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Social Proof is in the Pudding: The Right Way to Leverage Testimonials on Your Website

How many of you have met someone who talked about themselves ALL the time? And not just talked about themselves, but boosted and bragged, until you felt the need to get outta there fast?

While having a healthy ego is important to success, you can overdo it. There’s only so much you can say about yourself and how awesome you are before people tune out and stop believing you.

That’s where social proof comes in. It’s much more powerful to let other people say how awesome you are, then to make these claims about yourself.

People are more likely to believe what other people say about you, then what you say about yourself. Afterall, you have every incentive to bend the truth from time to time. But why would your students, customers, or clients say something they didn’t believe?

Many traditional websites, relegate social proof to a single testimonials, case studies, or success stories page on your website. Or they just throw them in randomly in the sidebar without really correlating the testimonials to specific content on the page.

I recommend strategically weaving testimonials throughout your site to support specific call to actions or sales events.

Let me give you a few examples from the website I built for Evan Marc Katz, the dating coach for smart, strong, successful women:

Example #1 – Home Page

Our first testimonial is featured right on the home page. You’ll notice we’ve put it under what I call the 3 “Pathway boxes,” which guide your visitors deeper into your site based on what they’re looking for.

The *Only* 4 Fonts that Your Site NEEDS to Be Taken Seriously…

I LOVE talking about fonts because very few people realize the full power of typography to transform the look, feel and experience of your business…

Some of you may know the famous story Steve Jobs tells of studying calligraphy at Reed College, which at the time had the best calligraphy department in the country:

“Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed…I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture.”

“When we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them.”

You see before the Mac computers just used a single typeface. Fonts were functional. They weren’t seen as something that could add to the user experience.

And for most people, fonts still are primarily a functional way to display written content. And most people can only name a handful of fonts: Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica and perhaps a few more.

Now I wish I had time to do a full training on typography here, but we have a lot to cover so I’m going to focus on what I call your font palette.

Your font palette are the 3-4 branded fonts that you use consistently across every web page you create, as well as all your other materials.

So the right font palette not only adds to your company’s brand, but it can actually increase your conversions by calling attention to exactly what you want your visitors to focus on.

Let me walk you through the 3-4 fonts that make up your font palette (I recommend watching the video training above to see examples of each of these font types):

How to Publish Your Blog to Amazon Kindle in 5 Minutes or Less

Very few people realize that you can actually publish your blog directly to Amazon Kindle.

The really cool thing about this strategy is that allows your tribe to download your blog posts to their Kindles to read anytime they like – even when they’re not online. That means they could be reading your blog post in line at the grocery store or from the top of Mt. Everest if they want to….

This gives the content you’ve already created WAY more visibility and reach.

Now, there are a few nuances to doing this. And, in this tutorial, I’m going to teach you step-by-step exactly how to publish your blog to Amazon Kindle.

The first thing you need to know is that, although your blog is published to the Kindle platform, it is different from the KDP platform or the place where you publish your Kindle books, which is called Kindle Direct Publishing. It’s pretty easy to do.

Just head over to www.KindlePublishing.Amazon.com. This is where you do your blog publishing. And it’s entirely different from the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform. Here’s the thing, you can sign up and create a new account but your KDP credentials will not automatically work. You need create a new free account on this platform.

Once you navigate over to that URL, at the very top of the page you’ll see, “Your Blogs.” Click there. Once you’re in the program, you will click “Add Blog” right over there off to the side. Just click the little plus sign and it will take you to this page where you’re going to add your blog.

Specifically, Kindle needs your RSS feed. So you’re going to put in your RSS feed there and then you’re going to validate the feed right here. You will then pop this little green check mark that says “Feed validation successful” which means Kindle and your blog are talking, right? That’s cool.

Then it will bring you to this page and you’re going to need to—again, give the specifics about your blogs, you’re going to put in your blog title—so in this case I put in “Daniel Hall Presents”.

Then you put in your blog description to really inspire new people to read your blog.

Top Converting Home Pages (Part 3 of 3) – The “Authority” Site [Template Inside]

This 3-part blog series on the top converting home pages is devoted to helping you choose a website that not only looks good, but actually supports your specific business model.

Not all websites are created equally and finding the right layout can add tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to your bottom line, while allowing you to make a bigger impact.

In our first post in this series, I talked about the “list build” site, which is great IF you’re an information marketer or online business owner whose business model is based primarily on selling trainings, group programs, or products. The #1 goal of the “list build” site is to turn a new website visitor into a subscriber to your email list.

On our second post, I revealed the “call me” site, which is best for coaches, consultants, creatives, independent professionals or service providers whose business model is based primarily on 1:1 advice and done-for-you services. The #1 goal of the “call me” site is to inspire a new lead or website visitor to get on the phone with you for a free discovery session.

Our 3rd kind of website is the “authority” site. This site is for you if you’re an author, speaker, media personality, or thought leader whose business model is based on primarily on selling books and ideas, getting paid to speak, or high-end consulting.

The # goal of the “authority” site is position yourself as the #1 authority in your field so you can build a following, attract new opportunities, and command high fees.

Why? Because the most well-known, best-paid leaders and consultants are not just brilliant experts, they’re brilliant marketers who understand how to build and position their value. (Or they’re smart enough to hire someone to brand and position them.)

So what exactly does an “authority” site look like?

First let me share one of our top converting “authority” home page wireframes, so you can get an instant visual, then down below I’ll break it down for you section by section so you know exactly why this wireframe is so powerful.

Top Converting Home Pages (Part 2 of 3) – The “Call Me” Site [Template Inside]

This 3-part blog series on the top converting home pages is devoted to helping you choose a website that not only looks good, but actually supports your specific business model.

Not all websites are created equally and finding the right layout can add tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to your bottom line, while allowing you to make a bigger impact.

In our first post in this series, I talked about the “list build” site, which is great IF you’re an information marketer or online business owner whose business model is based primarily on selling trainings, information products, group coaching programs, or physical products with a high potential for subscriptions or repeat business. The #1 goal of the “list build” site is to turn a new website visitor into a subscriber to your email list.

Our next kind of website is what I’ve coined the “call me” site.

The “call me” site is for you IF you’re a coach, consultant, creative, independent professional or service provider whose business model is based primarily on 1:1 advice and done-for-you services.

The #1 goal of this site is to inspire a new lead or website visitor to get on the phone with you for a free discovery session.

Why? Because that’s the most effective way to sell your advice and services. When it comes to custom solutions such as 1:1 coaching, consulting or other services, most prospects will need to speak with you before deciding it’s a fit.

If you get really good at enrolling clients, you can inspire 50-80% of your prospects to say YES to working with you.

Now for the big question: what does a call me site look like?

I prefer to teach by example, so I’m including one of our top converting “call me” home page wireframes here. If you scroll down below the image, I’ll break it down for you step-by-step so you know exactly what’s going on and why it’s so effective.

Top Converting Home Pages (Part 1 of 3) – The “List Build” Site [Template Inside]

There’s a “to-do” list inside every business owner’s head, and on that list we all have a checkbox labeled “website.”

Trouble is, for many people, this checkbox can be a daunting one to tick.

There are so many buttons, options and choices that it can be tempting to just grab a cheap template or theme-based “one-size-fits-all” site.

Can’t say I blame you.

We’ve all got better things to do than worrying about websites, and smart companies like WordPress and Squarespace make it insanely easy to create a perfectly nice-looking & functional site in just minutes.

So what’s the problem? Well, Dear Reader, here’s the thing…

A template-based, “one-size-fits-all” website is fine if you’re just starting out and you’re desperate to check that box. But it’s not so good if you have a business that relies on the internet to bring in leads and sales every single day.

If you’re in a business where converting just a few percent more can mean thousands if not tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to your bottom line OR if you have (or some day want to have) a 6, 7 or 8-figure online business, then you’ve got to dig a little deeper and leave that one-size-fits-all site behind.

NEWSFLASH: Just like there’s more than one kind of business model you can choose from, there are different kinds of websites (that serve different purposes.)

In this new 3-part blog series, I’m going to demystify all this for you by talking about the ONLY 3 kinds of home page layouts you should consider using. PLUS I’ll even give you the exact templates to use to make it even more drop-dead easy for you.

These templates are the 3 best-converting home page layouts that we’ve ever developed in our branding and web agency, working with $50,000+ clients.

What a French Shopkeeper Just Taught Me About Business…

It was 12:25pm.

Denis could have been hard at work in his little Provencal grocery store.

But instead, his store was shuttered, and he was outside sitting on the bench with his wife, watching life go by.

Looking calm and relaxed, he turned and greeted us as we walked past.

“It’s a beautiful day!” he said cheerfully.

Each day, they open at 8:30am and then go home for lunch by 12:30pm.

And then, if their grandkids aren’t being too cute (and if they feel like it), they re-open again from 3:30-5:30pm.

They work no more than 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Sometimes they decide to take an extra day off just because…

Spontaneously shuttering their doors and setting off to visit their daughter or whatever else they feel like doing.

We told them how amazing this was to us, being city folks from a busy-land.

“We work when we want, not when you want..” he replied, his eyes glittering.

How to Save Hours Every Day (and naturally be more productive) with this Simple Help Desk Strategy

If I were to do a quick poll of my audience and ask them what is the biggest time suck in your business, email would be right at the top of the list.

Probably followed by social media (but we’ll talk about that another time).

How many of you dread going away on a business trip or vacation and coming back to hundreds (if not thousands) of messages in your inbox?

Or simply waking up each morning to 50+ new emails that need answering?

Every single time we send a broadcast email to our list, we get dozens of responses from people thanking us, asking questions and…. sometimes complaining.

And we’re committed to answering all those messages – without checking email all day long and breaking focus on the more important tasks in our business.

So how do we do that?

How to Discover TRUE Success by Identifying the Right Business Model for You

There comes a point in the journey of every successful entrepreneur where they ask themselves, “Is this it? Is this all?”

They’ve had the success. They’ve made the money. But they’re still not satisfied.

Beyond that, they’re burnt out. Exhausted. Tired of working day and night for something that’s no longer bringing them happiness.

The question is, what do you do when you hit this point?

How do you rebuild your business from the ground up in a way that will support you over the long-term?

Best-selling author and million-dollar business builder Alexis Neely had to go through divorce and bankruptcy to figure it out and now she wants to help other entrepreneurs discover their own path to financial liberation and personal sovereignty during our upcoming Online Business Superhero Summit.

Here’s Alexis’s story. I know it’s long but I definitely recommend that you tune-in.

The feedback we got from our tribe on this was amazing:

“Oh my God! We came for online business facts and we are getting life wisdoms, so moving and valuable.”

A “Ninja” Email Template to DOUBLE (or better!) Subscriber Engagement

If you’re asking people to opt-into any sort of email list in your business, then you’re going to want to implement this simple strategy from Superhero Ryan Levesque.

In the last 23 months, Ryan has successfully entered 17 new marketers, generating 2 million leads and 175,000 customers using the methodology that he’ll be teaching in our upcoming Online Business Superhero Summit.

He asked me to share this simple strategy and word-for-word email template with you, so you could start seeing some results – and have more to talk about – during his presentation on Wednesday, July 16th @ 12pm Pacific.

Here goes from Ryan Levesque:

Most people out there try to push their solution down your throat.

They say, “Look at my weight loss pill. Look at my info product. This is the best thing since sliced bread. Here’s why you should buy it.”

Instead of doing that, we take a step back and we say:

“Time out a second. Before I can tell you whether or not my product, my solution, my service is right for you, I need to get to know who you are a little bit more. If you tell me a little bit about your situation, about who you are, then I can tailor the information that I give to you.”

When you do that, it takes people aback, because they’re expecting you to jam your solution down their throat. When you do that, it’s sort of disarming.

Here’s a very simple way that you can do this…