the essential guide for using templates to go from blog … · increase your traffic. create the...

THE ESSENTIAL

TO GO FROM BLOG TO BUSINESS

BY KARA FIDD

FOR USING

INTRODUCTION

COPYRIGHT 2018 SIMPLIFYING DIY DESIGN LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Welcome to the Essential Guide for Using Templates to Go from Blog to Business! This is actually part of my paid product, The Complete Blogger Template Toolkit but I'm giving it away to you for FREE to thank you for being one of my awesome subscribers.

While this guide goes over the STRATEGY and the techy stuff of setting up a sales funnel, it doesn't show you exactly how to design it. Luckily, I've got just the thing for you.

Our template toolkits are designed to help you set up this strategy in a minimal amount of time. All the design work is done for you, you just need to add your brilliant content and swap out the colors and fonts to match your brand.

Plus, each of the toolkits come with video tutorials to teach you how to edit them and maximize your productivity in doing so.

Time is money! Setting up the following system is exactly how I made $20k in my blogs first 6 months.

Check out the following template toolkits:

Social Media Template Toolkit (82 social media images)

Digital Product Template Toolkit (91 page of digital product/lead magnet templates)

The Complete Blogger Template Toolkit (209+ pages of templates-- everything you need to get this system up and running!)

https://simplifyingdiydesign.teachable.com/p/the-social-media-template-toolkit

https://simplifyingdiydesign.teachable.com/p/digital-product-template-toolkit

https://simplifyingdiydesign.teachable.com/p/the-complete-bloggers-template-toolkit

THE BLOG TEMPLATES

OPTIMIZE YOUR BLOG

The foundation of any blog is going to set the stage for your business. This isn’t something you want to skip and these little things can make a huge difference.

Start with your branding. You want your brand to reflect you and everything you are. It needs to reflect your personality. Here’s the thing-- I think a lot of us get shy. We want to hide or dim down who we really are online because we are afraid of what other people might think. We want people to like us because we think it’s necessary for success.

The thing is, you are going to attract like-minded people, but only if you are being your true self. You don’t want to attract people that are similar to who you are pretending to be, right?

So, start with the colors. Think about who you are, think about what you want to convey. What vibe do you want to give off? Are you a soft, loving person or are you bold and creative?

If you walk through the brand board template, you will have everything you need to set up your brand the right way.

Once you have a good sense of your brand (and a solid color palette) create your logo. If you already have one then no worries. Remember, this doesn’t have to be your forever logo but it will hold you over until you can hire a designer.

The “about me” image is something people usually overlook. Just a little added design can get people to click over to your “about me page” (make sure to include a link to the page at the end of your sidebar blurb).

*THIS GUIDE CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS TO PRODUCTS I USE


The about me page is often a lost opportunity for most bloggers. Some use it as a page to introduce themselves. Some use it as a place to tell the reader what’s in it for them. I like to use it as a place for a little of both and to lead people into my email list.

Popular post graphics are meant for the sidebar. There purpose is to encourage click-through, and not just to your “popular posts”! Nope, you need to be choosing the heavily monetized posts. The ones that are going to be most likely to make you money or grow your list. This is why it’s best NOT to use a “popular post” plugin, but to choose the posts you want people to click on and create create eye-catching graphics for them instead.

I recommend choosing approximately 4 posts. You can use html code to put the image into the sidebar, or a plugin. I personally use a free plugin called Simple Image Widget-- it easily allows you to select the image AND set the URL you want it to go to into your sidebar.

The last of the “blog” graphics that I think are often overlooked are the lead magnet images and newsletter signatures.

I use mockup style lead magnet images in addition to the preview image on the form itself. I generally use this inside the blog post when I mention the freebie (before the form). It makes the lead magnet stand out and gets people excited about your freebie, which is definitely something you want!


Newsletter signatures are an important part of building your tribe. A lot of new bloggers are scared of email marketing and that’s totally normal. However, email marketing is a huge opportunity and a necessity if you want your blog to be a business.

Having your face in your newsletter is a great way to establish a bond with your readers. It has also been shown to increase conversions (which means more clicks, more traffic, and more sales). However, it can also slightly increase your rate of unsubscribes (but those aren’t your people anyway).

THE STRATEGYNow that your blog is optimized, you’re ready to put your strategy in place.

Start with the social media images. This is how you are going to build your audience and increase your traffic.

Create the following graphics for each blog post:

Make sure that your images are uploaded to the correct spots in your blog post. I put the Pinterest sized image towards the top of my blog post after the first few paragraphs so my readers can see it (and pin it). I upload the featured image on the side in the appropriate section. (see image below)

Pinterest sized image Facebook sized image Square or Featured sized image


The facebook sized image gets uploaded into the social section of my YOAST plugin at the bottom of the post. This means that when the post appears on Facebook (like when it’s shared), Facebook will pull the correct sized image and it will be displayed perfectly.

Next, set up Publicize. This is a feature within the Jetpack plugin that comes on all wordpress blogs. This is a free feature and allows you to link all your social media accounts. Make accounts for every possible social media platform you can think of (even if you aren’t committed to actively growing them yet).


Once Publicize is set up, it will automatically post to all the social media platforms everytime you publish a blog post. Then, choose just one platform to actively grow and master. Once you’ve got it down-- move on to another one.

In addition to working on your social media platforms, you’re also going to need to start working on your email list. Getting your traffic to increase is great but it means nothing in the long run if you aren’t capturing viewers and turning them into readers.

Start with your popular posts. Make a list and then head over to the list building templates. Create content upgrades for your popular posts to make your content more actionable. You don’t want to simply create a PDF of what you’ve already written in your blog post, you need this to be additional info that people need in order to be successful from your ideas.

Think of the blog post as the WHY, and the opt-in as the HOW.

When you are ready for some serious list building, I highly suggest List Love Quick Start Guide which is always open for enrollment. I used the List Love Master Course strategy and reached my first 1,000 subscribers in just 3 months of launching Simplifying DIY Design.

Currently (6 months after going live with Simplifying DIY Design) I’m averaging just under 600 new subscribers each month with around 13k monthly pageviews (although that number is growing fast!). You don’t need a ton of traffic to grow your list, I promise! In fact, full disclosure- - I haven’t worked very hard to increase my traffic at all, it just hasn’t been on my list of things to do. Email is more important to me.

As you work to build your traffic and your list, your next step is going to be monetization. You do not need to wait to do this. Just because your numbers are low, doesn’t mean you won’t make any money. Yep, it might be hard to do with ads or affiliates or trying to land a sponsored opportunity.

But, there’s a way to “design” a sales funnel that can start making you money on autopilot while you work to grow your blog in other areas.


https://jennifermaker.teachable.com/p/list-love-quick-start-guide?affcode=152016_z6rudxll

Once you have an opt-in that converts pretty well, you’re ready.

What you’re going to do is create a tripwire. Create some kind of advanced/next-step version of your lead magnet that people would be willing to pay for. It should definitely relate to the lead magnet because you already know those people that are opting-in are interested and a good fit for the product.

Example:

My highest converting lead magnets are my free canva templates, the tripwire is a bundle of premium templates that are normally $27 each.

The key to the tripwire is that you want it to be a really good deal. So good that the person can decide in a split second that they need your product. The product should be very discounted and total around $5-10.

Going back to my example, the templates in my tripwire equal a value of $54 but the new subscriber has the opportunity to grab it for just $7. And the discount is only good for the next 20 minutes.

Again, you want the person to know immediately that this is something they have to have. Adding the discount and the urgency factor will help them make that decision.

Another example would be a goal setting checklist or worksheet as the lead magnet, with a goal setting workbook as the tripwire.

The amazing part of the tripwire is that it can be recurring income while you work to grow your list. It can also enable you to afford to set up ads to grow your email list because the tripwire will cover the cost of them.

Almost all the templates in the lead magnet section of this product can be used to make a tripwire. Combine different pages to make a workbook, guide, planner or ebook.

So far, your sales funnel looks like this:

Free offer → Tripwire

Now that you’ve started to monetize, you can start working on the next step which is going to be your product. You will want to ensure that you’ve already got a solid email list at this point. 1-2k subscribers is ideal before you launch your first product.

Keeping in mind what your lead magnet and your tripwire are, start brainstorming product ideas and then survey your audience. You can even include your ideas to see which ones they would be open to buying. You may be surprised at the results!

Once you’ve got your product idea planned out, it’s time to design.

Again, use the templates in the list building/monetization section to create it. For example, if you


have decided you want to create an e-course, you can use the slide decks for the lessons and then add in checklists and worksheets to help the buyers put it into action. What good is listening to you talk if they don’t put what they’ve learned into use?

The best part is that you already have everything you need already designed and ready for your amazing content.

Once you get the product done and launched, add it to your sales funnel.

In case you’re wondering, you can automate this with email. Adding an additional email to your welcome sequence that promotes your product is really all that’s needed.

Now your sales funnel looks like this:

Free offer → Tripwire → Product

Keep in mind, all these things should relate to each other.

THE TECHNICAL STUFFYou don’t have to use all the things I’m about to mention, but here is how I have everything set up.

My email service provider (ESP) is Convertkit. I also use Thrive Leads to make my forms pretty and Thrive Architect to build the landing page that I use as my tripwire sales page. Thrive hooks right up to Convertkit and Convertkit auto-delivers my free lead magnet. lets me set a “thank you page” which is the landing page I’ve created to promote my tripwire. You can also put in a custom URL in Convertkit to redirect new subscribers after they sign up. That way, once they sign up, they are redirected to the sales page that has a thank you note at the top.

Here it is, step-by step:

Step 1: Create the Tripwire Sales Page (I use Thrive Architect but Leadpages is a great option as well). Here’s what mine looks like:

Thrive


http://mbsy.co/convertkit/30581476

https://thrivethemes.com/affiliates/ref.php?id=6048

Step 2: Create a form for your lead magnet in your ESP and set the redirected page as the sales page

OPTIONAL Step: If using Thrive Leads, make your form in your ESP and connect it with Thrive, then set the thank you page in Thrive.

Convertkit will start delivering my welcome sequence over the course of a few days, at the end of the sequence people are offered my main product, The Complete Blogger Template Toolkit.

This is what my funnel looks like:

Free Canva Templates → Planner & Workbook Template Bundle → The Complete Blogger Template Toolkit


When creating your tripwire sales page, make sure to acknowledge that the person has signed up for the freebie but grab their attention in some way so they know there is a special offer. If you start right off with the offer they will think that the freebie isn’t free and it actually costs money (especially if you don’t have a blogger audience that is familiar with tripwires).

I like to use a timer to grab attention and make it clear that the offer is only good for a few minutes. Most landing page building software like Thrive or Leadpages have the option to add a timer.

Use the worksheet on the following page to map out your sales funnel. Then, use the templates in this product to design it! (& YEP! I used the template toolkit to create this guide :-D)


BRAINSTORM IDEAS

FREE OFFER

TRIPWIRE

BIG PRODUCT


the essential guide for using templates to go from blog … · increase your traffic. create the...

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