How to Turn a Lead Magnet into an Autopilot Money Making System

If you’re starting an online business for the long term, you’ve to make every effort to create an autopilot money making system which will help you to work smarter and not harder. And the best way to successfully do this is to create a lead magnet and use it to build an email list of subscribers from scratch. If you ask me, your mailing list is the most valuable digital asset you can have as an online entrepreneur.

 

In this blog post, I’ll walk you through a flawless money-making system using a simple lead magnet funnel which will serve as an ethical bribe to engage your target audience, build your credibility with them and demonstrate your expertise on a topic to make it easy for you to sell relevant products or services to them from time to time.

 

To say the least, online marketing is a Herculean task that every entrepreneur must engage in if he or she wants to close sales at all. It’s even compounded by the growing and constant cutthroat competition in the marketplace. But you can turn the odds in your favor if you can come up with creative ways for your website visitors to give you their email addresses in exchange for a freebie which will enable you to engage and wow them to become your raving customers somewhere down the road.

 

Before I go into finer details on how to turn a lead magnet into an autopilot money making system, there are essential tools you’ve to invest in to make it seamless. These online business tools include:

 

• Domain name of your own. You’ve to register a domain name for your business and I’ll recommend NameCheap domain registration services as a good and cheap registrar to get a domain name.
• Web hosting. You need to get web hosting to upload your website files and downloadable materials on the World Wide Web and HostGator website hosting company is reputable and reliable with their excellent services.
• Email marketing software. An autoresponder is essential for this purpose because it is the pivot which you’ve to depend on to automate the freebie delivery to your leads when they subscribe to your list without any manual involvement. GetResponse email marketing software is cheap and reliable for both beginners and veteran internet marketers to build an email list of subscribers.
• Blog website. Creating a blog website cannot be ignored because it’s central to your digital marketing success. You can make use of self-hosted WordPress blog for free if you sign up with HostGator website hosting which supports WordPress hosting on their web servers.

 

After you’ve gotten the above tools sorted out, the next step is to create high-quality content to give away for free. It must be something valuable that will interest your target audience and solve their pain points.

 

Now, let’s dive in!

 

What is a Lead Magnet?

 

A lead magnet is simply a freebie in any form or format that serves as a specific solution to your target audience’s needs, wants, problems, pain points or challenges which they are currently grappling with. It could be a free ebook, video, podcast, email course, webinar, app or software to solve a problem or better explain a topic.

 

But you’re not just giving these types of lead magnets out without getting the contact information of your prospect such as name and email ID. This is more like elbow greasing or ethical bribe which will help in your subsequent digital marketing campaigns as you build relationships with your email list of subscribers.

 

List building for online marketing purpose is the goal of creating a lead magnet in the first place. You’ve to take the time to research and create a lead magnet which will resonate with your focus audience and compel them to exchange an email address and/or name to get what you’re touting to them for free.

 

So, the opt in form is where the exchange of email address and the promise to deliver the gift is consummated. 

 

Although there are a lot of lead magnet ideas you can make use of but it’s important you investigate your specific industry or niche market to know what they would like to get from you. If you run a blog website, you can publish a blog post related to a topic and ask your readers at the end of the article what type of lead magnet they wish to get from you.

 

Elements of a Good Lead Magnet

 

Apart from the lead magnet itself, there are other features that will complement the funnel. It includes:

• Landing page
• Thank-you page
• Download page
• Email sequence

 

Landing Page

 

This is the page where the subscription form will be embedded. It’s your selling point where you can convince the prospect why he should fill out his name and email address to download the free ebook, video or software, etc.

 

A landing page doesn’t have to be complicated anyway. You’ve to include a catchy headline and sub headline which will clearly state the main benefit of getting the lead magnet. You can add bullet points to expand on other benefits in your free give away.

 

But don’t forget that social proof is a big boost to any list building system. If you’ve testimonials and income proof to add credibility to your landing page, please do and include it. Also, the CTA (call to action) must be conspicuous and unambiguous if you want to record high CTR (click through rate).

 

Privacy policy statement must be clear enough to remove any intention to trade your subscribers email addresses with third parties.

 

Thank You Page

 

The thank-you page is the page that immediately comes up after a lead has entered his name and email address in your opt-in box. This page will simply appreciate your new list member for signing up for your newsletter and giving him the direction to download the lead magnet.

 

Usually, this will take him to his mailbox and then click a link from the email you sent for double opt-in and to download the gift. It’s as simple as that!

 

Download Page

 

If you’re not linking directly to the lead magnet from the thank you email you’ve sent, the download page is a place you can place the link to the free offer. It’s also a good page to promote one-time offer if any to your list subscriber.

 

A lot of internet marketers have made a lot of money from the download page by promoting complementary products and services at heavily discounted price. For example, if you’re selling a digital product for $47, you can offer it at $17 at the download page. You’ll experience an increase in sales revenue quickly.

 

Email Sequence

 

The email sequence will include the welcome email, first 2 to 5 relationship building email, non-promotional emails and marketing emails interspersed responsibly. It’s a good practice to prepare 3 months of email sequence in advance so that there won’t be lull in your communications with your new subscribers list.

 

In between you can send time-based promotional and broadcast emails to your list from time to time which is still okay.

 

Lead Magnet Content

 

For your lead magnet to become valuable to your readers, you must take the time to create high-quality content worth sharing. You can evaluate the competition and learn what they are doing better.

 

Besides taking the above steps, there is need for you to research the pain points of your intended audience and proffer workable solutions to solve them. For example, there is a free ebook on how to use OpenOffice software to prepare and secure PDF ebooks which I downloaded many years ago from a mailing list I subscribed to. Till date, that free ebook is still valuable to me because I don’t have to shell out dollars to buy Adobe Acrobat software to execute the same tasks.

 

If you can solve your target audience’s pain points and problems with your lead magnet offer, you’ll not find a hard time promoting paid products and services to the same email list. Let it be a valuable product or service that is not freely available on the internet.

 

How to Create a Lead Magnet

 

It’s easy to create a valuable lead magnet if you create a blog in your target niche market and regularly publish articles focusing on keywords and search queries. This will attract the right audience who will give you the information they want if you ask.

 

If you take care of on-page SEO (search engine optimization) and off-page SEO, driving free targeted traffic to your blog from search engines like Google will become a cinch.

 

Also, through survey or questionnaire you can elicit information from your blog readers who want to learn further from you. The idea really is to position yourself as an expert over time and build credibility.

 

Making use of keyword research tools will uncover questions people are asking and the search intents of your target market. Gather this information and create an outline to address the issues discovered. This is the surest way to put your best foot forward and gain the confidence of your target audience.

 

If you make use of GetResponse email marketing software, you’ll be able to automate the system seamlessly and just focus on creating unique content consistently to wow your followers and fans. I highly recommend this list management system for beginners because it makes nurturing of leads with constant content painless and hands off.

 

With the help of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and apps, content creation has become easier. Personally, I believe that AI tools are only as intelligent as the developers and the prompts you feed in as the user. This is a topic for another blog post which I'll publish soon. 

I’ll welcome comments and suggestions from my readers below. Please let me know the specific topics you wish to read about and I'll work on it as soon as possible.

How to Make $1,000 a Month Online from Home with Ease

Every day, ordinary but smart people like you are starting a business online to make money on a regular basis. It’s not rocket science because anybody with good business ideas that address pain points can succeed on the internet if he follows a workable system to deliver the goods to his target audience.

 

If you hone the virtues of determination and the willingness to learn digital skills or create a product or service which people need, you’ve what it takes to make $1,000 a month online from home. I’ll show you from this blog post how to turn side hustle ideas to problem-solving business which will earn passive income for you into the foreseeable future.

 

This is a comprehensive guide which will teach you how to start an online business successfully, grow it over time while you earn and thrive, year in and year out. However, this is not a quick cash system or Ponzi scheme where you are promised how to make money on the internet while you sleep and without lifting a finger! No!

 

You’ve to set up a business system in the capacity of a problem solver or solution provider while you learn digital marketing skills to promote your brand, product or service to your prospects and target customers.

 

Let’s assume that our goal is to make $1,000 a month online from home. In a 30-day period, you’re expecting to earn an average of $33.33 per day to reach your monthly income goal.

 

Broadly speaking, there are four ways to achieve this goal, viz:

 

1. Create a digital product and sell it online,
2. Provide a service as a freelancer based on your experience or expertise,
3. Promote affiliate products and earn commission, or
4. Do a combination of the above 3 options and everything in between.

 

Now, I’m going to call a spade a spade. If you really want to make $1,000 or more every month, the best option is to create a blog of your own. It doesn’t matter whether you are a digital product creator, freelance writer, digital publisher or blogger.

 

The basic idea behind this is for you to stand out as a brand business with a permanent virtual office. It will help you in so many ways in the long run such as entering joint venture partnerships with ease, getting fast approvals from affiliate programs, building credibility and trust with your prospects, leads and customers in your space.

 

Creating a blog website comes at a minimal cost anyway. For self-hosted WordPress blog, you’ve to register a domain name and get web hosting to get it online. HostGator website hosting offers free domain name registration when you sign up with their reliable web hosting services.

 

Even if you’re a beginner or newbie, HostGator stellar customer support will guide you all the way to get your blog running smoothly where necessary.

 

With web hosting fee of under $200 for 3 years, you can start your own business online seamlessly. After signing up with HostGator, install WordPress blog on your domain name, do on-page optimization, create essential web pages such as about us and contact us, create and publish your first blog post, monetize your blog and start website promotion as soon as possible.

 

Even if you’re not confident enough to hit the ground running yet, with a blog website you may be able to get approval from few affiliate programs to promote products and services that align with your overall blog theme. Personally, I work with big affiliate networks including Impact.com, CJ.com, and Clickbank.com to find complementary affiliate products and services to promote on my blog.

 

You only need to close 2 to 3 sales per day from an affiliate product that pays $20 affiliate commission per sale to make $1000 per month online while working from home.

 

For you to get results, your major focus will be on how to create high-quality content consistently and promote your blog to your target audience. The advantage of taking this step is to build a sustainable online business which will guarantee regular passive income when your blog website has fully gained traction and trust on the web.

 

Of a truth, a lot of aspiring online entrepreneurs don’t care to understand that one of the best ways to make money online is to start a blog around a topic of their skills, interests, hobbies, experience, passion or expertise.

 

From there, you’ll continue to publish content around searchable keywords and phrases that are informational and transactional in nature. I must admit it, the best way I learned digital marketing without breaking a sweat was to create a blog where I regularly publish blog posts around topical ideas which my intended readers want to know something about.

 

If you’re ambitious like me, you may want to sign up with reliable email marketing software as well to build your mailing list from the ground up. With GetResponse email marketing software and automation, you’ll be able to build an email list of subscribers from scratch. The people that sign up are your prospects and leads whom you can promote complementary products and services to down the line.

 

You can quickly create lead magnet which will provide solutions to questions people are asking or pain points they are grappling with for your target market to consume and get acquainted with you. A simple Google search and keyword research will reveal a lot of information for you to write an ebook or create a video which people will be raving about. 

 

The first critical step to making $1,000 a month online from home is by building relationships early and often with your target customers. It’s the sacrifice which you must make by paying it forward through high-quality content creation to prove your knowledge, experience and expertise in your field.

 

It’s from this your efforts to give out for free something valuable first that you’ll be able to figure out on how to monetize your content. Because of urgent financial needs, people come online to search for ways to earn fast cash and subsequently get their fingers burnt. You should never put the cart before the horse in your entrepreneur’s journey. Be a problem solver or solution provider to earn big bucks online.  

 

So, this is how to make $1000 a month online from home if I’m starting all over again as a beginner.

 

Steps to earn $1000 per month on the internet while you work from home.

 

• Choose a niche market to target e.g. personal finance.
• Conduct keyword research for list of keywords to target and start with.
• Register a domain name and get web hosting.
• Create a blog with WordPress.org
• Optimize your blog.
• Write and publish blog posts regularly.
• Monetize your blog.
• Promote your blog.

 

How to Monetize Your Blog

 

Let me show you how to make money online with ease. Build a blog website using HostGator web hosting services as my preferred and recommended company. Next, optimize your blog for SEO (search engine optimization) and consistently publish unique content on it. Finally, find ways to make money with your content as your traffic grows.

 

You can make money on the internet from your blog website through affiliate products, freelancing, sponsored posts, advertising networks, independent ads, etc. But outside your website, you can also earn passive income online from other sources.

 

• Create YouTube Channel.
• Provide virtual assistance services.
• Take paid online surveys.
• Start an online store with Shopify, Etsy, BigCommerce, etc.
• Provide freelance writing services at Fiverr, Upwork, etc.
• Etc.

You can only be limited by your imaginations! You can click this link to request for my soon-to-be-launched free ebook on “How to Start a Side Hustle Business and Quit Your Day Job in 365 Days or Less.” It’s going to be a no brainer guide on how to turn side hustle ideas to passive income streams!

 

Ultimate Guide to Domain Flipping for Beginners

Domain flipping is one of the best side hustles to make money online and this is for a reason. Starting an online business requires you as an entrepreneur to register a domain name and buy web hosting as the barest minimum investment. With your own domain name and website hosting, you can build a website or start a blog to promote your business locally and globally.

 

And because domain name registration is on first come first serve basis, holding all other factors constant, you may not be smart or lucky enough to get the exact domain name you desire to brand your business when you are starting out.

 

To this end, trading in domain names has become a huge money-making industry of sorts to discerning investors. Every now and then, you’ll come across domain aftermarkets where inventory of thousands to millions of names is listed for sale at prices you cannot fathom.

 

The question is, “Why is it so?” This is because business owners who want to grow their brands and project strong online presence are willing to invest tidy sum of money to buy a domain name which is specific to their business.

 

In this ultimate guide to domain flipping for beginners, I’m going to spill the beans on how to make money buying and selling domain names for profit. With as little as $10, you can buy a domain and sell it for quick cash. All you need is the requisite knowledge to pick up a quality domain name that ticks all the dots for a quick cash sale.

 

In this blog post, I’ll walk you through all the steps to research and get a domain name worth selling for cash. There is nothing complicated about buying and selling domain names on the World Wide Web. What you really need is the patience to research a good domain name with lots of potential buyers in sight before you step your foot at the door.

 

While it’s true that you can make money with domain names, it’s never a get rich quick scheme. Domain investing must be strategic for you to be able to turn it to a full-time side hustle business and make profit. In other words, you want to buy a domain name and quickly reach out to potential leads who are willing and able to pay premium money to own it as soon as possible.

 

Domaining is like digging the treasure trove to find precious gold. Imagine purchasing a domain for about $10 to $100 and selling it for $1000 or more within a period of 12 months without doing any grunt work other than listing it at secondary marketplaces like Atom.com, Dan.com, Afternic.com or GoDaddy.com!

 

A lot of domainers are making money online from domain name business investments on daily basis. But for you to be successful at domain investing, you’ve to hone strong digital marketing skills to identify real potential buyers in advance, have requisite business tools to work with, have gut feeling to know a domain worth buying and the creativity and foresight to spot diamonds in the rough besides setting aside reasonable amount of budget to get started.

 

But if you’re starting on a shoestring budget, setting aside between $50 and $100 cash investment will be okay to buy your first batch of domains of about 3 to 5. But the higher the budget, the better for you to turn in profits quickly as you’ll be able to leverage several sources to get premium domain names to resell for profit as quickly as possible.

 

For example, if you’ve starting budget of $1000, you’ll be able to tap into several marketplaces such as domain auctions, closeouts, backorder services and aftermarkets to source for and buy cheap but high-quality domain names you can quickly resell at a profit. This is one of the best ways to earn and thrive in this ever-competitive domain business.

 

With that said, let’s dive in!

 

Types of Domains for Sale

 

Depending on your research and conviction to register a domain, there are different variants of domains for sale which your potential buyers will find valuable. The most important factor before investing in a domain name is the value which your potential buyers will derive from your sale. What value will it bring to the table of any intending buyer?

 

If you cannot attach any value to your virtual real estate you intend to purchase, there is no reason to buy it in the first place. This is because it will be difficult for you to pitch, convince and sell such domain to any reachable entrepreneur who you may contact during your outbound marketing if need be.

 

In this blueprint, I’ll discuss domain for sale types which you can have success with.

 

• Brandable domain names
• Exact match domain (EMD)
• Geo + keyword domains
• Keyword + descriptive prefix or suffix

 

Brandable Domain Names

 

This type of name has to do with creativity and ability of a domainer to combine English words or letters to form a unique brand business name. For example, Google.com, YouTube.com and Facebook.com are brandable domain names. The creative word combination is unique and compelling. If you ask me what has “face” got to do with “book” in the Facebook domain name, I’ll not be able to give you a straightforward answer.

 

But selling brandable domains is slow and can tie down a lot of capital. You may hold your inventory for years before finding a buyer. The worst part is that it’s difficult to know exactly who your potential buyers are at the beginning of researching leads and prospects to market your domain for sale to.

 

In any case, you can focus on a niche per time which will make it easy for you to come up with viable domain name ideas to register or buy for reselling at a profit. Atom.com (formerlySquadhelp.com) is one of the best marketplaces to buy brandable domain names.

 

Exact Match Domain (EMD)

 

EMD is an exact keyword phrase registered as a website domain in the order it is being searched for online by users. For instance, “small business ideas” is a keyword phrase which internet users search for on monthly basis. Now, if you own the domain name, SmallBusinessIdeas.com, you’ve an exact match domain in your portfolio.

 

An easy way to get EMD is by using keyword tools such a Google Keyword Planner. However, a valuable EMD is one that has a lot of monthly search volume, high CPC (cost per click) and competition in mostly high-paying niches such as insurance, finance, technology, etc.

 

What if you own BabyShower.com? I can bet you that manufacturers and entrepreneurs will beat a path to your doorstep to buy it from you. The type-in traffic factor and search engine optimization (SEO) benefits of an exact match domain (EMD) make it highly valuable to entrepreneurs and investors alike. You can play around with keyword research tools to find valuable EMDs that are available to register or make use of ExpiredDomains.net to get some expired domains to buy at mere registration cost.

 

Geo + Keyword Domains

 

These are geographically oriented domain names. A dentist in New York can buy NewYorkDentist.com from you if you own it without batting an eyelid. Keywords related to services or products are highly marketable when combined with geographic locations.

 

As is always the case, expensive niches or services will command more money than the others when you’re selling domains associated with geographic locations.

 

Keyword + Descriptive Prefix or Suffix

 

As a domain investor, there are good keywords or phrases worth investing in at any day or time. It could be trending keywords or emerging technology. Let’s say you cannot afford to buy Business.com as a domain name to sell later. You can append a suffix like “hub” to the “business” keyword and then come up with BusinessHub.com to sell.

 

Some years back, I registered PassiveIncomeHub.com and sold it for quick cash of $260 as I could not lay my hands on PassiveIncome.com. All I did was to add the suffix “hub” to “passive income” keyword and I received an inbound offer to sell it.

 

In this case, you’ve to keep a file of common and valuable prefixes, suffixes or stop words which you can append to good keywords such as hub, joy, pro, center, base, etc.

 

How to Identify Valuable Domain Name

 

The characteristics of a good domain name make it valuable when it comes to selling. The more characteristics a domain name has, the merrier and valuable it is.  As a domain flipper, you’ve to intuitively consider and evaluate all these factors in a domain when thinking of investing in a name to sell for profit.

 

Some of these characteristics include age of domain, quality backlinks, length of domain, brandable, target keyword, commercial viability, memorable, free from trademark infringement, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, easy to remember, not hyphenated, passes radio test, distinctive, etc.

 

With experience and practice, you’ll be able to stack these qualities together when evaluating a domain name to buy before investing in it in a jiffy. For you to be on a speed lane, develop the habit of regularly checking out domains sold reports published online at NameBio.com, DNJournal.com/domainsales.htm, Domaining.com, etc.

 

How to Buy Low and Sell High

 

The first step to quickly sell your domain is to buy something that will appeal to a lot of prospects and leads in terms of brand value it projects, SEO benefits, keyword targeted, etc. You can hand register a domain name for $10, buy from closeouts for about $20, bid at auctions with less competitive bids or research and contact individual domain owners especially undeveloped domains.

 

You can then list your domains for sale in premium marketplaces like Dan.com, Afternic.com, Atom.com, Sedo.com, just to name a few. Sooner or later, we’ll be releasing complete domain flipping guide to help aspiring entrepreneurs to make money with domain names. You can bookmark this page for the link.

Places to Sell Domain Names

The best marketplaces to sell your domain are secondary markets where your domains for sale will receive wider exposure. You can check out places like Afternic.com, Atom.com, Sedo.com, Dan.com, Daaz.com, etc.

 

How to Start Digital Marketing for Beginners Guide

 

 

As a beginner, learning digital marketing and mastering it is the best way to build and grow a profitable online business in the long term. Creating brand awareness and selling products and services both on the internet and offline is becoming more complex than ever before with constantly evolving digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI).

 

So, if you’re searching for repeatable, sustainable and cheaper ways to promote your business online, sell your products or provide professional services of any kind to a target audience, you may have to study digital marketing inside out.

 

To get you started on this guide on how to start digital marketing for beginners, let’s look at the fundamentals or basics first of all.

 

What is Digital Marketing?

 

Simply put, digital marketing are ways and means of creating and distributing content on specific topics on the internet to a target audience in a niche market with the goal of creating brand awareness, selling products and services or demonstrating subject matter expertise (SME) using digital devices and technologies.

 

At this technological age, the world is your oyster if you learn digital marketing and use it to consistently advertise your internet business, blog website, freelance services, or sell your own digital products and services, and so on.

 

Types of Digital Marketing

 

There are several types of digital marketing you can tap into and effectively use it to convert prospects to raving customers in the buyer’s journey sooner or later. Digital marketing types include:

 

• Content marketing
• Blogging
• Email marketing
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Pay per click (PPC) advertising
• Social media marketing (SMM)
• Video marketing
• Guest posting
• Mobile marketing
• Etc

 

As a digital marketer, you need to understand that there is a lot you’ve to learn to become an expert in the industry but it’s doable. For instance, you’ve to get familiar with topics such as keyword research, SEO (search engine optimization), content marketing, blogging, email marketing, social media marketing, just to mention a few.

 

Knowing how to use these digital marketing tactics to wow prospects and convert them to clients or customers is at the heart of this subject. Today’s potential customer has many choices to make and there are sundry merchants who are readily available on the World Wide Web for your prospect to buy from.

 

So, for you to be top of mind to your target audience, you’ve to stand out from the crowd with high quality content about your brand, product or service. This is why you’ve to become SME (subject matter expert) in your industry to excel in the business of digital marketing.

 

The first step you’ve to take on how to start digital marketing for beginners is to create a blog you own and start publishing SEO articles that answer the questions of your readers or solve the problems and pain points of your potential customers.

 

Blogging is the best form of inbound marketing and for a reason. You can specifically target profitable long tail keywords in your blog posts, rank these pages on SERP (search engine results page) and start getting free targeted traffic from search engines like Google.com

 

Except you’ve deep pockets to hire a freelance writer, content writing skills is a requirement for a digital marketer’s success. Even with as low as 5c/word, you’ll pay about $50 for 1,000 word blog post and you can imagine the amount of money it will translate to if you consistently publish 3 to 5 articles per week.

 

The basic online tools you need to start a blog are reliable website hosting supports WordPress hosting and a registered domain name. HostGator.com is a cheap web hosting company you can sign up with and you’ll get free domain name from them as a first time customer.  

 

But if you become a digital marketing expert or specialist, I can guarantee that you’ll be able to secure jobs in this field on a full time basis or part time basis or work as a freelancer. There are free and paid digital marketing courses you can enroll with online including Google digital marketing courses.

 

Having a certification will boost your CV/resume and reputation when you start searching for digital marketing jobs. However, if I’ve to start digital marketing as a beginner again, the steps below are what I’ll follow.

 

1. Learn how the search engine works and how it ranks target keywords.
2. Learn keyword research steps and use this skill to uncover profitable long tail keyword phrases to target.
3. Start a blog with self-hosted WordPress CMS (content management system) platform and publish content on it consistently.
4. Learn how to socialize and network with like minds in my target niche or industry on social media platforms online.
5. Learn email marketing automation and use this unique digital skill to build email list of subscribers at scale.
6. Master the art and science of ranking profitable keywords in the SERP and building backlinks that look natural.
7. Familiarize myself with how to track analytics, measure data and make improvements in order to get better ROI (return on investment).

 

There are free resources through simple Google search and YouTube videos to learn how to start digital marketing for beginners. Some years back when I wanted to start affiliate marketing business, I simply went to Google and type “affiliate marketing case study” with and without the quotes.

 

I was able to read a lot of blog posts, watched videos and subscribed to email newsletters on affiliate marketing business. Next, I created a blog where I was able to write blog posts regularly and monetized my content with affiliate links.

 

You can start a blog and make money blogging online as a digital marketer while learning the ropes. Having a blog will expose you to every aspect of digital marketing including but not limited to email marketing, search engine marketing, social media marketing, blogging, and what have you.  

 

As a beginner, what I suggest you can do is to:

1. Choose a specific niche market to focus on e.g. credit cards in personal finance niche.
2. Create a blog and do on-page SEO targeting various topics on this subject as categories.
3. Write blog posts fully optimized for your target keywords and regularly publish content on your blog.
4. Build traction by using different types of digital marketing to engage your prospects, leads and customers.
5. Build backlinks to specific blog articles to rank them on SERP so as to get free targeted traffic from search engines especially Google.
6. Monetize your blog with affiliate links, contextual adverts, etc so that you can earn as you learn.

 

The above steps are the key elements to digital marketing success. Obviously, you’re bound to make mistakes along the way of your online marketing. That’s okay! What is important is the knowledge and understanding you’ll gain as you learn how to start digital marketing for beginners.

 

How to Start Content Marketing and Grow Your Business Online

 

Content marketing is a veritable and viable way to grow your business online and increase the bottom line. So, investing money and quality time to create shareable and linkable content on your blog website and/or guest posting on third party websites is something you have to think of and consider right away.

 

First off, let’s get started with the fundamentals or basics of this topic so that you’ve a solid foundation to build on.

 

What is Content?

 

First and foremost and before I deep dive into content marketing process, I want you to know what content is. It’s simply a piece of text, visual, or both, which you decide to create about a topic idea as an expert in order to satisfy the wants and needs of your intended audience.  

 

It could simply be an answer to your target audience’s frequently asked questions (FAQs), solution to their problems or pain points, or a step by step guide on how to do something or complete a specific task.

 

Content can come in various formats such as blog post, video, podcast, ebook, white paper, an article, and so on. And having a successful digital marketing strategy in place will involve consistent creation, publication and marketing of high quality content to your target market in order to create and nurture a mutually beneficial relationship.

 

What is Content Marketing?

 

In its simplest definition, content marketing is the process of researching keywords which are targeting your potential customers’ pain points, creating content around these search queries, and distributing such content in places where your target audience congregate in order to create brand awareness, generate leads or close sales for your product, service or brand.

 

As a content marketer, you’ve to understand the customer journey in your niche market or industry so that you can effectively tailor your content to every stage of the buyer persona.  Do you know that content marketing is one of the best ways to grow an online business by leaps and bounds?

 

If you’re able to consistently create and publish high quality content on a timely basis, you stand to benefit immensely from your online marketing campaigns. As a matter of fact, content marketing is a mutually beneficial relationship between the content creator or brand and his intended audience.

 

Types of Content Marketing

 

There are different types of content marketing you’ve to learn and master in your digital marketing arsenal. I’ll briefly outline some of them below.

 

• Ebook
• Video
• Infographic
• Blog post
• Checklist
• Cheat sheet
• White papers
• Email newsletter
• Podcast
• Case study
• Presentation or slide
• Etc

 

Depending on what you think will resonate with your intended audience, you can effectively use any of the above content formats to market and grow your business online. However, you’ve to bear in mind that unique and high quality content which is timely delivered to your target audience are paramount to your success.

 

To add to that, you should not forget that variety is the spice of life when it comes to creating and publishing content which will consistently attract your prospects, leads and customers to your website. For instance, you should have an optimal mix of blog posts, videos, ebooks, infographics, email newsletter, etc used by your team to position your brand online as a thought leader.

 

To get you started so that you can hit the ground running in earnest, you’ve to follow the steps to content marketing which have worked well for me below.

 

Content Marketing Steps

 

1. Identify a target audience to serve.
2. Research pain points of your target audience.
3. Write down your content marketing goal for every piece of content you want to create.
4. Decide on the best type of content you want to create and publish which will solve the problems identified above.
5. Identify the right platform to distribute your content.
6. Promote your content.
7. Analyze, monitor and improve on your metrics and data.

 

Now, let me explain how to execute each of the above steps to content marketing which will help you to get the best bang from investing your money, time and efforts in writing content yourself or hiring a freelance writer to do it for you.

 

Step #1: Identify a Target Audience to Serve

 

Before you start creating content of any kind, you’ve to know who needs it i.e. who wants to consume your piece. Also, you’ve to know the stage in the customer journey where your potential readers are currently at. Having and understanding this information will help you to specifically tailor your content to the right group of people who are searching for the type of content you’ve to deliver.

 

For example, if you’re creating a guide for beginners on how to make money with affiliate marketing, you’ve to start from the very basics and move up from there. This is because your target market is beginners or newbies who want to learn how to start affiliate marketing business successfully.

 

This means you’ve to introduce and write about topics related to affiliate marketing business such as:

 

• What is affiliate marketing?
• Steps to start affiliate marketing.
• Affiliate marketing tools and resources
• Email marketing for beginners
• How to start a blog and make money
• And so on.

 

Step #2: Research Pain Points of Your Target Audience

 

Now that you’ve identified your target audience, it’s time to find out their pain points, challenges or problems which they are currently grappling with and desperate to solve. You may be able to execute this task in a number of ways. First, you can use keyword research tools to discover questions people are asking in your target niche market.

 

Secondly, you can use reliable email marketing software to build an email list of subscribers and then send your list members questionnaires to fill out about their problems and the type of solution they desire from an expert like you.

 

Thirdly, you can use third-party websites and tools to spot specific pain points which desperate buyers are searching for solutions on the internet based on their search queries and patterns. Such websites include AnswerThePublic.com, Quora.com, Google Trends, BuzzSumo.com, etc.   

 

The crux of the matter is your ability to spot pain points and create solutions in the form of content. And this is where you’ll have the golden opportunity to monetize your blog content by recommending complementary affiliate products or services or product you own.

 

Step #3: Write Down Your Content Marketing Goal

 

At this level, all you need to do is to write down your content marketing goal which will guard and help you to focus on vital areas in your content creation process. What exactly do you want to achieve when you finally publish your blog post, video or ebook? Do you want to use it to build an email list of subscribers from the scratch or create brand awareness for your business?

 

Or do you want to demonstrate your expertise in your target industry or seen as a thought leader? Having a content goal in mind will help you to create winning content of some kind.

 

Step #4: Decide on the Best Type of Content to Publish

 

Now that you’ve a clear goal for your content marketing to pursue, the next step is to decide on the best masterpiece to create and publish. If you’re creating a blog for your business, you can regularly write blog posts around topic ideas and publish on your blog website.

 

But if you’re building a mailing list, the best option is to write an ebook or create a video to give away for free in exchange for subscribers email addresses. You may have to conduct competitors’ analysis to determine what is resonating with your target audience.

 

On another note, your potential readers and customer avatar should highly influence how you write your content. Top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU) and bottom of the funnel (BOFU) are distinct stages of the buyer persona which you’ve to consider when creating content for your readers.

 

Before you write content of any type, you should get familiar with SEO (search engine optimization) and keyword research. These aspects of digital marketing will help you to scale your online business using search engines to generate free targeted traffic to your website.

 

Targeting long tail keywords have always been the fastest and best way to rank a web page on SERP (search engine results page) if your content is of high quality.

 

Step #5: Identify the Right Platform to Distribute Your Content

 

At this point, your content is ready for publication. What next? If you’ve written SEO article targeting a keyword phrase and you own a blog, you can simply turn it to a blog post and publish it. If it’s an ebook, you can upload it to your web hosting server and use it to start building a list of subscribers.

 

You should look into the option of distributing content on your social media accounts such as Facebook, LinkedIn, PDF sharing sites, and so on. However, for you to be highly successful as a content creator, you’ve to create a blog of your own preferably with self-hosted WordPress CMS platform.

 

Step #6: Promote Your Content

 

Unless you actively promote your website content, you may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to cover the costs of running and growing your business online. To this end, you’ve to learn a number of ways to promote your content on the internet. I’ll list some of them below.

 

1. Blogging
2. Guest posting 
3.  Creating and sharing videos
4. Social media marketing
5. List building
6. Search engine optimization
7. Etc

 

Mastering the above digital marketing methods will be of immense value to your business especially if you mix it with SEO and keyword research.

 

Step #7: Analyze, Monitor and Improve on Your Metrics and Data

 

The last step in our content marketing strategy is analyzing, monitoring and improving on your metrics and data. If you hope to get the best from your online marketing campaigns, you’ve to integrate analytics to measure website traffic and know where to improve on.

 

The very first step to get you started is to sign up for free Google Analytics and Google Search Console. You’ll be amazed at a number of data you’ll be able to generate about your target audience and how best to serve them with high quality content.

 

You can start content marketing today for your business and get better results by engaging our digital marketing agency right away. You’ll thank me later!