Jontus Media

Strategic Planning for Productivity

Jon — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:33:21 +0000

I recorded episode 91 of the show over a week ago but although it was ready to edit I just didn’t get around to it. Duh!

If you’re using content marketing to market your business online you’ve got to keep the content coming. So why did I drop the ball ?

Well, a mixture of client work and losing my mojo, I suppose.

I just wasn’t happy with the episode and after exchanging a couple of mails with my good friend Jamie Wallace over at Suddenly Marketing I decided to scrap the episode and start over. So this week’s show is a more personal insight into my business and the day to day running of things.

I share what my typical day is like and what I wish it was like.

I talk about the benefits of scheduling time to be creative and the importance of having systems in place to manage things like email, content creation, To Do lists, and so on.

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Put Your Face on Your Blog

Jon — Wed, 08 May 2013 19:20:18 +0000

If you’re a consultant or solo entrepreneur you should put your face on your website. Preferably on the front page.

It’s important that you’re visible.

It’s important because it’s all about building trust and a sense of personality. After all, we do business with people.

Show Who You Are

I’ve written a lot about podcasting as a way of making it transparent to your potential customers just who you are and what you do. Video, of course, is also an incredibly useful tool for giving a clearer indication of who you are and what you do.

It’s important, though, not to forget that a simple picture can go a long way to help build a sense of who you are, especially if you’re not ready to get behind the mic or video camera just yet.

Here are some of my favourite pages that use an image to foreground the business owner. Maybe these will inspire you!

I like the way that Michael Hyatt puts his smiling face at the top of the header, welcoming you to his site. Michael’s brand is personal, professional and incredibly helpful. I think you get a sense of this from the overall branding of the site and the face shot of Michael is one of the key ways you’re brought into the page on first visit. The podcast, videos and cogent blog posts do a lot to reinforce the visual impression generated.

I love the fact that my good friend Jamie Soulati puts her smile on the front of her website. Her infectious smile emphasizes the enthusiasm and energy that you’ll soon pick up on from Jamie’s blogging and social media escapades. Warm and welcoming, it’s a bold design (by my friends at New England Multimedia) that says sassy professionalism. I love what Jamie does.

Jay Baer, one of the leading voices in social media today, puts his face in the footer of the front page of his site. I seem to recall that Jay used a similar strategy to Michael Hyatt earlier on but I might be mistaken.

Even though the picture is in the footer, it still reminds you of the personality behind the company that has become Convince & Convert. A professional shot, it’s likely to register with the B2B C-suite for its sense of professionalism. Jay’s beaming face also oozes approachability.

Cliff Ravenscraft, the Podcast Answerman, has built his brand around his personal commitment to helping others embrace podcasting. I like the way he chooses to use a graphic in the header rather than a photograph. It brings a unique touch compared to the photographs, but still the personal aspect of his brand. The other strength of his header is that his face is placed right at the top left of the header: the natural point where we begin to scan a website.

Don’t Be Afraid of Putting Your Face on Your Site

Look, I don’t like having to put my face on my site. I’ve often thought I have a face for radio.

Still, put my podcast together with a few bits of video and pictures of who I am and any visitor to my site will get a sense of who I am.

What are you doing to show visitors to your site who you are? And how do you feel about it ?

What Makes a Perfect Homepage?

Jon — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:49:46 +0000

There is, I am afraid, no perfect homepage. Only the perfect homepage for your website.

Still…

A great homepage will answer the three Ws:

Who we are,
What we do and
What we can do for you whilst you are here.

It’s trickier than it sounds, though, because you have to get the balance right. Too many homepages put the emphasis on “Who we are” instead of focusing on addressing the needs of the visitor to the site.

The BBC website doesn’t start out telling you who the BBC is, does it. You just get there and start consuming the news.

Similarly, Nordiska Kompaniet aren’t showering you with their latest collections. They’re just telling you that you can get twice the value you ordinarily get if you’re a loyalty card holder this coming weekend.

NK’s clear offer

An outstanding homepage shows it knows its target audience

Within a second or two the visitor to your site will know if its for them or not. Your homepage must communicate your key value-proposition simply and effectively through a combination of great design and outstanding copy.

Nothing about it should jarr or confuse; otherwise the traffic you’ve worked hard to get to your site will click away – forever !

In 2013 a great homepage has to be designed for mobile

It’s not enough that your homepage is easy to navigate and read on a 27″ iMac. It also has to look great on a smart phone or tablet, no matter screen size.

If you can’t be bothered for your site to load or struggle to read it on your cell phone neither will your potential customers.

24 percent of total website visits in December 2012 to this website came from mobile devices, which was an increase of more than 80 percent compared to December 2011. Is your homepage mobile ready ?

An awesome homepage will have a primary call-to-action (CTA) that doesn’t lose out to secondary CTAs

It’s vital visitors arriving on your homepage see a clear call-to-action. Too many CTAs, though, on the page will waterdown the strength of the primary CTA.

Yes, you want visitors to dig deeper into your site and explore the site links, but you don’t want them to click their way down a dead end. Your business site is not like a news website with links to stories all over the screen on every page.

You want your site to guide prospects to the right content that they will connect with.

The very best kind of homepage is NEVER finished.

Great sites keep developing – whether it’s by adding new content, new call-to-actions, experimeting with A/B split testing or new and emerging techniques and technologies.

It’s Time to Launch a Podcast

Jon — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:36:38 +0000

It seems that wherever you look right now that podcasting is hot.

Michael Stelzner, from Social Media Examiner, recently told the audience at Social Media Marketing World in San Diego that:

Podcasting, Bar Nothing In Our Study, Is The Hottest Thing In 2013. Period!

Pat Flynn, another very successful marketer, has had incredible success with his podcast, seeing it as one of the key ways in which he has been able to grow his business.

In this episode of Online Marketing and Communications – Episode 90 !!!! – I encourage you to think again about the benefits of podcasting and suggest some of the ways you can get started.

I also encourage you to download my free 100+ page ebook & video training tools to help you get your business podcast launched.

Click the Player to Listen

Podcasting Resources

Libsyn – Host your media files here
Blubrry – another good place to host your mp3s.
the best microphone for podcasting
my podcast equipment

Other Ways to Listen to the Podcast:

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What You Should Know About Branding When Digital Marketing

Jon — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:27:56 +0000

It can be really difficult knowing where to start when it comes to branding – especially if you have to talk about it with a marketing professional!

Would-be podcaster Craig McBreen

On this week’s episode of Online Marketing and Communications I talk to American designer and branding specialist Craig McBreen.

Craig runs McBreen Design but is equally active as a blogger, sometime video-caster and would-be podcaster.

He also runs one of the best newsletters I’ve come across that’s both full of advice, support, and encouragement when it comes to building your online presence.

In this show I play the customer, pushing Craig to explain just how important branding is, how it works and what kind of questions and approach newbies to branding should take when talking to marketing professionals.

Click the Player to Listen

Connect with Craig

Download Craig’s ebook

The Art of Breaking Out: My NOW Manifesto

Sign-up for Craig’s Newsletter

…just zip along to his website. The form’s in the sidebar.

Other Ways to Listen to the Podcast:

You can also find the show on the new Apple Podcast app.

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Have you got a question?

Get in touch and I’ll take up your marketing question on the show.

How to Convert Traffic into Customers

Jon — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:59:42 +0000

Every business with a website wants to convert traffic into customers. There’s no doubt about that. That’s why we’ve all invested in websites, web hosting, content creation, social media – the whole shebang.

Unless you have a specific strategy of how to harness the traffic your site receives, however, you’re going to struggle with your digital marketing.

So today, in the hope of inspiring you to think more carefully about how you’re using your site, I am going to give you an insight into the marketing strategies I use on this site that help me convert traffic into customers.

Starting Conversations

The reason I put so much emphasis on podcasting on this site is that over the 89 episodes I’ve created it’s become the most successful marketing tactic I use.

You see the thing is that I’ve identified a funnel whereby people start listening to the show, often by accident after clicking through to jontusmedia.com via google or twitter, and then get in touch to informally ask questions.

Once a conversation has started, whether it’s about a specific topic that I’ve taken up on the show or just something they’re reaching out about, the conversation eventually leads to them hiring us. It might not happen instantly, and in some instances it’s been almost a year later that they’ve come through, but that connection has been started.

To keep track of people that contact me on the back of the podcast I add their details into Highrise along with a note about who they are and what they work with. I then schedule a couple of times over the next three months to follow up with a brief.

The investment on my part has been the podcasting equipment I invested in and my time and effort.

I’m not sure why the podcast works as an icebreaker but my educated guess is that it shows who I am; if you like the sound of my voice, the way I talk or the things I say, perhaps it reduces the barrier to contacting me and starting the kind of conversations that can lead to business.

Make it CLear What You’re Selling

Over the years I’ve been running my business and this site I’ve tried to make it clearer and clear just what I’m selling. I want visitors who land on the site to understand quickly what we’re selling.

Because we offer a variety of services – web design, marketing strategy and implementation as well as things like brochures, flyers, newspaper ads and web banners – I try to ensure that users who come in with the keywords the site targets see the offers most suited to their Google search as quickly as possible. In some places across the site I’m using Genesis Simple Sidebars to create custom sidebars that are more targeted to the keyword search a visitor comes into the site with.

I’m always looking to improve this but I’ve found that by testing keywords and combinations of copy and images work.

The trouble is that there are so many sites using the same strategies that I’ve started to put more emphasis on personally engaging with visitors to the site. This involves working hard to capture email address and LinkedIn profiles using a CRM tool to then reach out and start building more connections. This is effectively not that different to the work I do with podcasting. I’m trying to use the site as a gateway to opening up conversations that, further down the line, lead to sales.

Integrating Multiple Income Streams

I spoke recently about how I’ve introduced a few choice affiliate links to the site. This is proving to be a useful way of converting traffic into customers.

Although these visitors aren’t my customers, the affiliate sales that just a couple of pages on this site are making are really beginning to make a difference to cover operational costs. In real terms, it’s like finding one extra client a month. Not a massive client, but a client I appreciate nonetheless.

Think Through Your Digital Strategy

At the end of the day your business is probably quite different from mine and our customers are different; nevertheless, I think we can both work hard to convert traffic into customers by:

working hard to start conversations – after all, B2B customers take time to reel in!
being open to embrace new forms of content marketing that might take us out of our comfort zone – like podcasting or video
daring to experiment with branding, design, structure, communication strategies – all the time tracking what you’re doing with great metrics in place

$10 for a promoted update on Facebook earned me $7500

Jon — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:23:27 +0000

Earlier this year I ran a Facebook campaign. I paid to promote a status update I made on my Facebook business page. I got an ROI (so far) of 75000%.

As a small business owner, I’m faced with a multitude of marketing options both free and paid, time consuming and mindlessly quick.

I’m also a digital strategist, so I have a slightly easier time with the digital initiatives than I perhaps do with the analogue ones.

Even so, there’s only so much you can guess or hypothesise before you need to dip your toes in the water.

Over Christmas I at long last got round to creating a consultant resume. Despite being a freelance consultant since 2006, I’d been relying on my CV, LinkedIn and my “about me” page

(Using lack of time as a poor excuse for not creating a specific profile on my website for me as a consultant. It’s just a matter of priorities at the end of the day eh?)

So, with the content done it was time to promote it. I pushed it out to my usual channels which have the usual spike in pageviews, but I wanted this to reach beyond my usual tribe of readers.

I’ve used AdWords, Facebook Ads and a few other forms of PPC advertising over the years, but something I’d not yet tried was paying to promote an update on Facebook.

After just a couple of clicks my 3-day promotion was up and running. I’d targeted the campaign to friends of fans of Beantin (my company page on Facebook). A reasonably narrow selection yes, but it still totalled thousands of people.

The campaign cost just $10. My aim was to gain wider awareness of me and my skills, I didn’t have any specific goal of landing deals in direct connection to the update.

Nevertheless, so far I can directly connect $7500 in revenue to that single 3-day promotion that cost just a few dollars.

Of course, it’s not so simple as promoting every update, or even repeating this campaign again. But if you produce relevant, quality, content and diligently decide when a piece of content has the potential to gain from wider appeal – paying to promote it on Facebook could deliver an impressive return on your investment.

James Royal-Lawson has almost 3 decades of experience with digital communication.
He is an independent consultant working with Web management, optimisation, UX, usability, analytics and more. You can follow James on Twitter or learn more via his blog and website.

How to Grow a Business with Digital Marketing

Jon — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:33:24 +0000

Robert Wilson

This week’s podcast is a real world case study of how architect Robert Wilson’s company Granit are using digital channels to grow their business.

It’s a fascinating discussion of how a business has embraced channels like blogging, ebooks and social media to generate leads and prospects from around the world.

Robert speaks candidly about the strategies Granit have employed.

The strategies and tactics Granit have employed are largely applicable to your business so I’m sure, and you’ll get a lot of insight into the possibilities digital marketing holds for your business.

Click the player to listen:

Special Thanks

Thanks to Andy Bargery from Klaxon for setting up this week’s interview. Listen to an interview with Andy on the Online Marketing & Communications Podcast from 2012.

Other Ways to Listen to the Podcast:

You can also find the show on the new Apple Podcast app.

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Have you got a question?

Get in touch and I’ll take up your marketing question on the show.

Affiliate Marketing and Your Business Site

Jon — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:01:17 +0000

I have never really believed that including affiliate marketing links was the right move for this site. After all, I didn’t want to water down the services my company offers.

My thought was that the presence of affiliate links would undermine the credibility of my business. In particular, I’ve long resisted the tendency some small businesses have to put affiliate banners in their sidebar.

However, in early February I decided to add a couple of affiliate links to the most popular post on this website.

Within a month and a half these links have generated sufficient income to, say, cover my hosting, project management, and CRM costs three times over. If it continues I’ll be able to invest in some lighting equipment I’ve identified will help take my videocasts to the next level.

In this show, I discuss whether and how businesses should use affiliate links.

Click the player to listen

SEO Plugin

The SEO plugin recommended in the show is Scribe.

See Scribe In Action!

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Make it Easy for Your Customer to Remember You

Jon — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:05:54 +0000

I just got back from Rome having fled the minus degrees of the last of the Stockholm winter for a couple of days.

One of the key marketing tactics I noticed was how just about every boutique or store made a point of handing over their business card as we left. Even if we didn’t buy anything.

It goes without staying that in true Italian fashion all the cards were exquisite objet d’art.

Aren’t Business Cards So Yesterday?

No.

Absolutely not.

Even if I made the mistake of thinking they were.

Why ?

Because whilst at no point did I have the inclination to snap a QR codes or snap a photo of the street address and add it to Evernote, I someone found myself hanging on to the beautiful cards I was given.

What’s more, in that moment when the sales person handed over the card – always with a smile and pleasant word – we made a human connection. A moment to recollect. A moment that would help me remember the store.

And do you know what? The cards work. My wife ended up going back to one of the stores we’d visited two days later to buy an expensive Italian leather bag.

Their card had somehow stayed in our hotel room, serving as a gentle reminder of the quality goods on sale as well as informing us of the store’s location.

By handing out that card they went a small way to encouraging us to come back and buy a great looking, expensive bag. Oh, and the three expensive belts we also bought to bring back as presents.

A Lesson Learned

So what are you doing in your digital marketing as a takeaway reminder for the visitors to your site? Are you handing over a beautifully designed ebook ? Are you giving away crafted videos or podcasts?

If you do just one thing today for your digital marketing, think about how you’re helping your client to remember who you are. What actionable steps are you taking? What strategies should we or could we embrace ?