Grow an Online Business - A fun weekly podcast about how to start an online business for yourself.

Welcome back to our latest episode of the Grow an Online Business podcast! Today, I'm thrilled to share some exciting news about a project that's close to my heart. We're talking about my new YouTube channel, which has just hit a remarkable milestone of 94 subscribers!

In this episode, I dive into the journey of starting this channel, the challenges faced, and the strategies that helped me reach this point. We'll explore how consistent content creation and engaging with our growing community have been key to this success.

But it's not just about the numbers. I'll be sharing some personal stories, the inspiration behind my videos, and how this experience has been a learning curve for me. Plus, I'll give you a sneak peek into what's coming up next on the channel.

This episode dives into the exhilarating launch phase of a YouTube channel.

Reflecting on the initial two-week period since its inception and launch, this episode joyously unveils these exciting milestones: uploaded 5 engaging videos, a commendable 167 listens, and a blossoming subscriber base, now supporting 13 dedicated followers.

This success story attributes much of its triumph to the invaluable assistance of Srijan, an indispensable collaborator from Elite Video Framework. Tune in for an inspiring narrative of early triumphs in the YouTube Channel growth, offering insights and motivation for aspiring online entrepreneurs.

In this episode I go over the two different filming scenes I set up for the two playlists I am working on.

I also let everyone know about the YouTube channel I put together for Grow an Online Business. That is where you can watch the uncut video footage of the podcast as I record it as well as the video journaling, I do each week when I need to talk to someone about what I am working on.

I express my excitement when I win at something and my disappointment and the lesson I learn when things do not go the way I had planned.

Let me start off by saying thank you to all of our listeners and supporters. I have had a great time doing this podcast this last year. But now for the exciting news: We are getting ready for an amazing Season 4. We are getting ready to rebrand the podcast and take this thing to a whole new level.

Stay tuned for our return to the podcast in November 2021. We are taking the next month off to regroup and prepare for the next big thing. We are excited to be relaunching the Podcast as the Build Your Online Business Podcast.

Please stay tuned for the website address for the newest evolution of the brand and business. We are hoping to help more startups and first-time online business builders in 2022. 

This is not what I thought I was going to be launching for season 4. Season 4 is going to be a transition season for documenting the process of converting Grow an Online Business to Build Your Online Business. Each week I/we will be discussing the progress, process, and steps we go through while we transition and relaunch the business in its new form.

We are so excited to be able to give everyone the birds-eye view of us putting together, organizing, and expanding the brand. Please come back each week and share this with everyone you know who could benefit from the podcast or our mission.

Never Stop Brainstorming

The power of brainstorming cannot be oversold. It is how new ideas are brought into reality. You can brainstorm by yourself, but some of the best ideas come from groups of people because of misheard ideas and spurred concepts from seemingly bad ideas.

For those who are looking for a little help brainstorming, we are going to do a little bit of online live help for a few of our listeners and group members. We are growing our group on Facebook. Come by and check out the Grow an Online Business Group.

Week  Ending Report

The Coffee Subscription launch is all set for Aug 15th. It has been a fun journey watching as CJ and his team put together a coffee subscription business. It is finally ready to ship and deliver it's first batches of fresh brewed coffee.

Tasty Sample:

I was privileged enough to get a small sample of the first tester batch of coffee. It was smooth and rich without any acidity. It was fresh and fruity with deep flavor without having to be burnt. It was a welcome change from the swill I have been having to drink. I am looking forward to getting it freshly delivered every two weeks.

How to Make Better Decisions

making decisions can be difficult. Having a system to make things easier is a must in today's world. We can spend too much time deliberating over decisions that could be easy. Find out how easy making decisions can be with this ingenious technique. 

2 of 3 Means Go!

By having two of the three deciding measures, you can quickly make decisions. The art of deciding is important. The most successful people do not waste time deliberating on what to do, they make a decision quickly and give it their best. The truth is there is no way to judge a decision before it is made. The results of the decision are often how we judge ourselves and our decision making ability. 

Successful people however, decide quickly and if they fail, they consider it a lesson, if they succeed just another feather in their cap. When you must make a decision, there are three possibilities,the first is you choose wrong. The second is you choose the best answer. The last is you take so long to decide you either do not choose anything at all or by the time you do choose either answer is about the same. 

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

Have you noticed that it seems that the most successful people make snap decisions. The reason is very often, they have a fast way to come to a choice. The new technique should turn you into a rapid decision maker, and guess what, you will make better choices every time. So much of life is confidence, as you begin to choose faster you will become more confident in your choices. This will make choosing become easier, and you will be less emotionally attached or invested in your choices. So even when a choice did not result in the best case scenario, you won't mind near as much as if you had invested a lot of time and effort making the decision.

Week Ending

Landing Pages are where your first impression is often formed. Learn how to use landing pages to build your website the right way.

What are landing pages?

A landing page is the spot where different people land on your website either through an ad, or other promotional shared link. They allow you to give the specific message to the visitor you intend. You can have different landing pages depending on the offering you are presenting to your visitor.

A landing page sometimes called a sales page is where you share with the visitor what you want them to know. You may be looking to schedule meetings. You may be selling a product or service. But whatever you are doing you can give the specific details in the best way for the visitor. This is also a great way to test which landing page works best for you. You may make two different landing pages and run a split test, with the two pages being sent to half of the ad recipients.

Week Ending:

This week was up and down. Users up 41.7% to 17; New Users up 33.3% to 16; But Average Engagement time down 43.8% to 5s. I am getting no return users. In fact only 4 return users since May 30th. I need to add new articles I guess. I would like to add more content, I have just been spending most of my time working on my other sites. This site gets very little added to it beyond the podcast uploaded weekly.

Yeah, this one's a few days early. The key to your online business is to keep consistent when life gets in the way. This was a very busy and difficult week. CJ was tied up as was I. We were not able to do the podcast this week like we had planned. 

Life got in the way this week. I do not like when life gets in the way, but the key is to stay consistent and keep going. It is easier to steer a moving ship than a still one. Be sure to do something in your business every week no matter if life gets right in your way. Things will inevitably go wrong and be more difficult that they need to. But do not let that stop you. 

The Side Hustle Advantage

If you are just starting your business and can never find enough time or money because you are starting out as a side hustle rather than a full-time gig, listen up. Here are some of the many advantages to starting out as a side hustle.

CJ Jolliff jumps right into the heavy stuff in this discussion about the advantages of your online business starting out as a side hustle. He gives personal examples as well as some from his clients.

Add Courses to Your Website

Are you thinking you want to add courses to your website? You won't want to miss this episode. Aaron Jarrels and CJ Jolliff go over some of the best practices and ways to add a course or training to your website. You do not have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars if you use a simple plugin for your wordpress website.

This week CJ and I go over the ROTW updates. A few weeks ago we discussed his newest venture into subscription based businesses "Roast of the Week. He shares an inside look into what he and his partners are up to in order to start this subscription based business as lean as possible. 

Why is Story Branding Your Website so Important?

People do not buy really buy products. They buy the story behind the product. When you buy a lemonade from a machine $0.50 feels like too much money for what you bought. But have you ever considered that paying $2.50 for a tiny little lemonade from the the child's stand at the corner makes you feel good for supporting your entrepreneurs? Why I will often buy the lemonade and not even drink it, it's not about the lemonade, it's about the story the kid has, by setting up a stand and working hard, I want to support him or her.

Do You Have a Clear Story? 

Your story should be a clear message, your potential customers should know who you are, and why you are selling what you sell. If you can win them over with your story, your price becomes secondary. I spend more very often with brands I like rather than purchase cheaper products from brands I do not like.

Is it Discernable on your website?

In the first few seconds your potential customers should be able to see you have a unique proposition, story, or reason for selling what you sell. If not you are just a me too business and in that case you simply need to be the cheapest. Being second cheapest is not a compelling advantage in the marketplace. If you cannot win on price, you must win with your story.

Is it Consistent Across all Media?

If you use social media, advertising, a website, or other marketplace for selling your goods or services, your message needs to be the same across all forms. So that when your potential customers or clients tell others about you they do not get a completely different impression of you from you if they use a different media to find you.

Week Ending for my Website:

This week was not great for traffic. New visitors are down, and they are not staying long. I am going to have to change up my strategy. i think I am going to have CJ take a look at my website and give me some pointers to make it better.

Online Website Hosting Options with CJ Jolliff

In this episode I discuss online website hosting options in a interview CJ Jolliff from Infini Systems and Infini Sites. He discusses the difference between having a "hands off" and "hands on" approach when hosting your website. 

A hands on approach is where you as the website owner wants to get in and build out your own website using their intuitive builder. This gives you a real time opportunity to get your hands dirty building a website, but maintaining the professional service that hands off hosting is known for.

The hands off approach to having your website hosted is having the professionals there to build, update, and change your website without you needing to know how to do any of it yourself.

Something you may not have considered: sometimes you have more time than money, so learning to build out your own website makes sense, but if you have no time, then it makes more sense to have others do what they are god at, and that way you simply focus on what you do best.

Launching a Subscription Based Business Online with CJ Jolliff

In Season 3 we are departing from our old format for a new look at how to grow an online business. 

This Episode is an interview with Christopher CJ Jolliff. We had so much fun doing this episode, I am considering asking him to co-host the podcast.

CJ discusses the preliminary build up to the launch of his new business. I am specifically looking forward to when it launches.

The Consumer Behavior Series

Part 4 Variety Seeking Behavior

When consumers buy a new product, not because they were dissatisfied with the last product they purchased, but they want to try something new all the time. These are buyers that are great one time purchasers. They do not make great long term clients or customers, as they are always looking for the latest trend, fad, or change of pace. 

Week Ending

This week was not a great week for my website. While my keyword total continues to lower, my CTR keeps climbing, but the total impressions are down. I should probably review the keywords I am trying to rank for and make some adjustments. 

What is Habitual Buying Behavior

Habitual buying behavior are purchases characterized by uninvolved buying patterns. Consumers are not as concerned by the specific brands, but habitually buy the product type. 

Think bread or cereal from the grocery store. If your favorite brand is not there, you'll often buy a different brand as long as it is the type of bread you were looking for, sourdough, wheat, white, french loaf, etc...

How to use habitual buying behavior to sell more products

When customers just want to buy the type of product you can have mimicking packaging, for in store sales, but it is easier to rank for the search term that people will use when trying to purchase the type of product online. 

Examples:

If you are selling snail killer- write a great article on best box of pellets to shake over flower beds.

If you are a plumber- write articles on how to replace a hose bib, how to stop a leaking pipe, how to change a faucet, etc... 

If you sell coffee beans- write great articles on why the degree of roasting is as important as the bean origin, using best flavor coffee bean as a keyword.

Week Ending:

This week was interesting, I a still all over the board with the terms I am ranking for. My site has not yet begun to rank very high for any of my targeted keywords. I'll keep you posted as the site matures.

Dissonance-reducing buying behavior

This is the second episode in the four part series on consumer behavior. Dissonance-reducing buying behavior is when your customers question their decision after purchase. They will look for evidence to prove they were right and made the right decision. 

Be sure to put enough information on your webpage, your ad, your copy, your group, wherever your clients get information about you, your product, or service. 

Week Ending Wrap-up

This week I found that I am still having my keywords narrowed down and I am to the weekly count of 124 words. My average position is around 47-49% so I think that will continue to get better. Not to mention my impressions are on a slight arch upward. Let's hope that holds steady for a little while.

#1 of the four types of consumer behavior: Complex Buying Behavior 

We are starting a four part podcast about consumer behavior. We are going to dive into the 4 types of buying behavior you need to be aware of. How you can use your knowledge of the types of buying behavior to adjust your marketing approach. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to not miss any of the four behaviors. 

This week we discuss Complex Buying Behavior. This is when buyers are considering expensive purchases that are infrequent. Think car, boat, house, hot water heater, etc... Customers are much more directly involved in the research process. They want to be sure they are getting a good deal, they have all of their questions answered, and believe they are making a smart choice.

Be sure to answer all of the customer's concerns, questions, and road blocks. Give your potential customer the ability to feel good about their purchase. Make sure the product is worth the cost, and the cost should hurt just a little. In truth the customer will value it more that way. We will discuss the psychological principles about why in a later podcast.

Week Ending for the Online Business

Little happened, this week, but there were slightly more organic traffic leads sent to the website. The site needs more time to ripen or mature. We will check back n it next week.

Increase Your Network to Increase Your Business

To increase your network you need to do a few specific things:

1. Identify all of your different networks. Too often we believe we only have one circle of influence, as it turns out most people have between three and seven different circles of influence. You need to identify yours and give them labels or names.

2. Have a clear understanding of your customers/clients. Identify what/who your potential leads are, what they like, what they spend their money and time on, what they are missing, and what they are having trouble with.

3. When you figure out where they spend their time, join the groups, clubs, or places they go to for information on the topic you are looking at selling, servicing, or offering assistance with. 

4. Make new connections, new contacts, and new network leads. Most importantly, make new friends. (People do not care about how much you know, until they know how much you care).

6. This allows for "Soft Introductions" to your product or service. Listen to find out why this is so important.

In part three of this three part series on how to increase business revenue, we discuss the process of increasing customers. It may sound obvious right? but all to often we forget to go after new customers by asking our existing customers to bring us new clients or customers. All too often we thing standard advertising is the only way to attract new customers.

There are alternative ways to pay for advertising besides just paying for google ads or social media ads. Take a hard look at who your customer base is and ask yourself where are they spending time? Who is an influencer in their circle? Who might they listen to? You may be able to get an influencer to share your product or service for only a free sample and an affiliate link. That way you are only paying for the customers that they send to you not just for them mentioning your business or service.

In the previous episodes we discussed the other ways to increase business revenue by making hard choices that you can act on, but this week it is much easier, you just need to decide where you are going to spend your advertising budget, and what that budget is going to include.

We will take a look at how our website business is doing after taking off three weeks to allow google to settle after trimming down the keywords my website was showing up in search for. The average search placement is creeping up and so is my CTR. I hope to have good news to share next week.

This is the second part in a three part series on how to increase your business revenue. This episode we discuss and dive into the concept of selling more frequently by using subscriptions. Customers often forget to buy your product or service. Give them the opportunity to receive your product or service every day, week, month, quarter or however often you sell your things. People will appreciate not having to remember. 

Be sure to listen to the other two episodes to find out more ways to increase your business revenue. As for the weekly business review, we are giving the website and google a few weeks to settle after the last algorithm change. Like always please share this with your friends, like, and subscribe! 

This episode covers the importance of branding your business. You should spend an appropriate amount of time figuring out what the message is you want to portray to anyone who sees your brand, logo, or marketing that do not know who you are. The font you choose, tells the reader something about you as does your choice of colors. Take a few minutes to look at the logos of the top companies in the world, as well as those of your competition, see which has the strongest appeal, and be sure yours is at least as good or better, (more on point with the message)

There is an enormous value in giving away small surprises. A small surprise can be something as simple as having your shipping upgraded for free overnight shipping. It can be something as thoughtful as a handwritten thank you note on the packing slip. Even placing a free sticker of your brand inside the package can go a long way toward fostering the relationship between you and your customer. Because of surprise reciprocity, customers will be so impressed with and happy about being surprised, they will feel almost indebted to you and fill in an online review, share with a friend how great your company is, or even continue ordering from you. 

Repeat customers are made by making customers happy, and a nice little surprise can do just the trick. Be sure you try to surprise your customers.

Last week in business: Google is continuing to trim down the keywords my website ranks for. The traffic is down, but the quality of the customers seems a little bit higher. The people who land on the articles are taking the time to read them. 

But that brings me to my plan for next week. I need to add calls to action on each page and at the beginning of each article. I noticed that while the organic traffic is coming to the website, they are not necessarily going any deeper into the site. My goal is to get them to give me their email, and I do not have good enough offerings or calls to action to convince them to sign up for my email list. That is what I will be working on this week.

This week we talk about how and why you may want to play the devil's advocate with your customers. Research shows that doing so makes them not just more comfortable, but also more convinced in their decision to buy your product or service. When people must defend their decision, they often dig deep into their position in a defensive manner. This works to your benefit by allowing you to "attack" your own product or service and have them defend it.

We also looked at the marketing moves we made this week, what worked, and what didn't do much. We are still trying to make movement on Pinterest, and this week we are going to attempt to use emotional grabbing pictures in an effort to showcase the benefits rather than the features.

Give your audience or clients something to connect with by sharing your Brand's values. Take a stance on what you believe in or want your brand to stand for. 

People will like your brand more and thus feel motivated to support it if your brand's beliefs and values align with their beliefs. Do not be afraid to share your beliefs and values especially on emotional triggers. You may offend some people, but their counterparts (hopefully your target customers) will become loyal supporters. They will be more forgiving if you make an error and will defend you and your stance to others. 

As for what happened this week in business: still on a slightly downward trajectory in terms of traffic. I believe it due to thin content on some of the pages of my website. My articles are flushed out with content and information, including FAQ sections. I am considering adding some additional rich media (videos). I'm working on setting up better lighting (my first videos of myself were pretty bad.) I am usually behind the camera, it has been difficult to move to the front of the camera and microphone.

The Plan moving forward this next week is to add information, appropriate keyword-rich content t the pages of my website. I'll let you know how that goes next week.