00:00:02special video edition of ask Evan today
00:00:05I’m going to answer question for one of
00:00:06my readers Angela who asked me how I
00:00:08grew my business without spending any
00:00:10money on advertising Angela’s question
00:00:17comes from our Facebook page I recently
00:00:19posted a list here of my favorite tools
00:00:21and these are tools that I use to run my
00:00:23business and she left a comment saying
00:00:25under the growing your business portion
00:00:27I have to wonder with regard to
00:00:28marketing your brand is at it certainly
00:00:31I found you via a link from another
00:00:33website with the right hook to reel me
00:00:34in i found an attractive and useful
00:00:36website to keep me hooked i opted for
00:00:39the email newsletter because i wanted
00:00:41more and like you on facebook for real
00:00:42time d alien force from the positive
00:00:43inspiring stories it doesn’t seem to me
00:00:46at all like you’ve wasted thousands on
00:00:48any advertising am I correct why Laura
00:00:50put me in charge of building our web
00:00:52presence and we don’t have a big budget
00:00:53nor do I have much time for this as I
00:00:56have other responsibilities but your
00:00:58formula here seems simple and it works
00:01:00please advise if I’ve missed something
00:01:03here your beacon I truly valuable well
00:01:06first of all Angela thank you for for
00:01:08the kind words i replied below angela
00:01:11advertising budget is zero dollars
00:01:12everything has been done through SEO
00:01:14social media and the media i’m by the
00:01:17media I mean offline traditional media
00:01:19and I thought I’d create this quick
00:01:21video to expand on that a little bit
00:01:23more and show you exactly how I build my
00:01:25business without having to spend any
00:01:27money on advertising so here we go
00:01:40the first thing I recommend is to make
00:01:43smart use of SEO SEO is great because it
00:01:46drives targeted traffic to your website
00:01:48and its people who are looking to solve
00:01:50a problem all right they’ve searched in
00:01:52a keyword because they have a problem
00:01:53and hopefully you can help solve it but
00:01:56SEO starts with having really good
00:01:58content so you have to think about the
00:01:59content that you’re going to have on
00:02:00your site that start driving some of
00:02:02that traffic when i first started my
00:02:04site i was writing all the content and i
00:02:06really started around doing these famous
00:02:08entrepreneur profiles so here’s one
00:02:10example to Nev erotic who’s the founder
00:02:12of the body shop and I would start
00:02:15writing some of this content because I
00:02:16found it inspiring and then one of the
00:02:19reasons that my business was able to
00:02:21grow is i delegated some of those
00:02:24responsibilities so I realized I could
00:02:26only do so much in terms of content
00:02:28creation so I ended up hiring somebody
00:02:30to help me create these famous
00:02:31entrepeneur profiles and now we have the
00:02:34largest collection of famous
00:02:35entrepreneur profiles online and you can
00:02:37see some of the people who profiled here
00:02:39on the side and then we open it up to
00:02:42allowing other experts we will to right
00:02:44in between be content to the site and we
00:02:46created an article director here where
00:02:49there’s all these different categories
00:02:50and people can contribute content of
00:02:53your business coach you can add articles
00:02:56to our website that deal with business
00:02:58coaching show off your expertise each
00:03:00one will get manually reviewed by an
00:03:01editor on our team and then we’ll go
00:03:04live and helps promote the business so
00:03:06you have to try to find ways to give
00:03:08incentives to people to want to
00:03:09contribute content to the site so it’s
00:03:11not just you doing everything this works
00:03:13especially well of your time crunch then
00:03:15you have other responsibilities like
00:03:17like you mentioned so you want to make
00:03:19sure you can get other people involved
00:03:20and you want to try to find an incentive
00:03:22to do so you don’t have to go and create
00:03:24a huge content site like mine but you
00:03:27want to think about how you can add
00:03:28regular content to your website
00:03:30a quick example that I can show you is
00:03:32through my blog and on the blog you’ll
00:03:36see that I’ve created a whole bunch of
00:03:38content myself and I’ll write on regular
00:03:41basis still talking about famous
00:03:42entrepreneurs so the five gutsiest
00:03:45entrepreneurs of all time but then I’ll
00:03:47also get some help and we’ll do
00:03:50infographics so these are pictures
00:03:52describing articles i will do lists of
00:03:55top 50 blogs on a certain category and
00:03:58this i have outsourced to people on my
00:04:01team and we’ll also do interviews so
00:04:04here we have an interview with Stan
00:04:07Prokop another interview he down here
00:04:09with Brad Swift who are both experts and
00:04:11authors on my website and that’s a great
00:04:14way to get content onto your website
00:04:15without you having to do a lot of work
00:04:18so you’re basically asking questions and
00:04:20hopefully its content that be relevant
00:04:22to your readers and it’s a great way to
00:04:25generate that content and start driving
00:04:27traffic to your website so you want to
00:04:29start thinking about the types of
00:04:30content that you can add to your site on
00:04:32a regular basis and what you can do
00:04:35yourself what you might be able to do
00:04:37with other people on your team and then
00:04:39also potentially people outside your
00:04:41team how they might be able to
00:04:42contribute content to your website
00:04:55so SEO helped drive a lot of traffic to
00:04:58my website we’ve had millions of
00:04:59entrepreneurs check it out over the
00:05:00years but now most of my time is spent
00:05:03naturally on the social media side and I
00:05:05really enjoyed it’s a way to connect
00:05:06with with entrepreneurs in a more
00:05:08personal level and try to build
00:05:09relationships with some of the people
00:05:10who are checking out your site that can
00:05:12be a little challenging through just a
00:05:14SEO presence so one of the first things
00:05:17you want to do after you set up your
00:05:18accounts I spend most of my time on
00:05:21Twitter Facebook and YouTube and you
00:05:23want to make it really easy for people
00:05:24to be able to find you and follow you on
00:05:27different accounts so at the top of all
00:05:29of my pages you’ll see I have a banner
00:05:32that looks like this it has my blog my
00:05:34tweets my facebook my youtube videos and
00:05:36list of my tools so you can easily find
00:05:39me depending on if you’re more of a
00:05:40Twitter person or Facebook or YouTube so
00:05:43you want to make that really obvious or
00:05:44people I find it’s really helpful if you
00:05:47keep to a both dating schedule so come
00:05:49up with ideas of what you’re going to be
00:05:51able to talk about I tend to focus on
00:05:53the business side of things i’m not
00:05:54posting about my dog or what i’m eating
00:05:56for breakfast but high value things that
00:05:58i think entrepreneurs would be
00:05:59interesting and find inspirational and
00:06:02you can see a mix of things that i post
00:06:04so if i click on my twitter account
00:06:07you’ll see that i might be thank them i
00:06:11may do some person responses to people
00:06:13who have enjoyed my tweets i’ll post
00:06:16links of things that i enjoy some videos
00:06:18that I’m working on i’ll post quotes
00:06:20from famous entrepreneurs that i think
00:06:22you’re inspiring and i’ll usually post
00:06:24one two three times a day so it’s not
00:06:26overload for people and people end up
00:06:29subscribing and retweeting and it’s a
00:06:31great way to start building connections
00:06:32with people who are talking about you
00:06:34and you want to encourage those people
00:06:35because they are out there telling all
00:06:38their friends about you so you want to
00:06:39recognize them and give them the
00:06:41opportunity to tell even more people
00:06:43on my facebook channel I’ll do similar
00:06:46things Facebook is really good for
00:06:49pictures so one of the things I’ve done
00:06:51is I take pictures of people who I’m
00:06:52meeting with and I’ll put them in here
00:06:55and I’ll profile them and put a link
00:06:56back to their site i’ll also show things
00:06:59such as what i’m reading just refresh
00:07:01that and you can also ask questions of
00:07:05the week so i’ll ask a question every
00:07:06week and get a lot of replies and it’s a
00:07:09really great way again to connect with
00:07:11your community of followers and be able
00:07:15to follow up with them on an individual
00:07:18basis so you want to empower your
00:07:19champions you may not find out about
00:07:21these people normally through your SEO
00:07:23that’s not loading but something may be
00:07:26happening with facebook at the moment
00:07:28but I’m newer on facebook and I really
00:07:30liked it as an opportunity to be able to
00:07:32connect with with readers finally
00:07:34youtube was where I spend a lot of time
00:07:36as well and i’ll try to create videos on
00:07:39an ongoing basis so here’s my youtube
00:07:43channel and you can see some of the
00:07:45videos that that we’ve launched if i
00:07:49click on see you all it will show all of
00:07:51them and it’ll show that you know they
00:07:53get some good views and they get some
00:07:55good comments and it’s again a great way
00:07:58i try to reply to every comment that
00:07:59that gets put up on my video and if
00:08:02people give a thumbs up and leave
00:08:03comments on it again you know hopefully
00:08:06they’re telling their friends and
00:08:07they’re coming back to the site and
00:08:08you’re trying to encourage them to be a
00:08:10little more sticky with the website than
00:08:12just coming we didn’t want music content
00:08:14and taking off another great way to
00:08:16encourage this is through a newsletter
00:08:18and that’s how a lot of people end up
00:08:20sticking on my website so i’ve got over
00:08:22here an option on all of our pages to
00:08:24sign up to join my newsletter and here
00:08:27i’ll send them weekly tips and advice
00:08:29nothing really selling product but more
00:08:33offering value add information i think
00:08:36is inspiring and helpful and that’s a
00:08:39great way to get people to come back to
00:08:41your site so somebody who lands on your
00:08:43website they may be interested in
00:08:45something but then
00:08:46you know they go off somewhere else you
00:08:47may not ever get them back again so if
00:08:49you have a newsletter and a great way to
00:08:51get them to sign up to join in this
00:08:53letter then you have a way to stay in
00:08:55touch with them off of them deals give
00:08:57them high-value information but the
00:08:59point here of the the newsletter and
00:09:01social media is you start building our
00:09:02relationship with people you become
00:09:04known as the expert for whatever
00:09:05category you’re in and a trusted
00:09:08resource and whenever somebody needs
00:09:09help they’re going to come back to you
00:09:11too hopefully by your service or sign up
00:09:13for your products or whatever it is that
00:09:16eventually you’re able to make money
00:09:17from the last point I want to talk about
00:09:30is the use of offline media and offline
00:09:33media is still very powerful we may
00:09:34think in the online world because we’re
00:09:36online entrepreneurs but you still want
00:09:38to be able to hopefully use some offline
00:09:39media to generate some awareness about
00:09:41your business and showcase yourself as
00:09:43an expert so I love doing offline media
00:09:47if you check out my about page I’ve
00:09:49created I paid to show some of the media
00:09:51coverage that I’ve done been fortunate
00:09:55to get a number of pretty high-profile
00:09:57media coverage and you want to showcase
00:09:59that you’re an expert so whatever
00:10:01industry you’re in you better be good at
00:10:04it if you’re going to become an
00:10:05entrepreneur and be successful so why
00:10:08not expose your expertise to the media
00:10:10and be able to comment on stories as I
00:10:12come out what I’ve done is highlighted
00:10:15some of the media that I’ve been
00:10:16involved with and then show at the
00:10:18bottom of people want to interview you
00:10:19mean here’s an email not just feel to
00:10:21connect with me at what I did when I
00:10:24first was getting started was I made a
00:10:25list of all the different media outlets
00:10:27that I could think of and started to go
00:10:30through one by one and find entrepreneur
00:10:32related
00:10:34news reporters who are at those media
00:10:36outlets and I would draft a new press
00:10:38release every two weeks and send it out
00:10:40and every time I did that I would always
00:10:42get some kind of reply from somebody and
00:10:45the key here is when you do a press
00:10:47release you don’t want to just focus on
00:10:49you right you’re not focusing on a
00:10:52product or service you’re launching
00:10:54because people don’t care about that you
00:10:55want to pitch a story and then you want
00:10:57to showcase your expertise in answering
00:11:00questions about that story and then at
00:11:02the bottom is where can get a little bit
00:11:03more self-promotional because they want
00:11:05to say you know you are an expert from
00:11:07whatever company the more you can make
00:11:09it a story the easier it is for
00:11:11reporters to be able to write about you
00:11:13and if you make their job easier they’re
00:11:15more likely to do it if you think about
00:11:17your experience between advertising and
00:11:20getting featured in a news story I take
00:11:23the new store hands down every time if
00:11:25you think about your own experience
00:11:26reading a magazine for example you spend
00:11:29more time reading the ad you spend more
00:11:31time reading the editorial all of the
00:11:34stories right which one cost less
00:11:36obviously getting in the media can be
00:11:39really cheap compared to take it out
00:11:41advertising so it takes a little bit of
00:11:43time to do it you got to really think
00:11:45about your stories but I found that to
00:11:47be super helpful in helping me be able
00:11:49to get into a lot of different media one
00:11:51of the tools they also recommend on my
00:11:53tools that that helped me is a service
00:11:56called PR leads
00:11:59that should be somewhere here a lot of
00:12:03different tools that used to grow my
00:12:04business right here so it’s under the
00:12:05grow your business section a service
00:12:07called PR leads and this is where
00:12:09reporters will actually submit their
00:12:12stories that they’re working on and
00:12:14they’re looking for experts now there is
00:12:16a cost so this is a ninety nine dollars
00:12:18a month and I’ve used it to get into New
00:12:21York Times and fork and some other
00:12:22leading publications and that looks
00:12:24really good you can put that on your
00:12:26website that now you’ve been a featured
00:12:27expert for whatever publication and once
00:12:30that starts everybody else starts coming
00:12:33so if you get into one publication you’d
00:12:35start getting calls from others and
00:12:36others and others in the starts of the
00:12:38snowball until you become you know the
00:12:40expert the guru for whatever industry
00:12:42that your array so I found offline media
00:12:45to be highly effective as well and
00:12:47helping me drive business to my website
00:12:49and me not having to spend a lot of
00:12:51money or zero on advertising
00:12:57thank you for joining me for another
00:12:59edition of apps Gavin I hope you enjoyed
00:13:02the video and I encourage you to
00:13:03continue using SEO social media and
00:13:06offline media to grow your business let
00:13:08me know if you have any questions if you
00:13:10like the video we’d love to hear your
00:13:11thoughts and feedback please give it a
00:13:13thumbs up below and also leave a comment
00:13:15as well and stay tuned to the next
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