7 Tools That Can Help Boost Your Social Media Engagement

With so many people plugged into social media, you probably already know that you can’t avoid building up your business’s presence on these platforms. However, it’s about more than just showing up – you’ll also need to find a way to engage with your followers.

Fortunately, you don’t have to do it alone. By wielding a few powerful social media management tools, you can start interacting with your audience more than ever before.

In this article, we’ll cover a few reasons why boosting social media engagement is a worthwhile goal. Then, we’ll show you seven tools that can help you achieve it. Let’s get started!

The Importance of Social Media Engagement

The very nature of social media is an interactive one. A recent study found that up to 56 percent of people reported recently liking posts from others. As such, these platforms present a unique opportunity to connect with your customers on a personal level.

Forging this connection has several benefits. For starters, social engagement metrics can provide valuable insights. If you can identify the demographics that are most frequently commenting, liking, and sharing your posts, you can use that data to adjust your target audience. It’s also an efficient way to find potential influencers.

Moreover, it can give you an idea of how people view your brand. Unfortunately, not all engagement will be positive – you might find comments from disgruntled customers from time to time. However, these can also help you learn about areas where your audience thinks you could improve.

Engagement is about visibility, too. People who share your content are by extension spreading the word about your brand. This could lead to increased conversions or more widespread awareness of your company.

Many social media platforms such as Twitter and TikTok use algorithms to determine what users see on their timelines. Thus, boosting your engagement could help you reach more people.

Related: How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy for Your Website

7 Tools That Can Help Boost Your Social Media Engagement

You may know that social media engagement is important, but knowing exactly how to improve your brand’s performance in this area can be tricky. Here are seven effective tools to help you get started.

1. Canva

Images are an essential part of your social media presence. Therefore, you’ll want to make sure to take high-quality photos and optimize their effectiveness through careful editing. If you’re looking for an intuitive tool that helps you design stunning images, consider using Canva.

This tool is not only easy to use, but it also offers a wealth of features to help support your media creation, including:

• Built-in templates geared towards the best layouts for individual platforms
• A cohesive Brand Kit feature to keep your posts consistent with colors, fonts, and brand logos
• Seamless collaboration features for small or large teams

Stunning designs are more likely to catch your users’ eyes. More importantly, they can help you boost engagement. This is especially true if you use this opportunity to include exciting Calls To Action (CTA).

If you’re looking to get the most out of Canva, we recommend that you use your designs across all of your platforms. This way, you’re providing a more seamless transition into new graphics for your customers. This can also contribute to consistency in your branding.

Pricing: Canva offers a powerful free version. If you want all the features it has to offer, you can start with the Pro plan at $119.99 per year. You can also request an enterprise-level quote if you’re running a large team.

2. Revive Old Posts

Content creation can be a challenging process. Sometimes it’s because you’re trying to keep up with the latest trends, but other times it’s because you’re struggling to produce enough posts to keep your page updated. If you want to alleviate some of this pressure, Revive Old Posts is definitely worth your consideration.

As you can probably guess, this tool can help you make the most of your old content, by ensuring that it gets all the exposure that it deserves. With the help of this plugin, you can give your audience more opportunities to engage.

Here are some impressive features offered by Revive Old Posts:

• Automatic addition of optimized hashtags
• The option to share posts instantly when you publish them on your website
• Works for pages, posts, media, and custom posts to encompass nearly all types of content

This plugin can also help you free up some time. Without the need to constantly update your social media pages, you can focus on other areas of your business. Alternatively, you might just find that you can polish your new content even more.

You might want to consider using Revive Old Posts selectively, based on the platform. For example, if you know that your photo posts perform better on Instagram, you can focus on recycling that content for that specific account.

Pricing: Plans for Revive Old Posts begin at $75 for a single site. This will give you five feeds and up to 50 shared accounts.

3. CoSchedule

When it comes to social media, scheduling can be a big deal. After all, an abandoned or even slow-to-update profile doesn’t attract customers. That’s why a tool like CoSchedule can help.

CoSchedule is a scheduling software made specifically for marketers. It can help organize your posting calendar with color-coded posts. Whether you’re running a platform-wide campaign or just hoping to polish your email strategy, this program can centralize your work and make sure you always have content planned.

However, it’s a lot more than just a simple calendar. Here are a few other ways that CoSchedule can help you boost your engagement metrics:

• Social publishing automation based on your custom plan
• The ability to organize calendars around different teams or platforms
• Stores assets and files to ensure that you include robust content for every post

Consistent posting is key to increased engagement. Not only can CoSchedule help you keep this up, but it can also take some of the work off your plate by automating the process. You can also collaborate with other creators.

If you choose to use CoSchedule, we highly recommend that you make use of the content progress function. This way, you’ll always know if you’re ready to publish a new post. This can be especially useful for large-scale marketing efforts.

Pricing: For $29 per person, per month, you can gain access to all of CoSchedule’s features. If you’re interested in the full marketing suite, you will need to contact sales for a quote.

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4. Sniply

For most social media platforms, you have to contend with a certain word count. This means every character counts. This can be tricky if you’re using long, complicated URLs. If you’re looking to get the most value out of a short post, we recommend using Sniply.

Sniply is a URL shortener at its core. However, it can also help you streamline a customized link to serve a specific CTA. As such, you can achieve more brand consistency in a much cleaner way.

In addition, Sniply has a few other impressive functions, such as:

• The ability to embed URLs in the form of buttons, text, form, or images for the most natural integration
• Engagement options ranging from links to email list sign-ups
• Individual tracking metrics to see how each link’s post is performing

Sniply also makes it easy for users to engage. Complex links can scare people away. However, short, neat URLs may help your audience feel more comfortable sharing your posts.

Pricing: The basic option begins at $29 per month for up to two brand profiles, one team member, and 5,000 clicks. The Pro plan comes in at $79 per month and gets you six brand profiles, three team members, and 20,000 clicks.

5. Woorise

If you want your users to engage with your brand, you may need to go beyond traditional CTAs. Providing users with more interactive content such as giveaways can get them more invested – especially if engagement metrics such as likes and shares are part of the entry conditions.

This is why we recommend Woorise. This tool comes with several functions, but we’re particularly impressed with its giveaway functionality. It offers a ton of ways to create a stellar contest that will get your audience interacting with you, such as:

• Require combinations of specific engagement activities such as follows and comments for users to enter
• Customize the sign-up page with everything from the color palette to photos
• Embed widgets on social media to ensure that all of your audiences have a chance to sign up

Simply put, giveaways work because users get invested. Not only will this boost your engagement metrics, but it can also encourage them to follow your brand for more opportunities.

To get the most out of Woorise, consider doing small giveaways regularly. These provide more chances for people to share your content. As a bonus, these can also be a lot easier on your budget.

Pricing: You can get started with a free version that has limited functionality. As for the paid version, you can start at $23 per month for one site with unlimited campaigns and 2,000 entries per month. If you want to bump that up to 5,000 entries, you can choose the Grow plan at $39 per month.

6. Social Searcher

Part of successfully boosting engagement is knowing what your audience is talking about. This doesn’t just apply to trends, either: knowing how your users feel about your brand, in general, is crucial to creating the content that they want to interact with. That’s why we’re fans of Social Searcher.

Social Searcher is – as the name suggests – a search engine geared towards social media platforms. It can help you monitor what people are saying about you across multiple sites at once. This applies to individual sites or a more generalized report.

Here are a few stand-out features that make Social Searcher worth your consideration:

• Tracking of tagged posts, as well as ones that mention your brand
• Analysis comparing positive mentions against negative ones
• Alerts about top hashtags in your niche to help your content stay timely

Generally speaking, users will only interact with posts that are relevant to them. Social Searcher can help you boost engagement by pinpointing these topics and responding accordingly. You might also be able to use it to learn more about your audience.

Our favorite thing about this tool is the universal dashboard. You can get information on users across several different sites, allowing you to focus on specific campaigns while also understanding the bigger picture.

Pricing: You can use a limited version of this tool for free. Paid plans start at 3.49 Euros per month (roughly $4.04). They also offer a 14-day free trial, so you can give it a shot before you commit.

7. Easy Affiliate

If you aren’t using an affiliate program for your brand, now might be the time to start. Working with influencers can be a natural and affordable way to reach new audiences on social media. Their work on these platforms can in turn lead curious users to your profile for more information.

However, managing affiliates across different social media accounts can be tough. If you’re looking for a tool to help you out, we recommend Easy Affiliate. This resource enables you to manage, track, and reward the influencers that boost your engagement metrics the most.

Easy Affiliate uses several powerful features to help you organize your program, including:

• The opportunity to provide affiliates with full feature links and banners for a consistent brand experience
• An easy-to-understand dashboard that helps you see your top performers
• A simple payout system to accurately compensate those who can increase your engagement the most

Influencers are more than just a way to advertise your site – they can also organically boost brand awareness. Users who trust these affiliates might in turn trust your brand and seek out your content. This can help you increase your engagement and boost your conversion rate.

Pricing: Let’s take a look at Easy Affiliate’s pricing. The basic plan starts at $99.50. This will give you all the features for a single site, including unlimited affiliates and a full tracking system.

Getting by With a Little Help From Our Friends

Social media engagement is essential for modern brands. User interactions can be the difference between a low profile and a huge following. Fortunately, boosting your engagement metrics can be easy with the help of a few key tools.

In this article, we showed you seven different tools. Some of them can appeal to users directly, while others can provide crucial insights into your audience. By using one – or even a few! – you can start taking full advantage of your brand’s potential.

Get Social and Grow Your Business with DreamHost

Our experts will help create a powerful social media strategy and level up your execution so you can focus on running your business.

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The post 7 Tools That Can Help Boost Your Social Media Engagement appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

source https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/tools-boost-social-media-engagement/

7 Powerful Ways to Grow Your Email List

If you’ve just started a small online business, you may already know that modern marketing isn’t just about social media. Email marketing campaigns can play a key role in your overall strategy. However, it’s hard to make much progress if your email list isn’t very long.

Fortunately, there are lots of simple and inexpensive ways to grow your email list. All this requires is your time, dedication, and a few simple strategies.

In this post, we’ll explore why email marketing is a great way to grow your business. Then we’ll cover seven powerful ways to grow your email list. Let’s get started!

Why Email Marketing Is an Effective Way to Grow Your Business

To succeed, you have to cover all your bases. That’s why any ambitious content marketing strategy should be comprehensive. Some people may forget about email marketing because we spend so much of our time using newer forms of communication, such as social media and messaging platforms.

However, 4 billion people still use email worldwide. Additionally, the number of emails people send on a daily basis continues to grow every year. Therefore, email marketing remains a highly effective form of lead generation, even in 2022.

Email is also highly targeted, and when you’re organizing your inbox, you have to address every single message. When there’s such a big audience at stake, neglecting this platform would mean missing out on a significant opportunity.

With the rise of newsletters and the continued importance of email, there are now plenty of popular tools like ConvertKit and Mailchimp to help you manage your campaigns.

These tools offer an all-in-one solution so you can effectively reach your audience. They’re a great place to start – however, you’ll need more than just a dedicated tool. Let’s dive in.

7 Powerful Ways to Grow Your Email List

Your email marketing campaigns are only as strong as your email list. Let’s cover some worthwhile ways that you can get more leads and grow your base of subscribers.

1. Add an Opt-In Form to Your Website

An opt-in form is a simple element that prompts website visitors to sign-up to receive emails from your business. Usually, an email address is the only personal information requested. This is an easy way to convert readers to subscribers fast, and it’s at the top of our list because it requires minimal effort on your end.

Some opt-in forms are more subtle, and others are more attention-grabbing. A few common types include popup forms, exit-intent forms, and bar forms. It’s important to choose your design carefully, and base it on your product and your overall marketing style.

The timing and presentation of these forms are essential if you want to maximize sign-ups. If you’re not sure where to start, try using opt-in forms on your most popular pages:

If you’re using WordPress, you can easily create and manage opt-in forms by downloading and installing a plugin like OptinMonster or Convert Pro. Either one will enable you to choose from a wide variety of opt-in form templates and designs, which you can further customize to meet your specific needs.

Hey look, it's one of those email opt-in forms!

Click below to sign up for more how-to's and tutorials just like this one, delivered to your inbox.

Sign me up!

2. Host a Giveaway

There’s nothing like a giveaway to get people excited. People will always love free stuff, so it’s a great way to incentivize readers and followers to sign-up for your email list. If you’re lucky, most won’t even think twice about offering up their email address. When done well, you can see massive growth in your email list in a very short time.

You can offer up your own products, but if this would cause undue stress on your product pipeline, then you don’t necessarily have to. Another option is to conduct a sponsored event with one or even multiple brands:

For example, a farm-to-table restaurant may partner with a variety of brands or supermarkets that offer organic goods. A small jewelry business might pair with a high-end sunglasses company.

Of course, be mindful of your partnerships. They must make sense for your business and offer quality products. If you accept a sponsorship deal with a subpar or irrelevant product, this might be off-putting to your audience.

While you should always be cautious, giveaways can be a gold mine. They are an especially useful opportunity for anyone who already has a strong social media presence:

If you’re not sure how to run an online giveaway, you can use a free WordPress plugin like RafflePress:

This solution offers an intuitive giveaway builder that lets you start by choosing a template for your giveaway. Then, you can take advantage of promotional and marketing tools to maximize the number of participants.

3. Offer Content Upgrades

Content upgrades are another type of ‘freebie’ you can offer. There are plenty of different types, but some common options are ebooks, workbooks, printables, and guides:

It’s important to remember that these content bonuses should be exclusive. The only way to get them should be by signing up for your email list.

As with any other strategy you use, it’s best to opt for something that’s relevant to your brand. Here, a food influencer with a cookbook offers recipe box functionality, but also a free recipe download upon sign up:

Notice how this offer is paired with catchy and irresistible copywriting: “5 Secrets to Super Simple Meals”.

Don’t forget that you can always combine the strategies on this list to increase their effectiveness. As in the example above, you may consider offering your site’s visitors an opt-in form upon entry, but also dangle a freebie in the navigation bar. The more opportunities visitors have to sign up, the more likely they are to do so.

4. Organize a Webinar

A webinar is a workshop, seminar, or presentation that you conduct online using video conferencing software. Most of us have attended one at some point, but if you haven’t, you can still host one without much difficulty.

For most, a webinar means moving your content to a different medium. It’s cheap and easy, but production may take a good amount of time:

This method is well suited to bloggers and influencers who have already monetized their ideas, but any expertise you have to offer will do. If you’re wondering how to host a webinar, you should start by choosing a topic. Then, be sure to nail down the logistical details, spend plenty of time preparing, and of course, promote your webinar.

This is a great way to get lots of new email addresses, but you want to be thorough so that all your hard work doesn’t go to waste. Remember to make the most of the opportunity. If you host your webinar on a popular social media platform such as Instagram or YouTube, you can boost your engagement as well.

Additionally, a webinar can provide you with social credibility. Since the time commitment from viewers is significant, this is not only a great way to get emails, but it may potentially lead to long-lasting and loyal customers.

5. Create an Email Course

An email course is similar to a traditional online class, but it arrives in your inbox. Typically, an email course is automated and has a short time frame of a few days or a few weeks. It should be easily digestible for participants:

Email courses are usually self-paced, but individual classes arrive on a set schedule. They don’t require any follow-up or feedback from the instructor. So you don’t have to worry about grading your students. This is also a great way to repurpose old content.

Related: How to Update Old Blog Posts to Keep Your Content Fresh

For example, if you already have a thorough how-to guide on your blog, you can simply expand on that and make it a three-day email course. If you’re using an email marketing service, many of them will already have this process streamlined for you:

The beauty of this type, of course, is that you can re-use it or revamp it whenever your email list needs a boost. You can even promote your products in the course! As always, however, you should make sure that the content of the course is truly useful to the participants.

6. Give a Welcome Discount

Another way to get people on your email list is by offering a generous one-time discount. This can be especially effective because it also incentivizes users to buy your product right away:

This can be a more costly strategy than most of the methods on this list. However, if your budget allows for it, you can be sure that many customers will find this offer difficult to resist.

Typically, an online store will offer somewhere between 10 and 25 percent off of an initial purchase when you sign up for its email list. When you use an eCommerce solution such as WooCommerce, creating discount codes is a breeze.

7. Start an Email Newsletter

In the past few years, email newsletters have become wildly popular. They are emerging as a new form of media consumption, but also as a new form of marketing. When you’re producing a quality newsletter, you’re sure to get more email addresses for your list:

Many newsletters are some combination of quality long-form content blended with product promotion via recommendations and favorites lists. They can also be combined well with affiliate marketing.

The beauty of the email newsletter is that anyone can do it, from the biggest corporations to the humblest solopreneurs. The only catch is that it’s a long-term obligation. Newsletters typically go out weekly or monthly, so you would need to commit to a regular schedule.

The majority of the popular email marketing services can offer you step-by-step guidance on how to create a newsletter. However, before you embark on this journey, you should make sure you have a clear goal, and always prioritize quality over quantity.

Grow Your Business with Email Marketing

We know that getting a respectable email list together may seem challenging. No one wants to launch an email marketing campaign with just a few people to contact.

Fortunately, you can make sure that all your hard work gets the viewers it deserves. Just remember to focus on growing your email list with the following strategies before you launch:

1. Add opt-in forms. Encourage website visitors to sign up for your email list on popular pages, using tools like OptinMonster or Convert Pro.
2. Host a giveaway. Offer free products or sponsored products to incentivize people to share their email addresses. WordPress plugins like RafflePress make this simple.
3. Offer content upgrades. Give people quality exclusive content in the form of ebooks, printables, guides, and so much more. You can pair this with opt-in forms to maximize sign-ups.
4. Organize a webinar. Use your expertise to host a webinar and offer participants valuable knowledge.
5. Create an email course. Repurpose old pillar content and provide your audience with a practical, short-term course. Use a popular tool like Mailchimp (or any email marketing service) to streamline the process.
6. Give a discount. Offer people a generous one-time discount for users who sign up for your email list. You can create discount codes in an eCommerce platform such as WooCommerce.
7. Start an email newsletter. Commit for the long haul and lure users with the promise of quality, regular content. Your preferred email marketing platform should be able to help you get started.

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The post 7 Powerful Ways to Grow Your Email List appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

source https://www.dreamhost.com/blog/ways-to-grow-your-email-list/

7 Powerful Ways to Grow Your Email List

If you’ve just started a small online business, you may already know that modern marketing isn’t just about social media. Email marketing campaigns can play a key role in your overall strategy. However, it’s hard to make much progress if your email list isn’t very long.

Fortunately, there are lots of simple and inexpensive ways to grow your email list. All this requires is your time, dedication, and a few simple strategies.

In this post, we’ll explore why email marketing is a great way to grow your business. Then we’ll cover seven powerful ways to grow your email list. Let’s get started!

Why Email Marketing Is an Effective Way to Grow Your Business

To succeed, you have to cover all your bases. That’s why any ambitious content marketing strategy should be comprehensive. Some people may forget about email marketing because we spend so much of our time using newer forms of communication, such as social media and messaging platforms.

However, 4 billion people still use email worldwide. Additionally, the number of emails people send on a daily basis continues to grow every year. Therefore, email marketing remains a highly effective form of lead generation, even in 2022.

Email is also highly targeted, and when you’re organizing your inbox, you have to address every single message. When there’s such a big audience at stake, neglecting this platform would mean missing out on a significant opportunity.

With the rise of newsletters and the continued importance of email, there are now plenty of popular tools like ConvertKit and Mailchimp to help you manage your campaigns.

These tools offer an all-in-one solution so you can effectively reach your audience. They’re a great place to start – however, you’ll need more than just a dedicated tool. Let’s dive in.

7 Powerful Ways to Grow Your Email List

Your email marketing campaigns are only as strong as your email list. Let’s cover some worthwhile ways that you can get more leads and grow your base of subscribers.

1. Add an Opt-In Form to Your Website

An opt-in form is a simple element that prompts website visitors to sign-up to receive emails from your business. Usually, an email address is the only personal information requested. This is an easy way to convert readers to subscribers fast, and it’s at the top of our list because it requires minimal effort on your end.

Some opt-in forms are more subtle, and others are more attention-grabbing. A few common types include popup forms, exit-intent forms, and bar forms. It’s important to choose your design carefully, and base it on your product and your overall marketing style.

The timing and presentation of these forms are essential if you want to maximize sign-ups. If you’re not sure where to start, try using opt-in forms on your most popular pages:

If you’re using WordPress, you can easily create and manage opt-in forms by downloading and installing a plugin like OptinMonster or Convert Pro. Either one will enable you to choose from a wide variety of opt-in form templates and designs, which you can further customize to meet your specific needs.

Hey look, it's one of those email opt-in forms!

Click below to sign up for more how-to's and tutorials just like this one, delivered to your inbox.

Sign me up!

2. Host a Giveaway

There’s nothing like a giveaway to get people excited. People will always love free stuff, so it’s a great way to incentivize readers and followers to sign-up for your email list. If you’re lucky, most won’t even think twice about offering up their email address. When done well, you can see massive growth in your email list in a very short time.

You can offer up your own products, but if this would cause undue stress on your product pipeline, then you don’t necessarily have to. Another option is to conduct a sponsored event with one or even multiple brands:

For example, a farm-to-table restaurant may partner with a variety of brands or supermarkets that offer organic goods. A small jewelry business might pair with a high-end sunglasses company.

Of course, be mindful of your partnerships. They must make sense for your business and offer quality products. If you accept a sponsorship deal with a subpar or irrelevant product, this might be off-putting to your audience.

While you should always be cautious, giveaways can be a gold mine. They are an especially useful opportunity for anyone who already has a strong social media presence:

If you’re not sure how to run an online giveaway, you can use a free WordPress plugin like RafflePress:

This solution offers an intuitive giveaway builder that lets you start by choosing a template for your giveaway. Then, you can take advantage of promotional and marketing tools to maximize the number of participants.

3. Offer Content Upgrades

Content upgrades are another type of ‘freebie’ you can offer. There are plenty of different types, but some common options are ebooks, workbooks, printables, and guides:

It’s important to remember that these content bonuses should be exclusive. The only way to get them should be by signing up for your email list.

As with any other strategy you use, it’s best to opt for something that’s relevant to your brand. Here, a food influencer with a cookbook offers recipe box functionality, but also a free recipe download upon sign up:

Notice how this offer is paired with catchy and irresistible copywriting: “5 Secrets to Super Simple Meals”.

Don’t forget that you can always combine the strategies on this list to increase their effectiveness. As in the example above, you may consider offering your site’s visitors an opt-in form upon entry, but also dangle a freebie in the navigation bar. The more opportunities visitors have to sign up, the more likely they are to do so.

4. Organize a Webinar

A webinar is a workshop, seminar, or presentation that you conduct online using video conferencing software. Most of us have attended one at some point, but if you haven’t, you can still host one without much difficulty.

For most, a webinar means moving your content to a different medium. It’s cheap and easy, but production may take a good amount of time:

This method is well suited to bloggers and influencers who have already monetized their ideas, but any expertise you have to offer will do. If you’re wondering how to host a webinar, you should start by choosing a topic. Then, be sure to nail down the logistical details, spend plenty of time preparing, and of course, promote your webinar.

This is a great way to get lots of new email addresses, but you want to be thorough so that all your hard work doesn’t go to waste. Remember to make the most of the opportunity. If you host your webinar on a popular social media platform such as Instagram or YouTube, you can boost your engagement as well.

Additionally, a webinar can provide you with social credibility. Since the time commitment from viewers is significant, this is not only a great way to get emails, but it may potentially lead to long-lasting and loyal customers.

5. Create an Email Course

An email course is similar to a traditional online class, but it arrives in your inbox. Typically, an email course is automated and has a short time frame of a few days or a few weeks. It should be easily digestible for participants:

Email courses are usually self-paced, but individual classes arrive on a set schedule. They don’t require any follow-up or feedback from the instructor. So you don’t have to worry about grading your students. This is also a great way to repurpose old content.

Related: How to Update Old Blog Posts to Keep Your Content Fresh

For example, if you already have a thorough how-to guide on your blog, you can simply expand on that and make it a three-day email course. If you’re using an email marketing service, many of them will already have this process streamlined for you:

The beauty of this type, of course, is that you can re-use it or revamp it whenever your email list needs a boost. You can even promote your products in the course! As always, however, you should make sure that the content of the course is truly useful to the participants.

6. Give a Welcome Discount

Another way to get people on your email list is by offering a generous one-time discount. This can be especially effective because it also incentivizes users to buy your product right away:

This can be a more costly strategy than most of the methods on this list. However, if your budget allows for it, you can be sure that many customers will find this offer difficult to resist.

Typically, an online store will offer somewhere between 10 and 25 percent off of an initial purchase when you sign up for its email list. When you use an eCommerce solution such as WooCommerce, creating discount codes is a breeze.

7. Start an Email Newsletter

In the past few years, email newsletters have become wildly popular. They are emerging as a new form of media consumption, but also as a new form of marketing. When you’re producing a quality newsletter, you’re sure to get more email addresses for your list:

Many newsletters are some combination of quality long-form content blended with product promotion via recommendations and favorites lists. They can also be combined well with affiliate marketing.

The beauty of the email newsletter is that anyone can do it, from the biggest corporations to the humblest solopreneurs. The only catch is that it’s a long-term obligation. Newsletters typically go out weekly or monthly, so you would need to commit to a regular schedule.

The majority of the popular email marketing services can offer you step-by-step guidance on how to create a newsletter. However, before you embark on this journey, you should make sure you have a clear goal, and always prioritize quality over quantity.

Grow Your Business with Email Marketing

We know that getting a respectable email list together may seem challenging. No one wants to launch an email marketing campaign with just a few people to contact.

Fortunately, you can make sure that all your hard work gets the viewers it deserves. Just remember to focus on growing your email list with the following strategies before you launch:

1. Add opt-in forms. Encourage website visitors to sign up for your email list on popular pages, using tools like OptinMonster or Convert Pro.
2. Host a giveaway. Offer free products or sponsored products to incentivize people to share their email addresses. WordPress plugins like RafflePress make this simple.
3. Offer content upgrades. Give people quality exclusive content in the form of ebooks, printables, guides, and so much more. You can pair this with opt-in forms to maximize sign-ups.
4. Organize a webinar. Use your expertise to host a webinar and offer participants valuable knowledge.
5. Create an email course. Repurpose old pillar content and provide your audience with a practical, short-term course. Use a popular tool like Mailchimp (or any email marketing service) to streamline the process.
6. Give a discount. Offer people a generous one-time discount for users who sign up for your email list. You can create discount codes in an eCommerce platform such as WooCommerce.
7. Start an email newsletter. Commit for the long haul and lure users with the promise of quality, regular content. Your preferred email marketing platform should be able to help you get started.

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12 Clever Ways to Boost Your Income From Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the most effective ways to make money through your website. However, the way everyone’s doing it isn’t necessarily the way you should be doing it. For example, maybe you’re not a blogger, or perhaps you want to be original. Alternatively, maybe you do have a blog but want to explore new ways to expand your reach.

Fortunately, there are many different ways to promote your affiliate products outside of your blog. One or more of these methods may be what you’ve been looking for to help you earn extra money from your efforts.

In this article, we’ll discuss what affiliate marketing is and why you may want to try different approaches to it. Then we’ll review 12 less common (but potentially effective) ways to take your affiliate marketing strategy to the next level. Let’s get started!

What Affiliate Marketing Is (And How It Works)

Affiliate marketing is a digital marketing model that enables companies to reach more people at a lower cost than traditional advertising. Sellers do this by compensating third-party publishers, or affiliates, for promoting their products or services.

If you have an active blog, a YouTube channel, or a social media page, this makes you a good candidate for becoming an affiliate marketer. As an affiliate, you get to promote the seller’s offerings on your preferred platforms. In essence, you’re giving the seller a wider audience.

Related: We Wrote the Book on Affiliate Marketing — Get Your Copy

When someone makes a purchase through your channel, you’ll normally earn a commission on that sale. Alternatively, the brand may pay you for bringing in leads or driving traffic.

The vendor will give you an affiliate link that contains an ID that is unique to you. That way, when someone purchases a product through this URL, the seller can attribute the sale to you and give you a commission.

This model carries little risk for sellers because they don’t have to pay anything until you make a sale for them. However, it could potentially be very profitable for you as a publisher. It may take you a while to gain traction, but you can start earning a passive income without much effort once you do.

Why You Might Want to Try Affiliate Marketing Outside of Your Blog

Blogging is one of the most common ways to promote products as an affiliate. Starting a blog can be a very simple process, and you can produce a lot of content without spending any money.

However, you may find yourself in a situation that makes blogging less than optimal for you. For example, you may not enjoy writing, or you have other skills you’d like to focus on, such as video-making and photography.

Alternatively, you may have built a following on another medium, such as a social media platform. Therefore, you may want to monetize that page instead of building another one from scratch.

Related: 16 Ways to Start Monetizing Your Website

However, there may be another very good reason to promote products outside a blog. As a professional marketer, you may be looking to diversify your income. That way, if one source fails, you have another recourse.

Setting up multiple channels can also help you grow your audience. However, if you do decide to promote products on more than one channel, it’s important to remember that focus is key in business. You may get better returns from managing one to three mediums very well, rather than five or six haphazardly.

To be a good affiliate marketer, you’ll need to get to know your audience. You’ll have to consider what places your target users frequent and what messages they respond to. Those factors should drive the bulk of your medium choice.

How to Boost Your Affiliate Marketing Income (12 Clever Strategies)

Now that you know the importance of evaluating all the channels available to you, it’s time to look at some effective options. Here are 12 strategies to help you stand out from your competition and take your affiliate marketing to the next level.

1. Promote Your Products in Email Newsletters

Since it’s such a strong medium, email will likely never go away. You can think of a customer’s email inbox as a curated feed of mostly relevant information – and they’re in full control of it.

Typically, if a user sees no value in an email, they delete it. If they see no value in a string of emails from the same company, they unsubscribe. On the other hand, if they like the emails they subscribed to, they’ll be more likely to engage with their content.

A newsletter is a regular email you send to your subscribers. Newsletters help build customer loyalty over the long term. In each email (or issue), you can give your audience updates, news, or the latest tips and tricks related to your offerings.

The technical aspects of starting a newsletter aren’t hard to handle with the right software. For example, Mailchimp comes with a solid suite of tools for email marketing.

Building a loyal audience is the challenging part but also the most rewarding. The secret is knowing your audience and talking about what matters to them.

For example, if you share money-saving tips and strategies in your newsletters, you might recommend an accounting software that enables users to handle their finances. When readers click on an affiliate link in your newsletter, they’ll be taken straight to the product page on the vendor’s website.

Related: The Website Owner’s Guide to Email Marketing

2. Review Products in Videos

According to a December 2020 survey by Wyzowl, 84% of people report having been convinced to purchase a product or service after watching a video about it. The average amount of time people spend watching videos each week is 18 hours. What’s more, the pandemic has made 96% of viewers more likely to consume videos online.

Video is arguably the most personal medium. People get to see how you look and sound. This transparency can create an emotional connection. In turn, that connection can make viewers more likely to buy what you’re promoting.

YouTube is one of the most popular online video platforms. You’ll find many affiliate marketers on this channel. If you’ve ever heard someone talk about a product and tell you there’s a link in the description, there’s a good chance they’re an affiliate.

If you don’t mind being in front of a camera, you could give this strategy a try. For example, you could review your favorite products in engaging videos and place your affiliate links in the descriptions.

Gerald Undone reviews gear that people can use to create YouTube content in this useful review video.

In the video description, you’ll see these two links:

As with all marketing materials, your video should include a clear Call to Action (CTA) that encourages viewers to take the next step. For example, you could ask them to click on the provided link to purchase the product.

Related: 7 Tips for Writing Winning Calls to Action for Your Website

3. Start a Podcast

The podcasting industry is growing in popularity. It is estimated to reach $95 billion globally by 2028.

As with video, podcasting allows you to tell a compelling story with your own voice. However, podcasts tend to be cheaper and easier to produce than videos. The main drawback is the missing the visual element, which may deter people who would rather watch a video.

Before you get started, you’ll need to reflect on the theme and format of your show. You’ll also need some gear – a good microphone and a pair of headphones at a minimum – and the right software. Fortunately, you can host your podcasts on WordPress. This platform integrates well with media hosting services such as Blubrry.

You can recommend a relevant product or service in each episode and provide an affiliate link in the captions. In addition, we recommend establishing a consistent schedule (e.g., one episode per week). This can help keep your audience engaged in your content, which may increase your revenue from affiliate marketing.

Related: Step-by-Step Guide: How to Start a Podcast With WordPress

4. Promote Products on Social Media Sites

In marketing, you go where your customers are. In the United States, 82% of the population is active on at least one social media profile.

You don’t even need to have your own website to promote products on social media. Instead, your profiles and business pages can act as your main platforms. The important thing is to choose the channel that represents the best union between the products you promote and the audience you’re targeting.

For instance, TikTok’s user base mainly consists of Generation Z. Therefore, this should be your chosen platform if you want to target the younger generation.

Meanwhile, if the products you want to promote are visually appealing, you may want to choose an image-heavy channel, such as Pinterest or Instagram.

For instance, you can create graphics for Pinterest and include an affiliate link in the pin description. You could also post your stunning images on Instagram. However, keep in mind that you cannot embed links in Instagram posts. Many affiliates get around that issue by putting a link in their bio.

Related: Pinterest Marketing Guide: How to Promote Your Business

5. Write an Informative E-book

A well-written e-book with useful, actionable advice can position you as an expert in your field. A common approach is to make the e-book available for free, often in exchange for the user’s email address.

If you need some inspiration, you can go to Amazon Kindle and look at existing books in your industry. You may also want to check to see if they’re selling well. This will give you a hint as to the viability of your topic.

Related: How to Write a Blog Post — A Step-By-Step Guide

If there are too many books on your chosen topic, the competition may be strong. Therefore, you’ll need to see what you can do better than your competition to make your e-book more appealing.

When you’re writing your book, you’ll want to make sure to include your affiliate links in ways that are helpful to your readers. We also recommend using a soft-sell approach and only mentioning products where relevant. If you litter your book with links, you may come across as pushy and aggressive, which can put off your readers.

It may be a while before you see results from this strategy, but it’s important to keep working on it. For instance, you can promote your e-book on your website or social media pages.

6. Create an Online Course

Like podcasting, online learning is growing fast. A forecast by Research and Markets estimated that the market will grow to $350 billion by 2025.

The online learning platform Coursera saw its enrollment skyrocket by 664% in early 2020 compared to the same period in the previous year.

Meanwhile, Udemy saw a 425% surge during the same period. The demand for online courses remains higher than it did at pre-pandemic levels.

While pandemic-driven lockdowns and restrictions won’t last forever, the new worldwide attitudes toward online learning may. The changes in online education, formal or informal, appear to be permanent.

This presents a big opportunity for your business. It means that people worldwide are consuming something you can offer. While creating a high-quality online course requires a fair amount of work and time, once it’s ready, you can simply launch it on your site and start earning a passive income from it.

To profit from this trend, you’ll need to embed product promotions seamlessly within your course material. You can do this naturally by recommending products that enable students to do what you teach them.

However, nothing is stopping you from making your course about the product you want to promote. For instance, you could teach people how to use particular management software to run their online business more effectively.

A high-quality online course can help you build credibility. People may be more likely to listen to your recommendations if they trust you. This will, in turn, result in higher sales.

You could sell your course for a small fee or give it away for free. If your course is high quality, the second approach may lead to more signups.

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7. Publish a Tutorial

Online tutorials are a popular way to learn new skills quickly. They often take the form of step-by-step articles or how-to videos. In particular, video tutorials differ from product review videos in that they are intended to teach the audience a specific skill.

Tutorials are a fantastic medium for affiliate promotion, whether in video or article form. You can teach your audience a skill that requires using a product you promote. For example, you could teach them how to do their taxes. Then, you would introduce them to the tax-accounting software you promote.

Alternatively, you can teach users how to use the very product you’re promoting. For example, you might show them how to use a customer relationship management (CRM) platform and encourage them to purchase it by providing an affiliate link.

To publish your tutorials, you have a few different options. For articles, you could use a platform such as Medium, where you can write and edit your articles directly while keeping track of audience statistics.

For videos, YouTube is a great platform, as we discussed earlier. However, you could also publish your tutorial videos on your Facebook page or website.

8. Post in Online Communities and Forums

We tend to get together with those who share our interests and views. That’s the case with online communities. These are virtual places where people can exchange information on their common interests. They also enable users to support each other and share advice.

Social media communities exist as subcommunities of the larger social media landscape. Here is an example of a very active Facebook community, Science and Technology:

You’ll also find plenty of online forums on the internet. These communities exist outside of social media as places to exchange useful information or advice. Reddit is one of the most well-known forum sites.

As a marketer, online communities are a boon for your business. You can communicate with people directly and answer any questions they may have. Often, you can keep your affiliate links as part of your profile so that users can visit them at any time.

As you engage with online communities, you must abide by their community guidelines. Moreover, you’ll want to make sure you contribute valuable information consistently; otherwise, you may appear as though you’re only there for your own self-interest.

Related: 12 Ways to Stop Internet Trolls from Ruining Your Blog

9. Launch an Email Marketing Campaign

We’ve already discussed one common form of email marketing: newsletters. However, there are other options worth looking at, such as:

• Standard promotional campaigns: This is a one-time email to promote a specific product or service.
• Seasonal campaigns: Typically, these emails promote special offers around holidays.
• Triggered email series: This is a series of emails sent sequentially in response to an event, such as a product download, survey response, or new signup.
• Post-purchase drip emails: These are sent as a follow-up to a purchase to help build trust and loyalty with a new customer.
• Re-engagement campaigns: These are emails sent to subscribers who haven’t engaged with you for some time, with the hope to make them active again.

When done right, these email campaigns can be very effective for your affiliate marketing strategy. After all, email remains a powerful channel of communication. In a survey by MarketingSherpa, 86% of respondents said they like receiving promotional emails at least once a month. Fifteen percent of participants even said that they enjoy daily promotional emails.

The first step in setting up an email campaign is to sign up for a marketing tool. Mailchimp is a good option, as we discussed earlier. SendPulse is another powerful tool that gives you complete campaign automation with individual-level personalization.

Next, you’ll want to produce amazing, share-worthy content and embed your affiliate links within it. You can also add social media buttons and an Email to a friend link to increase the recipient’s likelihood of sharing your content.

10. Purchase Online Ads

Purchasing online advertising may be the riskiest strategy in this post because you’ll have to put money on the line before you can see results. However, if you know what you’re doing, you may reach your target sooner than expected.

There are different kinds of ads for different mediums. Let’s talk about two kinds: Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads and solo ads. Both methods are intended to take your prospects to your home page, a landing page, or another place designed to convert them. However, they work a little differently.

With PPC ads, you pay a small fee each time a user clicks on your ad to get to your target page. They are very common on the web. Here’s an example of what’s likely a PPC ad on Facebook:

On the other hand, solo ads are more common among affiliates and information marketers. They are generally more expensive than PPC ads, but they are ideal for affiliate marketing purposes. Moreover, when these ads do work, they can be cheaper than other forms of advertising.

You can buy solo ads from someone who owns an email list that targets your ideal audience. Here’s how it works:

1. First, you buy an ad from the list owner.
2. Then, the owner sends out an email (the ad) to their subscribers about your products.
3. Finally, subscribers click on the links and, hopefully, convert.

Whatever type of ad you choose, you’ll want to make sure to educate yourself first to avoid monetary losses. For instance, you may want to see some statistics and data about the email list, including click-through rates and demographics. This can help you choose the right affiliate product to promote to that particular audience.

11. Present Webinars

A webinar is an online presentation of educational content. It can be live or delivered as recorded video. There is often a good amount of audience interaction via instant messages or two-way video if it’s live.

Like courses and tutorials, webinars can boost your perceived trustworthiness and competence in the eyes of your audience. They are also a wonderful medium for presenting the solution to a problem in the form of the products you promote.

Webinars are relatively easy and inexpensive to deliver, though they require you to prepare some material and research your subject. However, your audience doesn’t normally expect you to follow a strict script. In that way, these webinars can seem more informal than a normal educational setting.

 

After you’re finished with your initial delivery, you can reuse your recorded session. It can serve as another piece of marketing content to help promote your brand or drive more traffic to your website. For example, you can provide a link to your recorded webinar in your newsletters or post it on social media.

Webinars and email marketing reinforce one another. GoToWebinar reports that email marketing is responsible for more than half of webinar registrations. At the same time, requiring an email address when signing up for a webinar is an effective way to generate more leads.

To get started with your own webinar, you’ll first need to choose your topic and delivery format. Then, you’ll have to select the tools and platforms you want to use. Zoom, Livestorm, and ClickMeeting are all popular options:

You’ll need to set a date and time and promote your webinar. However, before you put the word out, it’s important to have a registration page up and running. You’ll want to provide easy signup forms and give users the option to select their preferred webinar dates.

12. Join a Pay-Per-Call Affiliate Program

There is one other affiliate advertising model we haven’t covered: pay-per-call. This is somewhat different from every other method we’ve discussed so far.

In this model, the goal is for you to get people to call the company you’re promoting. You often have a unique phone number to share with prospects. That way, the company can attribute the call to you.

Pay-per-call advertising works particularly well for companies that sell or book appointments over the phone, such as locksmiths and tow truck services. The rationale is that making a phone call shows more of a purchasing commitment than simply looking at a website.

Consider joining a pay-per-call affiliate network if you think you can get people to make a phone call. You could also reach out to companies and ask them if they would be interested in collaborating with you.

Time to Get Creative

There are many effective ways to promote your affiliate marketing products that don’t require a blog. Whether you use them to complement your existing website or to forgo writing posts altogether, one or more of these methods could be your next hit.

In this post, we looked at some clever strategies for boosting your affiliate marketing income. For instance, you could promote products in newsletters, YouTube videos, or social media posts. You could also create high-quality courses and webinars and embed affiliate links in your educational material.

If you have a WordPress site and want to get started with affiliate marketing, you may want to consider looking at DreamPress. Our managed WordPress hosting plans handle updates and other maintenance tasks for you so you can focus on the important stuff: growing your business.

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