Archive | December, 2020

These are super easy to pull off, yet so effective you’ll be kicking yourself for not using them sooner…

LinkedIn: See Restricted LinkedIn Search Results

When you search for people on LinkedIn, you might not see the search results you’re looking for. This is because results can be restricted based on your membership level.

But there is a way around this…

The majority of LinkedIn profiles are indexed on Google.

Thus all you have to do is search Google to find what you’re looking for, like this:

Site:linkedin.com “name of person”

And let’s say you’re looking for social media managers in New York. Type this into Google:

Site:linkedin.com//pub “social media manager” New York

Now you can find the information LinkedIn is hiding from you.

Sweet!

Twitter: Send Tweets Longer Than 140 Characters

No, I don’t mean send readers to another site to see what you have to say. We’re going to keep our readers right there on Twitter by doing this:

Send out your tweet just like normal, ending it with a (…) or a cliffhanger.

For example,

“Did you know you can send out a Tweet that’s longer than 140 characters? First you tweet like usual. Then…”

Reply to your own tweet from your own stream. Seriously. Remove your @name so you don’t look like you’re talking to yourself (which would be weird!) Like this:

“…you reply to your own tweet in your Twitter stream. Remove the mention of your name and finish your tweet.”

Visitors see either tweet in your stream, click on ‘view conversation’ and see the full length tweet.

Facebook: Reduce Attack Posts and Salty Comments

The Internet can be a rowdy place, especially in social media. But if you go to the Page Moderation section of Page Settings, you’ll get some relief.

Simply enter common inflammatory words such as “unlike,” “clickbait,” “idiot” and so forth. Then when a banned word is used, the comment will be hidden from the general public.

The comment still appears to the person who left it who is none the wiser. And their friends will be able to see it as well, but no one else.

You can also hide comments from trolls after they’re posted. The troll will still see the comment, so unless he compares his account with someone else’s he’ll never know the comment is hidden.

And it’s better than deleting the comment and banning the troll, since they’ll then email you and complain you’re stepping on their freedom of speech.

YouTube: Research What Viewers Want

It can be difficult to move viewers off of YouTube and onto your website. But now you can use YouTube cards to poll your audience and find out what they really love.

Ask the right questions and you’ll discover what will make them go to your website and opt-in to your mailing list. Then simply present them with the strong call to action they need, and they’re yours.

Any Social Media Platform: Vastly Increase Your Social Media Followers

Share for Share or Shoutout for Shoutout (S4S) is basically forming mutually beneficial partnerships with other people in your niche.

You post each other’s content with a reference back to them. Sort of like emailing your list to tell them about another email marketer (also called a solo ad) only it’s done reciprocally on social media. And it costs nothing because you are doing it for each other.

But what if you’re new to the platform? If you have social clout on other platforms, you might do a cross promotion in which you promote them on your established platform and they promote you on your new platform. And the best thing about this technique is it works on any social media platform, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so forth.

There you have it – 5 genuine social media hacks that can make a real difference in your marketing. Pick your favorite and start using today.

20 Hot Tips for Hot Subject Lines that Get Opened

Obviously if the subject line of your email doesn’t get the open, it’s all over. No clicks. No sales. No anything. But with the right subject line, you can get your readers to open and devour your emails. Here then are 20 eye-opening tips for subject lines that get results…

Short is better

40% of emails are opened on mobile, and they’ll get cut off if they’re too long. Aim for 50 characters or less.

Another reason shorter is better – it’s more eye-catching. Compare these two subject lines and ask yourself which would catch your eye:

“Warning!”

“Warning, that early morning habit of yours might be causing a serious problem”

For the best of both worlds, consider this… with most email programs, you can place “Warning!” in the subject line, and use “That early morning habit of yours might be causing a serious problem” as the first line of the email, which will show up as preview text.

As always, test.

Still don’t believe that shorter is better?

According to Contact Monkey, subject lines with 3 or more words are opened 15% less than those with 1-2 words.

Don’t get cute

Some emailers like to begin their subject lines with “fw:” because they believe it increases open rates. But according to Convince and Convert, it actually reduces opens by 17%.

However, Contact Monkey also reports that the top five subject lines in their recent study all included “Re:” This just goes to show you the importance of testing.

Create urgency

Subject lines that evoke a sense of urgency and exclusivity receive a 22% higher open rate, according to Email Institute. Use deadlines such as “today only” and “12 hour giveaway” to encourage readers to act now.

Do NOT use the word “newsletter”

A study from Adestra found that email subject lines containing the word “newsletter” received an 18.7% decrease in open rates.

Why? Maybe because recipients think it will take too long to read, or they can always read it later; which of course they seldom do.

Use the person’s name in the subject line

Yes, it’s an old school trick. And yes, for a while it seemed like it wasn’t working as well as it did.

But these days, people get so many emails that once again having this little bit of personalization can make a difference. In fact Adestra found that personalized subject lines were 22.2% more likely to be opened.

Just don’t do it every time or it will lose its effectiveness.

Words to avoid –

“Meeting” reduced opens by 7% according to Sidekick.
“Quick” reduced opens by 17%.
“You” reduced opens by 5%.

Words to use –

“Tomorrow” increased opens by 10% according to Sidekick.
“Free” increased opens by 10%.

Test to find the right sender name

If the recipient doesn’t recognize the sender name or doesn’t have a positive association to it, the email likely won’t get opened. If your business name implies a benefit “Your Best Body” then try sending from that name, as well as “Joe Smith, Your Best Body” and your full name “Joe Smith.” See which one gets the most opens and then stick with that.

Never use noreply@yoururl.com as your sender name

It creates a terrible impression, looks anything but personable, and prevents recipients from adding it to their address book.

Use list segmentation

You don’t want to send news of your children’s clothing sale to a guy who only purchased men’s work shirts. Personalize each person’s experience according to the action they’ve taken – which list they’ve joined and which product they’ve purchased.

Who says you need a subject line?

According to Sidekick, emails with no subject line were opened 8% more than those with a subject line. But use this trick sparingly, if at all. And remember, preview text will be visible, so make it good.

Make readers feel like they’re on the inside

The psychology of exclusivity is a prime motivator. Give your subscribers a sense of belonging to your group, your tribe or your inside circle.

In other words, make them feel special with subject lines like this:

– “An exclusive offer just for you”
– “My personal gift to you”
– “For members only, you’re invited!”
– “Private: For beloved customers ONLY.”

3 words to use

Using the words “Sale,” “Video” or “New” in subject lines boost open rates.

Don’t bait and switch

Any promise made in the subject line needs to be fulfilled in the email.

For example, don’t put “27 Free Ebooks” in your subject line, and then try to sell them 27 Ebooks which will ‘seem like they’re free because they’ll make you so much money.’

I’ve actually received this email – and unsubscribed because of it.

Tell them what’s inside – and make it good

Did they just join your list to get a free book? Then your subject line might be, “Your new ebook inside!”

Are you announcing a new service that is perfect for them? “Joan, this service is tailor-made for you.”

Use numbers

“Increase your traffic 200%” is better than “How to increase your traffic.”

Use action verbs

Think of a subject line as a call to action – you want the language to inspire people to click on the email. By starting with an action verb, you’ve got a much greater chance of motivating them to click.

For example, which of these stimulate you to want to know more… “Notice: The New Nissans are here” or “Drive a Brand New Nissan Today”?

“Daily’ and “Weekly” in subject lines boost open rates

But the word “Monthly” hurts them, according to Adestra.

Oh yes…

The subject line word that increased opens by 61.8% according to Adestra?

Believe it or not, it’s the word “alert.”

Again, don’t over use it, but instead reserve it for those times when it really, really counts.

You motivated your readers to open your email with a great subject line, but now what?

It’s all about your first sentence. And your second, and your third… You’ve heard how the purpose of the first sentence in a sales letter is to get them to read the second, and the second is to get them to read the third. Treat your emails the same way, like every sentence counts. Because it does.

Google says that a healthy, active online community is one of the signals they look for to determine your blog’s quality. Comments are considered part of your content, so the better they are, the better your blog does in search results.

The problem is, of course, that a lot of comments are either spam or they don’t add anything to the conversation. For example, “Great post!” and “Love it!” might feed your ego, but that’s about it.

So how do you encourage people to leave thoughtful, well-written comments that add to the conversation?

By using a seed question.

Once you upload your post, be the first one to comment on your own post. For example, let’s say you wrote a blog post titled 7 Ways to Get Free Traffic.

Your comment might be, “Thanks for checking out my post. I thought I’d kick off discussion with a few questions about how you get free traffic. What’s your favorite technique? How much time and resources does it take? And how effective has it been so far? I would love to hear from you on this.”

When you do this, you’ll likely find that more of the comments you receive actually ADD to the conversation.

One more thing, and this is a little sneaky – up-vote your own comment to keep it at the top. Odds are others will begin up-voting it as well, but it doesn’t hurt to add your own up-votes. You want your comment to be the first one people read.

Try this technique out on the next blog post you write, and I bet you’ll significantly increase the quality and quantity of comments you receive.

Not only can this help you with the development of your own community and search engine rankings, you’ll also likely find the seeds of inspiration for future blog posts as you interact with your blog readers in this way.