Several times a month, I get a skeptical email that goes something like this one from a guy named Carl: Hey Josh, quick question. Why did you stop the sublime text tips site if you got so many email subscribers from the giveaway? Did they not convert to become buyers so you pivoted to your […]
Continue readingOne common question I get is this: “How do I remove the ‘Powered by KingSumo’ badge on my giveaway landing page?” People are nervous about their competitors noticing what they’re doing and spinning up a giveaway of their own. That’s understandable–after all, I found out about KingSumo Giveaways from clicking that very badge on a […]
Continue readingThe team behind DroneU was flying high. With just 24 hours left to go on their giveaway, they blasted out a “last chance” message to their social media followers. And their traffic EXPLODED. Thousands of hits per minute. Signups were pouring in, until … Well, I’ll let Tim Ray tell the story, since he was […]
Continue readingTo run a contest with the KingSumo Giveaways plugin, here’s what you need: A website or blog that runs on WordPress The ability to install WordPress plugins (wordpress.com sites won’t work) The ability to send emails from your website. Installing the KingSumo plugin KingSumo Giveaways is a premium WordPress plugin, and it installs just like […]
Continue reading“Skunked” is fishing slang for spending the whole day at the lake with nothing to show for it. Well, yesterday I got skunked on the first day of the affiliate promo I mentioned. 85,000 subscribers, 2 emails, 0 sales. I’ve never seen this before. I’ve had campaigns that didn’t go as well as hoped—plenty of […]
Continue readingLast week I did a little 3-day affiliate push for my new digital product sales weapon of choice, Coach. After email #2 went out, I got my hand slapped by a subscriber I’ll call “Jeremy”: Consecutive emails shilling for Coach is a bit heavy handed, IMO. Otherwise, I’ve loved your daily notes. My reply: Thanks […]
Continue readingEvery 17 years, Western Pennsylvania where I make my home gets *invaded*. These nasty-looking bugs the size of your thumb called 17 Year Cicadas crawl up out of the ground and start buzzing around everywhere. Unfortunately they’re slow, clumsy fliers. When you’re out driving around, they splatter on the windshield. It’s not so bad when […]
Continue readingWord to the wise: Whenever a marketing “expert” starts talking about their solution *before* they understand your specific situation—your business, your customers, your previous marketing efforts… Hang onto your wallet. Cuz “one size fits all” is a myth. I talk a lot here about tactics like list-building giveaways and email courses. They’re excellent tools that […]
Continue readingSubscriber Sönke says his #1 problem is: My super-sensitive market when it comes to marketing… I am offering online support for psychotherapists. Many standards of email marketing don’t fit that well. Giveaways? To sales-y. Survey participation? Depends. Just trying to figure out how things work well with my audience. The #1 advantage of this market? […]
Continue readingFew weeks back I sent out a survey asking whether you had any questions about launching and marketing a book. I happened to be traveling the day the email went out. Heh. Pro-tip: Don’t ask your list for replies when you’ll be away from your computer. Took me *days* to dig out from that. But […]
Continue readingThe other day I got this email from a subscriber named Galit that made me laugh: I am loving this series! I’m curious, though, the first few emails seemed to be about an email course then this one is about running a giveaway. If these are, by chance, two different drips, is there a way […]
Continue readingHere’s a dilemma that comes up a LOT: Pete runs a business creating church management software. His software automates and streamlines dozens of administrative processes—from keeping track of members’ tithes and offerings to keeping tabs on the kiddos during summer day camp. And precisely because this software is so powerful, it’s a struggle to focus […]
Continue readingSubscriber Jason is rapidly building an audience in a hot niche: Programming for virtual reality. His email list is growing fast—and now he has a problem. He writes: I’ve been trying to follow your advice and blogging pretty consistently as well as doing some promotion for the site. Daily unique user count has gone up […]
Continue readingBrand new subscriber Sam is juuuust getting his business off the ground. He writes: Really enjoyed all of your emails so far, and I’m looking forward to learning more. Here’s where I’m at: – Just starting out with 200+ subs – Using mailchimps free account – A Bryan Harris, 10k subs student – No autoresponder […]
Continue readingGot an email this morning: I’m Meligy. I’ve been a loyal listener to the Entreprogrammers podcast since June 2014, and read a lot of your daily e-mails. For over a year, I have been building a mailing list for JavaScript developers interested in AngularJS, especially those who use ASP.NET developers. I used my blog (~300-600 […]
Continue readingA couple years back I ran a giveaway that surpassed my wildest expectations — 187,991 new email subscribers in 11 days. Insane. What I don’t talk much about is how I almost pulled the plug on the whole thing. I was totally stressed out. My server crashed. People were trying to hack into WordPress. The […]
Continue readingUnemployment really messes with your head. While some guys end up sitting on the couch and binge-watching TV in a depressive funk, geeks like me tend to focus their frustration into some weird obsession. Back in 2008-09 I spent 6 months “between jobs,” and I threw myself into… Bladesmithing. The art of forging steel to […]
Continue readingEver heard of the book, “The Richest Man in Babylon”? One of the key takeaways in that book is this: “Don’t carry buckets, build pipelines.” In other words, build a machine that generates results without your direct involvement. Most people hear that and jump right to the idea of creating products to generate “passive income” […]
Continue readingRight now in my business, I’m struggling with this major roadblock. My #1 goal this year is to grow my email list to 10,000 subscribers. I know exactly what I need to do to make this happen. The plan is to start guest posting regularly on major sites with huge audiences. Over time those articles […]
Continue readingThe results of my Thrive Themes Giveaway are in, and the winner is… Bridgit Kong! Bridgit lives in Calgary, Canada. She owns a virtual assistant business and her husband has a handyman/renovation business. They plan to use their website (and Thrive!) to escape “pay check to pay check,” “project to project” living and start a […]
Continue readingDid you ever see the comedy “What About Bob”? Bill Murray plays Bob Wiley, a guy who’s so paranoid that his fear basically paralyzes him. He’s afraid to get on elevators… Ride a bus… Or even touch anything out in public because he thinks he’ll get sick and die. Early in the movie, his shrink […]
Continue readingOnce in a while a client will ask me, “So can you offer a guarantee of results?” And I’d love to say “Yes!” But the reality is that there are just too many variables in any marketing project to know exactly how it’s going to play out. Here’s an example: This was launch week for […]
Continue readingMy youngest son is a beast. He’s just hitting 7 months old now, and he’s already wearing 18-month clothes. (No idea where he gets it—my build is… let’s just call it slight and leave it at that.) A few weeks ago he figured out how to haul his huge frame up into a standing position, […]
Continue readingMy all-time favorite Internet meme is: “You had ONE job!” If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, check out http://imgur.com/gallery/TbagF I could spend all day looking at those photos. A few that made me laugh this morning include: A hunk of beef labeled “USDA inspected”… and marked on the package as “chicken.” An ad […]
Continue readingMy #1 goal for 2016 is growing my email list to 10,000 subscribers. That’s a 7X increase—pretty ambitious. And my new “weapon of choice” that’s going to help me get there is a suite email marketing powertools from a startup called Thrive. Here’s the problem I’ve always had in the past: There are TONS of […]
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