Category Archives for Build Your Platform
How To Steal Top Email Marketing Secrets From the World’s Best Internet Marketers
“I’ve always been shameless about stealing good ideas.”
Guess what iconic intellectual property thief said that?
The Mac Daddy of computing himself, Mr. Steve Jobs.
As much as you want to be intrinsically creativity on a daily basis, the truth is that your eureka moments are usually sparked by contact with external ideas.
If you’re an internet marketer or solo-preneur, "stealing" good ideas is just a crucial skill you must embrace to successfully promote your online business.
Continue readingThe 11 Best Alternatives to Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a very popular tool for tracking website visitors, but it’s not the only solution and certainly not the perfect solution for everyone.
Depending on your business model and your needs, an alternative analytics solution might serve you far better and be a lot more useful to your business. Whether you’re looking for something supplemental or something to completely replace GA, this post has got you covered.
Read on to discover the best Google Analytics alternatives for your website.
Continue reading11 Tools to Automate Your Marketing (Without Breaking the Bank)
If you search for "marketing automation", you might experience some heart palpitations when you start looking at prices. The big marketing automation players like Marketo, Pardot and Hubspot all have pricing plans that range from hundreds of dollars a month to the ominous "contact us". Clearly geared towards large enterprises, rather then scrappy startups.
But don't let that discourage you. Marketing automation is a cornerstone of any successful online business and in this post, you'll discover the tools that are suitable solopreneurs, digital nomads and small teams.
Been Craving More ActiveGrowth Content? Well You’re in Luck Because We Have an Announcement…
If you’ve been following the Active Growth blog (formerly im impact) for a while now, you might’ve noticed that the site hasn’t been publishing a steady stream of content for the past year or so.
That’s because, ever since Thrive Themes launched as a product to support the online marketing needs of the ActiveGrowth audience, it quickly grew to dominate Shane’s time and business focus.
But because the success of Thrive Themes is such a great example of what can materialize from a value focused website like ActiveGrowth, we decided that it’s high time to direct some attention back to our blogging roots.
Continue readingEliminate Your Frustrating Email Scheduling System with This Free Service
If you run an online business, you know how much it sucks to schedule meeting after meeting, across multiple timezones, through your email.
Here's a typical back-and-forth email scheduling thread you're probably much too familiar with...
Continue readingWhat’s the Best Autoresponder/Email Marketing Tool to Use?
Email marketing is the cornerstone of many online businesses. And the tools you use to manage your email marketing can make a huge difference to your bottom line.
It's no wonder, then, that "which autoresponder do you recommend?" is a question I receive quite often.
In today's post, we'll take a look at the two major cateogries of email marketing solutions and I'll tell you which specific service I recommend (and why).
Can You Build Your List with Solo Ads? Everything You Need to Know About Online Traffic Sources
This post is based on a question that was sent in by a reader and on the surface, it's about whether solo ads are a viable traffic source or not.
However, in answering this question, we inevitably dig deeper and end up uncovering something you need to know about how online businesses survive and thrive. Without this, you'll never know how to answer the question: "where can I get more traffic?"
Continue readingHow High Should Your Conversion Rate Be?
Today's post is a response to a seemingly simple question, which is: how high should your conversion rate be? What's a good conversion rate, what should you be aiming for?
There's a lot of talk about optimizing your conversion rates, but it would be very helpful to know some figures of what's good or bad to begin with, right?
Watch the video below to see my answer:
Continue reading4 Step Checklist for Getting & Converting More Clients
Tell me if this sounds familiar: you’ve handed out your business cards, you’ve talked to many people about your new business and everyone seems really enthusiastic and interested… but you aren’t getting customers and clients.
It seems like you’re making all the right moves and you’re trying your best to get the word out about your business, but the results are discouraging to say the least. What should you do in a case like this?
A reader contacted me with a question about this and here’s my 4-step strategy that you can apply to your business to bring in more customers and clients, starting right now:
WordPress Comments: Disqus, Jetpack, Facebook Comments or Livefyre?
Comments have always played an important role in blogging and content marketing. If you’re familiar with my product creation process, you also know that for me personally, comments have been an important source of insights into what exactly my customers (and potential customers) want out of a product.
If you have a WordPress website, you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to picking a commenting system. Apart from the default comments that come part and parcel with WordPress, you can also choose from these alternatives: Disqus, Jetpack Comments,Facebook Comments, Livefyre Comments and SolidOpinion.
Read on to discover the pros and cons of each solution, as well as my personal favorites.
How Your Business Can Thrive Without SEO & Social Media
Today’s post is an answer to a question sent by Paula in this recent post. If you know me, you know that I’ve never invested time into growing my social media following or improving my social media marketing skills. Plus, a few years ago, I dropped any and all search engine optimization work and now I don’t do any of that either, for any of my businesses.
If you’ve ever wondered why that is and how it actually turns into an advantage for my business, here’s the answer:
Budapest & the Traveling Entrepreneur
In today’s video, I have a rather unusual update for you: one of the great benefits of running a purely virtual, “all-online” business is that it gives you location independence.
This is a benefit I’ve been making liberal use of in the past few years. Here’s my review of one of my favorite places so far and why I believe long-term travel is an opportunity for yourself as well as your business to grow.