarmy, but they can. WE need to be the ones doing our due diligence on our photos!

Have you ever run into issues with using stock photos? Do you have any other tips or good sources where you can find free and legal images? Share in the comments!

Stop Creating Content! – 096

April 4, 2017 by kirstenoliphant@gmail.com 3 Comments

I’m a big dreamer and an ideas person. But today I’m going to tell you to stop creating content! Yes. I said it. Stop. Keep reading (or listen to the podcast) to learn why AND what you should do instead.

Episode 96 – Stop Creating Content

Check out the sponsor for the show, Ambition Ally, the creators of PopUpAlly Pro!

Stop Creating Content

I’m the kind of person who loves to START. If I could hire a team of finishers, I would be the most productive person on the planet. I have half-finished books everywhere– both books I’m reading and books I’m WRITING. I like to paint and I have half-finished paintings stacked up against the wall in one room. I even have a half-finished hallway.

So creating content is my jam. I DO finish blog posts (though I have a ton of drafts in my lifestyle blog, waiting for an image or a few more paragraphs) because they are shorter. As a lover of starts, I can just keep on churning out blog posts. I used to post every day of the week, multiple times a DAY. Then I moved down to once a day, seven days a week. Then five days. Then three days. Then one day a week.

And you know what? My pageviews didn’t drop. (Not until I became a blogging derelict and stopped posting weekly at all…)

There are two main problems with creating so much content:

You get stuck on a hamster wheel of creation and feel like you can’t stop.
You don’t give each piece of content the attention it deserves.

The Hamster Wheel of Content Creation

When you create content over a period of weeks, months, or years, sometimes you get to a point where it’s like the schedule owns YOU instead of the other way around.

If you’ve ever ruined a vacation because of your blog, you know what I mean. (Yep. I’ve done it.)

It’s time to stop creating content when the content owns YOU.

If there is guilt when you don’t post every day. Or every week. Maybe you should STOP. Take a breath. Take a break. Remind your content who is boss. (Spoiler alert: it’s YOU.)

If you feel constantly behind and stressed and rushing for a deadline or to get that Instagram post up at just the right time, then maybe you should stop creating content.

I don’t mean forever, by the way. I’ll get to that later.

Being a Good Steward of Gondor…and Your Content

One other way you may know you need to stop creating content is if you are not giving each piece of content the love it deservers. If you are rushing to post. Not proofing. Not creating awesome content because you don’t have time and just want that post up.

Or if you don’t have time to promote the content. Because let’s be honest: this isn’t 2007. If you create content and write a blog post, people DON’T just come. (Unless you rock your SEO and Fred– the new Google update– doesn’t hate you.) You must promote posts for people to find them.

If you aren’t promoting your content well, then you are just tossing it into the abyss.

Don’t waste your content. Share your content well so that it gets the attention it deserves.

This means that you need to set up some kind of system by which you are constantly sharing your content and promoting it. (More on that in a minute.) If you aren’t being a good steward and sharing your already existing content, maybe it’s time to stop creating content.

Stop Creating Content and Do THIS Instead

If it’s time to stop creating content (even for a bit), here are two big things you can do instead.

Repurpose existing content
Set up an evergreen sharing system for your content

I love, love love repurposing content. It can be a fine art. I’m going to share a few really helpful posts on that here instead of going into detail in this post.

Repurpose existing content into a paid product. Read my post, listen to episode 90, and download the free case study on how I took a few live trainings that were free and turned them into over $1500 worth of income.

Update old content to increase traffic. This post from Becky and Paula goes into great detail about how you can update old posts to see more results. It’s super detailed from your title to the amount of whitespace in your post!

The point of repurposing existing content is to take something that is already working and make it work better. Do more with it. Change and tweak rather than starting from scratch. It saves you time and it makes better use of your old posts. Which brings me to the second thing you can do instead of creating new content.

In order to be a good steward of your content, you should set up an evergreen sharing system. This is not simply scheduling every week in something like Hootsuite or Buffer. This is setting up automation that means your posts will keep on sharing after you set it up ONCE. (Read more about the difference between automation and scheduling.)

You can use tools like Social Jukebox (which I use), Recurpost, or Meet Edgar to create sort of content libraries with your links and images and even how you want to word the post itself. Set a schedule of how often you want it to post and where, and then YOU’RE DONE.

For Pinterest, you can use something like Tailwind or Board Booster. These aren’t quite automation, but close. You can set things up for a long time and even loop things in Board Booster.

You are not being a good steward of your content if you aren’t sharing it well.

Unless you want your blog to be a diary that only you read, you need to get it in front of people. This should happen with the double-edged sword of SEO and social promotions. If you aren’t doing these things for your current content, maybe you should stop creating content until you have a system in place.

So…what do you think? Are you on board with this movement to stop creating content? Are you treating your current content well?