Showing posts with label consultant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consultant. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Key Intakes from Pozible Crowdfunding workshop Sep 2013



HOLA!
I am back! writing my weekly article ( been busy with our successful launch of the new LEA Latinoamericanos Empresarios Australia business and entrepreneurs network last night in Sydney, Australia.

As promised last week, please find below all the fantastic learnings and tips I grabbed from the Pozible Crowdfunding Workshop on Tuesday 3rd September 2013 in Sydney.

This crowd funding workshop was super valuable, specially now that eDigital has been engaged to help Vibrating Planet crowd funding campaign to be launched on the 27th of September 2013 at our Vibrating Planet launching party (All invited if you are in Sydney).

Pozible Crowdfunding Workshop September 2013 - Ambassador Suzie Nguyen speaking to the audience
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM POZIBLE CROWDFUNDING WORKSHOP

Why people use crowdfunding
  • You can build an audience at low cost.
  • It allows to pre-sale your new products that are created as part of your project.
  • Unlimited potential to raise as much as your project can attracts.
  • It is fun! you will be very excited when successfully funding your project.
Tips for project and rewards participation
  • Involve people in your crowd funding project. The more they can participate and be part of it, the more they will be interested to support your project.
  • The above translates in creating "Intimate levels" of engagement that are unique to the project and rewards. Examples can be exclusive lunch/dinner rewards with project creators, donors to be part of the group that designs or selects the logo, supporters material (photos, stories) to be part of the project creative outcome, etc.
  • Quirkiness works - Be creative with your rewards structure. People love authenticity. It was mentioned a project where someone was raising to spend on a night out...then the the project raised $500 as the project rewards were so quirky and different.
  • Financial rewards are not allow in Pozible. You cannot give away money, shares, etc as part of a reward.
  • Top rewards can be companies that act as sponsors of that reward. Keep that in mind when negotiating sponsor opportunities. Sponsors like that as it gives them a level of certainty that they will invest to projects that are just successful.
Tips for funding target
  • Target the absolute minimum budget that is critical to get your project over the line, specially for first timers and project creators that might not have a strong or solid fan base.
  • You should budget for the creation, management and delivery of rewards as part of your funding.
  • Transparency is key! Supporters should be able to know exactly how you are going to invest/spend the raised money into the project. Provide exact details.
Tips for Marketing your project
  • Most of traffic comes from Project creators social media graph: Facebook and twitter accounting for the majority of traffic.
  • Contact every donor and say "Thank you" and remind them to invite their friends and family to donate.
  • Link from your project Youtube videos to your Pozible campaign via 'Annotation" feature on Youtube.
  • Once launched, you need to test your campaign and ensure payments are going through.
  • Decide on your voice and tone. Be consistent. Some might decide to NOT ask for donations. Instead, They INVITE people to be part of their project; to participate with in the project by contributing via crowdfunding website and get a fantastic reward from project creators.
  • You need extra Collaborators: you need to find more people who can contribute to your project and hence talk about and promote your crowdfunding campaign!
  • We need to mapout key Influencers and reach them: People like to follow what influencers do! Is there any respected industry leader who could endorse your project? Can you ask other popular artist to donate and do a little story with them on why they supported you? You need to get endorsements from any popular industry leaders and promote their support to your project via social media.
  • Flyers needed! When you meet new people during your crowdfunding campaign, a flyer needs to be given to them so  they can participate on your campaign. People do not necessarily remember web addresses. Give them an amazing flyer that they cannot resist following up when they get back home.
  • You need to map out our activities calendar! To keep people engaged via Social Media and as a way to remind them to donate, you need to plan and promote all your project daily activities during the the campaign period! You need to action this from the very beginning! Activities can be:
- Concerts and gigs you will offer.
- Collaborators you meet and start working with you.
- Confirmed places you will visit as part of your project and people who will be hosting you.
- Influencers you have met and endorse you project.
- Crowdfunding updates, money raised so far.
- Confirm sponsors
- Other collaborations and stories.
  • You need visuals! use photos and videos, and plenty of visual clues that our project is going to be successful!
        Setting up your Crowdfunding campaign
        • Video describing the project is absolutely essential for improving the chances of success. Make it less than 3 minutes long.
        • Video and project description MUST be authentic, genuine, transparent and honest.
        • Tone of voice is extremely important. Ensure you get it right. seek for advice from professional communications specialist or watch other successful funded projects.
        Last but not least
        Examples of successful Pozible crowd funding projects
        • Mr Black - $10.000 target successfully raised!
        • The two chair project - $3,000 target successfully raised!
        • Ton of Wool - $33.000 target successfully raised!
        • Check below Amanda Palmer - The art of asking video - very inspirational video.

          NEXT
          Pozible Crowdfunding Workshop Sep 2013 - Founder Rick Chen speaking to the audience

          Tuesday, August 6, 2013

          SEO Consultant Sydney - SEO in Action - Test article 1

          SEO Consultant Sydney - SEO in Action - Test article 1

          "SEO Consultant Sydney" search term for a Sydney SEO consultant might be an important search term the average person might think an SEO expert should rank for.

          However there is more to it than just ranking for the term you think your business should rank for. In this specific example, the term "SEO Consultant Sydney" is:
          a)  not a "high volume" term (just 90 searches last month in Australia - According to Google Adwords keyword tool)
          b) it is just one of other key relevant terms an SEO consultant might want to rank for.
          b) Possibly might not generate as many conversions (phone ringing asking for Sydney SEO packages).

          This SEO Consultant Sydney article is one of some others SEO test articles I am planning to publish in my Blogspot website (Google owned Blogging platform) to establish whether Google Australia will rank this article for "SEO Consultant Sydney" searches on Google Australia.

          Would this optimised SEO Consultant Sydney blogspot page be enough to be ranked on Google Australia for "Sydney Consultant Sydney" search phrase? ANSWER: We do not know (YET). As with any SEO project; we need to test, test and test.

          With so many changes with latest Google Panda update and latest Back Links updates from Google; as ranking positions rely more and more on quality content and not just buying links pointing to your optimised pages.

          Not just "SEO Consultant Sydney" term!

          Our business (as yours) cannot rely on just one term to get traffic. Generally a planned SEO content strategy that publishes "meat" that Google would love to eat is key!.

          For this testing exercise then how do I ensure I am creating enough meat? 
          In the next days I will also publish pages that optimise for the terms:
          • SEO Packages Sydney
          • SEO Agency Sydney
          • SEO Consultant Salary
          • SEO Job Description
          • SEO consultant philippines
          I will start internal linking between these pages too. At the moment there is no linking as the pages have not been created.

          How did I come up with the above terms?
          As this is a BASIC TEST to check whether this Blogspot page can actually gain great Search Engine Ranking Positions (SERP's)  for the term "SEO consultant Sydney" a BASIC keyword research using free tools ( tools you can also use) was used to come up with the above terms we will be creating pages for. 

          Basic keyword research.
          Step 1: I looked into Google Adwords keyword tool and find relevant terms.

          "SEO Consultant Sydney" relevant, related terms - Google Adwords keyword tool

          Step two: I used what Google Instant is already telling me is popular.

          "SEO Consultant Sydney" - Using Google Instant Search Insights


          So, who is ranking for the search term "SEO Consultant Sydney" by the 7th August 2013?


          "Sydney SEO Consultant" results - Firs Page - 7th August 2013 - Google Australia
          As seen above, none of those ranked sites are Blogspot sites!

          Is that because anyone is optimizing for the term "SEO consultant Sydney" using Blogger/Blogspot platform? 

          According to Google there are 3,120 Blogspot pages that have the term "SEO consultant Sydney" in them so it is not going to be an easy fight as some of those blogs have better page rank and page history than my new Blogspot blog.


          "SEO consultant Sydney" results  - Only Blogspot pages

          But is it really worth the effort trying to rank a blogspot page for the term "SEO Consultant Sydney"?

          According to Google Adwords keyword tool, "SEO Consultant Sydney" term had 90 searches last month ( July 2013). That might be quite a few searches if you sum up the volume for the other 5 searches we are optimizing for and get around a 2% conversion I am looking at a gain of 5-6 clients which I will be very happy with. Then if I convert these 5-6 clients into long term client who engage me for other website SEO packages, SEO consulting or training; eDigital products that are worth on average a couple of thousand dollars, it might then be worth the effort!.

          In summary, how to SEO a website for great Google organic (free) rankings requires an experienced Sydney SEO Consultant, a solid SEO Content Strategy and some testing time.

          Next:
          About Mauricio
          Mauricio Escobar Mármol (BBsMn & MCom) is eDigital Sydney SEO Consultant, Social and Digital Media Specialist. Mauricio posses over 10 years experience helping companies to earn new customers and prolong customer lifetime value by effective execution of structured Digital Marketing strategies and executions. Mauricio worked as Digital Marketing Manager for some of Australia's most visited websites. Mauricio expertise focuses on Website Optimisation, Social Media, SEO/Networks Acquisition Strategies (SEO, SEM, Affiliates, Display) and vendor reviews.

          Monday, July 22, 2013

          Learn the secrets of a successful website - webinar - Bigcommerce Paypal July 2013

          KEY TAKEAWAYS - "Learn the secrets of a successful website" - Webinar by Bigcommerce & Paypal.  23 July 2013

          Key intakes from Troy Cox, Bigcommerce Australia

          • Create and launch a clean and modern website and homepage.
          • 90.000 australian websites using Paypal.
          • 37.000 merchants using Bigcommerce. They have learned what works well when selling online.
          • Ensure it showcase your brand your image. Make it easy and simple. homepage is the first impression of your website: . Not too cluttered.
          • Be careful when running multiple promotions. Put them in a carousel on homepage. The less promotions the more you convert. Imagine you enter into a shop and 6 sales assistant comes to you to sell you different products.
          • Make your website easy to navigate. Categorize your products on few categories.
          • Get a fresh perspective of your homepage. Run your website on different browsers and mobile phones and see how your homepage looks. It should be nice and clean.
          • Successful website have great product images. As people are not able to touch the product and really feel it, you need to have your products images from different angles. This will help improve conversions. The bigger the images, the less likely people will return your products. Bailey Nelson is a great example for nice, big, beautiful product images from several angles. They also have images of key features of the product: hinges.
          • Videos to drive engagement: Videos have a profound impact on conversions. it is not just about getting more visitors into shoppers. Videos allow to add value and get users to connect with your brand. Videos allow to lift that level of trust with your shoppers and visitors. People prefer to buy from companies they trust. You can showcase how your products work with other products. Video content can help you build that trust by showcasing the features, how products are being used or general information videos: how returns wok, how shipping work.
          • You do not have to be an expert videographer. Troy encouraged people to start with your smartphone and create videos to your products. Yeti coolers is a nice website that fully use videos to promote and educate users about their coolers. They use videos to help customers understand the capabilities and richness of of their products.
          • Product reviews: apart from increasing sales and conversions; it adds a "Social proof", that validation that a product is good, that works well. People start to distrust company product reviews so reviews have to actually be genuine. Customers like to see the both sides of the story. Product reviews are great for search engine optimisation SEO as products reviews are unique, timely and relevant content Google bot likes it. 
          • Social sharing is another advantage of product reviews. Allows people to add on reviews on social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.
          • Abandoned shopping carts: For many reasons people will abandon your shopping cart. (more than 70% of shopping carts are abandoned and within that 70%, 75% of those actually intended to buy. Reasons for abandonment:
          • Shipping costs: People do not like paying for shipping costs. Solution: offer free free shipping.
          • There is no guest check out: Some people do not want to create that "register" relationship. Solution: create a guest check out option.
          • Takes too long: do not ask questions you can ask later on. Questions like gender, others. 
          • Not having enough payment options: allow for different payment options. Add Paypal Express option. That will help you increase conversion. Bump my lock added Paypal Express and allowed them to increase conversion by 20%. Not bad.
          • Abandon Cart Saver: it is a great piece of software detects when a shopper abandon your cart and sends an email to shopper to invite them to comeback to site and complete purchase. Often there is a some sort of promotion to entice users to complete their shopping. Merchants can specify some rules and setting when using it such as offer limited time discounts (creating that scarcity of time), offer free shipping or any general offer.  A case study presented was Night Gear which recovered around 8.000 sales that otherwise have been lost by using the Abandon Cart Saver. I would have liked to know the average open and click through rates for those automated emails.

          Key intakes from Dan Woodall, Paypal

          • Sounded like a product pitch requesting website owners to get Paypal logo on all key pages of your website.
          • Dan mentioned Paypal is the third most trusted brand in Australia and that four million people in Australia use it. would like to know the sources for those claims.
          • Mobile 1 in 4 transactions are done on a mobile phone. Create mobile versions of your key pages. Paypal already offers a mobile optimised payment process.
          • Cart abandonment: 70% of people abandon carts. In 2102 paypal conducted studies and a/b testing and some tips are:
          • Make sure paypal logo is prominent and visible. Leverage that Paypal brand trust.
          • Add Paypal on your product pages (smooth, easy, safe transaction with paypal)
          • Express checkout Paypal integration. It pulls customer payment and shipping details information.
          • Make it clear that you have Paypal Express option. It can increase up to 4% conversions.
          • Express Checkout: make sure you customised your Paypal Express Checkout flow with your logo and brand visuals.
          • Do not charge additional fees.
          Key Intakes from Jonathon Allara, BicyclesOnline.com.au
          • Using Bigcommerce and Paypal has been beneficial.
          • Improve Customer Value proposition: improvements to supply chain, product quality, service and delivery.
          • Website started with very small range of bicycles, as they started to evolve, they presented more range and more features on the website.
          • Bicycles online uses analytical tools to help understand better users and customers: Visual Website Optimiser, Kampyle (Feedback form tool) Google Analytics and other tools.
          • Google Analytics: E-commerce reporting, goal reporting, conversion funnel reporting.
          • Visual website optimiser has helped bicycles online to create different variations of a page and run A/B testing in order to optimising conversions.
          • Bigcommerce search data has been also useful for bicycles online.
          • The Google on-page analytics tools helped bicycles online to know what call to actions features on homepage were not really fully utilised and they would have liked to. 
          • Results were improving the homepage and added some key call to actions on the header of the website( email, phone number, live chat).
          • Humanising the website has also been great. Adding images of people and employees and the key reasons why bicycles online sell just one brand.
          • Product pages have also been a/b tested. Bicyles Online added video content to each product page. This new video content resulted on a 60% increase on conversions by having this addition on product pages. it has also been created more trust, local feel and credibility.
          • They have also been using video to better communicate how the service works.
          NEXT:
          • Call Mauricio - Digital Marketing, Social Media &  SEO Consultant Sydney on +61481 367 711
          • Check Mauricio Escobar Mármol LinkedIn profile.
          • Follow us on FacebookTumblrTwitter or Google+
          • If you like the above embed Real time Australia hot searches box you can embed it on your blog or website by using the below iframe: <iframe frameborder="650" height="650" src="//hawttrends.appspot.com/?r=3&amp;c=3&amp;p=8" width="600"></iframe>
          Happy Tuesday and thank you Bigcommerce and Paypal for the invite to this great webinar.

          Mauricio Escobar Mármol
          Director +eDigital 

          About Mauricio
          Mauricio Escobar Mármol (BBsMn & MCom) is eDigital Sydney SEO Consultant, Social and Digital Media Specialist. Mauricio posses over 10 years experience helping companies to earn new customers and prolong customer lifetime value by effective execution of structured Digital Marketing strategies and executions. Mauricio worked as Digital Marketing Manager for some of Australia's most visited websites. Mauricio expertise focuses on Website Optimisation, Social Media, SEO/Networks Acquisition Strategies (SEO, SEM, Affiliates, Display) and vendor reviews.



          Saturday, July 20, 2013

          18 tips on How to promote a new Facebook application

          18 tips on How to promote a new Facebook application


          KNOW YOUR TOP KEY OBJECTIVE

          1. The more specific your objective(s) the better.
          Some objectives options are:
          • Are you building an app to sell more of a specific product? Specificy which product and the exact quantities you are expecting to convert.
          • Are you building an app to get people to visit your website and find out more about you products and services. Specify how many website visits you are expecting from the app.
          • Are you building an app to make new consumers aware of your product or services. Specify how many consumers you want people to interact with your app.

          BEFORE BUILDING IT, CREATE MEANS FOR VIRAL EFFECT 

          2. Make a competition or contest for your target market to decide what and how they want an application to be and work. Same users to be able to vote for the best creative idea. This will ensure your app when launched already have a fan base. 

          BUILD FUNCTIONALITY THAT PROMOTES SHARING 

          3. Make one of the application main features to engage other friends into the use of the application. If friends do not play with the app the experience is not as great. Examples: Pringles island party application :friends are invited to win a party in an island. 


          4. Ensure your application offers a custom result that users are happy to share and/or show off. this will totally give a viral effect and will make the application to be used by more people. Examples: Pringles Conga Facebook app: users upload a photo of them so the end result is customised. 




          5. Add sharable options at the end of the application. Share on twitter/facebook/email..make sure the sharable options and not boring copy but cool call to actions and have the same tone, look and feel as the facebook application. 

          AFTER LAUNCH - USE YOUR MEDIA CHANNELS & TARGET KEY SEGMENTS 

          6. Submit it to the Facebook apps directory AND facebook developers blog/forum. They will for sure be interested on what you have build, play with it (test it) and recommend it to people. 

          7. Create a Facebook ad campaign targeting the people you want to use the facebook application. They might click on your ad, run the application and promote the facebook application to friends/family members. 

          8. Create a consistent promotion calendar. Specify days you will be promoting and reminding people about the app. You can use your brands other digital media assets: Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, LinkedIn, Brick and Mortars (stores - if you have any) and any events (events are fantastic places to launch your new app - ensure you invite key media editors and bloggers to your event).

          9. Create a case study about how you build the app and the results you have had in the first couple of weeks and share it with the digital media industry: Digital Buzz website, Springwise, others.

          10. Reach popular and influential Facebook profiles. Send it to facebook profiles with more than 2000 friends and give them some giveaways for sharing the app on Facebook. 

          10. Contact key bloggers to review the app and talk about it on their blogs/tweeter/facebook accounts. 

          11. Promote the app on key pages of your website: Homepage,  "Thank you" pages and e-newsletter. 

          12. Make a competition for the first 100 people to use the app and share it with friends on facebook to win something cool/relevant. 

          13. Publish a media release about the new brands Facebook app. Ensure you include the app url address. 

          14. Get celebrities (at least one relevant) to endorse the app and Tweet/Facebook about it. 

          15. Allow users to provide feedback about new features so you know how to improve it and get more users to the app. 

          16. Promote it in your Facebook page: in the cover photo, wall post. You can also  publish  a poll about it. 

          17. Send the app url address to providers and partner companies so they can also promote it to their staff in their e-newsletters. 

          18. Make a video about your app ( the story, behind the scenes, how it was built, why it was build, what the benefit is, etc), upload it into your youtube channel so users can embed the video on their own sites and blogs….bringing extra free promotion to your Facebook application. 

          NEXT 
          About Mauricio
          Mauricio Escobar Mármol (BBsMn & MCom) is eDigital Sydney SEO Consultant, Social and Digital Media Specialist. Mauricio posses over 10 years experience helping companies to earn new customers and prolong customer lifetime value by effective execution of structured Digital Marketing strategies and executions. Mauricio worked as Digital Marketing Manager for some of Australia's most visited websites. Mauricio expertise focuses on Website Optimisation, Social Media, SEO/Networks Acquisition Strategies (SEO, SEM, Affiliates, Display) and vendor reviews.