This video series has been created as part of a competition being organised by Barry Wells.

Part 1 shows you where to put the form, Part 2 tells you what you need to get their email address, Part 3 explains how to use the aweber plugin to get the form into your sidebar. 

So these first 3 parts tell you how to optimise your blog for listbuilding, but if you don’t have traffic then you still won’t build your list. I think the video may have missed one method (blame the good weather) but here’s 4 ways to get visitors to your blog.

#1 Write one good quality post a week, regular content encourages repeat visits.

#2 Include a link back to your blog at the niche forum which you visit regularly and give away free advice.

#3 Write brilliant comments on the other blogs in your niche. This builds relationships and shows you’re more than a random affiliate trying to push products.

#4 Guest Blogging. Do this over and above your own weekly posts and make sure you put lot’s of effort in. If you want to know more about guest blogging here’s a great article I read over at MenWithPens.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this series and that you’re list is growing daily.

Andrew

 

So this video series has been created as part of a competition being organised by Barry Wells.

In this video I highlight several high traffic blogs, and those I read on a regular basis as I joined the owners list as a result of their blogging.

You will see that all of them have a very clear opt-in box either on the top right or a plug-in that displays it across the footer. If you don’t make it obvious then will be guaranteed of is a low conversion! Will you go as far as Chris Brogan & John Thornhill who are shouting out at you to join their lists?

In the next 3 parts I will talk you though what you need to do if you want to start building a list via your blog, including some technical stuff such as installing the aweber wordpress plugin.

Andrew Stark

Link to Part 2 – The Lead magnet

Link To Part 3 – The Aweber Plugin

Link To Part 4 – Traffic Generation

Now this post is going to involve two things that puts off many new marketers – hard work and investment.

Think about the faces that you always see when clicking for credits on Traffic Exchanges & Safelists. Is a total fluke that you always see the likes of Jerry Iannuchi, Darren Olander, Jon Olson, and Tim Linden at least once during a credit gathering session? Even if you don’t know these names I’m sure that if you clicked through to their blogs you would recognise the face / products or services they own.

So now you can see how powerful branding can be, what can we do to achieve it?

#1 Define What You Want To Be Know As?

The first basic step in branding is to think what is your Unique Selling Point, and do you want to have a strap line? Using the 4 marketers above as examples. Jerry is “The #1 Safelist Guide”, Darren is the owner of “List Surfing & Adchiever”, Jon is “The TE Guy”, and Tim is “A Programmer Who Blogs”

It’s best to become an expert within the subniche, and the person who other members of the community would recommend you to get in touch with. Think about what your specific skills are and decide that you want to be known for these skills.

#2 Give Yourself An Image

So now you’ve decided on the brand you need to start getting the message out their, and you need to give yourself an image to use in all of your advertising. Essentially this is going to be your logo, so if you’re not a graphical whiz then this is something you should outsource to somewhere like fiverr. Perhaps if you are good at logos this can become your brand?

Consider getting a characture of yourself drawn as this will really make you stand out without the need for a cheesy looking business profile pic if your self branding.

#3 Update Your Profiles With Your New Logo

Now that you want to known as a serious business person it’s time to be consistant and start using this new logo as much as you can. Make it the profile pic of all your social media profiles, upload it to all the Traffic Exchanges & Safelists where the toolbar allows you to show social media and show your picture on the top of the toolbar.

Make sure you also upload it to gravatar so that everytime you comment on a blog it uses your new logo.

By doing this you’ve passively creating a connection with everyone who see’s your advert, so even if they don’t click your splash page or join your list today you’re getting into the sub concious mind and becoming a trusted brand.

#4 Assign Banner Credits & Text Links

Create a standard 468 x 60 banner that features your logo and a call to action. Doing this will put you in the top 1% of marketers and with these being so cheap it’s another brilliant way of getting your brand into the subconcious mind of the community.

#5 Be Active In The Community

Step out of the comfort zone and start talking to the other members of the commnity. Use the chat facilities in the Traffic Exchanges, write comments on blogs, be active in forums, and even attend webinars or drop by TELive at 4 pm EST weekdays.

If you make a connection with people and they then see your adverts next time your surfing it’s a sure fire way to get the clickthrough rate and opt-ins going through the roof.

#6 Write Your Own Rebrandable Report

This will require more work, but if you do it then it suddenly it allows other people to give away your content and then their building your brand for you. Again this requires effort and yet more outsourcing expense but having hundreds of people promote you and your brand is totally worth it.

Also as a nice bonus this pdf can contain affiliate landmines that will keep on building downlines and commissions.

In terms of what to put in the report it depends on what you’ve decided to be an expert in? If you picked graphics it could be a tutorial on how to use gimp to create your own professional logos.

#7 Stay In The Game

Branding is not just for Christmas, why do you think you see just as many coca-cola adverts in the summer time as you do in the winter? It’s because the moment you stop your competition will overtake you.  So this means you need to plan to do something everyday that will keep your adverts in rotation at the top sites. Join some of the co-operative sites that offer package deals across the community so you’re being seen in sites you’re not even a member of.

Just remember that these steps all build upon you doing step 1 & step 2 properly. There’s no point trying to brand if you don’t have a logo and idea about what to be know as. The logo part can be as simple as just a picture of yourself, but make sure it’s a professional image you can be proud of.

Happy Branding

Andrew Stark
http://www.SafelistSecrets.com