It’s not a secret, growing your website is key to leads, and leads are key to conversions.

Without fresh eyes, you can never expect to make sales.

The more eyes on your offer… the more sales you make.

Over the past year I’ve been focused on organic channels, and producing good quality content on my blog.

In fact I completely quit emailing my list, to just focus solely on organic growth and fresh new eyes.

The result?

2565 visitors this week, with a constant increase week to week.

All organic traffic, no paid advertising, no emailing my list.

So how did I do this?

It’s simple really.

The first step is… produce good content.

Google doesn’t want a spammy site with spammed backlinks to get ranked.

And my site is by far not the most authoritative.

But it’s good enough to get the job done with specific targets for SEO.

It’s not all about ranking either, good content can produce shares, and good engagement on social media (which a lot of my traffic comes from, too).

Next? Get some backlinks and social signals.

There’s plenty of ways to get backlinks.

Some people offer them for money.

Others you can guest post for their blog with a link back to your site.

For them? Free content.

For you? More authority towards your domain.

Social signals are free as well, I’ve built a following on a few platforms, which I share and others share on their own as well.

Backlinks and social signals play a huge part in building your website.

When you put all this together…

And a lil’ bit of work and time too, you can start opening the organic flood gates.

The best part?

You control organic traffic.

An ad platform can’t just shut you down overnight and your entire business collapses.

Then when you throw some email lead magnets on your site, you can capture that organic traffic and warm it up too.

One last thing:

Make sure your site loads fast, and it’s mobile responsive.

A ton of traffic is from mobile now.

Google cares a lot about loading speeds too.

My simple solution is just WordPress, a responsive theme, and a good caching plugin.

So, in conclusion…

How I managed to spend a year focused on organic traffic and started getting 2565 organic visitors a week, and growing… is simple.

I focused on:

• Growing my sites authority (social signals, backlinks)
• Using social media to spread my content (Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc)
• Producing good content
• Staying persistent
• Making sure my sites optimal

When you do all this with a little patience and work, you’ll be able to start gettin’ the good old organic traffic flowing.

I’ll be making an updated post to this in the future to detail my growth, so stay tuned 🙂

Interested in having me take a peak into your brand and discuss copywriting and content strategy? Check out this page.

Stores are the king of persuasion and sales. Why?

Scientists think it’s because it’s how humans evolved.

Instead of learning from our own mistakes, we learned from others misfortunes through storytelling and cautionary tales.

When you tell someone a good story, they relate as if it’s them.

This is called narrative transportation.

A good storyteller can make people lose themselves in your stories, transport to your narrative.

After that happens, you can rebuild thoughts and belief patterns to fit your narrative.

And well… rebuilding thoughts and belief patterns is the essence of persuasion and sales.

A good story always has two components:

1. Empathy
2. Mental imagery

Empathy implies your story resonates, your pain, your experience was understandable and and related to them.

They feel your pain, and by feeling your pain it causes detachment and narrative transportation.

Mental imagery is when your storytelling is vivid, believable; they can actually relate to the story and feel themselves in it.

When you do these two things, they lose track of reality; you’ll be able to transport them and are able to control the narrative.

For example, watch this Tai Lopez ad:

Pay close attention to how he ties in a story of living in a mobile home with $47 in his bank account.

You can see he deliberately says it, otherwise they would see the ad and click off at some rich unrelatable douchebag.

Instead, the thought they too could do it if someone relatable to them was able to do it was planted in their mind.

This is the essence of storytelling in sales and persuasion.

Controlling the narrative is controlling how people perceive you.

Break down beliefs and thought patterns with stories, and rebuild them in your favor.

So, in conclusion…

Being a good storytelling is insanely profitable.

Think about what stories could fit your brand, then apply it to your sales process.

Get at it, tiger.

Marketing and dating sounds like two entirely different things, right?

Wrong.

Here’s why:

A good marketer knows his exact target audience.

Anyone with a brain that’s in the dating game does too.

For example, if you’re in the dating game you won’t go to a bar to find a wife.

If you’re a marketer, you won’t try to sell makeup to a 40 year old man that enjoys hunting.

Both a smart dater and marketer know their type.

When it comes to finding them… you’ll know where to find them.

Going off the bar example earlier, you won’t find a wife at a bar.

If you’re a marketer looking for CEO’s, you’re better off on LinkedIn than Pinterest.

You know where your type hangs out.

After that?

You’re not afraid to put yourself out there.

Marketing and dating are both the game of building relationships.

You know it takes engagement and nurturing to build real relationships.

You don’t get into a relationship overnight, nor do you make a sale to a stranger overnight.

It takes following up. Nurturing. Relationship building.

You both know how to engage and nurture relationships.

Purpose is up next.

Both a marketer and someone in the dating game have a purpose.

You have to have a cohesive brand and messaging.

It needs to be crystal clear what your mission is, what you stand for, and what you want.

You have to be a great communicator in either field.

And finally… you don’t rely on luck.

You have a clear idea of how to win over your prospect or ideal significant other.

Blindly hoping you make a sale or make someone fall in love with you won’t ever work.

You know how to keep yourself on the top of their head.

A marketer might set up an auto-responder with drip-fed emails.

Someone in the dating game might send the occasional text.

But either way, you know your goal is to build a relationship and position yourself as the one you want.

So, in otherwords…

Marketing and dating are a lot alike.

It all comes down to nurturing and building relationships, with a little bit of psychology built in.

Either way, a good marketer makes a great dater 😉

Everyone wants to know. Is blogging even worth it?

Or should I just publish content on Youtube, Facebook, or X, Y, and Z of the next social media platform.

Short answer is… yes, and no.

Interest has been dying in blogging as a whole as other mediums pop up.

People are still saying SEO and keywords are dead.

So, let’s elaborate:

Does more competition exist now?

Yes.

Is it harder to get your blog seen, ranked in top of Google?

Yes.

Is it impossible?

No.

Is it still a great free traffic channel for your business?

Yes.

Understand you don’t have to follow trends.

Blogging was once a trend.

It was the new thing around the block, now Youtube, social media, and beyond are.

And that’s okay. You can use all of them.

You can re-purpose your blog into other parts of social media too.

But just because it’s not the “hot new thing” doesn’t mean its not worthwhile anymore.

Content marketing is king, your blog is front and center.

Your blog is a way to speak to your entire audience.

To educate them. To get them to believe you’re actually an authority in your market and know what you’re talking about.

It’s essentially, a digital portfolio.

When people go to your site, they don’t trust you.

The more they know you, learn from you, the more they trust you.

When your content is genuinely good… it’s one of the most effective ways to increase your sales.

Content and copy go hand in hand. If both are good, you win.

And when a blog post gets ranked in Google… that’s a lot of free leads coming your way providing your content is genuinely helpful.

So… is blogging dead?

Nope.

Businesses are still using content marketing to generate leads and sales as much as ever.

Sure, it’s evolved, you use social media to get more visits towards your blog, SEO tactics have evolved… and so on.

But by no means is it dead. It just takes a little elbow grease.

So, don’t be scared. Things change.

It doesn’t mean the old ways still don’t work.

Get to blogging 😉

Look: getting sales isn’t that hard.

Getting sales is the simple formulaic human psychology of building relationships.

There’s quite literally 5 steps, and if you pay attention all marketers use the same ones.

#1) Introduction

Grab the attention of your audience within the first 8 seconds.

Arguably the most important part. Pattern interrupt, relevant question, etc.

You need attention immediately.

#2) Story

You need to explain who you are, and why they should care about what your saying.

Tell your story that connects with your audience, is relevant, and humanizes you instead of looking like a sleazy marketer.

#3) Content

Feed them. With valuable content, that actually helps.

And makes them think “wow, this person actually knows what they’re talking about!”

#4) Transition

This is the part where you *gasp* transition from content to the pitch.

You have to explain transparently why you’re charging for what your charging for.

Give them an honest reason, explain what problems your solving.

#5) Pitch

Contrary to popular belief, by this point you’ve genuinely already sold them.

You don’t actually sell when you pitch, you’ve either already sold them or lost them.

All you do is present your final offer, bonuses, and a way to pay you, and a final push.

This is literally the 5 steps to sales.

You don’t need a sleazy script.

Look around at nearly any marketer in any niche, they all use this same process.

Just a bit of insight for you.

Don’t over complicate it.

Just follow this 5-step system, try it for yourself, and see that it… shockingly, actually works.

P.S. You can book a private consultation call with me here 
if you’d like me to dive in to your business 1 on 1 and
provide you with a detailed strategy plan for growth.

P.S.S. Follow me on Instagram if you’re a real cool kid.

Ever since chat bots hit the scene, every marketer has been screaming about how email is dead.

Which, is partially true.

It’s not dead, but it’s not as engaging as it used to be.

I mean… think about it, how many emails do you get in a day?

How many junk emails that you don’t even read, or click it and close the email immediately do you get in a day?

I bet a ton.

Which means two things:

1. Consumers are jaded, they’re used to junk emails.
2. Clearly it still works because you’re still being sent them.

On the other hand…

You probably check just about any Facebook messages you receive right?

The reason being is simple, messaging is much more personal.

Be that from a business or a person, it feels more intimiate, connected.

There’s something about seeing “you have a new message”…

That’s just way more inticing than “you have a new email.

One makes you think “oh great, another ad.” vs. “Oh what did Colton have to say?”.

So, is email dead? Are chat bots the future?

Here’s the deal:

1. Emails not dead, it’ll be around for a long time.
2. Chat bots could be the future, but email still certainly has a place.

You most likely will get better engagements with chat bots.

But, at the same time chat bots carry a much bigger risk.

Facebook, or any platform, could shut down your account at any moment.

You could lose all of your hard work in a snap.

(It’s happened to many of my marketing friends too.)

Plus, they’ve stopped their messaging service for businesses overnight before, too.

Facebook is extremely strict on whats allowed in your messages as well.

Email on the other hand, you own that list… forever.

No one can take away your list.

You earned that email.

It’s your data.

Worst case scenario, you can just move email marketing platforms.

So, really here’s what you should do:

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Use both of them.

Why limit yourself?

Get as much exposure for your brand as possible.

Go for both an email opt-in, and a messenger opt-in.

WordPress is widely used by all kinds of entrepreneurs, in all kinds of markets and niches.

The real question is: should you use WordPress?

Will it work for your business?

Is it good for more than just a blog?

The answer to this, in short is yes.

WordPress has evolved well outside of “just a blog”.

You can do nearly anything with it, such as…

• Blogging (duh)
• Membership sites
• Sales funnels
• Full blown sites (page builders, such as OptimizePress)
• eCommerce
• Literally anything you could do on nearly any other platform

With WordPress’s plugin system, you can piece together about anything you’d want.

(But make sure the plugins you use are secure, don’t just use anything.)

Sure, it takes a bit of tweaking but once you’ve invested a wee bit of time into it, you’re golden.

It’s been around forever, it’s here to stay, and more importantly it’s free and open source.

So, to answer the ultimate question…

Sure, use WordPress.

It’s about just as good as anything else you could find.

It’s here to stay.

And with some minor tweaks, you can do nearly anything you want.

All you need to get started is a cheap (but quality) webhost such as BlueHost.

They even have a one click installer for WordPress, so you literally don’t have to touch any code.

You’ll have your WordPress site up in running in no time.

Get at it, tiger. 🙂

Payment processing can make or break your business.

In one night, you can have your processor close your account and suddenly all of your cash flow is nonexistant.

(It’s happen to me, and nearly every digital entrepreneur I know.)

So… you gotta pick the right one for your needs.

So what payment processor should you use?

The first, and easiest pick for the majority of businesses would be “aggregators” meaning essentially, you use a payment processing service and they share one giant merchant account.

These are also more likely to be shut down, here’s a list of a few trusted and known aggregators:

Stripe

Stripe is suited for all types of businesses, consultants, SaaS companies, eCommerce businesses and beyond.

They have an industry standard processing fee, and 2 day transfers to your bank.

They allow a 1% chargeback ratio in most cases before closing your account, I’ve processed thousands through Stripe with no major complaints, but just be sure to provide good support to avoid chargebacks.

It’s by no means a high risk payment processor.

Paypal

Honestly, I can’t really suggest Paypal.

The only reason I’d use it, is because everyone has it and trusts it.

That being said, in many cases the dispute system is heavily abused, and they’re known to freeze funds all the time for nearly no reason.

By no means is for high risk businesses, long story short, it’s trusted, but use at your own risk.

Square

Square is a reletively new payment processor, originally designed for brick and mortar stores, but now pretty functional for digital transactions.

From experience, tends to be about on par with Stripe, maybe a little bit more lenient for higher ticket transactions than Stripe, but they’re about on par with each other.

No real complains, but again, not really for high risk businesses.

Also has fast bank transfers alike Stripe.

Now, for merchant accounts:

Merchant accounts are for higher risk businesses, and just in general more unlikely to get frozen or shut down.

Foreign merchant accounts tend to allow more chargebacks and higher risk businesses as well.

It’d be impossible to list every single merchant account provider.

(Hint: even your own bank would likely open a merchant account for you.)

But I’d personally recommend (as do many)…

Easy Pay Direct

They provide a gateway, and also do merchant account brokeraging, meaning they can find the right merchant account for your business.

So, what should you use?

I’m not affiliated, I’m just experienced with them and can certainly recommend them.

If you sell:

• High ticket products
• Supplements, fitness products
• Information products
• Recurring products
• Anything grey area
• Free trials
• And beyond (anything with a high risk for chargebacks)

Then likely, a merchant account is right for you.

But that’s not to say you couldn’t use any of the aggregrators above.

Or perhaps, you could start out with an aggregrator before having proof of concept, then move to a merchant account.

Either route you choose, just insure you have good customer support and avoid chargebacks and disputes as best as possible.

So take your pick, and get to selling! 🙂

I’d go as far to say as 50% of marketers don’t utilize this form of advertising.

I’ve seen it time after time again, and after improving their sales funnels the returns are massive.

What’s “this form of advertising” you may be asking yourself right now

Simple. Retargeting.

Yep. Just throwing a simple ad up on someones timeline after they left your site.

Why is this so effective?

That’s simple too. Most people only need a tiny little push over the edge and they’ll fall right down your sales funnel.

Most people are on the fence for that one thing you just offered them, at least 50%. No matter if that is an opt-in, a tripwire offer, or an upfront purchase.

They’re on the fence. They just need the tiniest tap and they’ll slide right down your sales funnel.

All you need to do is make your presence known, your face on their timeline, and keep your brand in their minds.

It truly is that simple, the copy doesn’t even need to be spectacular. It’s usually just a case of saying, “Hey are you sure you don’t want this?”

And then as they’re drooling over your offer they come back, okay maybe not drooling, but they usually do come back.

Retargeting is so effective because it focuses on people who already know your brand. They’re not cold leads anymore, they’re slightly warm leads. Maybe even hot leads depending on how much value you’ve already provided to them.

This is a second chance to convert a visitor

Retargeting creates an illusion of grandeur

When people see your ads everywhere, they gain trust for you. It screams “profitable business that knows what they’re doing” it builds more than all, authority. People think your running a perfect advertising campaign.

It’s important to understand here that retargeting is major for brand awareness. Even if it isn’t short term immediate conversions.

My highest ROI advertising campaigns all come from retargeting

That should say something alone. And it’s not only me. The vast majority of experienced marketers all understand marketing is a key feature to any well performing sales funnel.

If your not retargeting… your ROI is probably lacking.

Not only can you put that pixel on your thank you page (so you can get a list of highly qualified leads) but you can also put it on your first upsell page, and if they take that upsell but don’t take your second upsell… guess what? Retarget, retarget, retarget.

The key take away?

Everyone says your first impression counts most, but that’s not really true when you can retarget your visitors a second, third, fourth, and fifth time.

In the world of competitive digital marketing, you can’t really afford to NOT retarget.

So… it’s safe to say after reading this you should go create a retargeting campaign right now. Something as simple of as a 25% limited time discount will work wonders for any offer. Don’t underestimate the wonders of the simplest retargeting campaign.

Now, you’re ready to kill it with retargeting.

Or, just book a call, let’s chat, and maybe I can not only setup a retargeting campaign for you, but manage all your ads 🙂