Virtual Presentation Best Practices: A Guide for Online Entrepreneurs

Whether you’re pitching to potential partners or introducing a new product to customers, a presentation can make or break your online business.

If you’re used to in-person presentations, you’ll realize that virtual presentations have their own set of challenges.

For a start, stage fright can still happen even though the stage might be your own home office.

In addition, your audience is more likely to tune out and disengage from online presentations because they’re not physically present. Plus, there are too many distractions for most people at home or in their remote office.

As a presenter, it’s also harder to “read the room” when you’re presenting online.

What now?

In today’s post, we’ll cover virtual presentation do’s and don’ts to help you win over distracted audiences, keep their attention, and get your message across clearly.

Get ready to take down notes!

Why virtual presentations are more challenging than in-person presentations

Before learning what you should do (and not do) when hosting a webinar, demo, or virtual keynote, you have to understand why virtual events can be more intimidating for many.

Sarah Gershman, President of Green Room Speakers, describes it well. For her, virtual presentations are unnerving for one particular reason: lack of response and feedback from the audience.

According to Gershman, it’s like you’re one of those birds calling out another bird for mating or to signal danger, but no one answers you back.

As a result, you feel less connected to your audience. You don’t see your audience nodding their heads and there’s less opportunity for you to make eye contact.

“This only makes the problem worse — it both reinforces our anxiety and makes for a poor presentation. After all, the more disconnected we sound, the harder it is for the audience to listen,” shares Gershman.

Virtual presentation tips to make you feel connected to your audience

The golden rule to successful virtual presentations is to make it easier for your audience to feel more connected to you. When you do this, you’re also helping yourself nail your online talk. Who knows? You might even end up building powerful connections with influential people after your presentation.

Here are some specific dos and don’ts to help you get started with a memorable, engaging virtual presentation:

1. Do look at the camera

It sounds so simple, right?

But when was the last time you looked at yourself on the screen instead of staring straight into the camera while presenting?

When you look directly at your camera, it makes your viewers feel more connected to you because you’re (virtually) making eye contact.

Another noteworthy best practice is to put the camera at eye level. Don’t position it too far below or above you. Not only does it make you look weird, but they’re not the perfect spots for maintaining eye contact.

Finally, if you can, consider getting an external webcam. An excellent external camera makes you look “real” to your audience, which in turn captures their attention.

2. Don’t talk like a robot

How do you sound more human?

Imagine you’re having a conversation with a friend. Smile, talk slowly and take pauses in between your talk.

Instead of looking at it as a lecture, think of it as a session to engage with your audience. Share anecdotes or ask participants to share their own experiences as well.

Gershman also recommends asking rhetorical questions throughout your online presentation.

“For the audience, rhetorical questions create open loops in the brain which we then want to close by answering them in our heads. This helps the audience stay active and connected to your content, even when they can’t talk to you”, explains Gershman.

Examples of rhetorical questions you can ask include:

• Have you noticed a pattern?
• Where do you think this is going?
• Are you ready to try something new?
• What would you have done if you were in his shoes?
• Have you been in a similar situation?

3. Do make sure that your lighting is in front of you

As a presenter, you have to make sure that people can see you well.

You can accomplish this by having a good front light that shines brightly on your face. If natural light isn’t an option for you, a steady lamp directly by your face is ideal.

Meanwhile, if your back is to a window with lots of natural light coming in, close the curtain or pull down the shades.

4. Don’t get too close or too far from the camera

You need to strike a balance between staying close or being too far from the camera. If you stay too close, you might look like a floating head. Meanwhile, if you are too far from the screen, you risk looking like your galaxies away from your audience.

Ideally, the camera should frame your face, neck, shoulders, and the upper part of your body. This way, your viewers can see your gestures too.

5. Do stand up

According to Matt Abrahams, author of Speaking Up Without Freaking Out,  you need to physically stand up even if you’re presenting online so you can project more effectively.

Furthermore, standing up during your virtual presentation gives you more energy and tells your brain to be in “presentation mode”. It can also help calm presentation nerves.

If possible, use a standing desk when you’re presenting. Alternatively, position your camera or laptop at eye level.

For virtual presentations where you have to sit down, lean forward (don’t slouch!) as if you’re talking to someone in real life. This position makes your audience feel more connected to you.

6. Don’t waste people’s time by presenting for too long

Have you noticed how webinars or online demos seem longer than face-to-face presentations?

It pays to be more mindful of the length of your talk, and you also have to consider time for Q and A.

Kevin Daum, bestselling author of Marketing for Dummies, suggests that each presentation slide should represent about 3 to 4 minutes of your material.

While planning and designing your presentation, limit one or two key points for each slide and use visuals to convey the most notable points.

Speaking of visuals, this brings us to the next tip. 

7. Do use visuals

Whether it’s offline or online, the best presentations include eye-catching visuals.

But here’s the caveat – you can’t just put too many visuals in your presentation. You have to be thoughtful about how you use infographics, charts, graphs, photographs, and other data visualization techniques in your virtual presentation.

Before you add an image or illustration to your presentation slides, Tamsen Webster, keynote business speaker, and presentation strategist, recommends the following questions to ask yourself:

• Do they reinforce the key points?
• Are they leveraging what visuals do better than words? (pictures, processes, visualized data, etc.)

Webster further suggests that your presentation slide should orient your audience to your Big Idea.

Another best practice when adding visuals to your presentations is using the squint test by Duarte, a presentation design agency.

Here’s what they mean with the squint test:

“When you squint your eyes at the screen (as if you needed glasses to see it), ask yourself ‘what’s popping?’ If the text, graphic, or chart you want to pop isn’t doing so, you need to adjust your design.”

The Duarte team recommends using graphics, color, font size, font type, or italics to guide your viewer’s eye to the most critical part of your slide.

8. Don’t be stiff

With virtual presentations, looking stiff will further disengage your audience.

Create a sense of connection by moving your hands and arms while having high energy levels at the same time. For example, Webster suggests that moving your hand gestures “up” into the camera view helps build connection.

Making more gestures will also help you as a presenter because it channels nervous energy into a more positive experience for you.

9. Do take note of your audience’s cultural background

If you’re presenting to a diverse group of people, get to know them ahead of time in terms of sociocultural preferences, particularly with verbal and nonverbal cues.

For example, if you’re presenting a keynote in English and your audience doesn’t have English as a first language, speak with less accent. Visual aids can also help for these presentations because visuals tend to be universal.

10. Don’t be caught unprepared

There are two aspects of preparation you should care about:

• Prepare yourself by practicing and doing a dry run.
• Prepare your tech.

For the first part, Abrahams recommends a technique called focused practice instead of mentally rehearsing your presentation or flipping your slide decks.

“Focused practice is taking one aspect of your presentation — say, the introduction — and delivering it repeatedly until you become highly familiar and comfortable with it. Next, you move on to another aspect of your presentation, such as transitioning between two specific visual aids,” shares Abrahams.

By doing so, you’ll feel less anxious because you do not have to spend a lot of effort thinking about your entire presentation.

The second aspect of presentation involves ensuring that all of the features of your presentation technology work. For example, if you’re presenting in Zoom and need to record the presentation, find out if the recording feature works during your practice. 

Finally, check your microphone, camera, and the platform or feature where your audience can interact with you during or after your presentation.

There’s more to virtual presentations than reading your slides on Zoom

Before you deliver your next virtual presentation, take a step back and figure out the answers to these two questions:

• What’s the Big Idea that I want to communicate to my audience?
• How can I build a genuine connection with the audience?

Once you have clear answers to these questions, your next virtual presentation will likely be more than just reading presentation slides on Zoom. Your audience will feel more engaged with you and get more value from your presentation.

Guest author: Kai Tomboc is currently taking care of content at Piktochart, an easy-to-use design tool that helps you tell your story with the visual impact it deserves. She has written for various SaaS brands and publications like G2. When not engrossed in a book, she’s most likely taming tardigrades.

The post Virtual Presentation Best Practices: A Guide for Online Entrepreneurs appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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3 Key Email Design Trends for 2022 and Beyond

The disruption and chaos of 2020 continued well into 2021. What does 2022 have in store for us?

I think that the year will bring a new sense of hope, appreciation, and gratitude, along with more meaningful connections – not only between individuals but also between brands and individuals.

In fact, in the coming year, more brands will put customers at the center of their marketing strategies. They will also make a greater effort to understand their audiences better, pay more attention to improving customer experiences, and do more to ease their customers’ lives with on-point, on-brand, and hyper-personalized offerings.

To pursue and meet these objectives, they will harness the power of email marketing and get the maximum bang for their buck by taking advantage of a few key email design trends.

Here are three email design trends that will drive email marketing in 2022 and beyond.

#1. Minimalist design will rule the roost

You know that old cliché: less is more?

This will definitely apply to email design in 2022! Maximalist, chaotic, and disharmonious design styles will be out, and clean, minimalist, simple compositions will be in.

Considering that the average user receives 100+ emails in a single day, it’s no surprise that users are tired of information overload. Today’s recipients want emails that deliver a crisp message in an easy-to-read format. And for this, the generous use of white space, a clean look-and-feel, and crisp lines are ideal.

If you want to connect with your audience and get them to open your emails despite the email tsunami that is their inbox, then loud colors, complex layouts, and too many elements are an absolute no-no. Instead, use subtle color combinations, soft gradients, and monochrome layouts. Wherever possible, embrace emotional design that appeals to both their hearts and minds – of course, without going over the top.

Use less text and more visual content. Even better, judiciously use alternating visuals and text to surprise, delight, and keep readers interested and engaged. Let your illustrations, photographs, and animations tell the story of your brand, instead of overwhelming them with overly sales-y text.

Communicate a clear message and include an unambiguous call to action to pique the reader’s curiosity, and prompt them to take action. Wherever appropriate, use bold typography to draw – and keep – their attention. Again, the key is not to overwhelm the reader with too much information, confusing calls to action or overly jazzy designs.

Keep it simple, make them feel privileged and valued with personalization, and emphasize the uniqueness of your message with cool animations and illustrations. It’s not impossible to impress email readers despite the crowded email marketing landscape. But for this, minimalist email designs are the key. And 2022 is a great time to get started with yours!

Here’s an email from Carve Designs that hits all the right “minimalist” buttons:

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#2. Micro-interactions will have a huge effect

According to Martech Advisor, interactive content can increase email open rates by 73%. Adding videos can increase click-through rates by up to 300%. The days of boring, static emails are long gone. Today’s users want to see if brands care about them as individuals, and are willing to put in an effort to engage with them on a one-on-one basis. Here’s where interactive emails are an ideal addition to your email marketing toolkit.

With interactivity, you can delight them with a personalized brand experience even as you provide a solution to a problem, or show them how to address a particular pain point with a quiz, survey, poll, or calculator. Add videos about product launches, event announcements, or customer testimonials. Encourage customers to shop more with live shopping and quick checkouts from within the email. Bring in a menu bar, carousel sliders, and discount coupons to simplify in-email navigation and tempt readers to continue shopping.

Even micro-interactions can make a huge difference in email engagement, click-throughs, and even purchases. Add a hover effect over buttons, add swipe or click functionality within the copy, and add social media buttons to get them to share, like, and save your email.

By adding interactive elements to your marketing emails, you can do much more than simply give information or sell your product or service. You can give readers a means to have fun as they interact with your brand. This fun can go a long way towards boosting your brand’s recognition and recall value, so make sure you don’t underestimate its power. In 2022, interactivity in emails will be as important as simplicity, so make sure you leverage its power to stand out in readers’ (crowded) inboxes.

This interactive email by Email Uplers includes a video message that’s placed front and center. Which recipient would be able to resist such a cool feature and email?

View the live email here

#3. Dark mode compatibility will be the norm

A 2020 poll by Android Authority revealed that about 82% of people use dark mode on their devices, individual apps, and anywhere else it’s available. Another 10% are somewhere between dark and light modes, which means that in total, over 90% of voters use some form of dark mode on their devices.

In 2022, more email marketers will send dark mode-compatible emails. One reason is that this mode is easy on the eye, and makes content more legible. Needless to say, users are more likely to open such emails, and engage with them.

The dark mode also gives emails a classy, more elegant look – which again, impacts opens and click-throughs – and saves battery life for the user. Emails that are not dark mode-compatible could appear to have a broken layout or a weird look and feel, which could trigger spam filters and affect the deliverability of your emails. Thus, dark mode can even prevent email deliverability issues.

All in all, dark mode is a win-win for both your brand and your subscribers, so there’s no reason not to implement it in 2022!

Here’s what a dark mode email from Litmus looks like compared to a normal light mode email. Both kinds are important to boost opens, click-throughs, and deliverability.

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A final word

Email marketing has come a long way over the past four decades (yes, it has been that long!). In 2022, the email landscape will continue to evolve, with more marketers focusing on personalization, creative visuals, interactivity, and minimalist designs. To know more about the key email design trends that will influence the email landscape in 2022 visit email.uplers.com.

Guest author: Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Uplers, one of the fastest-growing custom email design and coding companies, and specializes in crafting professional email templates, PSD to HTML email conversion and free responsive HTML email templates in addition to providing email automation, campaign management, and data integration & migration services. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz and eats and breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on his blog.

The post 3 Key Email Design Trends for 2022 and Beyond appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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How Is Artificial Intelligence Changing the Face of Web Design?

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the face of web design. In fact, AI has been a driving force for websites since they were first conceptualized in the 1990s. It wasn’t until recently that technology was advanced enough to make AI a practical reality.

Now you can create an entire website using automation and machine learning techniques. The days of having to write every line of code yourself are over. AI can analyze data and generate insights that will create a better experience for users.

Let’s take a look at a few things that artificial intelligence is able to do for web design and development.

1. Make web design easier

The first consideration is that AI makes web design easy for everyone. An AI-powered website builder can suggest and automate a lot of the design processes. This makes it simple to design great-looking websites.

It also means people don’t need to learn coding to create a website. They also don’t have to work on optimizing performance. It all comes from artificial intelligence.

Powerful AI subroutines developed over the years can make your web design workflow easy. These are some areas where it has been able to bring impactful changes –

• AI-powered website builders make it easy to create.
• Website is automatically optimized – no tweaking required.
• Drag-drop functionality to create websites.
• Code blocks are modular and don’t need to be written or checked.

2. Dynamic customization options

Customized website design is the new trend, and AI is fueling this trend. AI is helping designers and developers to create a dynamic and personalized user experience.

Personalization of the online experience has been a highly sought-after goal for many years. It’s only recently that technology has advanced enough to offer dynamic customization options which are affordable for most companies.

For E.g., Take a look at this personalization option given by Landrover. They allow users to personalize the cars by building their own.

There are advantages to AI-powered web design customization options for both the developers and users:

• Can add an unlimited number of unique preferences and attributes.
• Easy to customize a website based on user preferences.
• No need for the web developer to intervene; it happens automatically.
• It can be built to adapt to other similar websites as well.

3. Powerful consumer behavior analysis

Analyzing customer behavior has always been difficult in the past. There are just too many variables to process for older systems. But with the advent of AI, that is not a problem anymore.

AI can dynamically deliver content to consumers and brands based on their real-time behavior. This could be tied to the web design interface to generate quickly and accurately what the user wants.

Analyzing customer behavior through AI-powered tools can have a lot of benefits for the brand –

• Customized websites generate more leads than other websites.
• It has a powerful effect on the user experience aspect. 
• High-end brands offer customers a personalized experience.
• Can classify different types of buyer persona based on behavior.
• A useful tool for upselling and retargeting.

For E.g., Take a look at this upselling from Amazon.

4. Improve UI and UX applications

AI-powered web design is the next big thing in the industry. It has already helped many brands to improve their user experience. And at the same time, making their websites great to look at.

With the help of AI, you’ll be able to create a website that looks and works great. It improves your UI and UX scores significantly. These, in turn, affect your SEO metrics, giving you a better ranking as well.

More businesses are now dependent on AI to optimize their UI/UX. And there are many reasons for it, here are a few –

• Higher performance than even experienced web designers.
• Much more detailed insights and solutions.
• Can handle a lot of data simultaneously.
• Testing can be quick and effective.

5. Process large analytics packages

Website analytics has always been a pretty difficult phase of web development. Especially now, many metrics need to be evaluated for effective website design.

One of the biggest advantages of AI is its inherent ability to process large amounts of data. And not just the processing part, AI systems are much more accurate than humans.

Analytics is a crucial part of the website design pipeline. But unfortunately, web designers are limited by their capacities in this area.

Here are the advantages AIs offer for analytics –

• Can handle a huge amount of analytical data.
• Quicker and accurate results for analytics.
• Much more accessible even for smaller businesses.
• AI can use deep learning to come up with patterns.

6. Automate tedious tasks

Like most other tasks, web design also has its share of tiresome and repetitive tasks. Task automation is something that comes naturally to AI. This is the first area where it was introduced.

The problem with AI earlier was that it could not automate effectively. This was because it had limited capabilities back then. Today, AI is much more powerful and useful as an automation tool.

For a web designer, automation opens up a lot of possibilities. Let’s look at a few of them –

• Considerably speeds up the web design pipeline.
• Focus on more critical aspects of the process.
• Designers don’t need to learn coding to automate.
• Fewer chances of errors or delays.
• It can be adapted to other design pipelines.

For E.g., Take a look at this AI chatbot design tool Flow.

7. Improve design methodology

Web design is an area that is always dynamic and volatile. It can be overwhelming for web designers to keep up with these changes. And even more so to create an effective process pipeline.

Using AI, web designers can come up with more efficient methods to streamline their processes. AI-powered web design uses a much more pragmatic approach to the designing problem.

With powerful AI computing, web designers are finding more advantages to their process structure. Here are a few of them –

• More efficient design frameworks.
• Discover better methods of optimizing your design process.
• Shorten lead times between phases of your pipeline.
• It brings down the price of design, giving you better ROI.

8. Make design scalable

Scalability is an important part of every process. This has been a problem with web design for a long time now. One reason is that scaling web design is not easy because of the difference in skill levels.

An experienced designer can deliver much better results than a newbie. With AI-powered tools, you can bridge the gap. It can help beginners get the same results as experts.

Companies are turning to AI techniques to help them scale their web design pipelines better. A few reasons why it makes sense for businesses –

• Scalability becomes a lot cheaper.
• You can achieve results quickly without lead times.
• No need to hire experts, saving recruitment costs.
• Can build in automation as well in the future.

9. Get real-time statistics

As competition increases, the need for quicker metrics becomes critical. This has been a problem because real-time data points are difficult to acquire. It can lead to significant effort being spent on the process. Hiring people just for monitoring can be a waste of resources.

AI systems can deliver a much better and cheaper alternative for you. It has inherent advantages over people in this regard.

A lot of companies spend time and money on A/B testing to get the best results. This is not ideal when looking to maximize profit. Here’s how AI can help with this –

• Can deliver true real-time statistics.
• Minimal outages due to the nature of AI.
• Accurate and easy to tweak for other applications.
• Save considerable resources and time.

You can use online tools like Google Optimize for A/B Testing in real-time.

10. Optimize coding and modularity

As long as web design has existed, coding has been an integral part of the process. This has made it a problem for people looking to break into this industry. The bar of entry is much higher due to complex code.

Advances in AI have made coding a redundant feature in today’s web development process. Huge chunks of code that were difficult to navigate before are now simple and modular blocks.

AI has boosted the web design space through effective code repositories and usage. Here are a few more advantages of AI for coding and modularity –

• AI-powered coding saves a lot of time for even experienced developers.
• Able to optimize and layout code much better.
• Finding faster ways to optimize confusing code.
• It makes coding more modular and reusable.

11. Power realistic chatbots

Out of all the innovations AI has brought us, chatbots are the most powerful. A chatbot is basically an autoresponder that is on most websites today. It engages with website visitors and answers queries about the service or product.

This is one of AIs best applications and has been effective across the board where it has been implemented. Most businesses use this instead of hiring a person because it is much more cost-effective.

Take a look at our conversation with a chatbot.

As AI becomes more powerful and chatbots get more intelligent, we need to look at tangible benefits. We’ve come up with a few that you should check out –

• It saves the cost of hiring people to monitor websites.
• Available 24/7 without any interruptions.
• Gathers and stores a large amount of data.
• Able to classify users according to various criteria.

12. Gather several data points

Data collection and storage have been some of the most difficult tasks over the years. A vital reason why is that the number of people using the internet has grown exponentially. This means that data points to collect have increased proportionally as well.

It creates problems for smaller companies as they cannot afford to hire analysts because of smaller budgets. It paves the way for AI to be a solution to this problem.

The amount of data associated with the business has been increasing every day. Here’s how AI can help you improve your bottom line –

• Can handle a large volume of data.
• Delivers accurate results and handles different variables.
• Much cheaper to implement and maintain.

13. Predict design trends

Design trends are always changing over time. It can be tough for businesses to keep track of them. And this is a problem because customers are more attracted to the latest trends rather than the older ones.

Artificial intelligence is the next big thing in web design. Web Designers can use it to predict which design trends will become popular in the future and adjust their designs accordingly.

Design trends are never easy to predict because of the number of variables involved. But using AI can considerably improve your success with design trends –

• Much more accurate design trends through analysis.
• Machine learning allows recording years of past data.
• Can get it done quicker than human operators.

14. Improve content marketing

Content marketing has become vital to helping your website rank better. All search engine updates point to content as the component that can benefit businesses. The layout of the content is important for business.

Web design has benefited from AI when it comes to content structuring and layouts. This is especially true when it comes to competitive niches. Here are a few benefits that AI has over other methods –

• Ability to generate effective content layouts based on user interaction.
• It provides actionable insights into the content framework for web design.
• Find relevant and effective content to add to the website.

Key takeaways

• Every company today uses some form of AI in its business.
• It does not just improve web design but every metric in your company.
• It might be expensive initially, but it pays for itself in quick time.
• AI can replace a lot of tasks in the design pipeline and more as time goes on.
• Automation with AI routines reduces the costs of web design considerably.
• AI can replace teams of people when done right, saving recruitment expenses.
• As data sets increase, AI becomes a necessity rather than an option.
• AI is always evolving, and it is important to get the right one for your business.

Guest author: Joseph Schneider is an entrepreneur and Marketing Head at Haitna. He is passionate about content marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization and he always keeps up with industry trends.

The post How Is Artificial Intelligence Changing the Face of Web Design? appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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10 Simple Steps for Building Your eCommerce Mailing List

Do you know that businesses, both eCommerce or otherwise, can earn $44 on every dollar spent through email marketing?

While this statistic is ought to pique your interest, know that you reach this figure only if you have a solid email list. Without one, even the most personalized of email marketing campaigns will bear no fruit.

Convincing a warm lead to hand over their email address on your eCommerce portal so you can build your list is not as easy as it sounds. But, it is easier than having them make a purchase on your site on the very first interaction.

Now, there are a few steps you must follow to ethically source email addresses for your eCommerce business. These may include investing in third-party targeted email lists, offering freebies and discounts on your website, floating a survey, providing valuable gated content like research reports, case studies, or extending free product trials.

Continue reading to learn more about these tactics in detail.

10 Ways to build your eCommerce email list

If you run an eCommerce business, the primary way to scale and succeed is by spreading the word of your offering around. And, an email list is a tool that can help this effort.

So, here are 10 ways to build an email list for your eCommerce business.

1. Introduce an Email Sign-Up/Pop-Up on Your Landing Page

Today when lead intel is business currency, nobody, and we mean nobody, is interested in handing out their email address in exchange for squat. So, make it worth their while to hand over this vital piece of information by offering them value in return.

How? By introducing an email sign-up form on your eCommerce website that promises to exclusively inform prospects of new product launches, educational videos, free tutorials, discounts, and whatnot.

Take a look at how Beardbrand’s does it! Their email sign-up form promises valuable email updates right off the bat, which are not only product-oriented but also promise to share deals and discounts.

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2. Offer a Discount, But Not Too Often

Providing discounts in exchange for email addresses is often a slippery slope. You’d be surprised how quickly customers only want to shop with you because of the discounts you provide. Anyway, it’s not of great benefit to offer discounts to individuals whose email addresses you already have.

Therefore, avoid repeated discounts as that hurts revenue.

But, extend exclusive discounts to loyal customers who’ve been shopping with you for a long time and to new visitors who are still at the top of your sales funnel. You can provide this discount not only on your website but also on social media profiles.

Here’s a simple yet effective discount template to collect qualified email addresses.

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3. Referral Incentives Can Multiply Your eCommerce Email List

Referral incentives are a great way to collect not just one but several email ids in one go. How does it work? Simply float a referral incentive to your previous customers over personalized emails. Each time they forward your incentive to their friends, you earn more email addresses.

Make sure that your referral newsletter provides the option to invite not one but many people together – kind of how Airbnb does.

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4. Try Gamification for a Change

Do you know why even adults play video games? Because they award a sense of reward and satiate our competitive nature. So, why can’t you incorporate gaming into marketing? After all, gamification lets you introduce interactive elements that encourage engagement.

Some of the most common examples of gamification to collect email addresses are digital scratch cards, online contests, and quizzes. You offer a small freebie or nothing, which the lead has to win, and to claim their reward, they must provide you their email id. Why? Because that’s where you’ll send them their prize!

Does gamification work? Yes! Not only do contestants happily provide their email addresses, but a mind-blowing 1 out of 3 entrants want to receive further marketing communication from such brands.    

Here is a classic example of gamification to collect qualified eCommerce leads by RUGSUSA.

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5. Build Your Email List Through Live Chat

Another effective method to build an email list is via chat feedback. When users log into your eCommerce site, have a live-chat widget already placed for them to encourage questions or provide feedback. If they do, interact with your live chat to follow up if needed. You can also use a chatbot here.

Ideally, you should include such a live chat widget on every landing page of your website. Provided below is an example for the same.

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6. Invest in Social Media Ads

Try to keep your eCommerce site ad-free, but don’t let go of the opportunity of investing in sponsored ads on networking platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. These ads boost your brand visibility for leads who then click-through them to purchase your product.

Even if they don’t end up buying your offering, your eCommerce site can collect emails in due process by adding log-in pop-ups to let leads browse your site for more products.

7. Host Live Events on Multiple Channels  

Host exciting live events on relevant topics that surround your business, where you call experts and influencers and open the virtual floor for questioning.

For example, suppose you’re a company that offers online courses. You can host a free live event on your top certification’s introductory class and get people to sign up by providing their email addresses for attending it.

8. Giveaways Work Wonders for eCommerce Email Lists

Hosting giveaways cost very little but hold great value for your eCommerce brand. Through giveaways, not only do you end up collecting qualified email addresses but also offer leads to try out your product sample.

So, how do you arrange one? Simply announce a giveaway on social media or your eCommerce site. You can also leverage relevant influencers for the same. All one has to do to participate is leave their email address in the comments section or any interface you provide to earn a shot at being the lucky winner who receives your product for free.  

9. Offer Targeted Gated Content

Gated content refers to high-quality content that is difficult to come by online. Therefore, in exchange for letting users view or download it online, you ask for their email addresses. Resources within gated content can include anything from beginner’s guides to e-books to case studies to whitepapers.

Gated content not only helps with eCommerce email list building but can also help your brand establish itself as an expert in its field. Why? When you share thoroughly researched rare resources, you build a name for yourself.

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10. Include an Opt-In Form in the Footer

Often a visitor wants to quickly surf through your entire web page before engaging further or dropping off. This is why when they reach the bottom of your web page, encourage them to sign up with you by including an opt-in form in the footer section of the website.

Doing this relieves them of the annoyance of scrolling all the way up to sign-up with you, which seldom happens unless they are critically interested.

To further turn this email list-building technique into a tactic, instead of plainly writing something like “Sign Up for Our Newsletter,” combine it with a discount, as shown in the example below.

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Wrapping Up

When it comes to running an eCommerce business, leveraging email marketing is non-negotiable as it’s cost-effective and offers a premium scope for hyper-personalization and lead nurturing. But, to leverage this channel to the fullest, you need a robust mailing list.

So, use these ten techniques to build yourself one stat!

Guest Author: Rochelle Williams is a Senior Marketing Manager at Span Global Services, a renowned database company offering b2b marketing lists. She has a strong marketing and advertising industry background and a deep understanding of SEO, SEM, SMO, branding, and allied marketing strategies. Connect with her on Twitter.

The post 10 Simple Steps for Building Your eCommerce Mailing List appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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The 5 Best Free Courses to Make More Money Online

The job insecurity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has a silver lining – people are discovering that making money online at home is possible.

But that doesn’t mean that it’s easy.

You need to have the right skills to land a gig online, help a remote company solve their pressing problems, or come up with a BIG idea that will sell like hotcakes on the Internet.

Not sure which skills can help you stay ahead of other freelancers, consultants, and online business owners?

No stress.

Keep reading for a list of 5 free online courses on how to make money online. Make sure to devote time and effort to the following courses because it’ll pay off in the long run.

#1. Enchanting Marketing’s 16-Part Snackable Writing Course

Henneke Duistermaat is the writer behind Enchanting Marketing. She has taught copywriting webinars, and her book Blog to Win Business is recommended as a must-read for business writers by both Huffington Post and Inc.com.

Henneke’s 16-Part Snackable Writing Course is easy to access with just your email address, and you’re in without any other requirement. You’ll receive an email every day, with areas to focus on as a writer.

These snackable writing tips can help you with a digital marketing gig or your online business website. If you already have an interest in writing for the web, this free course is for you!

#2. Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python

The make-money-online train considers programmers and developers first in line, and learning a programming language to make yourself marketable can rake in the money.

The Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python course by EdX is ideal for you if you’re planning to learn computer science and use Python 3.5 to solve real-world analytical problems (that is for the company you want to work for or the system that you want to build for your next big idea).  Founded by MIT and Harvard, edX is a global nonprofit aiming to transform traditional education.

The course is the first of a two-part sequence: Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python, and Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science. It lasts nine weeks, and you’re expected to clock in 14 to 16 hours per week.

You don’t need to have a prior programming background to finish this course, but you may have to put more effort than those with a reasonable aptitude for mathematics and algebra.

The downside to this course is you may have to spend a long time learning (may take months) before you can make yourself marketable. But if you have the time and patience, you’ll realize that completing this course is worth it. 

#3. A Crash Course in Data Science by Johns Hopkins University via Coursera

If you are prepared to tackle another technical course, learning data science can be your ticket to earning in the high five figures or more online. A Crash Course in Data Science by Johns Hopkins University via Coursera is a good jump-off point. 

Many professionals take this course to add another skill set to their existing arsenal.

Understanding data science projects is one of the most sought after skills among project managers today. A job in data science is also one of the highest-paying in the tech field, especially where remote work or freelancing is concerned.

This week-long course is specifically ideal for managers or leaders who want to join data science teams and manage data scientists. Throughout this course, you will quickly grasp data science concepts without all the fluff.

#4. Hubspot’s Email Marketing Course

When someone mentions Hubspot, “marketing” is likely the first word that’ll come to mind.

Hubspot is one of the best platforms out there to learn the ins and outs of digital marketing.

Their free email marketing course lets you master the fundamentals of email marketing – from recipient management and segmentation to email deliverability and analyzing your email engagement stats.

Another benefit is that the Hubspot certification program is recognized by brands and businesses out there so you can use this skill to negotiate your way to better rates when doing freelance email marketing management work.

#5. Crash Course In Infographics with Easelly

Next to data science, information design, and data visualization are some of the most in-demand skills in today’s workforce.

Aim for a future-proof career by learning the ins and outs of infographic design through Easelly’s Crash Course in Infographics.

With 15 lectures lasting for roughly an hour, this course is for anyone who needs to convey a story, idea, or concept in an easy-to-follow visual form. No design background or experience is required.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to make an infographic. You’ll also learn infographic best practices – from how to make pictograms correctly to learning how to make your infographic stand out.

Bonus #1. Google Academy for Ads

With the rise of content comes more demand from creators who want to promote their content. Aside from social media, Google Adwords is an excellent online platform that can generate more leads and engagement through referral traffic.

With that said, brands and businesses creating content are looking for people who can set up pay-per-click advertising campaigns in Google Search, Google Display Partners, and Google Mobile Ads. Google Academy for Ads is a great starting point if you’d like to take advantage of this opportunity.

Once you complete this free course, you can choose to become Google certified by taking an exam.

Bonus #2. The Beginner’s Guide to SEO by Moz

This free beginner’s SEO course from the SEO software company, Moz, tackles everything you need to get started with search engine optimization if you’re starting from scratch.

This course moves at your pace so you can learn while working full-time or studying another course on the side. With 8 chapters, it begins with all the need-to-know SEO basics and ends with how to execute an SEO strategy.

Wrapping up

Having the right combination of skills can make the difference between earning just enough to get by and having more cash that you can use to grow your rainy day fund or add to your retirement savings.

Now you have the list of courses above, try it out and commit to sticking to a course until the end. You need to be committed to learning skills that will improve your career prospects and your overall standard of living.

Guest author: Kai Tomboc is currently taking care of content at Piktochart, an easy-to-use design tool that helps you tell your story with the visual impact it deserves. She has written for various SaaS brands and publications like G2. When not engrossed in a book, she’s most likely taming tardigrades.

The post The 5 Best Free Courses to Make More Money Online appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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How to Conduct Smooth Organizational Change

Change is the only thing that is constant; in whatever field you find yourself in, you will experience one form of change or the other. A change may be subtle, mild, partial, or holistic.

The COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, brought about unprecedented changes to the way people live, and the way business is conducted.

Organizations had to adopt massive changes to survive. The digital transformation took a new dimension and became the priority in 2021 budgets of 77.3% of Fortune 500 CIOs, relegating cybersecurity to second place.

When people have to adopt a new way of life, there are sometimes pockets of resistance, especially where there is no willingness and conviction. An organizational change does not always sail through easily, but there are ways you can enhance a smooth change.

When you want to embark on organizational change, success should be paramount since you will have to sink in resources; success will depend on the mindset of your employees.

What is the culture of the organization? How flexible is the culture? How quickly can they adapt to the new culture? These are questions you must provide concrete answers to before embarking on organizational change.

Smooth organizational change depends on your organizational change strategies, they will ensure you don’t stall in the process and minimize friction with employees. The precursor you need for success is planning; a smooth change is the result of good preparation.

But, how can you plan an organizational change strategy if you don’t know what type of change you want to embark upon? It’s only when you know the change management model that you can plan a strategy that fits it.

Types of organizational change

The different types of organizational change you have are:

• Organization-wide change – This is a large-scale transformation that runs through the entire organization. You can restructure leadership, incorporate a new policy, or introduce a new enterprise technology.
• Transformational change – This aims at your organizational strategy. For you to undergo a rapid change, your organization must be nimble, adaptable, and prepared to transform your game plans any time there is a need.
• Personnel change – When there is the need to add or reduce your workforce, you embark on personnel change. Both situations can tilt the scale in employee engagement and retention.
• Unplanned change – Unexpected events must be dealt with if the organization must survive. Though these events are unpredictable, they can be handled with good planning, an example of such an event is the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Remedial Change – If your organization is going through an established form of deficiency, you need to quickly do something about your output.

It’s not enough to know the organizational change you want to embark on, you must also know how to make it a smooth process. You can use the following steps to enhance the success of your organizational change.

1. Map out clear goals and a strategy to achieve your goals

If only 54% of change initiatives succeed, then it’s a program you must focus on to ensure the resources you are investing do not go down the drain and that you are on the right track. Organizational change cuts across departments, teams, and job functions.

Who will this organizational change affect? How do you represent their interests? A smooth organizational change will have clearly defined goals; in this era of digital transformation, you must have a digital strategy that specifies how you achieve these goals.

You can only know when you’re on the right track and measure your success if you have a clear-cut aim. Your strategy is your roadmap, and it gives you an insight into what the organization will look like after the change.

The CEO must seek input across the board, so everybody has a sense of belongingness before drafting the vision.

2. Eliminate acts of disruption from employees

Quite often, when brands embark on organizational change, employees tend to resist, especially when they are not convinced that the old culture has to go. Sometimes, they believe you just want to create unnecessary problems for them.

They know that they must undergo some form of training to fit into the new technologies the organization will integrate. They may also feel threatened that automation will make them redundant.

The only way to ensure employees do not bring up pockets of resistance is through proper communication. If you have sought their inputs at the planning stage, they will understand why the change has to take place, and they feel they are part of the whole process. This also assuages their fears.

3. Have total commitment at the management level

The CEO usually initiates organizational change in conjunction with the CIO, but it doesn’t stop there. Organizational change cuts across departments; it’s, therefore, necessary to seek the cooperation of the entire C-suite and other managers.

Even where the vision comes from the entire C-suite, they need other staff members for the execution, they can’t do it alone. To ensure that everybody knows the expected role to play in enhancing a smooth change and even after, the vision must not be a confidential matter.  

The level of commitment your employees see in management determines the degree of interest they will put in your organizational change. There must be a sense of urgency about the change, and management must constantly remind employees why the change is important.

Since organizational change cuts across departments, information about achievements must be communicated to employees. This will encourage them to put in more effort. Management must harp at new cultures advocating continuous learning.

Conclusion

Smooth organizational change comes with a lot of actions. If you want your organization to be relevant in this very competitive global business, your business must be adaptable and ready to embrace change.

Your strategies serve as your roadmap; even if the change is impromptu, you still need to plan. The success of your organizational change hinges on your preparedness.

Guest author: Alon Ghelber is the Tel Aviv-based Chief Marketing Officer of Revuze.it, who supports B2B tech startups in capturing customers’ (and VCs’) attention through marketing based on data-driven storytelling.

The post How to Conduct Smooth Organizational Change appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

* This article was originally published here

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