Have you ever looked at your horoscope in the newspaper and thought it was oddly accurate? Do you find it strange when you answer a few questions and get an assessment based on that information which seems to hit the nail on the head? It’s not your fault, it’s a cognitive bias called the Barnum effect at play. We’ve advanced a lot over... more
Welcome back to another edition KyLeads product updates. These are my favorite posts to write because they give you a glimpse into the work we’re doing behind the scenes. They’re also a way for us to keep an open record of our progress over time. It seems like just last week when we were talking about our new UI. Now, we’re focused... more
Every day, I get an email about a must see webinar that’s going to show me the secrets of the marketing universe.... more
Having a good product is nice. A unique product is better. A good product that’s also unique is like winning the... more
School doesn’t create great marketers. The proper education – no matter where you get it – does. There are... more
We’ve all seen the headlines: “This CEO Gets Up at 4 AM and Works Out at Lunch” or “How This 22-Year Old Launched a Startup While Working a Full-Time Job.” Even though it's clickbait, these articles are attractive because they glorify the startup hustle. What happens when you can’t keep going? Even the smartest and... more
I have a confession. I suffer from a condition known as myopia. If anything is more than ten feet away from me I have trouble seeing it. It’s also known as nearsightedness. It’s the same way some people look at marketing. Their lead magnets are all about themTheir copy doesn’t address the visitors problemsThe ads they use... more
The beauty of entrepreneurship is that it’s the opposite of conformity. If you’re just like everyone else then you blend into the crowd. You’re allowed to be polarizing, eccentric, and different. This can leave people confused about the right path to take. There is no right answer to that but there is the best answer depending on the type... more
It’s been a few months since we shared a product update. Part of that is because we’ve been busy working on KyLeads and wanted to save some of that goodness until now. The other part is because we were head down improving KyLeads. I’ve been busy squashing bugs with an oversized mallet and I’m proud to say we’ve got most (if not all... more
Behavioral segmentation is an interesting concept that, when used properly, empowers you to take action at the right time and increase your sales. It’s the aspect of market segmentation that takes into consideration what people are doing at a specific point in their lives. Combined with demographic and psychographic segmentation, you unlock the... more
Imagine you’ve got a deadline to meet. It’s been 15 days out of the 30 you were initially given. You’re working... more
There are dozens of OptinMonster alternatives on the market, but which one takes the crown as the best? That’s what... more
Here’s a quick question. As soon as someone lands on your websites do they know what you’re all about? Do they have... more
How do you think your messaging would be different if you knew what someone wanted it and WHY they wanted it? What makes them tick as individuals? That’s the question psychographic segmentation answers. We’ve covered customer segmentation which allows you to divide the world into groups that are likely to buy from you. After that, we touched... more
What’s the big deal about using content upgrades to build a highly engaged mailing list? If you launch a product, subscribers are the first ones to buy. When you publish a blog post, they’re the ones who share. As you grow your brand, they’re the people who create hashtags in your honor. Let me ask. How well does that sidebar... more
Last updated April 23, 2019 In 2018, Affiliate marketing was responsible for billions of dollars in sales for vendors. It was also responsible for billions of dollars of revenue for the affiliates promoting the offers. Instead of shrinking, the industry is growing. The problem is a few super affiliates are taking home most of the... more
Last updated February 12, 2019. A segmented market is one that’s more valuable to you. Demographic segmentation, in particular, is often the first step in creating customer profiles that help you make better products, messages, and close deals. Before we had things like Facebook and Google that let you target your customer’s interests,... more
It’s been a few months since we launched our beta and less than a month since we launched a KyLeads V1. We’ve been quiet about exactly what improvements and changes we’ve made. It’s not that we’ve been hanging out on a beach in Bali, it’s because the updates were complex and involved a lot of moving pieces. We wanted to minimize the... more
Your product page is where the magic happens. There are many factors that go into a successful business. First, you... more
We spend a lot of time on marketing, messaging, sales, and retention. There are countless articles on the internet... more
It’s no secret that market segmentation can increase the engagement rates of emails, blog posts, and sales pages. In... more
There’s a well-trodden path for developing a viable startup. Come up with an idea, build an MVP, and do beta testing to catch bugs while making the startup better. It’s simple right? One thing I’ve learned is that simple is NOT the same as easy. After four months and tons of beta testing lessons, we’ve officially ended our testing... more
Have you heard this startup narrative? Come up with an idea, build it, launch to an audience that accepts you wholeheartedly, and watch the money roll in. While that may happen to a select few, it’s a bit different for us mere mortals. Before your product is ready for prime time, it needs to be tested by a pool of users who represent... more
Roughly one year ago, I started looking into hiring software developers to build KyLeads and plot world domination. It proved to be more of a challenge than I’d anticipated. I went in thinking it couldn’t be more difficult than hiring a virtual assistant. I was wrong. Before I started KyLeads, my only experience hiring tech talent was... more
Before we talk about tripwire offers, there’s something we should all understand. Nothing in business is free. It costs money to get new customers (whether through ads, interactive content, blogging, or social media) and that eats into your profits. It’s easier and cheaper to sell to an existing customer. They’ve bought from you... more
If no one sees your epic quiz then it might as well not exist. Quiz promotion is important so you get it in front of as many people as possible. If not, your meticulously crafted title and the painstaking effort you put into the questions is all for nothing. It’s a little bit more than pasting the link on all the social media... more
Last updated October 15, 2018 Have you ever wondered why it’s so hard to convince someone their beliefs are wrong?... more
Being salesy is like using a leaky bucket to fetch water from a stream. You put in more effort for less results. I was... more
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about a business idea he had. It was a pretty solid idea with proven... more
You’re surfing Facebook and run across a quiz about sculpting your abs. You click through and it has a nice title and the description makes you want to dive right in – so you do. Something is off. The quiz questions seem irrelevant. You answer a few but feel like you’re being shortchanged so you click the back button and write the... more
Last updated December 23, 2018 Right after traffic, your conversion rates are the best gauge of how well your website is doing. You know what’s crazy? 40% of marketers cite a conversion rate of less than 0.5%. For every 200 people that visit a website, only one person takes the desired action. That’s no good. What do... more
A few weeks ago, we were throwing around ideas about how we could build awareness and an email list for KyLeads ahead of our beta launch. We’ve been blogging and creating content on other platforms so that was bringing in a few visitors every day. We needed something that was relatively cheap because we had no data about our core metrics... more
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about a business idea he had. It was a pretty solid idea with proven demand and he was in a good position to execute on it. He has a relevant audience, the financial resources, and could get a team together quickly. There were two things preventing him from pulling the trigger. He didn’t... more
You’re surfing Facebook and run across a quiz about sculpting your abs. You click through and it has a nice title and the description makes you want to dive right in – so you do. Something is off. The quiz questions seem irrelevant. You answer a few but feel like you’re being shortchanged so you click the back button and write the... more
Last updated December 23, 2018 Right after traffic, your conversion rates are the best gauge of how well your website... more
A few weeks ago, we were throwing around ideas about how we could build awareness and an email list for KyLeads ahead... more
Have you ever been on a website, saw an irresistible offer, got it, and felt disappointed in the thank you page?... more
Medium has been around for a while. Some people sing its praises. Others are vocal about how Medium continues to change their business model to their detriment Whatever. That’s not why I’m on Medium. Though I’ve been republishing articles on the platform for a while, I’ve never focused on it. It’s never been and will... more
Website optimization mistakes are everywhere. The internet is an unforgiving place. It's also interesting in that there’s a lot of information freely available. Your public library makes you pay for a card (and late fees) You have to buy physical books You need to pay for the good shows (HBO and Netflix) People on the web... more
Almost no one buys from your website on the first visit. It takes multiple interactions. The onus is on you to create an opportunity for your visitors to come back and interact with your brand. How do you do that? Blog into oblivion? Spam social media? Create awesome videos? No, not exactly. If you said lead magnets then you... more
Almost no one buys from your website on the first visit. It takes multiple interactions. The onus is on you to create an opportunity for your visitors to come back and interact with your brand. How do you do that? Blog into oblivion? Spam social media? Create awesome videos? No, not exactly. If you said lead magnets then you... more
I can guarantee you’ve experienced message match while wandering the internet (or a failed attempt at message match). Think about the last time you clicked on an ad, social post, or link in an email. Were your expectations met or were you wondering why you were sent to that page? If you were confused, then you’ve experienced message... more
Does your brand exist to make a lot of money or does it have a deeper reason why? Seriously, why was your company... more
Marketese is your enemy. Marketese kills your conversions. Marketese is to be fought with extreme prejudice. If... more
Headline formulas are like the holy grail of blogging, landing pages, opt-in forms, and quizzes. Why? Because more... more
It's about time we started optimizing for humans. I started my journey into all things digital a little under a decade ago. What works has changed. It was easier to get an email address. It was harder for people to pay for things. There weren’t so many digital services. It was hard as hell to get a payment processor that you... more