Teachable

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

In the world of clicks and pixels, personal branding is your golden ticket to breaking the internet, in the best way possible. Ronne Brown is a living, breathing testament to the power of personal branding. From starting her entrepreneurial journey in her home, making beauty products to becoming a branding maestro and financial freedom fighter, Ronne’s story is nothing short of cinematic.

And now, she’s ready to share her playbook with you.

In this post we’ll be breaking down Ronne’s expert insights, gleaned from her climb from mopping floors to banking millions, we’re diving deep into actionable steps that promise to elevate your brand. 

But first, let’s get to know Ronne Brown

Meet Ronne Brown: From zero to seven-figure hero

Ronne Brown’s journey from the humble beginnings of making beauty products in her home to becoming a renowned branding maestro and a champion of financial freedom is a narrative sure to keep you at the edge of your seat. We asked Ronne to share her biggest wins—and losses—with us. Here’s what she had to say…

‍Have you always had an entrepreneurial mindset?

“Yes, I started my first business in 2009 making beauty products in my home and selling them online.”

Tell us about your first sale? What did that mean to you?

“My first sale gave me reassurance and it lit the fire under me. This was confirmation that I could do it. It’s something about that first sale that makes you feel like you can accomplish anything.” 

When did you first realize you could become a creator full time?

‘After taking people on the journey with me and allowing them to see the process of my business/brand I hit six figures and shortly after hit seven figures. While the financial accomplishments were great my audience loved being able to see me go from 0 to 7 figures. It was the process of seeing my journey that excited them the most. That’s when I realized that being a creator was possible and that people love behind the scenes more than anything.”

When you feel imposter syndrome creeping in, what do you do?

“The first thing I do is remember that God has a bigger purpose for my life and that I was called to be great. I practice positive affirmations speaking success and abundance over myself constantly. I remind myself that nothing will happen in my comfort zone and from there I take the leap.”

What is your favorite part about what you do?

“My favorite part about what I do is that I get to help people experience financial freedom. With financial freedom it gives people more options and time to spend with their families.”

What has been your biggest win or proudest moment in business—so far? 

“My biggest accomplishment has been retiring from Corporate America,  becoming the first seven figure earner in my family, retiring my mom and being able to be home with my children.”

When was a time where you failed miserably but learned a valuable lesson?

“Right before the pandemic I had a Girl CEO in-person conference planned; however, I had to pivot to an online conference. I was crushed because we sold over 400 tickets but I felt like I failed miserably! What I learned in that moment was the power of pivoting. We decided to make the event virtual and it ended up being a success. Today we are gearing up for our 2024 Girl CEO Conference and I’m so excited.”

As a branding expert, why is branding so important for a business/creator?

“Branding is extremely important because it is how your customers connect with you beyond your product or service.”

What is a business or creative goal you’ve set for yourself for the year? 

“Outside of teaching entrepreneurs how to grow their businesses online I started a passion project to empower women on the go to prioritize self-care again through plant based skincare and feminine care products. The name of the brand is Herlistic and my goal is for the mission and the product to touch women all over the globe.”

What advice do you have for someone just starting their creator journey? 

“Think about the problem you are going to solve. Ask your audience what they want to see from you and be sure to post that type of content consistently. Over time you will grow a community that loves, shares, and always remembers your brand.”

7 simple steps to kickstarting your personal brand in 90 days

2024 is buzzing with talk about personal branding, and it’s clear why. 

Standing out in your field, establishing credibility, and snagging those opportunities doesn’t come by accident. It’s all about strategy, and, let’s be real, a bit of elbow grease. 

Ronne Brown knows a thing or two about this. She didn’t just wake up one day with a million followers. It took sweat, tears, and a heck of a lot of savvy moves. 

So, buckle up, because we’re about to dive into Ronne’s secret sauce for personal branding.

Step 1: Identify your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Kick things off by figuring out what makes you, well, you. What’s your secret ingredient? Ronne’s was her authentic journey from homemade beauty concoctions to a beauty empire. Yours could be your unique perspective, unparalleled skills, or even your personal story. Pinpoint what sets you apart and own it. This isn’t just about standing out; it’s about being unforgettable.

Step 2: Show up as yourself

Your online persona is your digital handshake — make it count. Ronne didn’t just show up online; she showed off, sharing her journey, her wins, and even her setbacks. Choose your platforms wisely and make sure they’re where your audience likes to hang. Then, fill them with content that’s so uniquely you, your followers can’t help but hit “like.”

Step 3: Engaging with Your Audience

This is where the magic happens. Engagement is more than just a buzzword for Ronne; it’s the cornerstone of her brand. Share your journey, ask for input, and genuinely interact with your followers. This isn’t just about building a brand; it’s about building a community. Your audience isn’t just a group of followers; they’re your future brand ambassadors.

Step 4: Stay consistent with your content

If there’s one thing Ronne nails every time, it’s consistency. Your followers should know what to expect and when to expect it. Whether it’s your posting schedule, your content themes, or your visual style, keep it consistent. This creates a sense of reliability and trust — essential ingredients for a strong personal brand.

Step 5: Leverage your story

Your story is your strongest marketing tool. Ronne’s narrative of transformation and triumph is at the heart of her brand. Share your journey, the highs, the lows, and everything in between. This vulnerability isn’t just relatable; it’s compelling. It transforms followers into fans, and skeptics into supporters.

Step 6: Expand your reach

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Ronne expanded her brand across multiple platforms and ventures, from social media to skincare. Explore collaborations, guest posts, or even start a podcast. Each new platform is a new opportunity to share your voice and your vision.

Step 7: Invest in continual learning

The digital landscape is always changing, and so should you. Ronne’s commitment to growth — both personal and professional — is a big part of her success. Stay curious, stay learning, and stay ahead of the curve. Whether it’s a new social media platform or a trend in your industry, keep your knowledge fresh and your skills sharp.

How to access more of Ronne Brown’s branding secrets

You’ve journeyed through the blueprint of transforming your personal brand, but why stop here? 

The realm of personal branding is vast and nuanced, and Ronne Brown has more wisdom to share. If you’re ready to delve deeper and truly elevate your personal brand, there’s an unparalleled opportunity waiting for you.

We’ve partnered up with Ronne Brown to give you a deeper look at personal branding with an exclusive course on Teachable called, “Becoming the Brand with Ronne Brown”.

When you sign up for a free plan on Teachable today, you’ll get access to the course at no additional cost!

You can learn to…

Create a magnetic personal brand: Articulate your unique value with a compelling personal brand statement.

Foster deeper connections with your audience: Master the art of building genuine relationships with your audience.

Sustainably grow your community: Acquire practical tips for nurturing and expanding your community.

So if you’re ready to build a personal brand that truly stands out, connects, and cuts through the noise, sign up for a Teachable free plan today and gain immediate access to “Becoming the Brand with Ronne Brown” today!

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

You’ve spent years honing your skills, creating valuable content, and building a loyal following. Whether you’re a YouTuber, blogger, or industry expert, you have a wealth of knowledge that others are eager to learn from. But how do you package that knowledge into a profitable online course that’s immune to algorithm changes—and do so without spending months on creation and development?

Enter Teachable’s AI-powered course creation tools. With our intuitive platform, you can transform your existing content and knowledge into a polished online course in just three days. No more procrastinating or an overwhelming course creation process. Just a straight-forward, achievable plan to help you monetize your skills and reach a wider audience.

In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through the process of:

1. Harnessing AI to quickly generate a course outline and structure

2. Refining your content to create an engaging learning experience

3. Launching your course with confidence and promoting it to your target audience

If you prefer a more visual learning experience, be sure to check out our step-by-step video tutorial on YouTube. 

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Whether you choose to follow the written guide or the video tutorial, you’ll have all the tools and knowledge you need to create and launch a successful online course. 

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Day 1: Sign up for Teachable and use AI to create your course draft (for free)

Today, we’ll be focusing on setting up a strong foundation for your online course using Teachable’s AI course curriculum generator. By the end of day one, you’ll have a well-structured course outline and a clear roadmap for the content you’ll be creating.

The most important thing about starting an online course is to organize it in a way that’s easily digestible and engaging for your students.

As you work through today’s steps, keep your target audience in mind. 

• What are their pain points? 
• What knowledge and skills do they need to succeed? 
• What supplemental materials might they need?

By keeping your students at the forefront, you’ll be able to create a course that not only delivers value but also resonates with their needs and preferences.

Remember, today is all about laying the groundwork. Don’t get caught up in perfecting every detail or creating all your content just yet. Trust the process and let our AI tools guide you in creating a solid structure for your course.

After completing these initial steps, you’ll be well on your way to turning your knowledge into a marketable online course. Here are your action steps:

Step 1: Sign up for a free Teachable plan

To get started, sign up for a free Teachable plan. This will give you access to all the tools you need to create your course.

Step 2: Name your course

Don’t overthink this step. You can always change it later.

Step 3: Use the AI Curriculum Generator 

The AI Curriculum Generator uses artificial intelligence to help jump-start your course outline and content based on your topic and target audience.

Example AI Prompts

Prompt Template

 I want to create a course titled “___” about [subject] for a [beginner/intermediate/advanced] audience of [profession/hobby/etc.] that will help them [action] in [time frame]

Example I

I want to create a course titled “Mastering the Art of Short Story Writing” about the craft of writing compelling short stories for an intermediate audience of aspiring fiction writers that will help them develop a polished short story collection in 90 days.

Example II

I want to create a course titled “From Debt to Financial Freedom: A Step-by-Step Guide” about managing personal finances and getting out of debt for a beginner audience of young professionals that will help them achieve financial independence in 12 months.

What’s Next?

1. The AI generates a suggested course outline and content
2. You will customize and edit the outline to fit your specific goals 

Now you should have a solid course draft, complete with an outline and content, created using Teachable’s AI tools.

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Day 2: Edit Your Course Draft Using Existing Expertise and Content

Now that you have a course draft generated, it’s time to refine it and make it truly your own. This is where your expertise and existing content come into play.

Step 1: Review and refine your AI-generated course outline

Now that you have a solid foundation for your course, it’s time to take a closer look at the outline generated by Teachable’s AI tools. During this step, you’ll review the structure and content of your course, ensuring that it aligns with your goals and your students’ needs. Make any necessary adjustments to create a clear, logical flow that will keep your learners engaged and on track.

Consider the following:

1. Does the outline cover all the key topics you want to address?
2. Is the content organized in a logical, easy-to-follow manner?
3. Are there any gaps or redundancies in the content? 

Step 2: Incorporate your existing content

One of the advantages of using AI-generated course drafts is that you don’t have to start from scratch. However, it’s essential to infuse your unique perspective and knowledge into the course. 

Here’s how:

• Identify relevant blog posts, videos, podcasts, or other content you’ve created that can be repurposed for the course
• Look for opportunities to add personal anecdotes, case studies, or examples that illustrate key concepts
• Include any proprietary frameworks, strategies, or techniques that set your course apart

By incorporating your existing expertise and content, you’ll create a more engaging and impactful student experience.

Step 3: Create additional content as needed

While repurposing existing content is a great way to streamline your course creation process, there may be gaps that require the development of new material. During this step, you’ll assess your course outline and existing content to determine what additional resources are needed to fully support your students’ learning objectives. 

This may include:

• Recording video lectures or demonstrations
• Designing worksheets, checklists, or other downloadable resources
• Developing assignments or projects for students to apply their learning

Step 4: Polish your course content

Before moving on to the launch phase, it’s essential to ensure that your course content is polished, professional, and error-free. In this step, you’ll review your course materials with a critical eye, checking for clarity, consistency, and accuracy. You’ll also take the time to:

• Proofread your content
• Test any multimedia elements and links
• Ensure that all resources are properly organized and easy to access

Now you should have a well-refined course draft that reflects your unique expertise and incorporates your best content.

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Day 3: Launch Your Course and Start Promoting

Congratulations on making it to Day 3! Your course is now ready to be shared with the world. Here’s how to launch your course and start attracting students.

Step 1: Set up your course landing page

Your course landing page is the first thing potential students will see, so it’s crucial to make a great first impression. Teachable offers customizable landing page templates that make it easy to create a professional, engaging page. When setting up your landing page, be sure to:

• Write a compelling headline that communicates the key benefit of your course
• Include a detailed course description highlighting the main topics and learning outcomes
• Use visuals, such as images or videos, to break up text and make the page more engaging
• Incorporate testimonials or social proof if available
• Make the “Enroll Now” button prominent and easy to find

Step 2: Determine your pricing and enrollment strategy

Before launching your course, decide on your pricing and enrollment strategy. Consider factors such as:

• The value your course provides to students
• Your target audience and their ability and willingness to pay
• Your overall business goals and revenue targets

You may choose to offer your course at a one-time price, create a payment plan, or use a membership model. Experiment with different strategies to find what works best for your audience.

Step 3: Promote your course launch

Now it’s time to spread the word about your new course! Use a variety of marketing channels to reach your target audience, such as:

• Email marketing: Announce your course launch to your email list and share the benefits of enrolling
• Social media: Promote your course on your social media profiles and relevant groups or communities
• Blogging: Write blog posts related to your course topic and include a call-to-action to enroll
• Partnerships: Reach out to influencers, bloggers, or other course creators in your niche for potential collaborations or cross-promotions
• Paid advertising: Consider using paid ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Google to reach a wider audience

Step 4: Engage with your students and gather feedback

As students start enrolling in your course, make sure to engage with them and provide support. Respond to questions, participate in discussion forums, and offer guidance as needed. 

Additionally, gather feedback from your students to help improve your course over time. Use surveys, course evaluations, or one-on-one conversations to learn what’s working well and what could be enhanced.

Your course should now be live and actively promoted to your target audience. Remember, launching your course is just the beginning – continue to monitor your progress, engage with students, and make improvements based on feedback.

Congratulations on completing the 3-day course creation challenge!

Let’s recap what you’ve accomplished

• Day 1: You signed up for a free Teachable plan and used AI-powered tools to generate a course draft
• Day 2: You refined your course content using your existing expertise and resources
• Day 3: You launched your course and started promoting it to your target audience

You  laid a solid foundation for your online course business. However, your journey doesn’t end here. To continue growing and succeeding in the world of online courses, consider these next steps:

1. Continuously improve your course: Gather feedback from students and use it to enhance your course content, structure, and delivery. Stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices to ensure your course remains relevant and valuable.
2. Expand your course offerings: Once you’ve found success with your first course, consider creating additional courses on related topics. This will help you build a strong brand, attract new students, and increase your revenue potential.
3. Build a community around your courses: Foster a sense of community among your students by creating a private Facebook group, hosting live Q&A sessions, or offering group coaching. Engaged students are more likely to complete your courses and recommend them to others.
4. Explore advanced marketing strategies: As you grow your online course business, invest in more advanced marketing techniques, such as webinars, affiliate partnerships, or digital advertising. Continuously test and refine your marketing efforts to maximize your reach and enrollment.
5. Use Teachable’s features and resources: Take full advantage of Teachable’s powerful features, such as course certificates, student progress tracking, and advanced pricing options. Stay informed about new features and updates that can help you streamline your course creation and management processes.

By implementing these strategies and staying committed to your online course journey, you’ll be well on your way to building a thriving e-learning business. Remember, success as a creator educator world takes time, effort, and continuous learning. Embrace the challenges, celebrate your victories, and never stop growing.

Start your next course creation project today, and watch your impact and income grow. The world is waiting for your expertise – share it with confidence!

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FAQs

What if I don’t have any existing content to work with? Can I still create a course in 3 days? 

Absolutely! While having existing content can certainly speed up the process, it’s not a requirement. If you don’t have any existing content, focus on creating a clear outline and script for your course on Day 1. Then, on Day 2, you can create new content from scratch using Teachable’s course authoring tools. The key is to break down the process into manageable steps and stay focused on delivering value to your students.

Do I need to be an expert in my topic to create a successful course? 

Not necessarily. While it certainly helps to have expertise in your course topic, the most important thing is that you have valuable knowledge and insights to share with your students. Focus on teaching what you know and providing practical, actionable advice that helps your students achieve their goals. Remember, your course doesn’t need to be comprehensive or perfect – it just needs to deliver real value to your students.

How much should I charge for my course? 

Pricing your course can be tricky, but there are a few key factors to consider. First, think about the value your course provides to your students. How much time and money will they save by taking your course? What results or transformations will they achieve? Use this to inform your pricing strategy. Additionally, consider your target audience and what they’re willing and able to pay. You may want to start with a lower price point to attract more students and then gradually increase your prices as you build your reputation and audience.

What if I’m not happy with my course after the 3-day challenge? Can I make changes and improvements? 

Of course! The 3-day challenge is designed to help you create a solid foundation for your course, but it’s just the beginning. Once you launch your course and start getting feedback from students, you can absolutely make changes and improvements over time. In fact, the most successful course creators are constantly iterating and updating their courses based on student feedback and changing industry trends. Don’t be afraid to experiment, try new things, and continue refining your course over time. The beauty of online courses is that they’re always a work in progress!

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

When you first started your small business, chances are you were excited to plan things. Spreading the word about your big launch, perfecting your offer, and even solidifying your branding colors are all part of the fun of entrepreneurship. On the other hand, you may have skipped over things such as separating personal and business finances. Even if your business is thriving, you might struggle to keep track of the money coming in and going out.

Even if finances may not be your area of expertise, it’s an important part of running a business. To analyze how your business is doing, set goals, and plan for scaling, you need to keep accurate, up-to-date records of your business cash flow. And, there are two main reasons why separating your personal and business finances is essential. We’ll explain them both as well as the steps you can take to keep your finances separate.

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Taxes and personal asset protection

Although there are a number of reasons you might need a separate account for your business’s finances, there are two main ones that are important to keep in mind: taxes and personal asset protection.

Taxes

This is arguably the most important reason. Separating personal and business finances help simplify filing when tax season rolls around. When your personal and business finances are intertwined, you run the risk of issues. These can show up as missed deductions and improperly reporting income, which may lead to financial trouble further down the road.

Personal asset protection

In the case of litigation or financial trouble with a vendor or creditor, you put your personal assets (i.e., your home, savings, retirement, etc.) at risk when you haven’t fully separated your business finances from your personal assets.

Getting a hold of your business finances may seem like a daunting task. Still, it’s important for your overall financial health. And it all starts with simply separating your personal finances from your business finances.

Know the difference between personal and business finance

As the name suggests, personal finances encompass everything that pertains to your personal life and well-being. Everything from that trip you’re planning for your birthday to your cost of living is considered personal items. According to Investopedia, personal finance is “about meeting personal financial goals, whether it’s having enough for short-term financial needs, planning for retirement, or saving for your child’s college education. It all depends on your income, expenses, living requirements, and individual goals and desires—and coming up with a plan to fulfill those needs within your financial constraints.”

On the other hand, business finances refer to things required to run and grow a business. From revenue from your online course to money you may be spending on advertising. To put it more plainly: “Corporate finance involves managing assets, liabilities, revenues, and debts for a business.”

Steps to separating business and personal finances

Step 1. Save all receipts and track spending

If you haven’t made it to a place where you set up your business as an entity and can open separate accounts, start small. Begin by tracking your business’s expenses and income. A simple budgeting sheet or tracker is all you need to record every dollar you spend on your business and every dollar coming in.

On your budgeting sheet, you can keep track of everything from subscriptions you may use to run your business (i.e., Canva, G-Suite, Teachable paid plan, etc.) to money spent on props for a business-related photoshoot.

When tracking receipts, try taking photos and screenshots of your receipts and creating a folder on your computer or your favorite cloud-based service to have them all in one place. Keep in mind that physical receipts tend to fade, so this is especially important.

Step 2: Determine when you’re using personal items for your business needs

As much as you may love to find an office and open up a business phone line on day one, that’s not feasible. In the beginning, your personal items (i.e. home office, phone, car, etc.) may help run your business. Do your best to track how often you use personal items for business purposes so you can properly report these items as potential deductions comes tax season.

Step 3: Make it official

Before you can create a business bank account or open a business credit card (more on that later), you must first set up your business as an entity (LLC, S-corp, etc.). Once your business is structured, you can apply for an Employer Identification Number. Like a social security number, an EIN is a unique nine-digit number that identifies your business. Once the government recognizes your business as “official” on paper, you can put your best foot forward to separate your personal and business finances once and for all.

Step 4: How to open a business bank account

To really separate church and state, aka business and personal expenses, you must create “separate houses” or bank accounts. Having a designated account for your business makes keeping track of personal vs. business transactions simpler.

Once you have an EIN issued, you can look into banks that suit the needs of your business. Similar to a personal bank account, there are some things you may want to consider when looking for a bank for your business. These include:

• minimum daily balances requirements
• transaction fees
• transaction limitations

Make sure all business-related expenses or income are managed through this specific account and no longer your personal account.

Step 5: Consider a business credit card

Before you think to yourself, “I don’t need another credit card,” keep in mind that a credit card linked to your business doesn’t affect your personal credit. Additionally, a business credit card should be used responsibly to cover expenses and purchases that can help your business grow and nothing more than that.

Generally speaking, business credit cards have very attractive introductory and spending rewards, higher credit limits, and purchase protection for damaged or stolen items purchased with your credit card.

One of the biggest reasons to consider getting a business credit card is to start building a business credit history. This may come in handy if you’re ever searching for a business loan or funding. Establishing a solid credit history early in the game can make or break your ability to find funding when you need it most.

Step 6: Find an accounting system

When it comes to tracking finances, it can be as simple as just creating a spreadsheet. On the other hand, when your business finances become more robust, you can opt to use accounting software. One beginner-friendly option is Quickbooks, which allows you to link your bank accounts to import transactions with a few clicks. Accounting for your business doesn’t have to be overly complicated at all.

And remember, never be afraid to speak to a financial expert who can give you specific advice about your business financial situation.

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Editor’s note: This is not financial advice. Please consult your accountant or financial advisor on any financial decisions regarding your business or personal finances. Teachable does not provide financial advice and this should not be taken as such. This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide any legal or tax advice.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

Understanding the difference between affiliate marketing vs. influencer marketing is key to maximizing your success. After all, every brand only has a limited amount of resources. Using those resources effectively is crucial to reaching your target audience and improving your return on your investment.

Affiliate marketing and influencer marketing are similar and highly effective marketing strategies. But depending on your brand and your goals, one might be better for your needs than the other. Let’s break down affiliate marketing and influencer marketing in detail. By the end, you’ll know which is the best choice for your business and its goals.

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What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is when one party promotes another’s product or service in exchange for a commission or for marketing. Think of it as cooperative marketing between two sellers or brands.

For example, affiliate marketing might include writing a blog post that highlights the benefits of a partner’s product. In exchange, that partner might also write a blog post outlining the benefits and advantages of your products. In doing this, both brands’ audiences are exposed to the other brand. This is a great way to promote audience growth.

You’ve probably seen posts on social media where someone says they are sharing an affiliate link. That affiliate link is how the brand determines how many new people came to their brand or made a purchase thanks to someone posting about it. This is common with influencers who agree to shout out certain products on social or in “best of” lists on their blog or in their newsletter. In exchange, they either get a flat payment rate or a commission for each sale their affiliate marketing results in.

Affiliate marketing can also happen on a broader scale. Many bloggers and entrepreneurs practice affiliate marketing by marketing products they don’t own, then making a profit on each purchase they cause. As an example, a customer may read a blog post about the best running shoes. If that customer clicks on the affiliate marketer’s link and makes a purchase, the affiliate marketer gets a cut of the profits.

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing is exactly what it sounds like: marketing with the assistance of influencers in your niche or industry. Influencers are essentially social media marketers and brand ambassadors. They advertise products to their followers and cultivate social media images that inspire followers to purchase the same products and adopt the same lifestyle habits.

For example, clothing influencers often buy and highlight products from different brands. They make videos or take photos, then show those social media materials to their followers on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms. In exchange for advertising for those brands, the clothing brands give the influencers a commission or some other type of fee. Most influencers will charge $0.03 for a YouTube to Instagram view and $0.01 for a TikTok view.

Influencer marketing is highly effective and very popular. Millions of people use social media platforms every day and that number is expected to rise in the future. However, brands have to be careful in choosing and partnering with influencers who match their:

• Brand identities
• Brand invoices
• Target audiences

In most cases, influencer marketing is most effective if your target audience is heavily online and spends a lot of time-consuming social media content. If your target audience isn’t on social media platforms influencer marketing won’t be very effective.

The benefits of affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing has several distinct benefits that make it a stellar marketing strategy. This is particularly true for heavily online brands or ecommerce companies.

Easy to start

Affiliate marketing is easy to start and implement. You don’t need a lot of resources to get affiliate programs going.

In addition, the raw material requirements for affiliate marketing are low. All you have to do is use plug-ins or widgets to make unique URLs for the affiliate links on your site. Then you’ll track conversions from each sale. In essence, this is a stellar and quick way to boost traffic to your website through a network of affiliate marketers.

Cost-effective

In keeping with the above, affiliate marketing is highly cost-effective. Since you only pay when an affiliate marketer brings a customer to your store and that customer makes a sale, you only pay for successful marketing.

You don’t pay for impressions, clicks, or any other results. Therefore, if you want to spend your marketing cash on something that leads to direct sales or more revenue in your business bank account, affiliate marketing could be just the ticket.

Fast way to boost traffic to a website

Perhaps most importantly, affiliate marketing is phenomenal for boosting traffic to your website. That’s its primary purpose. More than anything else, affiliate marketing brings newcomers to your website. They’ll browse your products, check out your content, and more.

However, affiliate marketing is much better at converting people from brands that are in the same field as yours. In this way, you can curate a larger audience base over time.

The benefits of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing also has various key benefits and advantages to keep in mind.

Enhances trust and increases brand awareness

Influencer marketing is highly useful for boosting trust and credibility in your brand. If you partner with the right influencer, and that influencer’s audience trusts their recommendations and opinions, you can get that same audience to trust your brand by extension.

This is an invaluable marketing benefit in the earliest days of your business. And it can be a big help when you are trying to boost brand awareness and get people to trust you.

Focuses marketing on a target audience

In addition, influencer marketing can be effective if you want to focus your marketing cash on a target audience. Rather than marketing to the general public or anyone who happens to visit your site from Google, you can market specifically to the people most likely to buy from your brand in the first place.

This targeted marketing is oftentimes better in terms of ROI. It means every marketing dollar you spend will theoretically have a higher chance of generating revenue.

Highly controlled

Influencer marketing is highly controllable because you get to decide which influencers you partner with. That’s invaluable if you wish to avoid accidentally tarnishing your brand’s reputation or identity. Since you get to pick out your influencer partners, you can vet them and make sure that they suit your overall goals, your brand voice, your aesthetic, etc. This step can form an important part of your go-to-market strategy for a new product or brand initiative.

Potential for big results

In the long run, influencer marketing can lead to big marketing results, including higher revenue, many more customers, and more. The more you use influencer marketing, the better the results often become. That’s because influencer marketing is a positive feedback loop. It causes more and more people to become aware of your brand.

Furthermore, if your initial influencer marketing is successful, you can graduate to pricier and more worthwhile influencers who have even bigger audiences. So the more money you put into influencer marketing the more money you eventually make.

What are the key differences between affiliate marketing and influencer marketing?

The most important differences between affiliate marketing and influencer marketing are:

• Affiliate marketing only requires you to pay each time you get a sale from the marketing effort. For instance, if you partner with an affiliate marketer, you’ll only pay that marketer a commission or fee each time their advertising causes someone to buy from your brand. In contrast, influencer marketing usually involves paying the influencers upfront.
• Affiliate marketing is about driving traffic to your website. The purpose is to complete transactions. In contrast, influencer marketing can be about multiple different things, including driving transactions. You can pursue influencer marketing to boost brand awareness, build up an audience, increase trust, and establish long-term key performance indicators.

Because of these differences, influencer and affiliate marketing should be used for different goals or marketing purposes.

Affiliate marketing vs. influencer marketing: Which is right for you?

Overall, affiliate marketing is best if you wish to drive traffic to your site. It’s also great if you want to maximize the bang for your buck with a limited marketing budget. Through affiliate marketing, you’ll passively boost brand awareness, but more importantly, you’ll bring new customers to your site.

If your site is well-designed and your products are attractive by themselves, this could result in a boost in your revenue. Remember, with affiliate marketing, you don’t have to pay for any marketing that doesn’t result in a sale.

However, an influencer marketing campaign might be better if you wish to focus on things other than revenue. For brand awareness or audience loyalty, this might be the way to go instead. Through influencer marketing, you can build up a longer-term loyal audience.

Furthermore, influencer marketing has a greater potential for long-term profit thanks to these effects. Influencer marketing could be ideal as your brand starts to scale and you have a bit bigger marketing budget to attract worthwhile influencers. It can be ideal for long-term lead generation, too.

Wrap up

As you can see, affiliate marketing and influencer marketing are both great marketing strategies. However, you should decide which marketing strategy to focus on. The odds are you’ll only have enough resources to plan and enact a complete campaign for one or the other.

Keep the above tips in mind and you’ll make the best decision for your business going forward.

FAQs

Do you have to be an influencer to do affiliate marketing?

You don’t need to be an influencer to do affiliate marketing. But, you do need an audience to leverage for affiliate marketing, though. You can purchase affiliate marketing services from other brands, partners, and influencers to start building your audience.

That said, it’s oftentimes easier to be successful with affiliate marketing if you are also already an influencer. That’s because you’ll have a built-in audience ready to read and absorb your content, which you can use to plug products and services from other brands.

Can an influencer be an affiliate?

An influencer can be an affiliate marketer. Many influencers practice affiliate marketing in conjunction with influencer marketing. For example, an influencer might highlight products and brands on their primary social media profiles and pages. They may additionally have several different agreements with multiple brands to maximize their income.

However, that same influencer may also have a blog or personal website. On that blog, they could practice affiliate marketing by highlighting and shouting out products that they love or have personally used. This then helps those brands make more money and acquire more customers.

How much do influencers make from affiliate marketing?

Influencer earnings from affiliate marketing can vary significantly. Influencers with big audiences and time-tested marketing strategies generally earn more than new influencers. Influencer earnings can range from as little as $50 per month to well over $20,000 per month, according to certain sources.

Remember, most influencers don’t “make it big.” They might earn enough to make a living as an influencer, but they don’t become rich. Therefore, most influencers earn several hundred to several thousand dollars per month from their affiliate marketing efforts.

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

Nailing your pricing strategy for your online course is hard enough. Toss in other components like a pre-sale and building a sales funnel, and the entire “money” part of running a small business can feel like a mountain to climb. But, it doesn’t have to. With the release of our latest feature, order bumps, you have more control than ever over how you make money on Teachable. To take even more of the guesswork out of pricing, we’re sharing six strategies to help you learn how to price an order bump and maximize sales.

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Less may be more: Price order bumps accordingly

Don’t discredit the cliche saying when it comes to how to price an order bump. Order bumps should be quick-win moments for you to increase your average order value. And, more importantly, they should be no-brainers for customers at checkout.

Reminder: Order bumps are products that complement your main product and are offered at checkout to customers as last-minute add-ons that add both value and increase your average order value.

One of the best ways to accomplish both of these goals is to keep the price of your order bump low. “If a product is under $100, your order bump should be less than $100,” explains Julie Stoian, digital marketing expert, coach, and creator of Funnel Gorgeous.

“In general, you want your order bump to be either the same price or slightly less than what you are selling. So for example, if you are selling a product for $37, maybe your order bump is $24,” she adds.

Satisfied shopping

Keep in mind that you want your order bump to be the equivalent of a magazine or candy bar at the grocery store checkout: cheap enough not to be a second thought but still valuable and satisfying enough to buy.  A good rule to follow is to price your order bump so that it feels like a deal. If your product is $100 or less, consider lower prices like $27 and $37. (Julie shares some in-depth examples of order bumps and sales funnels on her podcast “Create Your Laptop Life”. Listen to the episode and read the transcript here.)

If your product is more than $100, you have a bit of wiggle room. Julie says, “So for example, if you are selling a $500 course, your order bump could be $100. There’s no set price, but I would say for products less than $100, you definitely want it to be a little bit less than what you’re selling—and the higher the price gets, the bigger that gap gets.”

Bottom line: When it comes to how to price your order bump offer, less is more.

No room for maybe: Deliver value and price to sell

We already mentioned that your order bump should be priced at a lower, more affordable price. But that doesn’t mean that you should skimp on value. When customers buy candy bars at the grocery store checkout line, part of the reason is because the candy is affordable but a big part is that the candy bar satisfies a need.

Your order bump should be the same way. The offer should be so packed with value for the price that it seems like that much more of a bargain.

This could mean if you teach a class on beginners vinyasa yoga, you offer an order bump of a PDF worksheet on meditation strategy, a one-time coaching session with you, or even a mini course on creating your at-home yoga studio. Each of these options is valuable on its own and when priced affordably, seem that much more valuable.

Types of high value order bumps include:

• templates
• worksheets
• ebooks
• mini courses
• coaching session(s)
• an additional course
• access to an exclusive community or membership

You can see how the above examples work in more detail in our post here. But remember: If you deliver value and price to sell, you leave no room for maybe.

“If I was going to give one strategy it would be this: You don’t want to make an order bump that makes the customer pause and say, ‘Wait I thought that was in the course. What am I actually getting?’,” says Julie. “An order bump is something that clearly shouldn’t be covered in the course and wouldn’t be covered in the course but is a nice add-on. You can add an order bump on higher ticket offers, but typically order bumps are easier to use when the product is a little bit less expensive.”

A way with words: Copy converts

The whole point of your order bump is to increase your average order value and convert to sales. But what should you be aiming for exactly? This will differ from creator to creator, of course, but according to Julie, you want to see an order bump convert at a rate of 30% or higher.  

Order bump not getting you the conversion rates you want? Re-read your offer. Literally.

“If your order bump is converting at less than 30%, the biggest reason is the copy,” reveals Julie. What you offer matters, but what you write about your product matters just as much for converting customers.

Order bumps are a split-second decision. f your copy doesn’t help customers make that split-second decision or they don’t understand why they would want your order bump in relation to the offer, you’ve already lost out. “The copy is the single greatest way to change that average order value,” she adds.

And although copy is key, occasionally changing how you price an order bump will affect your conversion rate.” Let’s say that your offer is $100 and your order bump is $49, and it’s pushing them right to that $150 mark,” posits Julie. “Maybe there’s a physiological idea that they don’t want to spend up to $150, you can lower your order bump to $30 that may help.”

Conversely, if you notice that you’re converting at a high rate, reflect this time on your price not copy. Julie says if your conversion rate is super high, say over 70%, you actually may need to raise the price of your order bump a bit. “That’s a sign that it’s so juicy that you can probably raise the price and not lose too much conversion,” she explains.

Raise the bar: Provide high-value content

But beyond mastering how to price an order bump in terms of numbers, there are other strategies that go into pricing. We already spoke about how your offer should be a no-brainer and have a lower price point, but most importantly, it should also up level your total offering.

For example, consider offering an order bump that connects you with customers in a new way and reiterates your expertise on the subject matter.

Julie reflects upon a customer she once helped who was a dog trainer: The trainer built a $200 course for puppy training and offered an order bump of “Text the Expert,” in which customers were able to tack on an extra product of essentially one-on-one coaching and support via text.

“This is something that clearly shouldn’t be in the main course, but it’s such a high value add that someone would easily say, ‘Oh yes! I want to text the expert.’ So strategies that offer a high-touch component that let them reach out to you in a different way make great order bumps,” explains Julie.

Tailor made: Customize your offerings

Another strategy that helps you to price your order bump effectively is to customize the experience you’re offering.

If you have a series of courses offered through your school, be strategic with the types of order bumps you offer on each one. Don’t only offer one order bump across the board. Consider the audience of each course and tailor your one-click offer to be specific to those students in those cohorts.

Offering a beginners course on sourdough baking? Create an order bump of a PDF download of a baker’s must-haves checklist. For your more advanced courses, switch up your order bump. Consider tacking on an offer of a one-on-one coaching session on how to score sourdough loaves. Both of these order bumps create a custom, richer experience for the customer based on their purchasing needs.

Julie notes that you should ask yourself: Is there something about your course that you could add a custom experience to such as setting up a call or customizing a calendar with all your homework based on the date of purchase? Remember: The more custom your offer, the higher you can price your order bump.

Think one step ahead: Anticipate need

Lastly, consider your order bump as a stepping stone. At point of purchase, you’ve already convinced your customer to purchase one product. But what will they need next? Anticipate what your customers will want to purchase next and provide a solution with your order bump.

What questions will students in your course ask after completing it? Once they’ve undergone your transformation, what will they look to next? Have your order bump provide an answer.

Julie herself uses this strategy with a course her team sells. Her course is about “creating an offer”, so her associated order bump is a set of logo templates. Julie anticipates that students who go through the course on how to create a digital offer and launch a business will also need logo support, so she provides just that.

This particular strategy delivers a complementary product that’s priced reasonably and fulfills a need. Consider it the perfect formula for an order bump.

At the end of the day, learning how to price an order bump takes time. Craft your order bump offer strategically from the beginning, utilize some of the pricing techniques Julie shared, and don’t be afraid to iterate if you’re not seeing the conversion rates you want. What’s more, look around at the order bumps that tempt you in your everyday life.

“My biggest piece of advice is to just look at order bumps in the wild, and you can see what types of things make great order bumps,” Julie adds.

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

Here at Teachable, we strongly believe in the benefits of online learning. Education is arguably one of the most important facets of society and for that reason people are willing to spend their life savings, or even go into debt to further their education.

In fact, “The in-state public college budget for the 2023-2024 academic year averaged $28,840. A moderate budget at a private college averaged $46,730.” Pair that with the fact that an estimated 19 million students attended a US college in the fall of 2021 and you can see just how serious people are about getting an education.

But in recent years, there has been a shift in how people are viewing education. In the past, it was cut and dry; you either had a nifty diploma hanging in the wall of your office, or you didn’t. Now, though, people are acquiring their education in a multitude of ways, taking the traditional route and attending a 4-year university, forgoing college and getting on the job training, or, more recently, pursuing an online education.

The EdTech industry has been booming. And it makes sense: a lot of people don’t have the time (or money) to spend at a four year university where they’ll be forced to take classes that aren’t relevant to them and still have to job hunt after graduation (with a new sense of urgency coming from the debt they likely incurred in school.)

With online courses and EdTech, people are able to really take control of their education. They can take classes between working at their day job and get trained in the exact skills they need to succeed without having to invest time into anything else.

In that realm, online education is clearly superior to traditional teaching, but a lot of people worry whether or not it’s as effective. It’s a legitimate concern given how new the online education industry is, especially compared to the American Higher Education System, where the first college was established in 1636.

From our research, online education is just as effective as in-person classrooms, and depending on the goals of the students can be the best option.

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How do online courses work?

Online courses contain all of the same information that an in-person class would; the only difference is that all instruction takes place via the internet. The instructors have a lot of control over the online course experience, but a sample scenario would look like this:

An instructor would open their online course for enrollment and students would sign up. This instructor has opted to “drip” their content, meaning that each week their students would get a set amount of lesson material for the duration of the course. There are interactive comment pages, quizzes, and even a Facebook group where the students can go to connect and find support. Every Tuesday the instructor goes live for an hour hosting a Q&A so students can get their most pressing questions answered.

The online structure parallels that of a classroom, but takes the physical requirement out of education making the class more accessible for everyone. When teaching a physical class you may be able to reach a handful of people – in some cases a few hundred, in rarer cases a few thousands. When you’re teaching an online class, though, your lessons can reach anyone anywhere in the world.

Online learning benefits

Quality education

People are always going to be skeptical of change. Looking toward the future of online education might make people feel apprehensive. Switching things up from the tried and true method of physical classrooms and courses means we need to readjust and redefine what exactly education is.

And most importantly? We need to make sure that we aren’t losing out on the quality of the course. Many people argue that EdTech champions the educator, but really it champions the education. Chalk it up to bias, but after taking a look at both in person education and online education, online education comes up the clear winner.

Yet, it isn’t all about the academics’ perception. How do the outcomes of digital learning compare to traditional face-to-face education?

According to a report by the United States Department of Education, “learning outcomes for students who engaged in online learning exceeded those of students receiving face-to-face instruction.” Look around any college lecture hall and you’re going to see a third of students on Facebook, the other third texting, and a fraction of the final third actually paying attention.

It’s a sad reality, but when you put someone in a classroom at a designated time every week they are going to have 100 other places they’d rather be and a dozen people they’d rather see and those “better options” are where their minds are going to be wandering to.

In online education, the students largely have control over when they’re going to listen to their lesson material. Instead of taking them out of the action midday, they have the option to listen to the material before bed when all other distractions have been eliminated. When online students are engaging with your content it’s because they want to be there and they are actively learning as opposed to traditional classrooms where they are there because they have to be every week at the same time.

So what it comes down to is the fact that the quality of the material remains the same, but with students who are more focused and engaged the education they are actually getting is superior. When they are able to attend class and learn the materials on their own terms students can center their entire focus on the course.

Engagement and support

Another common worry is that students aren’t going to get the same attention that they would in a physical classroom. Especially when you consider that online courses can accommodate significantly more students, which in theory might spread the instructor fairly thin.

According to research, though, the exact opposite is true. The National Survey of Student Engagement found, “Course management and interactive technologies were positively related to student engagement, self-reported learning outcomes, and deep approaches to learning. Course management technology was most strongly related to student-faculty interaction and self-reported gains in personal and social development.”

Online classes give instructors more time to truly interact and engage with their students. In a classroom setting they are put on the spot when a student has a question, in EdTech they are able to take their time in their interactions ensuring that each exchange is a positive one.

Furthermore, in an online setting, if a student asks a question on a public forum and the instructor answers, everyone in the course can see the exchange and refer back to the Q&A eliminating the threat of a dozen students asking the same question giving the instructor more time to focus on more pressing questions.

Self-paced learning

One of the fatal flaws of traditional classrooms is that professors will oftentimes hold questions for the end of the period, and if you’ve missed a critical piece of information or got lost midway through, the professor will be unlikely to accommodate you as going back and reviewing what was just said would negatively impact the rest of the class.

In college, a professor of mine tried to sue a well-intentioned (but ill-informed) student for recording her lectures. The student wasn’t redistributing or publishing the lectures for others to see, she was simply watching them after class to catch up on anything she missed as the lecture was too large for her to raise her hand and be helped every time something wasn’t clicking for her.

In some cases, the professor will notice when the class isn’t following along or is confused and they can regroup and adjust their lecture, but that’s only effective when everyone in the class is confused; if only a handful is lost, they are often out of luck in a traditional classroom.

Online, though?

You can pause, rewind, and rewatch. An online learning environment can support various media formats that support different learning styles, which can get overlooked in traditional, in-person lectures.

When you are able to watch the lecture over and over again, you can really take control of your education. Confused about something? You can pause and rewind in real time and get caught up before moving forward.

Flexible schedules

This is another worry that people have. As inconvenient as traditional classes can be, the set schedule can help keep students accountable. When you sign up to be somewhere twice a week, you show up.

But in online education, it’s often up to you to complete the learning materials you signed up for. While that presents an opportunity for strengthening time management skills, it can be intimidating for a lot of people. So long as you treat this material the same way you would a physical class, you should be set.

Commit to sitting down twice a week, the way you would in a traditional classroom, and completing the material. The only difference is that now you can sit down at whichever time is the most convenient for you. During your lunch break? Fabulous. At two in the morning when everyone else is finally asleep? Perfect.

In the end, you have control of managing your time and can consume the class at your convenience. Meanwhile, pursuing an online degree typically means you don’t have to be a full time student.

Affordability

Money is another issue that people worry about. When you’re paying your college tuition, you’re going through the same (expensive) rite of passage that millions of other people have validated for you. It’s what’s normal and what’s expected therefore it feels a lot less risky than investing in an online course where you’ll be the only person you know taking it.

With that said, when you’re looking at education as the end goal, 99 times out of 100 the online route is going to be the more cost efficient route to take.

Most online courses are only a few hundred dollars—a fraction of the cost you’d take to take the equivalent course at a university, and you’re getting the same information. If you’re in it for the education rather than degree, online courses will come out on top every time. In addition to being able to save money on tuition, course materials are oftentimes provided in online courses via worksheets, presentations, videos, etc.

Variety of topics

In college, you more or less have to take the classes that are offered to you; there might be independent learning programs or partnerships with junior colleges with extra classes, but oftentimes you are limited. While this might not be a problem at a huge state university, it’s something that can be limiting at a smaller school.

In EdTech, though, there is no limit to what type of course you can take. Here at Teachable, we have successful instructors teaching everything from dog walking to yoga for bros. When you choose an online education you can hand mold your education to fit exactly what you want to take.

No more sleeping your way through general education classes that are irrelevant to what you really want to do or signing up for a class that might sort of cover what you’re actually interested in learning about.

If you want to learn about something or are interested in career advancement, chances are that there is already someone out there who has created a course on it.

User-friendly platform

The most intimidating part of online education for some people? The illusion that you might need technical skills to be successful. Luckily, the skillset required for being successful in an online course doesn’t go far beyond signing in and clicking your mouse.

If you’ve navigated your way to this blog post, congratulations! You have the skills required to not only take an online course, but also to excel at online learning.

The final verdict on online learning advantages?

Many experts will agree that online education is superior to traditional classrooms. Between the ability to cater your education to your schedule and the control the student has over how the course is consumed students are able to be more engaged and focused.

FAQs for the benefits of online learning

What is virtual learning?

Online courses contain all of the same information that an in-person class would; the only difference is that all instruction takes place via the internet. The online structure parallels that of a classroom, but takes the physical requirement out of education making the class more accessible for everyone. When teaching a physical class you may be able to reach a handful of people – in some cases a few hundred, in rarer cases a few thousands. When you’re teaching an online class, though, your lessons can reach anyone anywhere in the world.

What are some advantages of online classes?

There are many benefits of online learning, including quality education for an affordable price, enhanced engagement and support, flexibility and self-paced learning, convenience, and more. Many experts will agree that online education is superior to traditional classrooms. Between the ability to cater your education to your schedule and the control the student has over how the course is consumed students are able to be more engaged and focused.

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

There are just about a million different ways to make money online and a million different people trying to convince you that their way is the best way. YouTubers, course creators, and bloggers are all vying for that top spot. While blogging isn’t the most effective way to make money online, it’s a great way to grow your audience and market your online course. That’s why we’ll share the best tips to not only grow your blog audience, but also how to then convert that audience into paying students. Keep reading to learn how to sell your online course with a blog.

Sell your online course with blog

Blogs can help you gain influence, grow your audience and find students for your online course. Blogging keeps you involved in your business. It ensures that you’re constantly learning and staying on top of your niche. This helps in establishing yourself as an authority and creating future courses.

The benefits to running your blog are endless, but here are a few of the greatest perks:

1. Establish yourself as an authority

Blogs are one of the top ways to establish yourself as an authority on any given subject. If you blog in a narrow niche, you can quickly become one of the top names in your area by consistently providing value. Not only will your audience see you as an authority, but search engines will, too. If you have a well maintained blog that you update regularly, your pages will begin to show up on Google.

2. Build SEO

Blogs help you rank well within search engines. If you’re selling an online course about vegetable gardening, there’s a slim chance that a stand alone sales page will rank on Google on its own.

But, if you’re consistently blogging about vegetable gardening and organically linking to your sales page in the blog posts, then you’ll begin to gain backlinks. This will increase the chances of your sales page showing up.

Search engine optimization is all about consistently creating valuable content with targeted keywords. No matter how top-notch your sales page is, if you’re in a saturated niche there is going to be too much competition to rank on Google’s front page without a blog.

3. Helps build a community

Email lists and social media help build community around you business. But, if you’ve got open comments on your blog, then your readers can build community with each other. Encourage comments and discussions in the copy of your blog posts. Before you know it, your audience will not only be engaging with you, but they’ll also engage with each other, too.

This community will have people coming back to your blog, sharing your posts and inviting their audience to check you out.

4. Create landing pages

Your blog is a central location where you can direct people. No matter if people find you on social media, on another blog, or out in the real world, it’s super easy to give out your URL and send someone to a blog.

If your site is well organized, it will be easy for your audience to find what they are looking for. The top navigation bar on your blog should direct to your top offerings, for example: Blog Posts, Courses, Coaching, About Me, and Contact Me.

5. Create shareability

Because the content on your blog isn’t gated, it’s easy to share. If you write high-quality and actionable posts, your audience will be likely to share your posts with their followers, helping you passively see growth. The more people who are sharing your blog post, the quicker you’ll grow, so it’s even better if you make sharing your posts easy on your audience.

6. Offer extra monetization

You can make a bit of passive income through your site. Adding in ads or affiliate links can help you make enough money each month to offset hosting costs and maybe invest in a premium plug-in or two.

7. Serve as a creative outlet

Aside from everything else, blogs are a great creative outlet. If you’ve got a lot to say but not a lot of people willing to listen to your ramble on about your inner musings, blogs can help you get those thoughts out to an audience that will be eager to hear what you’ve got to say.

Driving traffic to your blog

Unfortunately blogging isn’t an “if you build it they will come” type deal. Instead you need to be purposeful and strategic about driving traffic to your blog. This means writing with intention and creating a consistent presence on social media. Luckily, a lot of this can be done passively. You can set up systems once that will work for you for months to come.

1. Prioritize SEO

Search engine optimization (or SEO) is a long game. But it’s well worth it. SEO is how Google and other search engines will find your blog and decide where to rank it within its pages.

Unfortunately, you won’t see results instantaneously. By implementing a strategic and consistent social media strategy, you can build a lot of traction. This will serve you in the long run as you slowly rise through the Google ranks and see your referral traffic soar.

2. Choose a niche

A set niche helps you establish your expertise in one area. It gives you plenty of opportunity to add links to related posts within your blog. If you’re writing consistently only about vegetable gardening, Google sees you know what you’re talking about and ranks you higher for vegetable gardening inquiries.

On the other hand, if you’re blogging about vegetable gardening, your puppy Milo, and your visit to the Wisconsin Dells, Google will have no clue what the purpose of your blog is or how to rank you.

3. Use keywords

Keywords are the words or phrases you want to rank for on Google. It’s important to use the keywords organically, though. If you “keyword stuff” that will actually hurt your Google ranking and your blog’s standing as a whole.

4. Post consistently

Blogging consistently isn’t easy by any means. Yet it goes a long way in gaining favor with Google. You don’t have to post every single day, but if you can manage once or twice a week, you’ll see a boost in SEO. Search engines reward websites that are consistently posting quality content.

5. Write long-form content

Writing posts that are at least 1,000 words in length will give your SEO a welcomed boost. In a sea of blogs that are posting 300 word posts once a week, writing long form content is a great way to stand out. This not only gives you the opportunity to pack a ton of value into your content, but it also give you the space to add more keywords without “keyword stuffing” or coming across as inauthentic.

Marketing Experiments actually ran a test comparing the conversion rates of long form content to shorter pieces and found that long-form content came out on top each time.

6. Use SEO by Yoast

If you’re on a WordPress, you should utilize the SEO by Yoast plug-in. It’s free and super valuable. After you write your post, you put in the keyword you’re trying to rank for and Yoast will tell you what changes you should make.

7. Use Google Adwords

If you’re not sure what keywords to use, Google Adwords can help. Creating an account is a bit intimidating because it asks for a credit card number, but so long as you never activate an account you won’t be charged.

Google Adwords shows you what people are searching for and how high the competition is for each search term. You’ll want to strike the sweet spot of using terms that have a good number of people searching, but not so much competition that you’ll never rank.

If you want to dive more into this, we have a great tutorial on how to perform on-page SEO.

8. Don’t forget social media

This is where you really get to put yourself out there and start attracting readers. Being active on social media will help build a community around your blog and your business while driving more people to your website.

Different niches will excel on different platforms, but most people find that these four classics are a great place to start.

Top social media platforms to promote your blog and course

Pinterest

Most bloggers will agree that Pinterest is king. We’ve seen bloggers go from getting a few hundred page views a month to nearly a hundred thousand a month all thanks to Pinterest.

Pinterest is great because you can pin a picture from your blog once and the Pinterest community takes it from there. Every time someone re-pins something from your blog, that person’s entire audience is now exposed to your content.

Instagram

Instagram is a great way to grow your following quickly. By posting consistently, adding links to Stories, and utilizing targeted hashtags you can reach your target audience with minimal effort.

If you’re using Instagram for your blog and business, make sure your content is catered towards your niche. If you’re talking about vegetable gardening, you can post pretty produce pics along with veggie recipes, garden decor, and quote images with gardening tips.

Your audience will begin to know you for the content you share. And everything you post will serve to either strengthen or weaken your brand.

Although it’s hard to automate Instagram because they don’t allow direct schedulers, you can use a service like Later. Here, you can set up your schedule once a month, and they will send push notifications to your phone so all you have to do is open the picture and paste your caption.

Twitter

Twitter is a great place to really engage with your audience and build a strong network. Instead of constantly tweeting self-promo links, consider using your Twitter to post content (yours and others) relevant to your audience. This could be links to articles, quotes, graphics, pictures, and video links.

If you’re only tweeting links to your blog posts, people won’t want to follow you. However, if you’re interesting and engaging, you’ll amass an audience quickly. Plus, if you want to automate your Twitter, that’s easy, too. You can use a program like Edgar or HootSuite to schedule out tweets so you don’t have to think about them.

You can also use Twitter Chats to grow your following and drive traffic to your blog. Whether you’re hosting your own or taking part in somebody else’s they are a great way to network with other bloggers and make connections.

Facebook

There are two different ways you can use Facebook for your blog and business. Both come with their share of pros and cons.

1. Creating a Facebook Page for your blog

Facebook pages act as another Facebook account where people “like” your page (similar to adding a person’s account as a friend). They’ll see updates from you in their timeline when you post. On your Facebook page, you should be updating anywhere from 1-6 times a day to make sure people are seeing your content.

When you post a new blog post, you should share it to your Facebook page. But, make sure to share other’s content too.

The downside to using a Facebook page is the dreaded algorithm. If you’re a blogger, you already know all about this. But Facebook uses an algorithm to try and get page owners to pay to boost a post. What this means is that everything you share is only going to be seen by a small fraction of your audience unless you pay to boost the post or it gets a lot of engagement.

The way to beat this is to create an engagement group with friends.

Find four or five other bloggers in your niche, friend them on Facebook and create a group chat where you alert each other when you post a new blog post to Facebook. The idea is you’ll all engage with each other’s post boosting the reach.

2. Create a Facebook group for your community

Instead of creating a page for your blog, you’d create a group for your community. Rather than having people like your page, they can join your group, which will serve as a community. You can have daily threads where people can drop links to their latest posts or ask for help from other members in the group.

Bloggers like Melyssa Griffin and Caitlin Bacher have done a great job building active and thriving communities through their Facebook groups. In the process, they’ve gained followers and fans who trust and respect them.

Facebook pages are less about driving traffic to your blog and more about establishing yourself as an authority in the space. This will in turn spark people to check your blog out because they like and respect you. The downside to Facebook communities is that they can take a lot of time and energy to maintain.

To combat this, you can either schedule updates or hire a VA to act as a community manager. If you use a scheduler you can automate the posting of your daily threads to save you time. If you hire a community manager, you will no longer have to moderate the group or delete spammy users or posts.

Turning readers into customers

Getting thousands of visitors each month is an accomplishment in itself. But visitors don’t pay the bills. If you’re looking to make money from your influence and sell your online course to your blog audience, you’ll need to savvily sell to them.

Your email list

Building an email list is so essential to selling your online course. While your blog readers might be interested in you, your email list is full of people who are fans and will be more likely to buy from you. Having a blog makes growing your email list  easier because you’ve got all of your content in one place.  You can add a call to action and content upgrade to each post.

If you’re stuck on how to get started building your email list, consider these methods:

Build a list like a pro

• Simply ask people to subscribe. This is called a “Call to Action” and is surprisingly effective. Calls to action are the most basic way to get people to subscribe and while they do work, you’re best off pairing this with other strategies.

• Create content upgrades (also known as lead magnets). These incentivize your readers to subscribe by offering them something in return. Your content upgrade could be an ebook, guide, resource list, or anything else you can dream up.
• Offer email list exclusives. By offering content just for your email list, that’s another incentive for your audience. Your exclusives could be a weekly blog post, motivational newsletters, or interviews you share only with your email audience. Whatever you decide to advertise, make sure it’s high value enough to draw people in.
• Install HelloBar. If you’re not ready or willing to use a big pop-up or landing mat for your blog, consider using HelloBar instead. It’s more discreet than the other options, and it takes up so little space that your readers don’t have to click away from it to enjoy your content. It isn’t the highest converting method, but you should catch a few emails from it.

• Keep your list warm. Show them you care about them by checking in consistently. Send them emails every week or so either offering them updates or providing them with exclusive content.
• Show your list what you’re capable of. If you want your audience to trust that they are going to get a ton of value from purchasing your online course, consider creating a free email course to use as a content upgrade and offer to your current subscribers.
• Sell using our eight-day email launch strategy. Once your course is created, you’ve built a list and they are all warmed towards you, you’re ready to sell!

Involve your audience

One way to make sure that your blog audience is excited about your online course is by including them in its creation.

Mention in a post that your course is a work in progress and ask them to comment what they’d like to see. By giving them the opportunity to have a say in what goes into your course, they’ll feel more inclined to buy it as parts of it are directly catered to them.

From there, keep your audience updated. If you’re excited about the course you’re creating and letting your audience know about your progress, your enthusiasm will rub off on them.

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

So you’ve launched your first course. And it’s converted well. Congrats! What now?

Wait for a few months, then “launch” again? That’s what everyone from Frank Kern to Ramit Sethi does, right?

But those guys have six-figures lists, four-figure courses, and multiple brands. (Sethi has enough courses that he could open one-a-month and never repeat the same course within a year.)

What if there was a way to earn money from your course every day?

It turns out there is: evergreen launch sequences, which give every new subscriber to your list an opportunity to enroll in your course a fixed amount of time after they subscribe, instead of forcing them to wait until you open enrollment manually.

Even if you’re selling an expensive course to a big list, there are reasons you might want to add an evergreen launch sequence – which admits new students to your course on a rolling basis, under its own power once you set it up – to your arsenal.

First, if your course has an optimal sales cycle—the average amount of time it takes a prospective customer to go from not knowing you to ready to buy – an evergreen sequence can catch everybody when they’re most primed to buy, instead of too early or too late.

If your sales cycle is 3 weeks, you can pitch your course to every new subscriber after 3 weeks, whereas if you only do periodic launches, some people will have waited months, whereas others may be too new to your list.

Second, you should probably be making continuous improvements to your course for at least the first year, especially if you’re selling it for more than $100.

Continuously improving your course gives your students a more valuable experience and allows you to raise the price. And an evergreen launch sequence gives you continuous feedback since people are enrolling in your course every day, allowing you to test improvements right away instead of waiting for the next launch cohort.

Finally, you don’t want to wait months to get paid again. An evergreen sequence gives you continual cash flow, so you’re not stuck waiting for the next launch and hoping you earn as much as you predict.

And an evergreen launch sequence doesn’t preclude the opportunity of doing a few launches every year to your whole list. It’s just extra income.

So just put up a sales page and let every new subscriber know you’ve got a course for sale, right?

Not so simple.

I know a lot of ways to get evergreen launches wrong because I personally messed them up. After I launched a successful course, I spent the next year eliminating the “kinks from the hose”. The result: a 4x increase in monthly earnings directly attributable to improvements in conversion rate.

I’m going to show you how to do an evergreen sequence right, by telling you what I got wrong, and what I did to fix it.

Don’t Make Your Course Permanently Available

When I first launched my course, I didn’t simply put it up for sale and send an announcement email. I spent weeks building expectation, then I opened the doors, but only for five days.

The result was over 50% of my sales on the last day of the launch. So I knew that scarcity, or giving people a limited time or quantity to buy, was a key element in the success of my launch.

But how would I duplicate that experience for new subscribers without doing manual launches?

• I’d used a countdown timer during the manual launch, but how would I ensure it started fresh for each new visitor to the sales page during an evergreen sequence?
• I’d sent multiple reminders to members of the first launch cohort, but how would I automate those emails without getting out-of-sync, so that when a new subscriber received the “last day” email and clicked through to the sales page, the timer actually displayed the correct amount of time left?
• Finally, how would I explain the limited opportunity to buy to my customers without being dishonest, which could both cost me long term brand equity and also keep me up at night?

It turned out the same timer app I was using at the time also allowed evergreen timers, triggered by a potential customer’s first visit to my sales page. That way, everyone would have four days to buy, from the time they first clicked. (Currently, I recommend plugins like Page Expiration Robot, which integrates seamlessly into WordPress, and can also be embedded via HTML on Teachable’s sales pages.)

That left the problem of reminder emails. Recall that more than 50% of my sales came on the last day of my first launch. But you can’t just plug your live launch-week emails into an autoresponder: if a recipient waits until the “last day reminder” to click to the sales page, he’ll still see a timer with four days left, since the first click  starts the timer.

Luckily it turns out your email provider has a smarter way: the same click that starts the timer on the sales page can also start a new automation sequence in most email services.

If you’re using a “high end” program like Infusionsoft, you can get fancy, allowing the first click on any of multiple links in multiple emails to trigger the reminder sequence – but even Mailchimp has basic automation features that will allow you reap most of the benefits of reminder sequences.

Just set up a second automation workflow triggered by the first link click to your sales page, and put your reminders there. Bottom line, your customers will receive an email that says “last day”, and they’ll click to the sales page and see less than a day left. Mission accomplished.

Technology solves the problem of making a limited opportunity to buy evergreen, but how do you convey that urgency to your subscribers?

Some marketers are outright dishonest – “I’m launching the course next week for the second time ever” – but I prefer honesty. I just tell people my course is only open occasionally, and that I’ll tell them when I open it. The exact language I use in the emails is along these lines:

“Next week I’m opening the course, to a very select group.” [This is true: people only receive this email if they’ve taken very specific actions in my funnel, and it’s a small subset of my overall subscribers.]

“I’ll open the course for four days. Once I close it, I can’t guarantee the price will be this low again.” [Also completely true. I’ve been raising the price gradually, so while it’s possible someone might get two opportunities to buy at the same price, it’s far-from-guaranteed.]

I don’t want to underplay the significance of raising your price gradually. There are a few reasons this is a great idea:

1. It allows you to launch earlier, while the course is still in “beta”, but compensate with a low introductory price, relative to the course’s eventual price.
2. As you improve the value of your course, you’ll also get better testimonials and more satisfied customers, and you can raise the price accordingly.
3. It’s an extremely powerful element of scarcity: it’s often not enough to tell potential customers they have a limited time to buy, because some will figure they’ll just catch it the next time around. You need to be able to claim honestly that the price probably won’t be this low ever again.

Oh, and don’t do sales or discounts. They train people to buy only during a “sale”, and erode the perceived value of your course. (If it were really $497, you wouldn’t be charging $27 for it.) Besides, with the scarcity tools I’ve discussed, they’re unnecessary.

Big takeaways from this section:

1. Don’t make your course permanently available to new subscribers. Use automation tools to give each participant a limited time to buy.
2. Don’t lie, but be clear that the price might never be this low again. Then, raise it! At least occasionally.

Boost Student Dopamine Levels

My work with End of Jobs author Taylor Pearson launching his Teachable course drove home a lesson I thought I’d already learned: you can have the best copy and best automation tech on earth, and translate into sales if potential customers haven’t felt your teaching work for them.

Here’s why that might not be obvious if you’re taking a one-off launch and making it evergreen. You’ve just launched to a “warm” list (a group with a lot of positive experience with your teaching). Now you’re turning around and trying to sell the same thing to “cold” traffic (people who are interested in what you teach, but who don’t yet know you from Adam). But “warming up” your new subscribers can be the difference between a course that sells like gangbusters and one that hardly sells at all.

My own course helps mediocre drummers become great by showing them the critical few things to focus on so they stop wasting their energy and focus.  

By the time a subscriber sees my sales page for the first time, he’s already felt my teaching methods work for him; probably more-than-once, since most of my traffic comes from my free drum videos on YouTube.

Not surprisingly, then, when Taylor and I were testing his course, we found it converted great to the people who had already read the essay the course was based on, and downloaded a weekly planning template to improve their productivity, then were surprised when it didn’t do so well when we turned around and launched it to a “colder” cohort of his list.

“Where did we go wrong?” we asked, scratching our proverbial heads…  

• Same sales page copy for both cohorts…
• Same email copy…
• Stronger – if anything – positioning in the second launch than the first…  

OH – that’s right! The first cohort had all downloaded the template. They’d all felt the method work for them: gotten what Taylor called the “dopamine rush”.

This accomplished 3 things:

1. It let people feel his method working: the dopamine.
2. Those who took the action of “opting in” had made what psychologist and author Robert Chialdini calls a micro-commitment: by taking a small action to express interest in the course they were psychologically more likely to take a bigger action than if we’d just hit them cold with a sales pitch.
3. It allowed us to sell enthusiastically to those who had opted in, because “they signed up for it”.

I now use Taylor’s “dopamine bootcamp” for all my clients, whether they’re launching a course for the first time, or making the launch sequence evergreen.

In its evergreen incarnation, the “dopamine bootcamp” can be an autoresponder. It can even be a lead magnet (an “ethical bribe”) to attract new subscribers to your list. (Your opt-in call-to-action could say “sign up for my Free bootcamp to improve your productivity in just a week”, and require an email address in order to register.)

If I were making the “dopamine week” part of an onboarding sequence (a series of emails a new subscriber receives to acquaint her with your teaching before you hit her up with a sales pitch), I’d send an email like this at the end:

“You’ve felt the system work for you. But you know it’s only scratching the surface. If you’re ready to discover what the complete course can do for you, just click here.”

Finally, I’ve found from selling my own course that including extra “value” emails between and among launch-announcements increased my conversions still more. You can/should experiment with the content and timing of these emails, and it doesn’t hurt if the “value” you’re giving is related to the problem your flagship course solves.

Big takeaways from this section:

1. Give new subscribers as much experience with your teaching (of the type you’ll cover in your course) as possible before pitching the course to them.
2. Consider asking subscribers to make a micro-commitment just to get access to your course pitch email sequence.

Ask

I struggled over which tip to include as my third in this essay. I thought it important to mention that automating more than one launch to new subscribers nearly doubled my earnings.

So do that: for everyone who doesn’t buy at his/her first opportunity, give 3-4 weeks of valuable content, then launch again. After two opportunities, subscribers can be tagged as “seasonal launch”, and you can live-launch to them a few times per year. (You’ll need a second sales page since the timer on the first will have expired.)

But more important is the process I used to arrive at revelations like the above. And Taylor’s launch drove it home: when you’re taking a course and making it evergreen, certain things that worked in the live launch are not going to work anymore.

After Taylor and I converted launched successfully to his “warm” cohorts, we suffered a disappointing result when we tried to roll the course out to a wider audience. Eventually, we identified two primary culprits: the “dopamine” issue I discussed above, and a premature price-rise.

But whatever their cause, you need a quick-and-dirty way to identify the culprits of a low-converting course, and split testing takes time and huge data sets. A reliable-but-underutilized way to discover why people aren’t buying is to ask them.

Taylor and I used three staples that worked wonders for me in selling my own course, and which I now use with all my clients: the “why didn’t you buy” email, the “why did you buy” email, and the “why haven’t you bought yet” email.

In an evergreen sequence, you can automate the former to send a day-or-two after the cart close, to people who haven’t bought. I like to use simple, personal language:

Subject: “Can I ask you something?”

Body: “Hey Nate I noticed you checked out my course but decided not to pull the trigger. Just have to ask, was it me? 😉 In all seriousness, I don’t want anybody to join if it’s not a good fit, but I’m curious – why did you decide not to join this time around?”

Here are the responses you’re looking for:

• I couldn’t understand exactly what was involved/I had unanswered questions. [This hints that your copy and positioning aren’t clear.]
• I wasn’t sure it was a fit for my particular problem.
• I never got xyz email, I couldn’t find the link to the sales page or the “buy now” button. [There will be some basic “is it plugged in” logistic issues when you’re first making a launch sequence evergreen.]

Here’s the type of response you should dig deeper on:

• You were too “salesy”, you did something wrong from a marketing standpoint. [Dig deeper by asking if you improve the messaging if the person plans to enroll in the future – otherwise it’s likely he/she was never going to buy under any circumstances.]

And here’s the one I always regard with skepticism:

• It was too expensive. [It’s far better to determine pricing with split tests – or just by asking for a certain price and seeing if people will pay – than with surveys. People with zero intention of buying will often cite price as an excuse.]

Noticing a theme? It’s easy to get pulled off course by responses from people who would never buy. You’re looking for responses from potential customers whom you didn’t convince, not non-customers.

No less valuable is the “why did you buy” survey. I like to ask variations of the following questions:

• If you were on the fence, what finally convinced you it was a good fit? [Do more of this.]
• Was there anything in the messaging that dissuaded you from buying, or made it a harder decision? [Do less of this.]

I also ask questions related to improving the product, like “If I had to remove 80% of this course and still charge the same amount, what should I take away”, and “if I had to double the price by adding just one more feature, what would it be?” Responses to these questions will help you increase the value you’re delivering, so you can raise your prices.

Finally, a wasted opportunity in an evergreen launch is a “why haven’t you bought yet” email, especially during the first few months. This accomplishes the same thing as the above emails – revealing problems with positioning/copy/proof/logistics/unanswered objections – but allows you to address them in real time, potentially salvaging a sale before it’s too late.

If you’re willing, offer to get on the phone with people, a move that both earns trust and gives you invaluable insight into how your pitch is going over.

Big takeaways from this section:

1. Instead of guessing which elements of an evergreen funnel aren’t working, ask your subscribers, in 3 emails: “why didn’t you buy”, “why did you buy”, and “why haven’t you bought yet”.
2. Beware of following the advice of people who were never going to buy. Instead, look for problems with positioning, proof your solution works, logistic snafus, and unanswered questions or objections.
3. Be willing to get on the phone with your potential customers, especially early in the process.

You can make your course sales evergreen, but the tech is the easy part. The key going in is to understand that it’s going to be an inherently sloppy process of trial-and-error. You’ll have some weeks or months when you’re not sure it’s working. But keep executing on the strategies:

• Give people time to warm up to you, and hits of “dopamine” – so they can feel your teaching working – before hitting them with a sales pitch.
• Ask people why they bought, and why they didn’t buy, and incorporate the results into your pitch and product.
• As your course improves, raise your prices gradually, and be honest with your subscribers that you’re raising it, to make scarcity work for you fully.

The payoff will be huge. My current course is silently earning-in-the-background, paying my bills and giving me a chance to focus on deploying what I’ve learned to help other entrepreneurs.

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

If you’ve ever been to a party where you didn’t know anyone, you’ve probably experienced the awkwardness of standing on the sidelines. Usually, what determines if you end up heading home early or sticking around is simple: whether or not someone makes an effort to invite you into the conversation. Online communities are no different. Read on for tips on how to write engagement copy for your online community.

Inviting community members into the conversation

When your members first join, they’re similar to that lone guest at a party—except sometimes, none of them know each other. As the community builder, or “host,” you can help your members get situated by being that friendly face who invites them into the fold.

This is usually done through prompts: short-form engagement copy posted by the online community builder to help set the tone and invite new voices into the conversation. There’s a bit of an art to writing engagement prompts, and in this article, we’ll break down some of the core elements that make great ones.

Use a genuine, casual tone

The tone you use when writing your blog or newsletter for your business versus texting your friends is different. Just like any medium, writing prompts will require you to hone a particular tone you’ll use when writing in that channel. This can vary depending on the context of the community, but usually a casual, conversational, and positive tone is appropriate.

If you’re an experienced writer, you may find it easy to switch between writing in different tones. If not, it can be challenging to spot the elements of writing that influence tone. Here are a couple of examples of how you can keep your writing friendly and conversational:

• Use contractions when possible: replace “I am” with “I’m,” etc.
• Use simple, straightforward language: replace “commence” with “start”; “utilize” with “use”
• Write to “one person”: replace things like “I wanted to let our community members know…” with “I wanted to let you know…”

With practice, you’ll get the hang of writing in this style, and it’ll start to feel natural. Remember—this writing style should feel approachable and inviting but not immature. Avoid leaning on things like excessive emojis, exclamation marks, or informal acronyms.

Give context

Short-form engagement copy for your online community should always include some context to help members get situated before they respond. This can also help members who aren’t up to speed. Think of this as if you were chatting to someone new, and you wanted to ask them a question about a TV show you were watching. You’d first ask them if they’d seen the show. If not, you’d probably explain the plot before moving on with the conversation.

Giving context can be as simple as providing a couple of sentences of information in your own words before asking a question, or it can mean linking to a short article or video that members should look at before responding. Just remember to keep the context short—they should be able to read the post and be ready to respond within a minute or two.

Linking to long or complicated context, or introducing totally new ideas in your prompts may cause members to get lost or confused. If you find yourself wanting to do this, that could mean it’s a great candidate for a workshop or guest speaker within your community.

Include a “call to connection”

You’ve probably heard of a “CTA” or “call to action”—the button on a page or email that asks readers to take some action (like subscribing to your newsletter or buying your product) after providing valuable information. The best community engagement posts have this, but we refer to them as a “call to connection.” Basically, a call to connection is just a question you ask members to invite them into the conversation. A call to connection should specify how you would like members to respond (i.e., by commenting, creating a post, or registering for an event).

As a rule of thumb, community posts usually have a single call to connection. Many community builders make the mistake of asking members a long list of related questions in a single post. This will usually overwhelm members and cause them to lose interest. Try to pick the most relevant or engaging question, and save the others for future posts (Pro tip: Keep a spreadsheet of questions or topics you’d like to post about that you add to continuously).

Lead with value

Your goal with any engagement copy for your online community is to draw people into a conversation. But, don’t forget that the goal of engagement is to create value for your members and your business. Don’t try to to garner engagement for engagement’s sake. Many community builders accidentally fall into the trap of “stirring the pot” in their communities. Or they create controversial, “click-bait-y” prompts that may be designed to get lots of interaction, but don’t deliver actual value.

A good way to avoid this is to imagine what the thread you’re starting would look like if only five people respond. Is there enough to discuss with a small number of people? Does the prompt leave room for responses that are relevant enough that a member who doesn’t respond might find value from reading them? Using open-ended questions (like “what do you think about x?” or “how would you approach y?”) are more effective than closed questions with single answers.

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Annotated example

Now that we’ve explored some best practices for creating engagement prompts for your community members, let’s take a look at an example prompt for Teachable’s own community, teachable:hq. In this example, we’ll imagine the community manager is trying to start a conversation around email marketing.

Hey, teachable:hq! Happy Friday. I wanted to start a conversation about something I hear you talking about a lot here: email marketing. Email marketing is a really important way to build an audience for your online course and help them get to know you before you try to sell anything, but it can be hard to get subscribers.

A strategy I know a lot of you use is lead magnets (or, giving something valuable away for free in exchange for an email address). Today I wanted to ask you to share your most popular lead magnet in the comments (plus, why you think it’s so successful). Excited to read through these and see what patterns emerge!  

Let’s break down this example a bit:

• Casual tone, simple language, contractions where possible, and addresses a single reader
• Shares context that explains what “email marketing” and “lead magnets” are to any readers who may not know
• Clearly invites members into the conversation, and gives them one single action to take (share their most popular lead magnet and explain why they think it worked), and explains where/how (in the comments)
• Valuable even to those who don’t respond. It’s easy to imagine some readers may not yet have a lead magnet or email list, but they’ll still gain value from reading the responses of those who do.

Final thoughts

Now that we’ve walked through how to create effective engagement copy for your online community, you may be wondering how often you should be posting things like this. The answer is a bit flexible—it depends on how frequently you want members to visit your community. Usually, especially near the inception of a new community, your posting cadence should mirror the habit you want your new members to build.

However, before you assume that every community wants members to visit daily, return to what we learned about leading with value. Don’t just focus on garnering a high volume of engagement for its own sake. Instead, think about what type of engagement style will add the most value.

There are many scenarios where a community’s membership may be extremely busy. In this case, it might be helpful to assume they’ll visit the community once a week. On the other hand, some communities require daily practice of a new skill, where you might expect members to visit more often.

Engage with intention

Overall, it may be helpful to keep in mind that it’s absolutely OK to take breaks from your posting schedule. Most communities display noticeable seasonality in their engagement patterns. For example, they’ll tend to slow down during the summer or around the holidays.

As a community leader, letting your members know you’re taking a break to recharge with your family, and encouraging them to do the same can actually be a powerful way to build trust and a genuine connection with them. “Always on” isn’t realistic for anyone, and our communities should reflect that.

Lastly, it’s important to keep in mind that every prompt you create is a small test that can help you learn more about what resonate with your community. If you do these multiple times a week, you can learn a lot. In addition to these practices, you’ll also be testing what topics interest them. This could give you some great, pre-validated ideas for your next course launch. Good luck, and happy engaging!

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

There are many different types of online communities to consider to support your business. We believe in the value of community so much at Teachable that we just launched an online community option to incorporate into your business. And established companies like Atlassian, Salesforce, and ConvertKit have long invested in popular online communities, too.

While online communities supporting businesses are hardly new, in recent years, factors like cultural fatigue from traditional broadcast marketing, more businesses focused on mirco-niches, and yes, a global pandemic, have ushered in a renewed focus on building online communities for brands big and small. Especially in the creator economy space, communities have gone from a nice-to-have add on to a central part of many businesses.

That’s exactly why we’ve built a new way to create meaningful connections between your students (and them with you) with our community product. Now you can build an online community for your students alongside your courses, coaching, digital downloads, and memberships and support your business in a brand new way.

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A community for all

Communities show up in a number of different ways. And each can be different depending on the outcome, audience, and goal. One might look like professional communities that connect people by industry or offer networking opportunities. One could also be a social community to encourage connection and widen social networks. Meanwhile, a customer community or brand community unites people through a shared emotional connection to a brand identity.

Creating a community keeps your audience engaged in between launches. It offers a sounding board for testing new ideas and offerings and adds value to existing offerings by helping your students find solutions with community leaders or members.

Creating a sense of community can be achieved within social media platforms by starting a group and posting engaging content. Before you create a community, it’s essential to find the right community platform that works for you and is accessible for your students.

Because of the potential size and breadth of a new community project, for creators considering starting one, it’s helpful to choose a specific strategy you can rely on to maintain focus and optimize your results. Here, we’ll be walking you through four different types of online communities that are effective for business owners operating in the creator economy space.

Online communities: From buzz-word to big reward

Before we dive into strategies, let’s establish some common language. Community can mean a lot of things. We can use it to talk about our neighborhood, our hobbies or common interests, and our identities. Brands use this word in multiple ways, too—especially lately, as it’s become a buzzier topic.

Sometimes when brands talk about “their community,” they’re talking about something concrete, and sometimes they’re referring to their audience more broadly. Neither is exactly right nor wrong (and there’s a lot that’s already been said on this topic), but for now, let’s just say: When we talk about communities, we’re talking about a concrete space you create for your members to interact with each other. (If you’re interested in digging deeper into this topic, The Community Club’s Capital C Framework for communities is helpful).

Getting specific about language is important not because it draws lines around what is and isn’t a “real” community, but because it lets us choose the right strategies to suit our use case. But, getting tactical enables us to measure things. Measuring things allows us to optimize our efforts. And optimizing our efforts is what ultimately yields rewards.

Different types of communities

In the community world, experts break down different types of communities in a couple of ways. First, they look at if a community enhances a product (i.e., community members get access by being a customer or audience member) or if a community is the product (i.e., customers pay to access the community, and it’s where the core value lives).

Next, they often look at purpose—what communities offer. A popular way to break this down is to compare a support or product community (i.e., a place where members can ask an expert questions) to a community of practice (i.e., a place where members build skills together).

For the creator economy space, most communities are going to be a variation on the community as a product model. They’ll become a part of your core offering—a part of the value you charge for when you sell information. Similarly, most creator economy communities will also be communities of practice. We’ll dive a bit deeper into the different types of online communities than these two dichotomies to give you four examples of some of the most popular kinds of community within the space.

Communities that let students practice skills and get feedback

Many creators report that while students join their courses with the best of intentions to learn a new skill, it can be challenging to maintain the dedication to actually practice. What’s more, even with the best instructional content, students can sometimes get stuck and need personalized feedback to progress.

This poses a couple of challenges for course creators. First, because feedback requires personalized attention to a unique problem versus broad advice on common problems, it’s really hard to scale. This type of community structure—one that’s optimized to allow students to practice skills and get feedback from one another—can address this challenge.

Second, many business owners find they’re able to build a more sustainable business when they build multiple things for the same small group of people (like an introductory course and then a more advanced course) versus relying on bringing in new customers in order to grow.

With a community of feedback and practice, you can ensure that your students are successful enough that they’re primed to continue learning. Try bringing in other experts in your focus area for feedback residencies or set up a mentorship program to connect advanced students with beginners.

Who it’s for:

• Creators who teach physical or creative skills (like art, music, or writing) that are usually developed through practice in social settings
• Those who want to create and sell multiple “levels” of courses to a small audience
• Creators who want to scale “feedback” as they grow

Who’s doing it well:

• Tomlin Leckie of tomlinharmonicalessons.com
• No-code product development community Makerpad (This is an example of community as standalone product—they were recently acquired by automations tool Zapier.)

What to measure: Look for increased course completions and repeat purchases from the same customers at multiple levels

Communities that give real-time structure to a self-paced experience

Suppose you have a really awesome, evergreen course. But, you find students simply have a better experience going through it (and are more likely to finish) when you help hold them accountable.

Building a community element into your course is a great way to instantly transform it from a self-paced, evergreen course to a cohort-based-course.

Try simple things like posting progress checks-in the community, doing an end-of-week live Q&A, or starting feedback threads for independent work to add a sense of structure to an otherwise pre-recorded course.

As a bonus: Cohort-based courses have a higher perceived price point than do self-paced courses, so this is a great opportunity to update your prices accordingly.

Who it’s for:

• Creators who want to raise the value of an existing evergreen course
• Creators who want to increase the likelihood their students will finish courses

Who’s doing it well:

What to measure: Increased course completions; the ability to charge at a higher price point. Note: We recommend doing some user research before launching your new price to hone in on perceived value by adding a community.

Communities that let you access an expert

While some of the previous community examples we looked at may be beneficial for a creator’s entire student base, some creators also use communities as a way to create exclusive, “inner circle” access to a specific expert. This is especially true for businesses that center around a specific person more than a specific subject matter.

In these scenarios, creators may be looking to scale their ability to have close relationships with students, while still maintaining community as a top tier, exclusive offering that expands possible price points above and beyond what’s possible for a single, standalone course purchase. Try running mastermind calls or other real-time offerings that expand access to the expert.

Who it’s for:

• Consultants or any creators whose main value prop is direct access to their expertise
• Creators who are interested in offering multiple access tiers or adding community as a private, exclusive-access add-on to a course

Who’s doing it well:

• The Smart Passive Income (SPI) Community

What to measure: Conversions to a higher access tier; monthly recurring revenue between stand-alone course purchases (if using a subscription model)

Communities that add value between launches

There’s no feeling like running a successful launch for a new course or product. Especially for full-time creators relying on course sales as a stable course of income, the launch paradigm can make it hard to predict your income between launches. But, that doesn’t mean you have nothing to offer your students in between major new course launches.

Some creators use an additional subscription to their community to continuously provide value to their students in between major drops of new content—and to provide themselves with a steadier source of income.

Try using your community as a testing ground for new content as you develop your next big product. Monthly workshops, exclusive guides, or challenges are great content styles to test out.

Who it’s for:

• Those looking to create a more stable source of income in between major launches
• Creators who are trying to transition from just one or two courses to a membership or marketplace model with lots of courses
• Creators who want a place to test and validate content before devoting time to developing a whole course

Who’s doing it well:

What to measure: Monthly recurring revenue, the effectiveness and popularity of content you launch in community as you develop new courses

And as always remember: A strong community strategy can help take your online course business to new heights.

FAQs

What are examples of online communities?

Some examples of online communities include a professional community that connects people by industry and/or offers networking opportunities; a social community to encourage connection and widen social networks; and a customer community or brand community that unites people through a shared emotional connection to a brand identity.

What are the best online communities?

The best online communities help their members find solutions and meet the needs of the community. Communities add value to your existing offerings, while keeping your audience engaged in between launches.

How do you find online communities?

While online communities supporting businesses are hardly new, in recent years, factors like cultural fatigue from traditional broadcast marketing, more businesses focused on mirco-niches, and yes, a global pandemic, have ushered in a renewed focus on building online communities for brands big and small. Especially in the creator economy space, communities have gone from a nice-to-have add on to a central part of many businesses. This means you can find them on social media, hosted by some of your favorite brands or leaders, professional associations, and more.

Want more on community? Whatever model you do choose, if you’re looking to create a customized community launch framework (everything from choosing software to activating your members), Noele has got you covered there, too. Her lean community launch framework is a great way to strategize for a new community, even if you have a small team—or even a team of one.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

Ebooks are underrated marketing tools for online businesses. Creators can make ebooks at a relatively low cost and sell them or offer them for free as a lead magnet. However, to get all the benefits that come with them, you’ll need to get your book in front of the right audience. In other words, you need to have a strong ebook marketing strategy.

If you’ve created an ebook and it’s not getting as many views or downloads as you’d like, these ebook marketing strategies can help.

What is an ebook?

An ebook is simply an electronic book. You can download ebooks and read them online via your laptop, tablet, phone, Kindle, or other device.

Many authors and creators write ebooks because they’re usually easier and more cost-effective to create and publish online. Publishing a physical book comes with extra costs like inventory, printing, and shipping.

Anything can be an ebook, including novels. Many indie authors begin by self-publishing long-form books online first. However, most creators make short-form ebooks (between 5,000-25,000 words) that focus on a specific topic. They usually sell them and make some ongoing income or they offer them for free to generate leads for their business.

For example, Julia McCoy teaches courses on writing and coaches content creators. She runs Content Hackers and has several ebooks that focus on the topics she knows best. Her Content Writer’s Handbook includes tips on writing for blogs, email, social media, and other platforms.

How ebooks help creators

There are many benefits that come with creating an ebook. But, these are the three primary reasons creators should consider ebooks:

• Demonstrate your expertise and authority: A lot of work goes into creating a book, but it also documents your knowledge.
• Make money online: In the U.S., there was over $1.1 billion in ebook sales revenue last year. Like other digital products, creators can make money online by offering their knowledge in book format. Although, how much you make varies.
• Generate leads: An ebook can help you generate leads, primarily by collecting an email in exchange for downloading free content. If your content is valuable to your audience, they’ll be more than willing to sign up for your email list, re-engage, and possibly buy a product later.

How to market an ebook: 12 ebook marketing strategies

There are many tactics you can use to promote a book, but the most effective strategies for you depend on your budget, niche, and audience. These tips for how to market an ebook can help you get started at little to no cost.

1. Set yourself up for success

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of marketing an ebook, it’s important to understand what makes an attractive ebook. No amount of promotion will help if the core product is not interesting to your target audience.

Here are some general ebook tips that will help you set yourself up for success:

• Verify your topic: Think about the questions your audience often asks you or the pain points they’re experiencing. Do you have the expertise to help them? If so, it could be a strong idea for an ebook.
• Tap into trends: View sites like Exploding Topics or Google Trends to discover in-demand topics.
• Use a compelling title: A good ebook title is straightforward and gets people curious to learn more.
• Create an eye-catching cover: People judge books by their cover, even though we try not to.
• Include imagery that reflects your brand: Design influences 94% of first impressions, so you’ll need a strong design for your ebook. There are many tools to create ebooks or you can work with a freelance designer to craft a visually appealing book.

You’ll also need to create a high-converting landing page that houses your ebook. Include a preview of the book with images, a short list of what they’ll learn or accomplish by reading, and a form with a call-to-action (CTA) button. Your CTA will vary depending on if you’re selling or offering it for free.

If you use Teachable, you can easily upload and sell an ebook by using our digital downloads feature.

2. Include original research if possible

If you have the resources, produce original data and research for your ebook. Statistics are some of the most popular types of content that people share naturally. People often link back to websites and sources within their own content, so they’re likely to share your findings.

For example, let’s say you offer online courses and run a community of thousands of freelancers. You could conduct an annual study on freelancer rates, income, and more. Then, package up your findings in an ebook that includes charts, graphs, and other visuals that support your data.

3. Partner with a like-minded creator or brand

You’ll likely promote your ebook among your existing audience, which may include your social media followers, email subscribers, course students, or your personal network. Although your audience is more likely to be engaged and cares most about your content, your reach is probably limited.

Alternatively, you can co-author your book. When you partner with other brands or creators, you can tap into their audiences as well. Each partner should promote the book within their network.

Partners might also provide resources and expertise that supplement your own, which can improve the overall quality of your content. For example, the Content Marketing Institute partnered with MarketingProfs for its annual State of B2B report. Both organizations have similar audiences (marketers) and collaborated on gathering survey data and content.

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Partnering can be a mutually beneficial relationship that helps you promote your book at little to no extra cost. However, each partner should provide value by sharing expertise, data, marketing responsibilities, or other assistance.

4. Send books to influencers for review

Trends like #BookTok have exploded with over 150 billion views on TikTok. Although #BookTok is most associated with novels and physical books, you can apply similar tactics for your ebook marketing.

Of course, you don’t want to spam influencers in unrelated industries and ask them to review your book. However, some influencers within your niche or others who have read your book and liked it may be open to doing a review on social media.

There are also several platforms that have influencer programs, where book reviewers can sign up and get paid to share book reviews. Some sites like Booksprout and Booksirens.

5. Add your book to review sites

Outside of influencers, you could also raise awareness for your ebook by leveraging current readers. Reviews are incredibly valuable for authors. If you offer your book on Amazon, you can view reviews there. However, you may also want to make sure it appears on sites like Goodreads, Storygraph, and Reedsy Discovery.

You can even reuse some for testimonials on your website to increase your conversions.

6. Pair your ebook with an online course or coaching program

If you’ve hosted online courses or coaching services, you’ve likely created tons of written resources to support your programs. It might make sense to compile those learning materials into a short ebook. You also probably have an engaged, built-in audience who may be interested in having some resources all in one book format.

Many creators create ebooks to support their other products, especially courses, and vice versa. For example, JoClub hosts live journaling sessions and sells journaling prompts.

The idea is not to overwhelm your students or clients by promoting your book. However, repurposing your content into different formats can add value to them, and help you reach other audiences.

7. Use video marketing

Video marketing is not only more effective than ever but it’s also expected. According to a Wyzowl survey, 91% of consumers prefer branded content in video format.

Also, 96% of people look for videos to research a product or service, and 80% say it influenced their buying decision. Including video in your ebook marketing strategy can help people get to know you and your expertise better.

Share excerpts and learnings from your ebook in short-form videos. For example, if you wrote a guide on Figma for web developers, feature a few of the tips, projects, and tools that you mention. Instead of trying to cover everything in one long video, break it up into a series of shorter videos. Then, post it to your most active social media channels. You might want to consider Instagram Reels, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts.

8. Host a social media book club

Another way that you can leverage social media is by hosting a book club or community. You can create a community or run an informal live Q&A for your existing audience. You’ll want to give your audience enough time to read ahead and prepare discussion questions.

Alternatively, you can partner with a book club or group that aligns with your niche. For instance, if you wrote a finance book, you could partner with a group like Female Invest as a guest speaker.

9. Promote it in your newsletter

Email marketing has one of the highest rates of engagement while being cost-effective. On average, email marketing generates $36 for every $1 you spend.

It’s also one of the best channels for distributing content and sharing updates like a new ebook. For one, you don’t have to pay to get your message in front of your audience. They’ve signed up for your emails, so it’s free to communicate and you don’t have to compete as much for their attention as you do on social media.

Someone who is subscribed to your newsletter is much more likely to be interested in your book than a complete stranger. To build your email list, you should first set up a newsletter sign-up form on your website.

Teachable creator Aliza Kelly includes a sign-up form that’s easy for a visitor to fill out with their name and email address. She also includes a short sentence on why they should sign up and what they’ll get in their inbox. If you use Teachable, you can integrate email marketing platforms like Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, and others to host your newsletter.

You can also host your newsletter for free on a platform like Substack, with the option to make a newsletter for paying subscribers.

10. Create excitement with a waitlist and launch event

If you have an engaged audience, it might be fun to include them in the behind-the-scenes or making of your ebook. It can also drum up excitement for your book before it’s released. You can begin collecting pre-orders for your book before it’s available on your launch date.

However, remember to put it all in perspective for your audience. How will your ebook bring them value? What will it change in their lives? Of course, releasing an ebook you put time and effort into is important for you. But, your audience will want to know how it can help them and why they should care.

Let’s say you created an ebook on planning weddings. You could create a wedding-themed launch event or market. Then, partner with local wedding vendors and caterers and invite soon-to-be brides from your audience to attend. You’re promoting your book, but you’re also creating an experience that can also help your audience plan for their own weddings.

11. Develop SEO articles

If you can appear at the top of the search results for relevant searches or keywords, you can increase your website traffic and brand visibility for free. Organic search makes up about 23% of all site traffic for most sites.

Search engine optimization or SEO is structuring and improving your content and entire website so that it’s more likely to appear on the first page of search results. You’ll focus on searches your target audience will most likely make.

For example, if your expertise is in building products, you might create content around topics or keywords like:

• Product management
• How to become a product manager
• Product-market fit

Similarly, someone who focuses on helping creators grow their YouTube channels, might create content like:

To discover topics your audience is interested in, review frequently asked questions or pain points. Then, brainstorm a list of relevant keywords related to those. From there, you can look at the monthly search volume—how many people search a word or phrase each month—with tools like Ahrefs. You’ll also want to view the keyword difficulty—how competitive or hard it is to rank for the term.

Writing blog articles can also help you build a foundation for a full ebook. Each blog could be a mini-chapter or outline.

12. Run paid ads

Running paid ads on Google search or social media (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) can expand your audience and help you reach new potential customers. However, they can also be quite expensive, especially if you’re an independent creator.

Paid ads are PPC or pay-per-click advertising, so you’ll pay for each click regardless of if someone buys your book. If you have experience with paid marketing or the budget to run ads efficiently, then it can be worth it.

You may want to hold off until you’ve tested other organic channels. Then, you’ll have a better understanding of what messages, content, and designs resonate best with your audience.  

With Teachable, it’s easier than ever to create an ebook and other digital downloads. You don’t need to know how to code or build a website. To get started, all you need to do is sign up with a free or paid plan. Then, you can upload your ebook, sell it, or offer it for free on your website.

FAQs

How long should an ebook be?

You’ll usually measure the length of an ebook by word count rather than by page. The length of an ebook varies based on the genre and purpose.

For example, if you’re self-publishing a novel on Kindle, it will likely be around the same length as a print edition. That’s typically 50,000 to 75,000 words. A children’s book is much shorter and has more illustrations than words.

Short ebooks are what you usually see as lead magnets. They’re typically a few pages and 2,500 to 7,500 words long.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

TikTok Money Calculator is a great way to calculate your potential earnings as an influencer and content creator. There are so many ways TikTok allows its creators to monetize their content, but the numbers can vary greatly.

So, if you’re new to working with brands and monetizing your content, using a tool like the TikTok Money Calculator can help you get a better sense of what’s the baseline for your earnings and how much more you need to grow to increase your earnings as well.

TikTok Money Calculator

Use our TikTok Money Calculator to find out your average engagement and earnings:

What is the TikTok Money Calculator?

TikTok Money Calculator is a tool designed to help creators calculate their estimated earnings from their TikTok account, based on their average engagement rate and the number of followers. It’s not an official TikTok software, and its goal is to provide creators with potential guidelines for making money with their accounts.

If you’re new to working with brands on sponsored posts, then using the TikTok Money Calculator can be extremely useful. It allows you to get a better grasp of the market and see how much you can make on this social media platform.

You can use the estimated earnings to help you set your rates for sponsored posts, and UGC content, and see how much of your services and products you can expect to sell.

How does the TikTok Money Calculator work?

The way our calculator works is fairly simple. You can use your TikTok username or put the numbers in yourself to calculate the estimates. It analyzes your average engagement rate based on your follower count, the total number of videos you posted, and how many likes you have.

Then, based on your average engagement rate, the TikTok Money Calculator compares the data with other TikTok influencers who have a similar audience size to you and a similar engagement rate to see how much they earn.

Based on all of that information, the calculator can give you an estimate of how much you can expect to earn with your TikTok account.

How accurate is the TikTok Money Calculator?

Our TikTok Money Calculator gives you an estimate of how much you can potentially make from the TikTok Creator Fund and the industry average for sponsored content.

It’s important to note that TikTok Money Calculator only gives you estimated earnings based on the number of your followers as well as your engagement rate.

How much money you can make with your TikTok account will depend on many factors that the TikTok Money Calculator can’t take into consideration like niche, country, and audience location, your personal brand. And these things can greatly impact your earnings.

As a content creator, your rates and sales numbers, as well as other monetization methods can vary greatly, depending on how you run your business:

• Brand partnerships: as a TikTok influencer you can work directly with brands and produce sponsored posts for them, and you choose your rates yourself, which can be very different from other influencers in your niche and even similar to your size in the audience.
• Selling a product or service: you might have an online course or a digital product you can promote and make sales through TikTok, which is also highly individual and depends on the connection you have with your audience and how well your sales funnel is set up.
• Earnings from Live videos: you have a way to earn money during Lives when your audience sends you virtual gifts that you can later redeem for cash, which is also difficult to estimate because it can depend greatly on the relationship you have with your audience.
• Earnings outside TikTok: the calculator doesn’t take into consideration videos on your other social media profiles and earnings that might come from them, it only focuses on TikTok exclusively.

What factors are considered by the TikTok Money Calculator?

TikTok Money Calculator takes a few different factors into consideration when giving you an estimate of your earnings:

Follower count

The first metric is the follower count. The size of your audience is an important measure that determines how much you can expect to make from brand sponsorships.

Roughly, here’s how much you can expect to make depending on the size of your audience from a single sponsored post:

• Nano influencers (<10,000 followers): $50-$300
• Micro-influencers (10K-50K followers): $300–$1,250
• Mid-tier influencers (50K-200K followers): $1,250–$3,500
• Macro influencers (200K-1M followers): $3,500–$12,000
• Celebrities (1M+ followers): $12,000+

The more TikTok fans you have and the bigger your audience, the more you can earn. However, follower count is not the only metric.

Audience engagement

The second metric we use to calculate your estimated potential earnings is your average engagement rate. It’s a very important metric that many brands pay attention to, sometimes even more than they do to the follower count.

The audience engagement consists of the number of likes your videos receive, as well as comments and video shares. Higher engagement means a more emotionally involved audience, which translates into more sales.

As you’re growing your TikTok account, you should spend a lot of time focusing on increasing your audience engagement as that will be the best way to increase your potential earnings. You can do that by creating high-quality videos and ensuring that they’re valuable to your target audience.

In the future, it might be that TikTok will also allow TikTok influencers to earn money from running ads on their videos, in a similar fashion to YouTube. YouTube has allowed the creators who create Shorts on their platform to earn money from the ads that play in between the Shorts.

It proved that it’s possible for creators to monetize their content this way. And we have seen that TikTok has been very fast to change and adapt and roll out more ways for the creators to monetize their content.

If they do follow in YouTube’s footsteps and allow creators to monetize the ads, the average engagement rate of their videos might become an even more important metric when calculating earnings.

Industry average rates

And lastly, the TikTok Money Calculator takes the industry average rates for sponsored content, product sales as well as the earnings from the Creator Fund to give you an estimate of your earnings.

This metric is very vague, because each influencer, their sponsored content rates, and sales, as well as how much they get paid from the Creator Fund can be very individual.

What is the difference between the TikTok Money Calculator and other engagement calculators?

Well, TikTok Money Calculator gives you a more in-depth look into your potential earnings. You get an estimate of your earnings which then can allow you to set your rates and calculate how much sales you can expect to make at the current state of your account.

And, you might even use it to see how much you could potentially earn as your account grows as all TikTok users, not only influencers with huge audiences can use it.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

Remember a few months ago when all you seemed to hear about was TikTok being banned? TikTok mania has definitely died down in the Capitol, but state-level bans are heating up and the legal challenges mean the fate of the social media behemoth is in judges’ hands.

TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, faced intense scrutiny from bipartisan lawmakers in Congress over security and privacy concerns. Congress and nearly half of all states have passed laws banning TikTok on government devices and in May, Montana became the first state to attempt an all-out ban.

What’s in the restriction?

Montana’s law prohibits the downloading of TikTok and fines all app stores and TikTok $10,000 per day for each time a person is given a chance to access the social media platform or download the app. There’s no penalty for users, but experts raised concerns about the practicality of enforcing the law and, several creators joined TikTok in suing the state to maintain access to the app.

The law is set to go into effect in January 2024, and content creators have asked a judge to prevent the implementation of the ban until they have time to take their challenge through the court system. Interestingly enough, TikTok is paying for the creators’ lawsuit.

“Many creators have expressed major concerns both privately and publicly about the potential impact of the Montana law on their livelihoods,” Jodi Seth, a spokeswoman for TikTok, told the New York Times. “We support our creators in fighting for their constitutional rights.”

The ruling in the Montana case is expected to serve as a bellweather for larger efforts to ban the app. If the judge rules in favor of the creators’, it could stifle other efforts. But, if the judge sides with Montana, it could create a precedent for a nationwide crack down, if Congress decides to pursue it. Which, is a big, if.

What’s the latest?

Congress’s hearings about TikTok sparked tons of speculation that a ban was imminent, largely because it seemed to be a rare moment of bipartisanship. But, those hearings were four months ago and not much has happened since and lawmakers have since turned their attention to the threat of artificial intelligence.

TikTok’s also invested a lot of money in fighting efforts to ban the app. The company’s also tapped former legislators to lobby Congress on their behalf and enlisted the help of content creators to show the massive impact a ban would have in America. And efforts to stop the bans —or at least significantly stall it – seem to be working.

“Congress can’t ban TikTok,” James Lewis, Senior Vice President at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told NY1. “I think this is one of the reasons this has fallen off the rails.”

That doesn’t mean TikTok’s completely safe, though, and it’s possible Congress could take up legislation to ban the app in some capacity later this year. Senator Maria Cantwell is drafting a proposal that would give the White House power to identify perceived national security risks but lets Congress check that power, according to The Washington Post. The bill’s proposal raised speculation that TikTok was the intended target, but a Senate Commerce aide told The Washington Post that Cantwell’s bill was not meant to directly ban TikTok.

Regardless of any plans Congress may have, nothing will be happening for at least a month because legislators have returned home for their scheduled August Recess. And when legislators do return, they’ll likely be tied up with negotiations about defense spending and the potential for a government shutdown, which means, the TikTok ban can is likely to get kicked down the road.

And if a ban does go into effect, expect the legislation to be tied up in legal battles for months, if not longer.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

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Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

People are flocking to Meta’s new social media platform, Threads. However, as of now, it lacks a direct monetization program and some content creators aren’t sure it’ll ever be really profitable.

What is Threads?

Threads, which has been likened to Meta’s version of Twitter, gives content creators a space for text-based content. Its speed race to 118 million users pushed the app to the top of download charts, but the app is showing signs of losing its momentum and many of the content creators who are on Threads are playing the long game. The app currently has no opportunities for content creators to monetize their presence on it and without ad options, brands might not jump at the chance to partner with influencers. Chas Lacaillade, CEO of influencer talent agency Bottle Rocket Management, told CNBC that he’s not sure if Threads will ever get to the point that users can steer their audience to websites where they can sell merchandise or promote their brand.

What do content creators think of Threads?

Sasha Kaletsky, co-founder and managing partner of Creator Ventures, told CNBC that he predicted most content creators are going to wait and see how Threads evolves before investing a lot of time making content on the platform.

“Obviously, as a content creator, this is another time suck for me. I haven’t really gotten much sleep for the last day and a half because I’ve been messing around on Threads,” Haley Kalil, a content creator with 1.7 million followers on Instagram, told Forbes.

Marcel Floruss, a fashion influencer, told CNBC that his content thrives on visuals, so Threads isn’t the best place for him. Having never found value in Twitter, he’s struggling to see how Threads is going to be much different. He’s going to explore the app, but, as of now, he doesn’t see the potential benefit outweighing the work he’ll have to put into Threads.

However, Kalil, who never got into Twitter because her audience wasn’t attracted to it, said her Generation Z following is very much into Threads.

Benefits of Threads

One of the best parts about Threads, though, is how easy it is to gain an instantaneous following. Unlike other social media platforms that force users to start from square one when they join, Threads lets users import their information from Instagram. That includes automatically following the people a user follows on Instagram, so content creators have the potential to start with a solid base of followers.

Catarina Mello, a luxury travel content creator, told Forbes the hype around Threads could hurt content creators who don’t join the platform and start building their brand. Mello said she’s seen a drop in her engagement on Instagram because of people using Threads.

“The past day and a half, it’s been totally crickets on Instagram and I’ve been hearing from other creators as well and they’re wondering if it’s even worth posting here now,” Mello said.

While Threads rejects any comparisons to Twitter, it’s rooted in the same focus on text and photos. Users have 500 characters per thread to get their message across, can tag people using the @ symbol, and repost someone else’s thread by clicking a single button.

Unlike Twitter, there’s no website for people to access the platform on a desktop, and Threads has no hashtag or topics section. It puts emphasis on algorithms to show users content they’re interested in but can make it difficult for content creators to capitalize on a specific trend or try to grow their audience.

“My guess is that there’s going to be a bunch of people that end up being very successful on Threads who you wouldn’t really expect,” Connor Hayes, a Meta product vice president, told The Washington Post. “You might look at them now as a visual content creator, but they have a lot of great things to say they just haven’t had the place to say them. And our hope is that Threads can be that place.”

For most content creators, it’s too early to tell if Threads will be the next big hit or if it’s a flashy jewel that people will get tired of. Those who are likely to thrive on the app are the ones willing to put in the time now for a potential payoff later, whether that be in direct monetization opportunities or growing their audience by reaching new people.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

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Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

To help you get ready for the month ahead we’ve created some motivational wallpapers for your phone and desktop computer. There are few betters ways to start the workday than sitting down, starting your computer up, and being greeted with a beautiful wallpaper background or screensaver.

Every month we’ll have a new inspirational desktop wallpaper for you to use to refresh your workspace and one for your smartphone too. We hope these motivational backgrounds make you a little more excited to sit down and get to work this month on whatever it is you’re creating.

{{wallpapers-component=”/blog-shortcodes/popups”}}

How to download the free motivational wallpapers

Click the CTA bar above. And then enter your email address when prompted. The wallpapers and backgrounds will then download as a zip file that you can open and choose your favorite wallpaper for. Maybe you’ll even use more than one throughout the month!

Inspirational backgrounds made just for you

These inspirational backgrounds are available for you to download above. They include inspirational quotes wallpapers and calendars to help you stay organized and motivated. The motivational wallpapers are perfect for creators looking for that extra push when it comes to working on their online courses, digital downloads, or online coaching.

Your workspace can set the tone for your work. So it’s important for you to feel confident and cheerful while working on all things entrepreneurship relate. Maybe you’re working on getting your online course business up and running. Or maybe you’re just beginning to dabble in creating digital content for your audience to download. Maybe you even feel a little stressed while working on finances.

Whatever it is, having a great wallpaper as the backdrop can becalming and make that little extra difference. Plus, it can offer you inspiration on those days when you’re feeling stuck. Or be a new mantra to keep you in the groove.

You could even offer your audience your own wallpapers that you’ve designed. It could be the opportunity you’ve been looking for to break into selling your first digital downloads. We hope that in offering these wallpapers and backgrounds each month we give you something to lighten up your space that you can look forward to.

Check this blog post each month to get the latest backgrounds and wallpapers. We’ll be updating them at the start of the month. And we’ll be sure to share them each month in our In The Know newsletter that we send each week on Thursdays. To stay up-to-date with the latest Teachable and creator news, and to get the latest wallpapers, be sure to sign up for the newsletter.

Remember, you’ve got everything you need to become the creator you want to be, and for everything else, we’re here to help! Check out more on the blog for great resources as well as our Instagram and Knowledge Base for any support you need using the platform. If you want o learn more about the pricing for Teachable, check out our pricing page, or sign up for a free plan to try it out.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

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Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

The exciting world of video monetization is expanding. It’s not just about YouTube anymore—creators are making their marks (and money) on various platforms. Why is this so exciting?

In this article, we’ll show you the best ways to monetize videos and generate revenue. We’ll also explore how much money you can make, and video monetization platforms beyond YouTube.

What is video monetization?

Video monetization is the process of generating revenue from your video content. This typically involves leveraging different monetization models, allowing your audience—your users—to pay in exchange for video access.

Video is a potential income stream—you can earn money every time someone watches. How much you make depends on your monetization model.  

Video monetization models

Understanding the different models can help you choose the best one for your content, audience, and financial goals. Let’s explore three popular video monetization models: ad-based video-on-demand (AVOD), transactional video-on-demand (TVOD), and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD).

Ad-based video-on-demand (AVOD)

In the AVOD model, viewers access your content for free, and you earn income through advertisements that play within your video content.

• Example: YouTube

The key to AVOD success is to have a large, engaged audience base, as more viewers translate to higher ad revenue.

Transactional video-on-demand (TVOD)

TVOD is like a digital rental or purchase system. Users pay a one-time fee to access a piece of content for a limited period or indefinitely. It’s an excellent model for creators who offer high-value, unique content that viewers are willing to pay for directly.

• Example: Vimeo

Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD)

With SVOD, users pay a subscription—a recurring fee for unlimited access to a library of content. It works well for creators who regularly produce fresh, engaging content.

• Example: Netflix and Hulu

How much do creators earn from video?

As we explore video monetization, you might be wondering, “Just how much can I make from my video content?” Let’s crunch some numbers and look at the creator economy’s current state.

The demand for video content is soaring. Statistics show that:

YouTube may take the crown as the most popular video platform. But it’s not the only player in the game. Platforms like Twitch, Instagram, and TikTok also pay creators a percentage of ad revenue when they have high views and engagement. Plus, creators are taking more control over their earnings by selling their own products—including the video courses you see on Teachable—and keeping the majority of their profit.

Here’s a chart comparing average earnings on some popular video monetization platforms. Remember, these figures can change depending on various factors, so consider this a starting point.

Top video monetization platforms

The platform you choose to monetize your video will impact how much money you make. A platform with a large audience base could mean more exposure but could tough competition or lower payouts. For example, most YouTube creators monetize through ad revenue but YouTube takes a large percentage of earnings.

On the other hand, a niche platform might provide a smaller but more targeted and engaged audience.

The goal is not just to make money, but to sustainably grow your online business in a way that works best for you. Now let’s dive into the top platforms, their pros and cons, and how creators can make money from each.

YouTube

The main source of income through YouTube is ads. To be eligible, you’ll need to join the YouTube Partner Program. You’ll need a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months. For every $100 an advertiser pays, Google pays $55 to the creator.

Ad revenue is not the only way to make money from your YouTube videos though. Many creators look for YouTube sponsorships with brands once they have at least 10,000 subscribers. Brand sponsorships may take a little more work to secure, but they are also more lucrative. Depending on your channel, you could make anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 per video starting out.

If you’re thinking about starting a YouTube channel, consider these pros and cons:

Take the example of the highest-earning YouTube star, MrBeast, who earned $54 million in 2021. His consistent quality content has attracted millions, demonstrating the potential of YouTube when creators focus on sharing their unique perspectives and engaging actively with their audience.

Teachable

With Teachable, creators can monetize video primarily through online courses. As a creator, you can create additional revenue streams by offering coaching and digital products—all within Teachable’s platform.

One of the perks of using Teachable is that you keep more of the profit than you would through ad revenue on other platforms. For example, if you sell a course for $150 each, you’d keep most of the revenue (minus any payment processing and transaction fees).

Finding success on Teachable hinges on offering in-depth, high-quality video courses that provide value to your target audience. Also, marketing consistently and fostering a community around your courses can significantly increase your earning potential.

Examples of creators that have sold courses through Teachable include:

Twitch

Twitch monetizes live-streamed content through ads, subscriptions, and donations. It’s gained popularity in gaming because it offers something that other streaming platforms don’t—live game broadcasts.

Ninja, a famous Twitch streamer, exemplifies the platform’s potential when creators consistently provide captivating content and interact authentically with their viewers, which is vital for success on the platform.

TikTok

The TikTok Creator Fund encourages creators to consistently create content. Regular contributors can make some income, but it’s not as much as what you’d make working directly with brands.

Live streaming is another option to make money on TikTok. With it, your audience can buy coins, which they then gift during your live videos. Much like Twitch, you can convert these gifts into real money. If your follower count exceeds 1,000, you can start live streaming.

The TikTok Creator Marketplace is the platform’s official hub where brands can connect with creators. You can collaborate on advertising content and get paid for your efforts here. However, to join, there are a few prerequisites to keep in mind.

Cameo

Cameo started out with celebrities selling personalized video messages to fans. Celebrities maintain complete control over which requests they accept and make sure every video aligns with their personal brand. Now influencers are hopping on board too.

The platform compensates well for 30-second videos. But to see significant earnings, creators need to produce a large volume of these brief videos. Cameo also presents an opportunity to generate income through its pay-per-message chat feature. For a $19.99 fee, fans can send a short message to their chosen influencer, who, in turn, responds

The actor Brian Baumgartner, known as Kevin from “The Office,” netted over $1,000,000 on Cameo in 2020.

For creators on Cameo, building a recognizable personal brand is essential as you’ll be selling personalized video shout-outs to fans. The more renowned or popular you are, the higher you can set your price.

Patreon

Patreon is like your very own online clubhouse. It’s a place where you can host your content behind a virtual ‘entry fee.’ Your biggest fans pay a subscription fee to get exclusive access.

Keep in mind, the more enticing your exclusive content and perks, the more fans will want to become your patrons.

Patreon is all about offering exclusive content to your subscribers. Success on this platform relies on actively building a strong, loyal fan base and consistently delivering high-quality, unique content that can’t be found elsewhere.

Creator marketing platforms

Creator marketing platforms like #paid act as digital matchmakers between creators and brands looking for promotion.

Video content creators can monetize by creating sponsored content, product review videos, or other user-generated content.

Here are a few noteworthy creator marketing platforms to monetize your video:

How do creators make money with video?

With many options for video monetization at your disposal, it’s essential to understand how they work and how to navigate them effectively. Let’s explore the most popular ways that creators make money with their video content.

Advertising revenue

Advertising is a popular choice for creators to make money from their videos. Video ads can take various forms—pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads, overlay ads, or sponsored cards. The key to increasing ad revenue lies in creating content that keeps your viewers engaged and watching. Remember, the longer they watch, the more ads they will likely see.

While earnings can vary greatly, a creator with a moderately successful channel can make a few hundred to a few thousand dollars monthly from ad revenue alone. A shining example is the popular YouTuber Linus Sebastian of Linus Tech Tips, whose tech videos have amassed billions of views, translating to substantial ad revenue.

Brand sponsorships

Deals can range from product placements and shout-outs to full video sponsorship. Creating content that aligns with your potential sponsors’ brands is essential to land the right sponsorships. For tips on finding brand deals, check out our YouTube sponsorships guide.

Sponsorship earnings are highly variable, depending on your audience size, engagement rate, and the sponsor’s budget.

Video courses

If you’re an expert in a specific field, creating online video courses could be profitable. You curate your knowledge into a comprehensive course, set your price, and earn revenue every time a user pays for your course.

Creating video courses allows you to harness your expertise, connect with your audience, and establish a steady income stream. Teachable is a top platform for this approach, hosting a variety of successful creators.

Pat Flynn, the creator of “Smart Passive Income,” usesTeachable to sell his courses on entrepreneurship.

Get paid with Teachable

With the right tools and mindset, you can create videos and build a sustainable source of income. The path to effective video monetization lies in aligning your passion, knowledge, and audience needs in a way that creates value for all.

Creators use Teachable’s platform to create and sell online video courses and other digital products. See how Teachable can help you monetize your knowledge by testing out a free plan.

Video monetization FAQs

What type of video content can you monetize?

If video content meets the platform’s rules and regulations, you can monetize almost any high-quality, engaging content. Some examples include:

• Online courses
• Product reviews
• Vlogs
• Unboxing videos
• Gaming streams
• Fitness tutorials
• Cooking demonstrations
• Tech tutorials
• Comedy skits
• Travel vlogs
• Educational explainers

How many videos do I need to monetize?

There’s no definitive answer, as it can vary based on the platform. For example, you need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours in the last 12 months on YouTube. However, on platforms like Teachable, you can earn from your first video course.

How can I monetize my videos?

Video monetization takes many forms: advertising revenue, brand sponsorships, subscriptions, and online video courses. The right mix will depend on your content, audience, and personal brand. A fitness trainer might succeed in selling online courses. A gaming enthusiast might prefer using Twitch to earn through brand sponsorships and ad revenue.

Which video platform pays the most to creators?

The payout greatly varies from platform to platform and largely depends on the creator’s content, audience size, and engagement rate. Some creators make a significant income on YouTube due to its massive audience, while others succeed on Teachable, selling online courses. It’s about finding the platform that fits your content style and monetization strategy best.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

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Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

If you practice a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, email marketing likely makes up a significant portion of it. Yet it can be tough for any modern brand to know when it’s spending the right amount of money on email ads, retargeting content, and other email marketing materials. Let’s break down some of the most important email marketing stats of 2023. You can use these steps to shape your future email marketing strategy.

Email marketing revenue will reach $11 billion by 2023

According to Statista, the total revenue brought about by email marketing should reach almost $11 billion by the end of 2023. This prediction is two years old, but it’s still on track to be accurate.

Importantly, this indicates that email marketing has a major role to play in business revenue and advertising success, even if (as some of the statistics below will indicate) it’s less of a role than it was previously.

Daily email use will reach 4.6 billion by 2025

Perhaps expectedly, right now, there are approximately 4 billion daily email users. But that number should increase to 4.6 billion by 2025. Statista indicates, in short, that email users around the world are increasing.

That’s a good thing for brands that still use email marketing, as it means more eyeballs looking at your email marketing materials. But it also means that you’ll need to differentiate your email campaigns from those of your competitors.

Most brands are increasing email marketing budgets

Most brands know the above information. Because of this, most brands are also increasing their email marketing budgets to some extent. According to Litmus, 37% of brands in total are increasing their email marketing budgets. Meanwhile, 1.3% are making cuts.

It’s ultimately up to you which path your business decides to take. But if most of your competitors are doubling down on email marketing, it might be a good idea to do the same, even if it means taking some marketing money from other potential avenues.

Most small businesses use email marketing

The above statistic correlates with Campaign Monitor’s finding that 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach their customers. In other words, most small businesses across industries use email marketing heavily to attract leads and draw new clients to their brands.

This is a surefire sign that your business should be doing the same thing if it isn’t already. Email marketing can be a highly effective tool to get new customers and to keep current customers or clients purchasing or subscribing again and again.

Fewer brands say email marketing is critical

Even with the above statistics, it’s also true that fewer brands now say that their email marketing is “very critical” to their overall business success. Litmus found this in 2021 and noted that it was a significant difference from the 78% that said email marketing was very critical in 2020.

This could represent a shift in how brands think of email marketing. Many businesses might now think of email marketing as a supplementary advertising element meant to work in conjunction with things like social media marketing or other forms of advertising.

For example, those brands might use different forms of digital advertising, like content marketing through blogs or affiliate marketing deals or traditional Google or Amazon PPC ads, which have historically proven successful at increasing brand awareness and profits.

Depending on what your metrics say about your email marketing performance, you may also decide to pivot some of your resources to other marketing avenues.

Yet email engagement continues to rise

But don’t scrap your email marketing budget just yet. Recent studies have shown that 77% of marketers saw an increase in email engagement throughout 2021, and this trend has increased up to the midpoint of 2023. Paradoxically, even though many brands don’t think of email marketing as absolutely critical to their success, email marketing is more engaging to consumers than ever before.

The cause of this could be multi-fold. For example, engagement doesn’t necessarily increase revenue, as a marketing email has to include a link to a product or service for it to directly result in a conversion. But email engagement could still see increased conversion in terms of:

• Brand awareness
• Client loyalty
• Cart reminders
• And more

The best email subject lines are multi-faceted

Most brands that leverage email marketing already know that subject lines are highly important. A bad subject line will usually result in a low open rate. Recent research indicates that the most effective email subject lines:

• Engage curiosity
• Include interesting promotional offers
• Are personalized to recipient interests

This is highly valuable information if you want to include your emails’ open rates in the future.

Email marketing testing yields excellent results

Meanwhile, you should also make heavy use of email marketing testing, including A/B testing, spam testing, and QA testing. Litmus found that brands that used these different testing strategies had a 28% higher return on their investments compared to brands that did not. Test your emails to make sure they are effective before sending them out en masse.

AI could revamp your email marketing strategy

Many studies indicate that artificial intelligence and machine learning could significantly impact email marketing strategies and procedures going forward.

According to HubSpot, 95% of marketers that use generative AI for email creation say that it is effective. 54% say it’s very effective. If your brand isn’t already using AI, you might consider it in the future.

Email marketing is especially important for B2B marketing

If your brand is a B2B or business-to-business company, you need to know that email marketing could be especially important for your advertising strategy. About 81% of B2B marketers say that the most used form of content marketing is email newsletters.

This makes sense to an extent, as email marketing allows you to showcase your brand’s expertise or focus in its industry.

Nearly 16% of emails are missing or caught in spam folders

It’s more important than ever to make sure your emails don’t trigger any spam folders and are targeted precisely for their intended recipients. That’s because about 15.8% of all emails go missing or are caught by spam filters, resulting in wasted advertising effort and money.

Most email views come from mobile

If your email marketing isn’t tailored to mobile users, it should be. That’s because the majority of all email views come from mobile devices, at 41%. Desktop views only comprise 39% of all email views.

Given this fact, you should do what you can to make sure your marketing emails are:

• Easily viewable on mobile devices
• Navigable on mobile devices
• Load quickly on mobile devices, meaning they don’t have excessive graphics or sounds
• And more

All of these steps combined will make your emails more accessible to mobile users and target audience members.

All of the takeaways

As you can see, email marketing is still highly important. Yet at the same time, it’s crucial to design and send your emails to the right people at the right time. The most successful companies use their marketing budgets wisely, leveraging email marketing as a targeted tool instead of a mass advertising method. Keep this in mind when developing your next email marketing strategy to see excellent results.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

Speaking more than one language is incredibly beneficial for content creators because it gives them a way to exponentially grow their audience. With the help of artificial intelligence, even content creators who don’t have an ear for languages can reach a global audience.

While English is widely regarded as the global language, millions–or even billions–of social media users speak a different language. That gives content creators an entirely new segment of the population to market their content to and sell guides or courses to. But, learning a language to the point of fluency is extremely difficult for a lot of people, not to mention time-consuming, which makes translation tools powered by artificial intelligence incredibly useful.

AI language tools for video creators

Generally speaking, there are two different types of language tools content creators can utilize–text translation and voice-over dubbing. Each tool serves a different purpose and, when used in tandem, can make your content incredibly accessible.

At VidCon 2023, YouTube announced plans for a new AI-powered dubbing tool for translating videos and it’s going to be available “at no cost.” This is particularly beneficial for content creators with smaller followings, who might not be able to afford to invest in a costly tool.

Content creators will edit an AI-generated transcription of a video and then YouTube’s tool will automatically translate it into the language the content creator chooses. Once the video is finished, content creators can publish the dubbed content by uploading the audio track onto their original video.

Mr. Beast, who has the most subscribers on YouTube, said the tool “supercharges the heck” out of the video. He told YouTube’s Creator Insider that he opted to keep all videos in a single, multi-language channel because it’s easier for him to manage the content and respond to comments and it’s a better user experience because all of the content is in one place.

He started with Spanish, Hindi, and Japanese dubs because those are some of the most popular languages that are spoken.

“If you do the top 15 languages, you can reach basically 90 percent of the world,” Mr. Beast told Creator Insider. “Most of the world doesn’t speak English, so if you make content in English, most of the world can’t watch your videos. The second you do videos in every language, your potential reach is 5x-6x [greater].”  

While YouTube’s tool doesn’t have lip reanimation yet, creators plan to make the feature available in the future. Creators wishing to use Aloud should join the waitlist using this online form.

Dubbing videos isn’t a new concept, it’s been around for years. But, older technology struggled to successfully sync lip movements with the voice-over, which made the videos visually unappealing and difficult to watch. Fortunately, technology has made leaps and bounds, and tools are now able to synchronize an image with new sounds so that a person’s lip movements match the new language they’re speaking. And, as time goes on, the tools are going to continue to improve, making it easier and easier for content creators to increase access to their content.

YouTube isn’t the only dubbing program out there. Other tools include Rask AI, Vidby and LOVO AI, which offer the option to specify emotions, giving content creators an added connection to their audience.

Adam Waheed, a content creator with an average of 50 million views per video, works with a company called Deeptune to translate and dub his content. His videos use the same voice, inflections, and emotions in every language he chooses and he claims it only takes 15 minutes to do. Waheed believes that he can triple his annual YouTube views to 35 billion by using AI translations.  

“My content is already very global,” Waheed told Fortune. “With me translating, it’s going to explode.”

AI tools for written content

Dubbing videos is awesome for people who primarily connect with their audience through video. But, a lot of content creators have also built businesses selling e-books, digital guides, and tutorials, making text translation just as critical.

Companies like Pairaphrase, Text United, and LanguageWire all offer text translation services. The benefit is that they can save you a ton of money, as personal translators are often pretty costly. Offering your digital guides and tutorials in several languages is an easy way to boost your income by repackaging the content your audience already loves. And to offer your content to a new market of consumers.

Beyond audience growth, translation tools are a great way to continue to connect with your non-English speaking followers. You can use the tools to answer questions, send out promotional emails and communicate directly with your global audience.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

Popular associations aren’t the only go-to source for educational content, news, or any other form of value. Private companies now offer a significant level of value as well. For instance, these companies provide great courses, top-notch resources, and, sometimes, meet-ups among members of the community.

If you are in charge of a membership site, it’s imperative that you sustain a high level of value, whether it’s a free community or not. Most importantly, you should be able to convey this degree of value to parts of your audience that still need to become a member of your community.

10 tips that would help your audience see the need for a membership

1. Clearly state membership benefits

The first step to conveying your membership value is highlighting its advantages. Without a clear understanding of the pros of joining your community, your audience may avoid subscribing. So, identify what sets your members apart from the general audience.

Once you have figured out what could set your membership apart from others, articulate them in ways that resonate with your audience. Consider focusing on solving pain points and using compelling storytelling techniques.

2. Give your members a quick and sustainable win

Everyone wants to see what works before getting into it. For this reason, you need to make your members great examples of what you promised. To achieve this, closely monitor and guide members on how to make progress. This process will be a continuous loop of feedback.

A continuous feedback loop and guide will help your members learn and grow, making their successes more sustainable.

3. Provide members with priority access to products or services

It’s imperative to give your members priority access to whatever you do. Doing that will not only make members feel more valued, but your audience will also consider membership. For instance, if there is a live workshop or event coming up, your members should know first and get early tickets.

When your members are first in line to get priority access, it creates an extra value stream. This additional level of value will help you build on the exclusive nature of membership when marketing.

4. Offer a trial period to non-members

Offering a free trial period is a way to allow non-members to try out your service or product with zero risk. The primary purpose of providing your audience with a free trial is to give them an idea of what they could get if they were members. Companies use free trials to increase conversation rates, build brand trust, and improve customer retention.

Consider offering a trial with a money-back guarantee. However, clearly state your terms and conditions to help non-members build trust. You can utilize KPIs (key performance indicators) to monitor the financial growth or progress from this technique of offering trial periods. An example of a key performance indicator to track is the return on investment (ROI).

5. Connect members to one another

Helping members know each other provides a chance for them to grow, which attracts more of your audience. Even with your consistent follow-up and feedback loop, members need each other to stay on track. This is the purpose of a community. Some members could need a practice or accountability partner within the community. So, allowing them to get to know each other is imperative.

6. Provide ongoing support

Ongoing customer support could involve providing educational resources, webinars, expert advice, and workshops. When trying to convey the value of your membership using this approach, ensure you let your audience know that membership provides access to an ever-evolving resource. You can also highlight how your members get regular updates on insights and the latest industry trends.

Consider mentioning any personalized guidance or resources available to members, including assessments, tailored recommendations, or action plans that reflect ongoing support.

7. Create a good sense of belonging

In a community, creating a good sense of belonging is imperative. Fostering a sense of community within your membership helps create a supportive and valuable environment for members to learn and collaborate. This sense of belonging will significantly improve the perceived value of the membership, which helps attract individuals looking for a network of like minds.

8. Offer exclusive discounts

Like businesses do when trying to increase sales, you can offer discounts too. However, this discount should be channeled towards members. Taking that step makes your membership seem more valuable to your target audience and makes members feel valued and appreciated.

Discounts and other special perks are seen as immediate and tangible benefits. It leads to a higher perception of overall membership benefits.

9. Get members featured on your platform

If you’re involved in content marketing, look for ways to put your members out there. For instance, if you run a podcast, Facebook Livestream, or even a blog site, let people know about your members and their successes. You could create a blog series that discusses community members and the benefits they enjoy. When doing this, ensure the write-up is organic or follows a storytelling approach.

10. Organize events and networking opportunities only available for members

Creating networking opportunities within your membership establishes a sense of exclusivity and provides unique experiences that non-members can’t access. These networking opportunities should follow a structure and involve organizing events, networking sessions, or creating a platform suitable for members to connect and engage.

Examples of events to focus on include seminars, conferences, workshops, and webinars that feature industry experts or thought leaders. Networking opportunities build connections, improve professional growth, and increase knowledge sharing within the membership community.

Sharing the value

Rightly conveying the value of a membership to your audience will help attract new members, increase member retention, build trust and credibility, and differentiate from competitors. In most cases, communicating the value of membership promotes word-of-mouth marketing and fosters referrals. There’s a higher likelihood of members sharing their positive community experiences with others, increasing organic growth with the help of referrals.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

If you are wondering how to enter the world of content creation, know that you’re not alone. Content creation has become one of the most popular career paths for many people, and for a good reason. “Creator economy” is valued at $100 billion, and the numbers are growing each year as the demand for new content increases.

Big companies are looking for in-house content creators to help with their digital marketing needs, and brands are looking for content creators to collaborate with as influencer marketing continues to be an efficient marketing strategy.

So, if you’re interested in becoming a full-time content creator, we have put together a quick guide with essential information about what it means to be a digital content creator and how to become one in eight easy steps.

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What is a content creator?

A content creator is a person that creates educational and entertaining content in one or more formats – written, audio, video, and visual for a target audience and shares it on digital platforms. Anyone posting pictures and videos on social media platforms or writing blog posts for their personal blogs can be considered a content creator, but a professional content creator is someone who is able to monetize their content.

Also, there are different business models for content creation:

• Freelancer: a professional marketing content creator who creates written, audio, video, and visual content for their clients.
• In-house creator: a content creator who is working full-time for a company or agency, creating content for them (think Buzzfeed content creators who are crafting content for Buzzfeed YouTube channel and website).
• Influencer: an independent content creator who is creating content for their platforms and monetizing it through brand sponsorships.
• Entrepreneur: a small business owner who is creating and selling digital products like online courses, ebooks, workbooks, etc., for their target audience.

What does a content creator do?

• Content creator job can include many different creative tasks like:
• Brainstorming and coming up with creative ideas
• Building engaged online communities
• Managing content calendars
• Writing guest blog posts
• Doing guest podcasting
• Filming and editing videos
• Writing and editing social media posts, blog posts, magazine articles
• Managing social media channels
• Producing podcasts
• Collaborating with brands on sponsored content
• Creating online courses and other digital products
• Working with clients

Most often, being a social media content creator requires wearing many different hats. It’s a very creatively-heavy and dynamic job that requires an interest in various subjects and skills that complement each other, for example, photography and video editing, or writing and social media management.

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How much do content creators make?

How much money content creators make on average varies greatly amongst creators. The income will depend mostly on which business model you choose as a content creator – whether you’re freelancing, working for a company in-house, creating your own digital products, or working with brands on creating sponsored content.

Glassdoor reports that the median yearly content creator salary in the US is $48,000. But according to Influencer Marketing Hub, 2 million top content creators make six-figure salaries. So, the sky is the limit when it comes to how much content creators can make.

To understand better how content creators’ incomes vary, let’s look at a few examples of creators in different niches:

• Jessica Lynn is a content creator who writes articles on Medium on topics ranging from relationships, family, and politics to what it’s like to be a content creator. She makes between $5,000 and $7,000 every month from the platform.
• Pat Flynn is a well-known content creator who sells online courses, has a podcast, and is a published non-fiction author. His niche is online business and making money, and with his content, he makes well over $100,000 every month.
• Sorelle Amore is a minimalist travel YouTube content creator who made over $300,000 in her first year of being a full-time content creator from brand sponsorships, YouTube AdSense, and her photography courses.

Related post: How to find brand collaborations

How to become a successful content creator in 2023

Step 1: Choose a skill to master

While being a digital content creator will require you to have multiple skills to build your business and monetize it, start with choosing one skill to master at the start. That skill can be anything from:

• Writing/copywriting
• Social media
• SEO and Google Analytics
• Photography
• Videography
• Graphic design
• Illustration
• Audio production

Some skills might be easier to learn than others. And, you might already have a skill you can use to craft high-quality content, like writing or photography, which will make it easier for you to start. Once you choose one skill to focus on, you’ll be able to excel at it and monetize it in different ways with time. And of course, your unique skill or niche area of interest may not fall into the above—and that’s OK! You can still hone it and create content.

For example: If you choose video production because you want to start a YouTube channel, as you improve your video production skill, you will be able to start working with clients and brands, producing content for them either as an in-house creator, freelancer, or even as an influencer as you grow your audience.

Step 2: Pick a niche you are passionate about

Pat Flynn started his first content creation business by creating exam study guides for architecture students. He had just passed the architecture exam and wanted to share the method that he knew works with other students. It was a small niche yet very effective, and it allowed him to build his first online business.

So, when you’re ready to start creating content, you have two roads ahead of you:

• Picking a topic/niche that you already have knowledge or expertise in
• Choosing a topic/niche you’re passionate about

If you, like Pat Flynn, choose the first option, creating content and coming up with content ideas will be easier at the start. You’ll be able to write blog posts or produce podcast episodes faster and more efficiently because you already know the topic well enough. And, your knowledge of the subject will allow you to present as an expert in the field, helping you build credibility.

Another way is to choose a niche or a topic that you’re passionate about and interested in developing knowledge in. When you are interested in the topic you’re creating content on, you’ll be more inclined to stick with it, and you won’t get bored even after hundreds of hours of writing or talking about the subject. There’s frequent overlap between these two routes, so go with your gut and know that regardless of what you choose, there are endless niches that are easily monetized.

Step 3: Choose your business model

As we already discussed at the start, you can structure your content creation business in many different ways. If you already have expertise in a niche and a skill, like writing, you can start by being a freelancer or working as an in-house content creator for a company or an agency. To find in-house content creator jobs, go to Google and type in “content creator jobs” and see what postings are available.

If you decide to go the freelance writing route, then you’ll need to find clients. You can either apply to jobs on online marketplaces like ProBlogger. Or, simply Google businesses in your niche, make a list of ones you want to work with, and then cold pitch them asking if they need help with their content marketing.

Not everyone will want to choose these business models. Maybe taking the entrepreneur route and creating your products is more up your alley. Or maybe, you always wanted to create lifestyle content and be a social media influencer. Think about which content creation model is the right one for you.

Of course, you can tap into the creator economy yourself through online courses. Online courses and coaching allow you to be in control over the content you share—and how you monetize it. With Teachable, everything you create is 100% yours always. We give you the easy-to-use tools and features you need to share your passion and knowledge in a way that makes sense for you and your audience.

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Step 4: Build your portfolio

Finally comes the fun part—content creation! To become a successful content creator, you’ll need great good quality content that people want to consume. And the best way to learn to create this type of content is by creating a lot of content.

The first step will be to pick a platform. We recommend picking one at the start that compliments your niche and chosen skill set well:

• Best platforms for video production: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram
• Best platforms for writing/copywriting: WordPress blog, Medium, Substack, Instagram, Twitter
• Best platforms for audio: TikTok, YouTube, Instagram.
• Best platforms for graphic design/illustration: TikTok, Instagram, Twitter
• Best platforms for photography: Instagram, TikTok
• Best platform for online course and coaching: Teachable

Once you choose a platform or a few on which you want to create content, your next step will be brainstorming ideas and creating a content calendar. It will allow you to plan and prepare to create intentional content and help build your credibility as a successful content creator.

Creating content will require more energy and time at the very start of your journey. You might not always be happy with the results, and that’s okay. The key here is to create enough content pieces to get you the experience and make you excellent in what you do, allowing you to grow and monetize your content creation business.

Step 5: Find your unique voice

No matter which niche you’re in or which format of content you choose to create, finding the thing that makes you unique is crucial for your success. One thing that all great content creators have in common is that they each have something that makes them stand out in a crowd.

As you create your content, think of how you can craft content that stands out from other creators. For example, if you’re a beauty blogger, try to stand out by writing long-form blog posts on a topic instead of crafting short articles. Or, maybe try to add your unique tone of voice every time you write, allowing your readers to recognize you.

If you’re creating a piece of content for TikTok, experiment with different trends and video formats to create something that has the potential to appeal to many people but is a bit different than what the rest of the creators are doing. Due to the nature of the app, good content goes viral quickly, and if you manage to create unique digital content, your chances of it happening are higher.

Step 6: Build an engaged community

If you choose to take the influencer or entrepreneur route, you’ll need to build an engaged community interested in your content. The side of your audience is not the focal point. The key here is to build an engaged audience that consumes your content and is a superfan of what you create.

And the best way to build an online community that’s interested in you as a content creator and what you have to offer is by identifying who your target audience is. You can do that by answering these questions:

• How old is my target audience?
• Where are they based?
• What is their relationship status (single, married, divorced)?
• What are their interests?
• What brands do they follow/interact with?
• What are their values?
• Where do they spend their time online?
• How familiar are they with internet culture?

The more in-depth and in-detail you go with identifying your target audience, the better it is. Knowing who you are talking to when creating content and what language your audience responds to will allow you to stand out in the crowd and connect with them.

Once you have built an engaged online community, you’ll be able to take your content creation business to the next level. And the easiest way to do that is by creating digital products that help improve your target audience’s lives. This brings us to the next step in your journey.

Step 7: Create an online course

One of the most common questions people have when trying to find out how to become a content creator is how to monetize their content. The easiest and most efficient way to monetize your content when you have an engaged online community is by creating digital products like ebooks, workbooks, and online courses. Online courses are the best option because they allow you to charge a premium price for your expertise without you having to directly exchange your time for money.

Here is your quick step-by-step guide for creating an online course:

1. Identity what your audience needs

Best online courses sell a transformation to people. It can be anything from learning how to draw fashion illustrations, bake sourdough bread, make shoes or get healthy.

Throughout your journey as a content creator, you’ll start noticing the specific pain points your audience has. Make a list of them, and then see what sort of transformation you can offer with your online course.

2. Test your idea

An efficient strategy for launching an online course is to do a soft launch that includes announcing a pre-sale for your course before you start creating course material. This strategy allows you to validate your idea and ensure that you’re not creating something in which your audience has no value.

When you have a solid online course idea in mind, announce it to your email list, inviting people to pre-order. It’s also a good idea to post your pre-order on your social media channels or Facebook group if you have one. Once you see people pre-ordering, you know that your idea is valid, and it’s time to start creating!

3. Create the course

Content creation is something you have already been doing and love! First, you’ll want to create a curriculum for your course and map out your content. When it comes to lessons, remember that less is more, and the most important thing is to map out the journey for your students from start to finish.

Once you have a curriculum, you’ll want to consider the types of content your online course will include. Different people will prefer different types of content, so you’ll want to consider including written, audio, and video content for the most optimal experience.

4. Launch and market your course

The launch of your online course is always exciting and fun. But this is also where you’ll have to give your content creator hat a break and put on a marketer hat because your launch and after-launch period is when you want to seriously dig into marketing your course.

Consider these marketing strategies:

• Run an email campaign
• Do guest podcasts
• Write guest blogs
• Do live webinars
• Post on your social media accounts

To learn more about online courses, check out the in-depth guide on how to create an online course.

Step 8: Diversify your income

As a content creator, you’ll want to diversify your income as you progress further into your career. This will become easier as you gain experience and build your reputation as an expert in your field. Because of how dynamic this job is, many different opportunities await you.

If you started as a freelancer or in-house content creator but have been working on creating YouTube content, you might want to branch out and start working with brands on sponsored deals as your audience grows.
Sorelle Amore turned her YouTube audience’s interest in her “Advanced Selfies” into a profitable online course business. At the start, she created YouTube videos of her travels and how she takes photos of herself on solo travels.

Once she noticed people’s interest, she launched an online course that helped her rack up the $300,000 in her first year as a full-time content creator. Then, to further diversify her income, Amore branched out to working as an influencer and collaborating with brands like Porsche to create sponsored video content for her channel.

As you can see, diversifying your income as a creator is easy once you get more experience and exposure and build your name and online audience.

How to become a content creator on Instagram

While the general guidelines for becoming a content creator can apply to all the various platforms, there are more nuanced ways to show up depending on the platform that can bring you more success. It’s important to note that the algorithms for each platform, especially Instagram, are constantly changing. The main goal of instagram’s algorithms are focused on engaging users with relevant content in order to increase their time spent on the app. This is based on the user’s past history when it comes to what kind of content they’re engaging in (posts, stories, reels, videos), who is posting it, and how likely they are to engage in the content. The more likely it is that users will engage with your content, the more your posts will be prioritized in a user’s feed.

In other words, it’s important to invite your audience to interact with what you’re posting. Invite them to “double tap” a post if they agree with the caption/text, ask an engaging question so that people will comment with their opinion or answer, or have a call to action for them to click the link in your bio.

This can feel like a catch-22, because how will people engage with your content if it’s not being shown as much? This is where it’s important to stay consistent, because the more you post relevant content, the more likely it will be engaged with, and the more it will be shown to people. Stick with it—slow and steady wins the Instagram race!

How to become a content creator on TikTok

While TikTok also prioritizes content based on engagement, it’s a slightly different game than the other platforms. With TikTok, it’s all about the FYP (“For You Page”). Some of the most important factors that this app’s algorithms take into account are the subject material of the video, trending sounds that are being used, location, and watch time/rewatches.

The more views a video is garnering, the more it will be shown on other’s For You Pages. This makes it a bit easier to go viral on TikTok, and that can happen fast on this app, with some videos getting millions of views in a matter of days.

Just as with other platforms, it’s crucial to create content from the perspective of what will get the most engagement from your audience. You can boost engagement (and the chances of your videos getting seen more!) by using trending sounds, and making shorter videos—when they’re shorter, they’re more likely to loop. This registers as an increase in watch time, and will push your content out to a wider audience. It’s also relevant to start with an attention grabber, because much of the content on the app is very short form, people are faster to scroll away if it doesn’t pique their interest right away.

It’s important to stay patient with this platform as well, since your videos can start (or continue!) to go viral days or even weeks after posting them.

FAQs

What qualifications do I need to be a content creator?

You may be relieved to know that there are no official qualifications required to become a content creator. While there are a plethora of courses, coaches, and content that focus on how you can do this, you don’t need to partake in any of those. All you need is a willingness to be visible, consistent, and to have awareness of navigating common experiences like imposter syndrome, burnout, and prioritizing mental health as a creator. It’s also helpful to familiarize yourself with skills like video editing, photography, and copywriting. Don’t worry about needing to master these before starting though, many of these skills just come with time and practice!

Do content creators get paid?

This varies from creator to creator, but in a lot of cases, it’s entirely plausible to monetize your content. This can be done through being a brand ambassador, marketing your courses, or through other aspects of being a digital creator, like virtual offerings and/or coaching. Some platforms like Instagram and TikTok even offer financial incentives to post . There are many income streams that can open up to you as a content creator, including brands approaching you. As this process unfolds, there will likely be a varying length of time in the beginning where you aren’t getting paid, so be sure to plan for that!

Is being a content creator worth it?

This is a highly personal and subjective answer. In order to understand how this would apply to you, get clear on what it is you’re looking to get out of it. If you’re solely looking to make money, then it can be hard to predict if and when it would be deemed “worth it.” However, if your aim is to make money and make a positive impact with your content and to enjoy the creation process along the way, then it’s absolutely a worthwhile endeavor.

It’s also helpful in this case to choose a niche that you care about, as opposed to choosing it solely on how lucrative it has the potential to be. People will be able to sense if you’re genuinely excited and interested in the topics that you’re sharing about—and that can be a determining factor when it comes to them engaging with your content or buying from you.

Additional reporting by Nicole Quintana-Wolf

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.