All Forum Posts by: Brandon L.

Thanks for the kind words and feedback Jerry Puckett. I feel like I should clarify a few things to not give a misconception of my video/video landing page, newsletter and to show how it can relate to Nick J.

I completely understand what you are saying about being strung along and I have fallen to the same ploys in some terrible internet marketing newsletters, which is why I don't do that. I actually deliver what I promise in the video and am completely honest and upfront, I don't spam, or sell their information and that is something that is sadly missing from most peoples newsletters. But, at the same time I don't want to offer some service or product right off the bat either. There are two reasons for that:

1) I offer complete guides and information on how to market businesses. This is everything from how to rank videos in Google, to how to film a video properly, to how to set up a nice looking FB page. This is something that is an ongoing process and can't be taught in a single product of guide. Also, by providing such good quality and valuable information I want to form a relationship with my audience. That way when I do have a product to sell or promote my "sell" will be ten times easier. It's all about the relationship.

2) If I try to sell to them right off the bat and offer them a all-in-one miracle product it will be a very tough sale and if I do get a sale it will likely be one sale. But, if I give them a top quality newsletter that they gain value from I can sell to them much easier since we formed a relationship and they will likely buy from me again and again.

So, the "little nugget" I give them is just to get them to the newsletter. Once they are there they receive then entire package. I don't string them along or continue to dangle a carrot in front of them. That is what is missing from most newsletters, in my opinion. I have learned a lot from bloggers like Pat Flynn http://www.smartpassiveincome.com and I understand that giving stuff away (good quality stuff) for free will come back to you in trust and sales.

I just wanted to clear the air that I am not intending to string them along, only to spam their inbox. I am currently transforming my site into a blog/community where I will be teaching everything I learn and test. I have enjoyed the video marketing test so much I want to continue to do the same thing on my site. That is why I created the video/video landing page...to try and build an audience.

BUT! I understand it doesn't directly relate to Nick's original question because I am building a newsletter and he is collecting leads. So, this is my recommendation for Nick. I would outline something like this: (sorry it took so long to get to this lol)

1) I would create a video similar to the one I did for Jon. Or you could even put yourself in from of the camera, similar to what I did in my small business marketing video and talk to the audience. Tell them what you do, why they need it and how to get started (call to action).

Get that video ranked for your desired keywords.

2) The call to action you use should direct them to your landing page. Make the landing page simple, to the point, and only leave them two options: 1- to fill our your form or 2 - close the page. Do not have links to anything else.

I understand that many people like to use the long forms because it gives higher quality leads. But, I personally like the short forms because you get more leads and people are more likely to fill them out. Personally, if I was looking to sell my home I would not fill out a long form just to have someone contact me. Jerry may have some other input on this because I am sure he has more experience than me on gaining leads for the investor industry and knows what forms work best.

3) The video on the landing page should be something along the lines "I am so excited to see you're ready to get a cash offer on your home today! To get your cash offer, you only need to fill out the form to the right (below, above, etc) and hit enter. That's it. We will contact you with your offer in 24 hours (48, 72 or however long it takes). "

When gaining leads you don't need to string them along, but I would definitely leave a "little nugget" for them. And I think that nugget could be an instant cash offer. You could say things like "have you ever wondered what you could get for your house right now?" or " Would you like to get a cash offer on your home today?"

wow, sorry that was so long. But, I just wanted to give some reasoning as to why I designed the video and video landing page the way I did. I will be covering it again in the video test thread with results, including how long people stay on my newsletter etc.

Nick, if you have any questions let me know. I would love to see your final outcome and hear about your results. If you need help with a landing page design I can give you a few ideas.

Hey Nick! I'm glad to see you're taking action. I am happy to help out any way I can; just PM me if you have any questions.

I thought I'd share one thing I am doing which I think may benefit you. It is something I was saving for the video marketing thread but I will give you a sneak peak. It is basically a video I set up to drive in traffic to a video landing page. But, it is not done yet or fully marketed and I have already gained one lead from it.

So here is the general idea:

1) Create a video targeting a certain audience. The one I started with is small business owners. But, you can choose people selling homes, home owners, etc. Here is the video I created: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs60nxn6pow. (PS - I am getting this video ranked in youtube and Google for my specific keywords to drive in traffic.)

2) I designed a landing page that will only receive traffic from that video. (PS - I plan on creating more video targeting other audiences and creating a new landing page for each video. I may create one for Realtors, etc then create a landing page specially for that video) Here is my landing page http://www.soldwithvideo.com/simple-marketing-tips/.

3) In my video, everything I tell them is honest and true. I tell them what I am going to do and why they need it. Then how to get it. I give them a big enough nugget to lure them in without actually telling them how to do it. But, to learn they need to subscribe to my newsletter and I point out it's free. You can use "free cash offer quote" or something along those lines.

I make it clear that they can click the link below to fill in their email and get my free information.

4) Once they are on the landing page I make it clear what to do. I don't leave any options besides filling in the form or closing the page. There is no header or other links for them to click on.

5) The video on the landing page will be changed. It is the same video on YouTube because I haven't had time to make a new one. But, it will be something along the lines as "you're so close to learning how to grow your business, subscribe to beginning learning for free today." You could do something like " You're so close to getting your free quote, fill in your information to begin today".

I hope this helps and like I said, if I can help in anyway let me know.

PPS - I even created a FB landing page https://www.facebook.com/SoldWithVideo/app_178343502293922 with the same landing page. You can drive traffic to it with FB ads. This will be something I go over in the video thread I started and may be testing in the thread at a future date.

J Scott All very true and great advice that translates to any business. Sadly your first point is holds the most truth, IMO. Everyone thinks there is a start button to success. The true successes are the people who learn, put it to action and learn from their mistakes. I think those people who take your advice, put it to action and earn the success will be so thankful it will come back to you somehow.

Sounds good to me!

Welcome Melodee! I am right down the road from you, in Camarillo. I am in Ojai a lot to hike, backpack and mountain bike. I love the area.

hahaha!

I'm not a big fan of GoDaddy.com but I think 1and1.com and hostmonster.com. I use both.

That's really awesome Shane Woods! I'm glad to hear that. All of the methods I use can carry over to website SEO too. Just be careful when you get into link building, building too many links too fast and not using enough keyword variation can hurt your rankings. That's the reason I love video seo, since YouTube host the videos you do not need to worry about all the rules like you do with website seo (since YouTube is so big). Sounds like you are in good hands with Jerry.

Side note - I'm going to try and get another post up this week on the video thread. I think you will find it pretty interesting and informational.

Good to hear Shane. Don't worry as you begin to get ranked for more keywords the leads will come in. I like going for a lot of little, less competitive keywords, because they are easy to get ranked for and people will still search for them from time to time. A lot of little keywords add up.

I agree with Sean H. I probably wouldn't search for those keywords when looking to sell my house. I had the same problem figuring out what keywords to rank Jon's video for in the video marketing test. But, after looking up the keywords in Google adwords tool I did see some people would actually search for those keywords.

Hey Shane - Congrats on getting the site up! My first reaction was WHOA to the background image you used. I understand why you used it but I would tone it down. May a solid background, or a radial or gradient would be better. Something that draws the eyes to the website, not the background.

The talk to Dawn part should explain what it is on the site, not on the alt text. I had no idea what it was until I hovered over it.

I would also consider condensing the text on the homepage. Using larger font with direct points may be better. People get turned off by large amounts of text.

Onto the good, I think the design is pretty good and clean. I also like the call feature with the google numbers and the short form, good ideas.

I hope this helps.