How Obsessing Over Traffic Is Stopping You From Building A Profitable Company

When creating a website, we are taught that traffic is king. We are always chasing after higher traffic numbers because we think that makes us successful. Today, I am going to talk about why you shouldn't obsess over traffic for your business. In fact, I am going to argue that obsessing over traffic is stopping you from building a profitable company.

Traffic Doesn’t Build An Engaged Customer Base

Traffic doesn't build an engaged customer base. Just because people visit your site, doesn't mean you will have a bunch of customers banging on your door to buy from you. An engaged customer base comes from more than building traffic.

To build an engaged customer base you need to understand who your customers are, what they need, what they want to buy from you, and then you need the discipline to create that thing. More traffic isn't always the answer. The answer is being smart about understanding the potential customers you already have.

Let’s focus more on one statement, “what they want to buy from you." Your customers might be a group of mothers. You could sell them baby clothes in a boutique, but what do they want from you. If you are a career coach, they want career coaching advice. If you are a boutique, they want clothes. Don’t try to be everything to your audience, focus on what you are good at.

You Are Not A Lifestyle Blog

When I am not working with my clients, I am working on building my lifestyle blog The Happy Arkansan. On The Happy Arkansan, I am a stickler for numbers. I am always trying to get my numbers higher because that's what's important on that blog. If I don't have the numbers, I am likely not reaching my affiliate sales and advertising goals. Furthermore, if I am not reaching my numbers, it's going to be hard to convince brands to work with my blog.

On Amanda Cross Co., my goals are very different. I am not focused on the numbers. I am focused on building a community here that will lead to sales of content packages. I don't need thousands of views here; I just need the right views.

You don’t need all the views because you are not a lifestyle blog. Your goals are different.

I don’t want to negate the importance of traffic. More people coming in at the top of your sales funnel is always great, but don’t think that more traffic will increase sales automatically. You’ve got to do the work to sell your product and build your email list too.

Some Goals Make Much More Sense For Where You Are As A Business

When it comes down to it, some goals make more sense for your business and the content marketing that you do for it. Put a lot of thought into the goals that you have for your website so that you can put the right kind of effort into building your company blog.

5 Goals For Your Company Blog

Next, let’s chat about five goals that you can have for your company blog (besides traffic) that will make more sense for your brand.

Build Your Email/Text List

When it comes to marketing, you can't always make a sale on the first visit someone makes to your website. Sure, some people will purchase right away, but most people need time to decide if they'd like to buy something.

Building your email or text list is the perfect way to keep in contact with your potential customers and sell your services to them over time. You can continue to communicate with them as time goes on and promote your services, latest blog posts, et cetera.

If you want to utilize content marketing to build your email/text list, start with where you are. Write down your numbers in a document. Where are you when it comes to email subscribers today? Promote your email/text list across your website and on every blog post. Utilize lead magnets to build your list and get people excited about signing up.

Keep tabs on where your email list stands after every month. If you can dig deeper, figure out which blog posts are leading to more email signups. If a blog post is underperforming, go back and change things around until you optimize it for email list signups.

Schedule Product Demos

If you own a software company, you may want to schedule more product demos. Even physical product companies may want to schedule more product demos depending on your product. Start by getting your numbers down: how many product demos are you scheduling right now?

Create a plan of attack to promote product demos for your company. If you want to schedule more product demos, you may want to experiment with pre-recorded videos versus one-on-one demos. If you do switch to a more impersonal demo structure, create a way for potential customers to email you detailed questions or set up a system for your salespeople to email anyone who requests a demo video in a specific timeframe (say, within 72 hours of requesting the video demo.)

Product demos have changed a ton over time, and you can utilize your blog to schedule more demos today.

Related Reading: 5 Ways to Get More Product Demos For Your B2B Or Enterprise Software Service

Sell Products/Software Packages

Next, you can use your blog to sell more products/software packages.

We all know that the rule of seven can stop us from making sales right away. People want to visit your site and get to know you a bit before they purchase a product. That doesn't mean you should stop trying to make money on your blog, however.

Pushing certain products or services on your blog is okay. You don't want to avoid selling altogether, after all. You never know, someone visiting your blog might want to buy something right now, but what do they purchase?

Do you have a small item that you can put up for sale? Maybe you have an old webinar that you can repackage as a paid product or a trial that you can monetize in some way? When it comes to selling in your blog posts, keep it simple and never sell more than 1-2 products per post. Too many choices can give people anxiety and make them decide not to purchase at all.

Build Authority/Name Recognition In Your Niche

Another goal you may have is to build authority and name recognition. Being an authority in your niche will help you a ton when it comes to acquiring customers, speaking at the best conferences, and creating a company excels online.

Building authority is about more than pushing out content, though. It's about creating creative content that grabs people's attention and gets people talking. What will people say about the content you are producing on your website?

Create innovative content that puts a new spin on concepts in your industry. You don't need to produce content to cause controversy, but don't be afraid to make a statement. Don't regurgitate what everyone in your industry has already said. Your blog is your time to shine and showcase your company.

Related Reading: 5 Powerful Ways To Build Authority In Your Niche

Improve Search Ranking For Your Website

Last, but not least, one of your goals may be to improve search engine ranking.

Ranking in search engines is a great goal to have because it helps you find customers who might otherwise not know you exist. Being friendly with Google will never lead you astray. Many people think that search engines are complicated. They are not simple, but they are far from difficult to manage.

It takes discipline. You have to be willing to sit down and learn the best practices associated with search engine optimization. I rank for many keywords on my blog The Happy Arkansan. One of the most critical parts of that process for me was familiarizing myself with Google Search Console. Once I found out what Google Search Console was and how to submit my site on it, my ranking started growing steadily ever since.

Conclusion

Today, on the blog, we talked all about traffic and why obsessing over it is stopping you from building a profitable company.

Once we established that traffic isn't everything, I spent some time detailing five other goals that you could have for your business blog besides traffic building.

Traffic is still vital to the growth of your company, but you shouldn't obsess over your traffic numbers. There are better ways to build a successful company, and I wanted to help you realize that today.

5 Powerful Ways To Build Authority In Your Niche

Being a trusted authority in your niche is vital in 2018 and beyond. You want your audience to know, like, and trust you; that doesn't happen overnight. Building authority in your niche is still possible, even if your niche is well populated. It does take effort on your end, to position yourself as the go-to person in your niche, though. Today, we are going to discuss five simple, but powerful ways to build authority in your niche.

*This post contains affiliate links.

1. Build A Trustworthy Website

If you want to build authority in your niche, you must first create a trustworthy website. When someone visits your site to book you for a speaking engagement or ask you to be their business mentor, how does it make them feel? If you want to be seen as an authority, your site has to position you as one.

So, what does it mean to build a trustworthy website? Focus on the people you have served! People trust the opinions of others after all, especially when they don't know who you are yet.

• Get testimonials (especially video testimonials!)

• Share the number of customers served (this is especially significant for product-based businesses)

• Be open about the amount of something you've generated for other people (pageviews, shares, dollars, you name it!)

Above all else, you want to make sure that people know who you are, who you have helped, and how you can help them.

When you are sharing this on your website, make sure the site matches the information you are sharing. Create a website that's clean (not cluttered!), professional, and easily navigable. Focus on your customer's journey through your website. Use sites like Hotjar and Mouseflow to optimize your user's experience.

Related Reading: How To Build A Trustworthy Website via Neil Patel

2. Produce Brilliant Content Across The Web

Content is king. Creating content is a fantastic way to build authority. We consume so much content on a daily basis. You want to be sure that you are creating content that cuts through the noise and provides value.

It's 2018, people! We can no longer create 300-word articles and hope they stick. Instead, we need to invest in producing long-form articles. The problem with long-form content? Some entrepreneurs don't understand that you need to say something.

Here's my suggestion––stick to the good old-fashioned listicle. Why am I such an advocate of the listicle? Simple, it keeps you (and me) on track. For today's article, I started by listing out five ways to build authority. After I created my main points, it was just a matter of filling everything in and forming a conclusion. Now that this post has an outline, I know that my work will say something.

It's easy to create short or long-form content without actually saying anything. Make sure that you are creating content that doesn't waste people's valuable time. Even if you are guest posting or sharing your expertise with someone else's audience, be sure that you have a point to your communication that people can follow.

Related Reading: Use These 16 Content Ideas To Get High-Quality Traffic To Your Site In 2018 (And Beyond)

If blogs are not your cup of tea, try something like a podcast or videos! You don't have to produce written content, although that is usually the easiest thing to do if you want to build authority in your niche.

Get In Front Of The Audiences Of Other Authorities In Your Niche

If you genuinely want to gain authority, you need to branch out further than the audience you are creating for yourself.

• Write guest posts for industry blogs

• Become a guest for a podcast in your niche

• Do a social media takeover for a popular social media account

• Present with another person in your niche on a joint venture webinar

• Host a giveaway with someone in your niche on niche specific products

There are so many ways to collaborate and reach out to people who would love your content while growing your audience.

Related Reading: How To Write A Fantastic Guest Post

3. Link To Reputable Sources

We have all checked a Wikipedia article for some information about someone famous. We may have even used Wikipedia to start researching a topic in high school or college, even though our professors told us not to. I am guilty of this, at least.

Wikipedia is not a reputable source, though. Anything that can be changed by anyone is not a good source to use.

Now, this doesn't mean that you should only link content written by people with P.h.D.s! We don't all need a Dr. in front of our names to be considered an authority on a topic. You need someone who has a following for knowing what they are talking about.

Think about the leaders and emerging stars in your industry. Link to their content proudly in your posts. You never know, one day they may be linking to the content you write.

I would make it a goal to share 2-3 great articles from outside sources in each piece you produce. Your articles don't have to be a college research papers, but it's always good to back up what you say with further reading for your audience. Make sure all your sources open in a new tab, so you don't disturb your reader's place in your article.

4. Give Advice Online In Groups And Reputable Message Boards

If you are trying to build authority in your niche quickly, a fantastic way to do so is to give advice to newcomers trying to make it in your industry. Here are a few places you may want to look for questions:

• Facebook and LinkedIn Groups

• Quora

• Niche-Specific Message Boards

• Reddit

• Twitter

How To Give Advice And Build Authority At The Same Time

One of the most important things you need to understand when giving advice is that you shouldn't link and run. Even if you have already produced the perfect piece on the topic, don't just drop your link with no explanation. Instead, give that person your #1 tip on the subject. For example, say a new freelancer wanted to know what to do when they were facing a lull in their business. I have an entire post about this topic on my blog, but I want to build trust with this person before I link my content. I might say something like:

Hi (insert their name here)!

I'm a freelancer too! I know how hard it can be to deal with lulls in your freelance business. I have found that the #1 thing I have done to get more consistent work right now is to reach back out to past clients. Instead of focusing on getting new clients right away, go back through your old clients and reach out to them. See if they would like to work on a different project and make sure they know your entire freelancing skillset. For example, maybe they hired you as a blog writer in the past, but you also write social media copy or ebooks. You never know what they may be looking for in a freelancer!

If you want more information on what to do when you have a lull in your freelance business, I wrote an entire post about this topic called 10 Tasks You Can Accomplish When Freelance Business Is Slow! I would love for you to check it out. Let me know if you have any more questions about this topic!

As you can tell, I give actual advice that the freelancer can follow for dealing with a lull in their business. I start with their name, and I empathize with them for a little while.

Now, you should follow this formula in your own way. You don't have to do exactly as I do, but you should always chat with them for a little while before you go right into linking mode with them.

Don't Answer The Same Questions Everyone Else Is Answering

Another piece of advice, answer the questions no one is answering. Don't jump on the post that already has 20 responses. Instead, answer the question that has no replies or only a handful of them. People may look through every response, but by the tenth responses, everyone has already said what needs to be said. Your time is better served as an authority builder by focusing on the questions no one has answered yet.

5. Speak At Conferences

Last, but not least, let's chat about speaking engagements. Getting your face out there at conferences in your niche is crucial. One thing you must understand, though, is that we can't all speak at big conferences. You have to start somewhere before you get on stages like the HR Technology Conference for instance. There are huge conferences in your niche that you would love to speak at one day, but you need to build your audience and speaking engagement list first.

So, before you get on the big stage, think about the small ones you can occupy. Here are some ideas:

Online conferences in your niche: With the increasing use of webinars, a ton of businesses and entrepreneurs started throwing online conferences. These are cool and likely easier to speak, even though the audience size can be much bigger than a traditional conference in your niche.

City, State, and Regional conferences in your niche: If you want to get out there and attend an actual live event, try smaller conferences in your niche. You may not be able to participate in the national conferences, but you can start with smaller ones that are more local to you.

Overall, you want to speak at as many events as you can. Come up with a few topics that you feel knowledgeable about and come up with a good 30 minute to an hour speech on the topics you love. See if you can find events to pitch speeches too. It doesn't even have to be a conference. You could even start teaching what you are passionate about to local businesses. For example, a speech about Instagram marketing pitched to your local Chamber Of Commerce.

Everyone starts somewhere. As long as you are getting your face out there, you can build authority in your niche.

Conclusion: Go Build Authority In Your Niche

Now that you are equipped with a ton of ideas for authority building get out there and do it! I am so confident that you can build your authority and reputation in your niche. So, start building your authority today!

If you need help with content creation along the way, don't hesitate to reach out. I would love to work with you to take your expertise and turn it into engaging short and long-form content for your audience to consume. Check out my services and give me a holler if you need my help!

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Seven Signs You're Ready To Hire A Freelancer

It's time to get down to some serious business, y'all. It's time to consider your first freelance hire. How do you know when you are ready to hire a freelancer? Well, hopefully by the time you finish reading this article, you'll have a clear idea on when you should take the leap and hire some help.

The freelance hiring stage can be a comprehensive and tiresome search, but once you find a freelancer you like, you should hold on to them! Let's chat about what should be happening in your business before you decide to hire out.

1. You're Bringing In A Consistent Income

The first sign that you are ready to hire a freelancer? You're bringing in some consistent income. You likely won't be hiring a full-time freelancer as your first hire, but if you want to forge a long-term relationship with your freelancer, you need to pay consistently and fairly.

Hiring a freelancer should be helpful to your brand, but that help comes because of money. If you aren't bringing in a consistent income, you can't expect the freelancer to work off of good faith. You need to be in a financial position to support a freelancer helping you.

If you are genuinely struggling, but you can't afford to hire a freelancer to take over some of your duties, take a good look at:

1. How you are spending your money OR

2. How you are spending your time

Chances are you may be falling into a time suck that's making every project draining or you aren't managing the money you make correctly, and you can afford a freelancer by introducing a new budget. Either way, if you fix the issues with your business, you can hire a freelancer when the time is right.

2. You've Got Clients You Want To Work With Knocking Down Your Door That You Can't Help

I want to make a distinction here.

You don't have just ANY clients knocking down your door, you have clients that you WANT TO WORK WITH knocking down your door.

This means you are actively turning away your ideal clients because you don't have enough hours in the day. That's a travesty in my opinion. You should be working with the clients that make your heart sing, not turning them away!

Hire a freelancer to take care of clients you love but have worked with for a while. Make sure you hire the best freelancer, so they are well taken care of in the long run. You don't want this transition to scare off old clients; you want those clients to feel like they are in the best hands! The goal here is to get more clients, not replace the ones you currently have.

3. You've Got More Tasks Than Hours In The Day

When the tasks are piling up, hiring a freelancer is a great way to alleviate your to-do list.

If you have a ton of random tasks that need to be run through, you may want to hire a virtual assistant to take care of some of those tasks for you. You should be able to set up a package with a VA so you can have them on retainer for a certain number of hours each month. With those hours they can help you tackle your ever-growing to-do list.

You shouldn't be continuously in the weeds with your business. Hire out some of those tedious day-to-day tasks so you can focus on strategy, getting new clients, and scaling your business.

4. You've Got Plans And Systems In Place For How To Run Your Business

Freelancers shouldn't run your business.

I know that sometimes you want to hire out a content strategist or an accountant, but I feel like those are better off hired as employees OR hired after you have a strategy or accounting practices in place.

I think that people fail when they expect a freelancer to come in and pick their entire business up by the bootstraps. A freelancer can be very helpful for your business, but they can only do so much for you. It's your business, not theirs.

So, having plans and systems in place will be crucial. You will know when you are ready to hire a freelancer because you will have a lot of your business life together beforehand.

Don't fall into the trap of hiring a freelancer before you are ready to do it. It's okay to take some time with your business, build up these best practices, and then hire the freelancer when you are in a better place. Hiring before you are ready confuses the freelancer, wastes your money, and probably gives you a bad taste in your mouth about freelancers which isn't good for anyone.

5. Your Best Clients Want More Time And Attention From You

As you take on more clients, you may have some standout clients. Maybe one of your clients has a big budget, or they have a massive deadline coming up. You don't have to drop the ball on other clients to respond to clients who need more of your time. You may be ready to hire a freelancer if you feel that you need to spend more time with a select few clients on your payroll.

Hiring out some tasks to some starting freelancers is a great way to get through your to-do list with your clients without turning away clients you have built a rapport with.

Most clients won't mind the fact that you hired out a task, as long as it gets done correctly. Before you hire out the job, you may want to sit down with your client and let them know about this transition. Also, you must give your freelancer a deadline that's well before the project is due to your client, this way you have time to look over what they did and make adjustments as necessary.

When hiring a freelancer to spend time with other clients, you have to be careful and screen who you are hiring. You never want to hire someone who doesn't have your clients best interest in mind.

6. You've Got A Life Transition In The Works

Life transitions take up a ton of energy. Whether you are pregnant, moving across the country, or going back to school, you may be ready to hire a freelancer if you have a significant transition happening in your life.

A freelancer would help relieve some of the stress you are feeling in your life and business around your life transition. You may not be able to spend as much time with your business while planning a wedding or getting ready for a child. Being able to offload some duties while you focus on your life is the best feeling ever.

When hiring a freelancer during a life transition, you need to make sure that you have planned enough to sustain yourself and a freelancer during the transition. You don't want your business to be on the back burner entirely, otherwise, you may not be growing enough to warrant a freelancer. Make sure that you have something for them to do throughout the transition, so you aren't just paying a freelancer for nothing or promising them hours that you can't give them.

7. You're Stuck Doing Things You Hate To Do, But They Help Your Business Thrive

Last, but not least, you may be ready to hire a freelancer if you are stuck doing things you hate to do. These things you hate to do might be helping your business thrive, but you would rather spend your time doing anything else. Examples of this:

• Guest posting on other people's blogs

• Scheduling podcast interviews

• Managing your email inbox

• Engaging with new people on social media

• Updating blog post images

Whatever you're stuck doing, you can probably hire it out to someone else. Life is no fun when you have to do stuff all on your own, especially if you don't want to. So, hire a freelancer to take that thing over for you!

Are You Ready To Hire A Freelancer?

Did any of these situations apply to you? It may be time to search for a freelancer for your company! I have all the faith in you that you will find the perfect freelancer soon.

Do you need a freelance writer in the human resources technology niche? Check out my hire me page and contact me so we can chat about my freelance writing services.

Related Reading

Everything You Need To Know About Hiring A Freelancer by Entrepreneur

It Only Works If You Do: How To Utilize Freelance Content The Right Way by Amanda Cross Co.

10 Tips to Source and Hire The Best Freelancers Online by Upwork