Firefly Coaching

How to Create More Profit With What You Already Have

Stephanie Ward — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:50:03 +0000

You are sitting on a pile of money and you don’t even know it.

You’re an expert in your business or industry and you have an ocean of content that you’ve created.

But you’re not leveraging it in the most profitable way.

Different people like to learn using different formats. In addition, many people like to consume the same information in various formats.

My challenge to you is to identify one piece of your existing content and put it into one new format. This will create an additional revenue stream for your business.

It’s a good idea to choose content from one of your most profitable revenue streams. You can also use this same concept for your valuable free giveaway.

Content

Take three minutes right now and take a quick tour of your computer hard drive and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Uh huh, you forgot about all that great stuff right?

In addition to raw content you have, it’s quite likely that you’ve already created some kind of information product or offer that you’re currently selling on your website.

You can also take existing content and combine it with other existing content to create a new combination of information.

In any case, you have material that is ready to be re-formatted into a new revenue stream that will increase your profits.

Formats

There are a myriad of formats you can use to create your new offer. Please have a look at the list below to get inspired.

E-book
E-course using autorepsonders
Teleseminar
Webinar
Coaching: one-on-one, group, e-mail
Audio course
Video course
Course that combines audio, video and a pdf (can be electronic or physical)
Printed book or workbook
In person workshop/training/retreat
Assessment

Examples

Here are some examples to get headed in the right direction. So if you have a popular e-book that you sell in a pdf format why not record an audio version of it?

If you have a popular in-person workshop you can turn that content into and audio file, create a video, or even offer a webinar (which will save you money on renting the room and increase the possibility for participation since people don’t have to travel).

You could take an audio course and turn it into an e-course.

Whatever you create, be sure to let your tribe know about your new offering. And remember, mentioning your new offer in your ezine once is not enough.

You have to make some waves about it and mention it several times across many channels including social media.

I hope you’ve got some fantastic ideas for your business. Don’t delay; recycle your fabulous content into a new offer that your clients will be thrilled to buy.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER, BLOG OR WEBSITE?

You can, as long as you include this information with it: Stephanie Ward is the Marketing Coach for Entrepreneurs who want to set their profits on fire! Grab your FREE copy of the special report ’7 Steps to Attract More Clients in Less Time’ plus business building tips, at: http://www.fireflycoaching.com.

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How to Create More Profit With What You Already Have is a post from: Firefly Coaching

Stop Buying Attention and Get it For Free

Stephanie Ward — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:25:08 +0000

This short video (less than 2 minutes) describes the concept of building an audience which is explained in the book REWORK by Jason Fried and David Hansson. When you have an audience people give you their attention and you don’t have to buy it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Stop Buying Attention and Get it For Free is a post from: Firefly Coaching

3 Ways Not to Market Your Business

Stephanie Ward — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:57:07 +0000

On a recent trip while strolling the streets of Hong Kong I was confronted multiple times by extremely aggressive tailors.

They were shouting out the kind of clothes they would make for me and thrusting their business cards in my face.

At first I politely said ‘No thank you’ which I quickly learned did not end the intrusion and may have actually encouraged them.

I found their methods harassing. I can’t imagine anyone who would want to do business with someone who uses that kind of approach.

Now don’t get me wrong, I doubt very seriously you’re as aggressive as the tailors in Hong Kong but you may be doing some things that are alienating people. Here are three to think about.

Don’t push your business card on people

When you meet people at a networking event, a trade show, or a conference you’re always welcome to ask them for their business card. But please don’t assume they want yours.

As a general rule I don’t give my business card unless I’m asked for it. When you’re clear about what you do and can clearly communicate it, people will know if it is appealing for them or not.

Don’t sign someone up for your ezine without their permission

I always think that everyone already knows this one but surprisingly I still turn up on people’s lists that I have not personally requested. This is spam and trust me, it’s not appreciated.

It’s your job to make it easy to understand the value of the type of information your ezine provides and the benefits of subscribing. Then it’s up to each individual person to decide whether or not to subscribe. If you don’t have an ezine, be sure to read this.

Don’t talk more than you listen

It may seem counter-intuitive not to talk more than you listen when you’re marketing your business but it’s not.

If you’re truly interested in connecting with people, and discovering more about them and whether or not you might be able to help them, then you’ll find yourself asking questions and using your ears more than your mouth.

To effectively market your business without being pushy be sure to be interested, get permission to stay in contact, and listen more than you talk. For more about your listening, read this.

It’s actually more fun (and easier) than trying to be interesting, talking a lot, and pushing your information on people.

Pay attention to how you interact with people and make sure that you’re interacting and not being intrusive. The result will be a much more profitable business.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER, BLOG OR WEBSITE?

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3 Ways Not to Market Your Business is a post from: Firefly Coaching

Networking in 5 Minutes a Day

Stephanie Ward — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:34:53 +0000

Networking happens in person and also virtually. You can make new connections every day without leaving your house. Watch this short video (less than 2 minutes) to find out how.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Networking in 5 Minutes a Day is a post from: Firefly Coaching

Could Your Website Be Embarrassing You?

Stephanie Ward — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:59:02 +0000

You know how you feel when you think about cleaning out a kitchen drawer or the hall closet.

You dread it, you put it off and finally you break down and force yourself to do it.

Once it’s done, what follows is nothing short of magical. You feel fantastic, so happy that you’ve done it. You’re proud of your work and feel much lighter.

You think to yourself, why did I wait so long to do that. Wish I would have done it ages ago. And you realize it wasn’t such an awful task after all.

Your website is even more important because unlike your kitchen drawer, which most visitors to your home never see, everyone who visits your website has full access to every nook and cranny.

And if it’s been a while since you took a close look at your website I bet there are some areas that can be cleaned up and improved. Which will not only make you feel better, it will increase the probability that you will attract more clients. And that’s the whole point, right?

Convinced that this is important and feeling committed to taking action?

Awesome, let’s get started. Let me give you a run-down of some of the things you want to look for.

I recently got some amazing feedback on my website from my master mind members. Don’t worry, if you’re not in a master mind you can ask a fellow entrepreneur to swap website reviews with you.

But don’t rely only on the feedback from your reviewer, first you need to take a look yourself so you have a context for the feedback you get.

And if you can’t find someone to exchange website reviews with you (although I really think you can if you think about it), go ahead and do it yourself. It’s better than not doing anything at all.

So here’s what you need to do, read every single word on every page of your website. If that seems too overwhelming, commit to doing one or two pages a day until you’re done.

As you’re reading through your website keep the points below in mind.

Page Organization

Is the information organized in a logical way with the proper formatting hierarchy? For example, I got some great feedback about my ‘Speaking’ page.

It was a chronological list of all of the talks I’ve given. Which was not easy to read or helpful for people who are looking for themes or categories of my talks.

So I reorganized the page into three sections by topic, much more logical. And I changed the font and color of sub-headers so it flows better.

Emphasis on the Right Things

Make sure that the most important elements on each page stand out. For example, on my ‘1 on 1 with Stephanie’ page I have an assessment that helps people see which coaching package is the right one. It blended in with the other text and could have easily been overlooked. The sub-head font was too small and the wrong color. I changed that and it is much more visible now.

Design

I’m not talking about a complete rebranding (unless that’s exactly what you need). Just to take a look and see what can be tweaked. I noticed that the color of my links was too light and they needed to stand out more. So I found a darker color that works much better.

And while I was looking at my links I realized that I didn’t have a hover color (which also helps people identify links). Having a hover color means that when you hold your mouse over a link the link changes color. Turns out this was a really fast and easy thing for my web person to change.

Too Much Content

Content is king but too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Say what you need to say to make your point but make sure you are being concise. Have you heard the quote from Blaise Pascal (often mistakenly attributed to Mark Twain), “I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had time to make it shorter.”

I got feedback that my ‘Testimonials’ page was too long (this is the new shorter version). Before I had a special section at the bottom that included success stories from ezine readers. I got the outstanding suggestion to move all of those ezine testimonials to my ‘Free Report Page’ (because my ezine comes with my free report). Brilliant, why didn’t I think of that?

Website Copy

Is your website copy all about you or about what you can do for your clients? Make sure your copy is client centric and use the word ‘you’ more than the word ‘I’.

Clear Call to Action

Make sure your main call to action is on every page of your website (in the top of the sidebar) as well as woven into the text on your pages.

Miscellaneous Errors

Be on the look-out for misspelled words, broken links, grammar mistakes, and strange formatting.

Don’t delay, make these changes to improve your website then you can sit back and revel in your action knowing that you’re presenting your business in a way that is attractive to your potential clients.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER, BLOG OR WEBSITE?

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Could Your Website Be Embarrassing You? is a post from: Firefly Coaching

How to Use Google Alerts to Know What People Are Saying About You

Stephanie Ward — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:00:17 +0000

It’s critical for you to know what’s being said about you, and your business, online. You also want to follow trends and know what is happening in your industry. Well Google Alerts will allow you to do all of this at no cost. Watch this short video (less than 2 minutes) to find out more.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Share your thoughts on this topic below in the comments section. And if you like it, I’d love it if you would share it on social media.

How to Use Google Alerts to Know What People Are Saying About You is a post from: Firefly Coaching

Convert Your Free Valuable Giveaway and Reach More People

Stephanie Ward — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:04:41 +0000

As a business owner you offer a valuable free giveaway to people who are interested in your business.

You’ve automated this process so that people who visit your website can request and then receive your valuable free giveaway without you lifting a finger.

If you’re nodding your head yes that this is all true for you please skip the next sentence and keep reading.

For those of you shaking your head left to right and thinking, no – I don’t have a free valuable giveaway then read this immediately.

So you’re free valuable giveaway is probably in a format that can be delivered electronically:

A PDF document
An audio file
An E-course delivered via auto-responder

If you simply re-create the exact same information in one, or many additional formats, you will be able to reach more people.

You’ll have more situations and channels where you can share your free valuable giveaway. This is also beneficial because people like to consume information in different ways.

Repetition is a good thing considering that people pick up on different points when they consume the same information in various formats.

Convinced this is a good idea? OK, here are some ideas to get you started.

On-Line

If your valuable free giveaway is audio get it transcribed into text. If it’s text, record yourself reading it or being interviewed about it.

An example of how I’ve done this is that I offer a free special report called 7 Steps to Attract More Clients in Less Time. Seven days after people request the report, they receive an e-mail that contains a gift of additional information about the report. It’s an audio recording of me being interviewed about the report.

You could also take the content of your valuable free giveaway and create a video from it using shots of you talking, screen shots of a power point presentation, or a combination of both.

Put that video on YouTube, on your website, and share it on social media.

And you could put any of the formats mentioned above on a memory stick and give that to someone in person or send it in the mail.

Off-Line

You can give physical representations of your valuable free giveaway to people when you meet them in person or send it to them in the mail (yes, snail mail for something completely different).

Building on my example above, I’ve taken the free audio interview that I send people in an e-mail and copied it to a CD so I can give it to people when I’m networking.

Ideas for Physical Format:

- Have your written information printed in color with a lovely cover

- Copy your electronic audio files to a CD

- Burn the video on to a DVD

I hope you’re started to see how easy it is to leverage your existing free valuable giveaway so it works even harder for you.

Set aside some time soon to create at least one, and preferable multiple formats, of your free valuable giveaway. And make sure you’re offering it often and in as many places as possible.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER, BLOG OR WEBSITE?

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Convert Your Free Valuable Giveaway and Reach More People is a post from: Firefly Coaching

CRAVE Founder Melody Biringer’s #1 Marketing Tip for Entrepreneurs

Stephanie Ward — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:20:27 +0000

Melody Biringer, the founder of The CRAVE Company, is in Amsterdam and shared her #1 Marketing Tip for Entrepreneurs with me in this short video (less than 3 minutes).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Share you thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.

CRAVE Founder Melody Biringer’s #1 Marketing Tip for Entrepreneurs is a post from: Firefly Coaching

Do You Know What Your Website Looks Like on a Smartphone?

Stephanie Ward — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:17:12 +0000

More people than you think are using smartphones to search the internet (see statistics below the video). If you want people to read your content is has to be easy to read.

This is the plug-in I use to make my website smartphone friendly (my website is on WordPress).

Some interesting facts:

Mobile Internet Use Worldwide

source: Digitalbuzzblog.com

“In 2014, mobile internet usage will overtake desktop internet usage and already in 2011, more than 50% of all “local” searches are done from a mobile device.”

Mobile Internet Soars in Popularity [in the Netherlands]

source: Dutchnews.nl

“The number of people using mobile internet services has doubled over the past year, according to new figures from the national statistics office CBS.

A year ago, 21% of internet users also went online using their mobile phone or laptop, but that figure has now risen to 43%, the CBS said.

In total, 12.2 million out of the Dutch population of nearly 17 million use internet at home and six million people also access the internet via phone or laptop.

Almost 80% of internet users have bought goods or services online and half have used social media networks such as Facebook in the past three months, the survey shows.”

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Do You Know What Your Website Looks Like on a Smartphone? is a post from: Firefly Coaching

Lack of Response to Your Offers? I Know Why

Stephanie Ward — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:43:34 +0000

Do you ever find yourself wondering why more people aren’t taking you up on the things you offer them?

It’s possible there’s an extremely simple explanation.

You’re not giving specific direction and making it easy for them.

People are busy and don’t have time to try to figure out what you want them to do or search for a website link.

It’s time to take a serious look at all of your offers and make sure you are presenting them in a clear way and that your offers are drop dead simple to accept.

In marketing this concept is called a ‘Call to Action’ – the one action you want someone to take in regard to a particular offer. It is critical that you understand this idea and put it into practice immediately.

First I want to discuss what I think should be your main Call to Action and I’ll mention some of your other Calls to Action that might need some help.

Main Call to Action

Your main Call to Action should be to invite someone to join your mailing list. This allows you to stay in touch with people and build relationships over time.

The Call to Action to “join my mailing list” is not an appealing offer so you want to be sure you present it in the right way.

I recommend that you offer a valuable free giveaway that includes a subscription to your ezine. Find out more about free giveaways in this video and article. Your giveaway needs an enticing name as does your ezine.

How to promote your main ‘Call to Action’

Online

At the top of your website sidebar
In your e-mail signature
At the end of every blog post
On social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)

Offline

When speaking
At networking events
On your voice-mail
On the back of your business cards

Tips for Other Calls to Action

‘Like’ My Facebook Page

You want someone to ‘Like’ your Facebook page. This may seem obvious but please include the link. And make sure you shorten it first using http://bitly.com for two reasons.

First, a long url looks messy. Second, when you use bitly you’ll be able to track how many people click on the link.

Come to My Event

You want someone to come to your event or workshop. Again, please include the link to the page where they can sign up (use bitly to shorten it). And in addition, include some of the key information like the main content, date, time of day, and investment.

Read My Blog

You want someone to read your blog. What I’ve seen a lot lately is that there isn’t an e-mail sign up option for blog updates.

You probably have an RSS sign up option but the truth is most people don’t use RSS. So please add an e-mail sign up option to your blog. A service you can sue for this is Mail Chimp which is free up to 2,000 subscribers.

This stuff is super easy to do and doesn’t require a lot of time to implement. You just need to get into the mindset of making all of your requests clear and ultra simple.

Take some time now to examine your current calls to action and fine-tune them so they are more effective. Then as you move forward, keep this concept in mind every time you make an offer so you’ll get a much bigger response.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER, BLOG OR WEBSITE?

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Lack of Response to Your Offers? I Know Why is a post from: Firefly Coaching