[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.3.1″ custom_padding=”0|0px|19px|0px|false|false” global_module=”2607″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_text_color=”#333333″ text_font_size=”14px” link_font=”||||||||” link_text_color=”#777777″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
My Account<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Support<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/biz-mavens-academy-logo.png” align_tablet=”center” align_phone=”” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”17px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n BLOG SMARTER DASHBOARD<\/a> :: COMMUNITY<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/academy\/blog-smarter-dashboard\/” button_text=”Back to Dashboard” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}” button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”] [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_sidebar area=”et_pb_widget_area_7″ disabled_on=”off|off|off” admin_label=”Program Sidebar” module_class=”sidebar-menu” _builder_version=”4.11.4″ header_font=”|on|||” header_font_size=”20″ remove_border=”on” global_module=”1245″ saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_sidebar][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_post_title meta=”off” featured_image=”off” admin_label=”Lesson Title” _builder_version=”4.16″ title_font_size=”42px” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” parallax_effect=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”] Note:<\/strong> You have three weeks<\/strong> to complete the lessons inside this module. For a suggested pace for each week, visit the Your Assignments<\/a> forum in the VCC.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n You’re now halfway through the Blog Smarter program. Congratulations!<\/strong><\/p>\n Before we jump into this next module, let’s review how far you’ve come and how you’ll get to the finish line.<\/p>\n Now that you’re at the halfway point, you’ve done the target market research. You’ve developed your core brand elements. You’ve put on your Target Market Goggles and looked at your whole site with your readers’ perspective. You<\/em> did all that and more.<\/p>\n You’ve worked hard<\/em> to develop a powerful strategy that will help your business grow\u2014now and into the future. But in order for that strategy to work, you’ll need CEO muscles so that when the program is over, you can make CEO-level decisions without needing to rely on anyone else. That’s why this program is designed to empower<\/strong> you, not to make you dependent on someone else.<\/p>\n In the first half of the program, you were kind of like Spider-Man right after he got bit by the spider. You didn’t yet trust your own CEO spidey-sense, so the lessons encouraged you to wait on program leader feedback before proceeding. That made sense because the work you do in the first half is mission-critical to the work you’ll do later in the program. For example, it’s important to get feedback on your Problem Statement before<\/em> moving forward because the rest of the program builds on that.<\/p>\n And now at this point in the program, your CEO muscles are strong enough so that you<\/em> can make the decisions you need to make for your business. You’re officially<\/strong> in tune with your own spidey-sense!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In other words, at this stage, you don’t need to wait for “approval” from a program leader before you move forward on a lesson or a step. Because now that you have a solid foundation in the Blog Smarter strategy, you can make decisions for your business knowing that even if it isn’t “perfect”, you can try it and learn from it.<\/p>\n To continue developing your own CEO muscles, here are a couple techniques that many students find helpful from here forward in the program:<\/p>\n In this module, you’ll focus on converting your readers into subscribers. But before we jump into the meaty lessons in this module, let’s review why<\/em> your email list is so important to your business success.<\/p>\n We covered this in the pre-work lesson titled Where to Send Superfans<\/a>, so now do some retrieval practice<\/strong> and see if you can answer these questions:<\/p>\n If you can’t remember, no worries! Just take a few minutes to pop back over to that lesson right here<\/a> and either review the transcript or watch the videos as a refresher (try 1.5x speed!). Because before<\/strong> you move forward, it’s important to be clear on exactly why<\/em> email is so crucial to your business.<\/p>\n Your conversion rate is like a thermometer that can show you how healthy your overall brand is on your site \u2013 it tells you out of all<\/em> the people coming to your site, how many are taking the action you want them to take?<\/p>\n In the case of a blog, the one action<\/strong> you want people to take \u2013 because it enables the rest of your business success \u2013 is to join your email list.<\/p>\n Because if you’re not converting as many readers as possible<\/em> to subscribers, you’re leaving money on the table.<\/p>\n Think about it like this<\/strong>: Right now, the visitors coming to your site are kind of like flour \u2013 the kind you bake with \u2013 and your email list is a colander with holes the size of pencil erasers. Every time visitors come to your site, that’s like pouring flour into your colander. Sure, some clumps may get stuck and stay in the colander, but most of the flour will flow right through to the other side.<\/p>\n Your job is to swap out your colander for a fine-mesh strainer<\/em>. The kind with tiny holes that won’t let as much pass through. Why? Because you want to capture as many readers as possible and turn them into subscribers who will keep coming back.<\/p>\n Before you make any changes to your subscriber strategy, it’s a good idea to get a snapshot of your own conversion rate so you can track your progress. For example, if you tweak some messaging hoping it will convert more readers into subscribers but it actually decreases<\/em> your conversion rate, that’s important to know so you can revisit that messaging again.<\/p>\n Next, we’ll step through how to calculate your own conversion rate. But keep in mind that conversion rate depends on countless variables<\/strong>, from your niche to which problems you’re helping your audience with \u2013 and much more. And so no matter what your conversion rate turns out to be, it’s not about comparing your number to another blogger’s number to see whose is “better.”<\/p>\n Instead, your goal should be to outdo yourself<\/em>. For example, if your current conversion rate is 0.5%, try to get it to 1%. Or if your current rate is 5%, try to get it to 6%.<\/p>\n Because we’re talking percentages here, any tiny improvement can actually lead to big results. For example, if you get 200,000 visitors a month and you increase your conversion rate from 0.5% to 1%, that means you just got yourself another 1,000 new subscribers<\/strong> a month.<\/p>\n Figuring out your conversion rate involves a little math, but don’t worry! You can copy this Google Sheets template to do the math for you<\/em>.<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong> This is a view-only link, so after you open it, you\u2019ll need to select File\u00bbMake a copy<\/strong> to make your own copy.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1_zCCwYN6BPmzAjzXYuequ_EAKXBVr62PN8tOODUFu2M\/edit?usp=sharing” url_new_window=”on” button_text=”COPY: Conversion Rate Tracker” button_alignment=”center” admin_label=”Button” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_button][et_pb_text admin_label=”Intro Text” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n After you make a copy of the spreadsheet, follow these steps:<\/p>\n That’s your conversion rate! For example, if you had 200,000 users in January and you got 4709 new subscribers, that would look like this:<\/p>\n (4709 new subscribers \/ 200,000 total users) x 100 = 2.35%<\/strong><\/p>\n After you calculate your rate for the last full month, then go through those same steps on the Annual<\/strong> tab of the spreadsheet to calculate it for the last 12 months<\/strong> to get a bigger picture view of how your business has performed over the last year.<\/p>\n If your conversion rate is lower than you’d like, take heart because this module is all about getting your conversion rate as high as possible. You can use everything<\/em> we cover in this module to troubleshoot where you’re losing people and how to start converting more readers into subscribers.<\/p>\n Here’s a common question you may have before we get started: Which email marketing tool is best<\/strong>\u00a0for your business long-term?<\/p>\n Ultimately, as long as your email tool is delivering your messages to your subscribers so you can serve your target market, that’s what matters most. No “perfect” email tool exists because they all have their pros and cons, so you’ll need to make a CEO decision<\/strong> on what’s best for you<\/em>.<\/p>\n With that said, I personally have used and can recommend both ActiveCampaign<\/a> and ConvertKit<\/a>. I personally prefer ActiveCampaign because it gives you more power over analyzing your subscribers and segmenting your audience based on their actions. Neither tool is perfect, but both get the job done well.<\/p>\n You can find more cost-effective tools out there, but as your business grows you will likely find that you want to move to a professional-level<\/strong> email marketing tool.<\/p>\n For example, I started out with one of those email tools that’s free until a certain number of subscribers, but as my list grew, my needs outgrew what that lower-cost tool could provide. I wasted a lot of time and energy trying to work around that tool’s limitations when I should have just bit the bullet and upgraded to a professional-level tool instead!<\/p>\n If you’re not yet comfortable with using your email marketing tool \u2013 or if you haven’t set up your email list yet \u2013 you might want to consider hiring a tech person who can help you with implementing the techniques we cover in this module. There is no shame in asking for help because that frees you up to focus on the strategy<\/strong> instead of on the nitty gritty details of implementing the tactics<\/em> of that strategy.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font_size=”15px” text_line_height=”1.5em” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Progressally Objectives” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][progressally_objectives] My Account\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Support\u00a0BLOG SMARTER DASHBOARD :: COMMUNITY Module 4: Convert & Conquer Note: You have three weeks to complete the lessons inside this module. For a suggested pace for each week, visit the Your Assignments forum in the VCC. You’re now halfway through the Blog Smarter program. Congratulations! Before You Start… Before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2131,"menu_order":30,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-template-blank.php","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2989","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2989\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n[\/et_pb_button][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”||0px|” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\nModule 4: Convert & Conquer<\/em><\/h3>\n
\n[\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text admin_label=”Intro Text” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n\n
Before You Start…<\/h2>\n
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The Best Place to Send Superfans<\/h2>\n
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What Conversion Rate Means<\/h2>\n
A Warning About Your Conversion Rate<\/h2>\n
How to Figure Out Your Conversion Rate<\/h2>\n
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(total new subscribers \/ total users) x 100<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\nWhich Email Tool Should You Use?<\/h2>\n
One Last Thing for You to Consider<\/h2>\n
Steps to success…<\/h3>\n
\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/bizmavens.com\/community\/forum\/113-blog-smarter-2023\/” url_new_window=”on” button_text=”Go to the VCC” button_alignment=”center” admin_label=”Button” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ global_module=”5648″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"