Chris Garrett
Build your business by sharing what you know
Sales objections do not only cost you sales, but they can increase your sales too.
This might seem paradoxical, but consider a market where you are selling the same product or a very similar product to competitors. Whoever does the best job of addressing objections can sell more.
Overcoming sales objections is essential in making sales, but it also makes you more competitive, or can even give …
Email copywriting is probably the one aspect of actually doing email marketing that people either fuss over or neglect. People either doubt their abilities in this area, don't think about it or over estimate.
Bloggers, being writers, would expect to be ahead of the game, but sadly that is not always the case.
While a couple of years ago it was common to see newsletter writers brag that they …
Testing, experimenting and tweaking are essential if you are going to be effective in your email efforts.
Email Marketing advice usually targets attracting more new email subscribers and email copywriting, but there is an aspect of email marketing that is just as powerful but much overlooked.
Growing an email list is a critical part of email marketing success. The more people you have to talk to, the more chance you have of getting a good number of people to do what you want them to do, be that click, comment or buy. In the previous article of this email marketing series we looked at getting started in email marketing, now we will look at how you can grow your list from a few to …
Building your email list is perhaps the most compelling issue facing anyone looking to email marketing. It could be argued that building your list is not the most important issue, but it is certainly for most people the most pressing.
Email Marketing seems to be a topic many bloggers want to know about. While promoting my recent prize draw I was asked to expand on my article explaining the benefits of providing blog email subscriptions into more email marketing tips.
I realized I wasn't going to be able to do the subject justice in just one post, so here is the first in a series all about email marketing and how to do it …
Internal linking problems are one of the common issues I find. How bloggers should use internal links to boost their search rankings.
Reciprocation is where you feel inclined to do something for someone else because they did something for you. It's about returning a favor, I help you, you help me.
A great deal of modern marketing is based on reciprocation. It's a natural impulse and probably something that keeps society bound together.
The classic example is where a charity "gives" you something, anything from a sticker …
Today I want to help you connect deeper with your target market. Why would you want to connect deeply with your audience? You have two choices in business if you want to make a good profit: But there is another option … Imagine if you could sell lots of high-value products and services to lots …
Reading a lot of advice and ebook sales letters, you could be forgiven for thinking all you need is one good tactic and you will be a mega success online. In fact what you need is a planned mixture of approaches. Understanding where certain tactics fit can be the difference between going nowhere and going viral.
Before anyone points out, yes this is not a complete list, and yes some tactics fit …
Recently I have been asked by a few people my opinion on a certain "link bait" event that happened. To save myself repeating the same answer, here it is.
The story goes something like this. Writer creates fictitious story, gets it to the front page of Digg, which leads to mentions in tabloid newspapers and Fox News.
Apart from the "fictitious" aspect, this would be considered by anyone a major …
A critical part of any online sales process is answering questions and objections before they are raised. Buying anything comes with some perceived risk. Blogging actually helps reduced this perception of risk because over time you can get to know the person behind the blog, their expertise and their approach. I imagine any of you who have been with me a little while feels like you know me a bit, …
Over the weekend I had the fantastic opportunity to have a quick chat with David Bullock. Not only is he a super smart guy, especially in the crucial area of actually making money online, but he is a great bloke too. Like most people who heard him in Chicago, I am now a big, big fan.
As Chris Cree reports, David a couple of times said that he was looking at Social Media to boost his community, …
Drawing More Readers with Inspiring Aspirations
One of the big struggles when you are launching a business blog, is how to write content that will both appeal to your audience and have some connection to what you have to offer.
I have been helping a couple of clients pull their blog topics together, they both were frustrated that there was apparently very little to talk about …
In my previous post I wrote how educating customers can provide more sales, increased trust and loyalty. Richard asked in the comments if people took this advice would advertising diminish. I started answering as a comment but then I realized the issue deserved a full post. Advertising Versus Blogging? So first things first, do I …
Sometimes blogging can be the difference between making a sale and giving the sale to a competitor. What do I mean? I was talking to a client the other day who was moving from Pay Per Click marketing of his products into SEO and blogging. His widget is expensive so while the per click price …
When we put up a website, blog or even an article, in most cases we do so hoping for the visitor to do a particular thing, take a specific action. Those actions are called conversions. We are converting the visitor into something else, a subscriber, a customer, and so on.
As you know from daily life, getting people to do what you want them to can be tricky. We have our own agendas, we see the …
Interesting tweet I picked up this morning from SEO Chicks “Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008” This interesting law comes in to force on May 28th 2008 and within the UK stands to criminalise some regrettably common practices It seems that fake blogs (“flogs”), like those from Sony and Walmart, will become not just …
Yesterday I asked you to answer my “The Cluetrain Manifesto” poll, here are the results: The question was based on a quick question I posted on Twitter. I have been thinking about this book and its impact on the web and social media concepts we take for granted. As you can see from the chart …
Just under 10 years ago a website then book was released called The Cluetrain Manifesto. I did a quickie poll on Twitter and found around half of people questioned had heard of it. Today I want to repeat the experiment here. {democracy:10} You will find out why I am asking later in a full article. …
Yesterday I wrote about how you can identify your Sneezers and Linkerati. Essentially these people are incredibly valuable to you because they are your advocates. They spread your message, defend your honor and if you do a good enough job of nurturing them, become your all-round raving fans. How do you grow your readers from …
It might seem a strange question to ask. Especially coming from a blogger. But really, do you know where your audience hangs out? Yesterday I had two emails in reaction to my business blogging series where people were having problems that could be solved much more easily if they did a small amount of market …
As blog consultants job is as much about listening as it is advising. A complaint people often grumble about is why do some people find it easy to get exposure, while other people have far better work but get overlooked. It’s the same in all walks of life. Some people naturally attract attention, even when …
photo credit: Gaspa Teaching Sells was already excellent value but I just heard yesterday that you can sign up now for $1! If you were thinking of trying before but didn’t make the leap you should get in now before they put the price back up. Why on earth would they give you all that …
Many times I have seen bloggers become disheartened because of a lack of traffic, engagement or income from a new blog. They put in the research. Found phrases with a lot of traffic at Wordtracker, where there was a reasonable amount of competition in Google, and where they had a sufficient interest to blog long …
People are irrational animals. There are a lot of scientists who believe we don’t even have free will. An (otherwise objectionable) writer once cleverly referred to humans as “moist robots” because we merely react to our programming and stimulus. Is it any surprise then other moist robots’ decisions confuse the heck out of us? The …
Knowing your audience inside out is a critical part of blog success. If you do not know who your reader is and what they need, how can you possibly delight them? Your blog has to be for your reader first and you second. Yes, before anyone comments, there are notable successes with huge audiences who …
Yet again there is another traffic exchange doing the rounds with widgets appearing on blog sidebars. Of course people are asking if they should join in. Here is my advice … Is it really free? – OK, in most cases you don’t actually pay money to be a part of it, but in return for …
In the past week I have been interviewed again a couple of times. Some common questions are starting to come up. It seems that there are a couple of things people know about me. Authority Blogger Flagship Content This pleases me no end. Why? Because these are precisely the things I want to spread! So …
Attention Age Doctrine is a free report from Rich Schefren. I am sure I won’t be the only person you hear about this from. In fact I heard about it myself from Yaro. So why am I telling you about it? It’s free – Even though you can be sure Rich isn’t giving it away …
Branding and positioning change the marketplace, alter the rules of blogging, and branding your blog is essential if you want it to take off.
Twitter is a social site based around the idea of 140 character messages, but it has grown to be much more than that. My relationship with Twitter has mutated over time. My opinion of the service has ranged from true believer, skeptic, objective critic, right up to now which I would describe as “cautious optimist“. …
A couple of times this week I have seen great stories get buried on Digg. It happens and it sucks. The thing is we all tend to think our own story is worthy of getting votes. But in many cases I think the people who complain about getting buried the most secretly know they were …
Aaron has a great post about PR agencies in the social media / web 2.o space. Worth a read, if only for the Office Space inspired giggle. Reading this made my brain connect what Aaron had written with a thought I had been having all morning about authenticity. The attraction of blogging and social marketing …
Often clients assume I am always going to recommend blogging but that is simply not the case. I am not going to push blogs as the magic bullet solution because as you know, blogging does not suit every company or individual. In most cases the decision is down to: Will a blog provide significant benefit …
So you will do-doubt have noticed Darren Gave Away $60,000 of Prizes in a Week. You can already see Darrens conclusions, but after reading his list I had a thought I want to share and get your opinion on. The Problogger give-away was a big success I am sure, and Darren has learned a great …
Do you spend a lot of time obsessing about the technical side of what we do? I am here to tell you the technical side, while important, is NOT your priority.
User djinferno asked a question over at the Authority Blogger Forum that I know is on the minds of many bloggers. It is a question I see a lot, expressed in many ways “How do I promote my blog” “What can I do to get more visitors?” “How do you increase traffic?” In the thread …
