Success Unscrambled Podcast

Lucy didn’t have a traffic problem.She had a conversion problem. Her ads were getting clicks.People were watching.Some were even opting in. But very few were buying. If that sounds familiar, you don’t need better ads.You need a better conversion system. In this post, I’ll show you why most Facebook ads don’t convert and what to fix first. What is a Conversion Rate? Understanding conversion rates will help you assess if your ad types and ad copy are effective. You want your audience to perform the desired action after interacting with your Facebook Ad. They aren’t just there to look pretty. So, what is a conversion rate? Simply put, it is the percentage of people who convert into a new behaviour after being exposed to an intervention. In the context of Facebook Ads, it is the number of people who purchase your product, or sign-up for your email list, after being exposed to your ad.  Facebook advertisers do not need to only be concerned with low click-through rates, it is essential that their Facebook Ad conversion rate is also high. Clicks should lead to a specific action and new customers for your business. Facebook Advertising Benchmarks One benefit of running Facebook Ad campaigns is access to Facebook Analytics. This powerful tool can lead to high conversion rates by allowing you to assess what is and isn’t working when it comes to converting Facebook users into customers.  Facebook metrics also help set pricing for the site with your advertising cost being tied to social media users’ interaction with your Facebook campaign. Remember that Facebook takes a variety of factors into account when setting pricing on the site, including your campaign goals, so the prices listed here are average. Cost Per Click Cost per click, or CPC, refers to the price per click on your Facebook Ad. The average CPC is $0.94 per click. You can choose to bid on CPC when running your Facebook Ad. Facebook will then attempt to get you the most clicks possible in the budget you set. This can be a great way to generate views for your blog posts or to bring people to a landing page. Cost Per Mile Cost per mile, or CPM, refers to the price you pay per one thousand impressions. Where did mile come from? It means thousand in Latin. You are learning language and average cost today!  CPM is a great option to get your ad seen by as many potential customers as possible. When you bid on this advertising option on the social network they will get your ad seen by as many of their millions of daily active users as your budget allows. The average cost is $7.19. Cost Per Like Cost Per Like, or CPL, refers to the cost per like your Facebook page receives from your ad. Increasing likes helps build brand awareness. It can also lower costs by increasing the number of people seeing your content outside of sponsored content. It currently averages $1.07. Cost Per Action Cost Per Action (CPA) is a choice when running Facebook Ads that will have you paying per your desired action. Once you set your budget and your desired action Facebook will optimize for you to receive as many actions as possible.  This is a better option than just paying for link clicks when your concern is your Facebook Ads conversion rate. The price is $5.47 on average. Factors Influencing Facebook Ad CPA Facebook Ads does not charge everyone equally for any of their four price options. A variety of factors are at play. We will take a look at some of them here.  Prospective Customers The people you are seeking to reach with your ad will affect the cost of the ad. Facebook allows you to narrow the Facebook users seeing your ad to those that fall within the parameters you set.  This prevents you from shooting in the dark at all 25-40 year-olds in the Midwest but rather lets you drill down into only those that share an interest in what you are offering. For example, if you are offering running shoes it would display to those that are interested in marathons. This targeting increases the effectiveness of ads but can also come with a price. Not all audiences clock in at the same dollar amount. As you tailor your audience you will see the pricing of your ad change.  Ad Quality and Relevancy Facebook rewards ads that its users like. They use a variety of metrics to determine whether the ads people see are relevant to them and engaging. The better your ad scores the cheaper it will be to run the ad on Facebook.  To reduce your costs produce good ads. This has the added benefit of enticing customers. Conversions are higher with good-quality ads.  Ad Placement  Where you opt to place your ad within Facebook’s ecosystem will also affect the price of your CPA. Options include choosing to only display your ads on mobile, placing your ads in Facebook newsfeeds, integrated videos, and more.  The abundance of choice lets you select where you can gain the most traction, and conversions, for your business. Though some of these options come at higher price points consider whether the increase in conversions makes up for the increase in Facebook Ads costs.  Why Your Facebook Ads Aren’t Converting Most people think the problem is: targeting creatives budget It’s not. The real problem is this: 👉 You’re asking people to buy after 1–2 touchpoints Buyers don’t work like that anymore. They need multiple exposures, angles, and proof before they decide. That’s where most campaigns break. How to Increase the Conversion Rates of Facebook Ads Facebook ads are a powerful tool to drive traffic to your site, but they aren’t magic bullets. To make sure you’re getting the best results possible, follow these tips to boost conversions. Concentrate On Relevance With the ability to target your Facebook Ads so precisely comes great responsibility. You want your ads to be seen by people that are interested in what you have to offer. Increase the effectiveness of your ads by targeting them to the right people.  Facebook lets you target your audience based on age, location, gender, interests and more. Assess who your customer is and then go find them on Facebook.  Make Use of Dynamic Ads Facebook utilizes dynamic ads to show your products to the right people. Facebook automatically show your ad to people who have expressed an interest in what you have to offer whether that be on your website, app, or anywhere else across the internet.  Opting for this targeting is an even narrower form of audience selection. These are not just people who share demographic details with your customers or are interested in things related to your product.  These are people who have already gone through the trouble of interacting with your content outside of Facebook. They are highly primed conversion and are a great value for your Facebook Ad budget.  Do Not Skimp on Quality Facebook rewards you for creating ads that people like. Advertising doesn’t have to be bleak and salesy. It can be engaging and fun. If your ad is something that people like and find value in, then Facebook wants it on their platform.  Ways to ensure high-quality ads make quality graphics, including great photos, and writing witty copy.  Write Copy That Emphasizes the Value Writing good ad copy not only means that Facebook will reward you with more views it can also be a part of creating more sales itself. Your copy should clearly lay out what you are offering and why people should want it.  Emphasizing the value that people receive from choosing you is also best practice. Even those with large budgets do not want to receive less for their money. We all want to receive more for our money.  Lay out in your ad the value they will get from choosing you. In a crowded field, why do I want to opt for you as my wellness coach? Why do you offer the best-knitted ferret jumpers?  Make it clear they will receive a high-quality product at the best possible cost. Highlight any features of what you offer that stand out from the rest.  If possible offer them a bonus. You could run a giveaway for people who sign up for your email list. You could offer free bonus materials if selling a course. The possibilities are endless. What you offer is high value make your potential customer see that.  Keep an Eye on, and Improve Your Campaigns Facebook’s analytics tools are there for you to take advantage of. Look and see what ads are getting engagement and which aren’t. With the power of the world’s largest social media platform providing performance reports, there is no reason to not see how things are going.  Once you have an idea of which ads perform well you can improve lower-performing ads to be more like the ads that are getting traction. You can also apply those analytics to your Facebook page posts and see which of your regular posts is performing best and consider boosting it or turning it into an ad.  Ad Fatigue Should Be Avoided People are fickle. They love what you are doing one moment and hate it the next. Familiarity breeds contempt so avoid oversaturating your market with ads. Consider varying the ads so that your market doesn’t become annoyed.  Perhaps worse than annoyance is indifference. If you are running the same ad over and over it can become part of the wallpaper. Your target customers might grow so used to your ad they view it as an extension of the navigation bar.  Vary things up to keep your audience engaged and primed to follow through on your call to action. Keep your branding consistent of course but add interest and spice things up from time to time.  Get Your Creativity on Point Have fun with your advertising! Get creative. Test things out and see what works. We can’t overstate enough how much Facebook and your audience will value this. Don’t sit on your laurels and let your advertising become boring and stale.  Use Facebook’s analytics tools to see what people like and think about how to deliver more of what the people want without boring the people. Stretch those creative muscles! Tools to get your creative juices might include upgrading to Canva Pro and really getting in there and creating something fun and new. You could join a Facebook (the irony) group for advertisers to share ideas and look for inspiration there. You could do some good old-fashioned brainstorming. Don’t think too much just write what comes to mind and evaluate after.  Have Very Strong CTAs Call-to-actions are the words or images that prompt users to click on something. When designing your landing pages, think carefully about your CTA buttons. Do they match the tone of your message? Are they clear and concise? Is the button large enough? The goal of your CPA Facebook Ad campaign is to get people to perform an action whether it be purchasing something or signing up for an email list. Make sure that that is clearly laid out for them to do in your ad. Be enticing too!  A button that says click here without much else isn’t going to get clicked. Why do people want to sign-up for your email list? Do you offer exclusive content? Why is your membership good value? Why do they want to purchase your potato warmer out of all of the potato warmers? Use your call to action to clearly highlight what makes what you have to offer so awesome. How to Monitor Facebook Ad Conversions? Facebook advertising is a powerful tool for businesses looking to reach customers and prospects. But, like all forms of marketing, it requires constant monitoring and tweaking to ensure maximum results. Here are some tips to help you monitor Facebook Ad conversion rate effectively. 1. Use Conversion Tracking Tools Conversion tracking tools allow you to track specific actions taken after a user clicks on a Facebook advertisement. They also provide detailed reports showing exactly how much money was spent on ads, how many impressions were seen, and how many clicks resulted in sales. Knowing these numbers allows you to see how far your money has gone and whether you are reaching your targets with your current spending.  2. Track the Performance of Each Page Post You can set up conversion tracking for individual posts within your page. For example, if you run a blog, you can choose to track the performance of every single article posted.  This allows you to see which articles perform best and which ones underperform. Facebook offers this same feature for posts on their site. You can see how many people viewed your posts and how many engagements they received.  If you find that a particular post was shared more than others analyze it. What makes it stand out from the crowd? Test your ideas of what made it effective by creating more content. Perhaps you’ll find the secret to going viral.  3. Set Up Custom Audiences Custom audiences let you target users based on the criteria you define. For example, you can select only users who visited your site last week and clicked on a particular link. Once you’ve defined these parameters, you can build custom audiences based on them. Defining your audience allows you to focus on people who need, want, or are likely to buy your product or service. No offence to those people who are not interested in what you offer but when it comes to advertising they aren’t worth your time.  You want to hone in on converting people who are ready and willing to buy what you have to offer rather than persuading those whose interests lay elsewhere.  4. Create Remarketing Lists Remarketing lists allow you to reengage past visitors to your site. When you’re running a Facebook Ad, you can specify which remarketing lists you’d like to display to previous visitors.  Remarketing, simply put, is using cookies to track previous visitors to your website. If they have visited your site not only are they interested in your field they are interested in you specifically. Entice them back to finish the sale by advertising to them after they’ve left your site and navigated across the web to Facebook.  5. Measure the Impact of Ads Once you’ve created a campaign, you’ll receive daily reports showing how well your ads performed. These reports give you valuable information about your campaign, including clickthrough rates, cost per click, and conversion rates. You can then continue to tailor what you have done based on this information. If you thought an inspirational quote as a call to action was your ticket to conversions and it wasn’t these numbers will bring this to light. You can then switch your approach to something else after good thinking and try again.  What is a Good Facebook Ad Conversion Rate? A conversion rate of 1% means that for every 100 people who see your ad, one person clicks through to perform your desired action. If you want to know what kind of conversions you should be aiming for, look at other businesses that have similar audiences to yours. You should ideally be outperforming the competition to continue to grow your business.  According to Wordstream’s Facebook Ad benchmarks, the average conversion rate for paid Facebook ads across all industries is 9.21%. From this, we could say that a “good” conversion rate for your Facebook Ads should be around 10% or more.  If you are in a particularly difficult or easy market you can adjust your expectations accordingly. A few industries with conversion rates above the average include fitness, education, employment and job training, healthcare, real estate, and B2B. The fitness industry is doing particularly well with Facebook Ads clocking in at a 14.29% conversion rate. Industries that have a tougher go of it when it comes to Facebook Ad conversion rates include retail, travel and hospitality, and poor technology clocking in the lowest at 2.31%. Summary Facebook Ads are a powerful tool for social media marketers, but they aren’t always effective at creating action. Facebook Ad conversion rates refer to the number of people who perform your desired action as opposed to the number of views your ad received.  These actions are not only sales based but can include page views, video views or collecting contact information. The action you are looking for might be something that will lead to sales at the right time. Facebook Ads are a powerful tool for businesses looking to reach their target audience. They allow business owners to create custom audiences, track conversions, and even run split tests. The problem is that these tools don’t come for free. Given that Facebook Ad budgets are not unlimited you want to make sure your digital marketing is leading to conversions. Conclusion Facebook looms large in the social media field and that has translated into power in the advertising space as well. Facebook Ads are the medium of advertising on the site. The service is paid for via bidding and the price is based on a variety of factors including whether you are utilising CPC, CPM, CPL, or CPA.  Advertising on Facebook helps you reach your potential clients but you want to ensure that your ads are leading to conversions. People need to not just be seeing your ad but also performing a desired action based on what they are seeing. This action is not always a sale but can also be something like signing up for a newsletter. There are many strategies for increasing your Facebook Ad conversion rates that we could discuss during a call today.

Siobhan needed help promoting her small business but she didn’t know what are the current freelance marketing consultant rates. This is important for her because she didn’t want to pay too much for digital marketing services. Yes, leads and sales are important to the survival of any business. Like many entrepreneurs and small business owners, Siobhan prefers spending time doing what she enjoys. She just was not interested in learning to become a digital marketer herself. Let me know if you face these struggles like Siobhan. You need more leads and sales in your business this year Setting up a 12-month marketing plan is outside your comfort zone You like showing up on social media but you don’t have a marketing strategy in place Terms like ROAS, abandon cart emails, CTR, conversion rate, LTV and MRR are way outside your wheelhouse If only there was a way to figure out the cost of a marketing consultant so that you can include them in your marketing budget. In this resource, you’ll discover simple strategies to plan, budget and hire your digital marketing strategist to significantly increase your business revenue. What or Who is a Marketing Consultant? For the purposes of this resource, a marketing consultant is someone who works alongside a business at a strategic level to lead their marketing plan. In many cases, a business will hire a marketing consultant to fix issues like underperforming campaigns. Sometimes they are brought in to help an organisation adopt a more cohesive approach to their marketing strategy. Ideally, there would need to be a budget set aside for marketing spend and your marketing consultant can oversee how to spend it effectively. Your marketing consultant should help you get a good return on your marketing spend. A marketing consultant can look at the historical data from your marketing spend vs results over the last 3-12 months and give you wise insights. It is important to note that even the best marketing consultants are not magicians. They don’t have control over external forces, economic factors, market trends or making things go viral.🤣 Social Media Manager vs Marketing Assistant vs Marketing Manager vs Marketing Consultant Before we look at rates it’s important to understand all the different roles that promote a business. Let’s spend some time understanding who these people are and what they do. 1. Social Media Manager Depending on the size of your business you may already have someone who looks after your social media accounts. Their role would be to develop a plan for the social media channels, write the copy, create the graphics and schedule out the content. They would also look at the performance of the content and suggest ways to improve the results of their social media efforts. Another vital role would be to keep up with the latest trends and grow the social media community for the business. 2. Marketing Assistant or Marketing Coordinator So how does the social media manager differ from a marketing assistant or marketing specialist? Well, a marketing assistant also known as a marketing co-ordinator does just that they assist. They are not responsible for leading a specific strategy. In most cases, the business owner makes a plan and the marketing assistant would help implement the plan in the business. They can create graphics from existing templates, transcribe copy based on what the business owner said and pull + compile the reports for someone else to interpret. 3. Marketing Manager If you decide to hire a marketing manager in your business here are a few things that you can expect. They expect to be hired on a full-time basis. The marketing manager would own, plan and develop the marketing strategy for the business across multiple channels. It is their responsibility to deliver the results that they promised. The kind of results that you can expect from a marketing manager will be centred around leads, not sales. If you look at the typical customer journey where you have awareness, interest, consideration and retention. The marketing manager is responsible for awareness and interest. However, they assist with the consideration phase where the sale takes place. 4. Marketing Consultant So, what’s the difference between a marketing manager and a marketing consultant? As a general rule, the marketing manager is treated like a full-time employee. They don’t work with other businesses, so they are an in-house marketer. However, the marketing consultant would be more like a freelancer or independent advisor who is brought on for a short time, like 3 months. They are more objective in their approach to marketing solutions. Their fees tend to be higher when compared to a marketing manager. 7 Signs That You Need a Marketing Consultant At this point, you are probably feeling a little bit confused because you are not sure if a marketing consultant is who you need. Here are 7 clear signs that you need a marketing consultant. You are looking for someone short-term (3-6 months) to come in and set up an overall marketing plan Your business online presence includes several organic channels including a blog, several social media channels, YouTube and Pinterest. There are also paid campaigns across Google Ads, Facebook Ads and TikTok Ads. Right now everything feels disparate so you are looking for a more cohesive approach to digital marketing You are not really sure which digital channels are the top contributors to sales, awareness and retention It would be lovely if you had better visibility into the customer journey from awareness to consideration You need help improving your offers and product suite in order to go from a 6-figure business to a 7-figure business Current Freelance Marketing Consultant Rates So, you’ve come this far because you know for sure that what you need is a marketing consultant. However, you are not quite sure how much you should expect to pay to hire that person. According to a report by Credo, the average hourly rate for a marketing consultant depending on years of experience is $150/hour. You’re probably thinking that you could only pay them a flat fee of $1,500 a month or maybe even $3,000/month. However, remember that they will not be as expensive as a regular Marketing Director who has an annual salary of $150,000 a year. There’s no need to pay a marketing consultant $12,500/month unless you are a multi-million dollar organisation with a team of 100 employees in marketing alone. The beauty of hiring a marketing consultant on a part-time basis is that you get the impact of their marketing expertise without the ridiculous price tag. Some, like me, can do project-based fees of $7,500 over a 3-month period. In fact, other names for these types of marketing consultants include Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or Fractional Director of Marketing. How to Budget for Your Marketing Plan Now that you know the freelance marketing consultant rates, it’s time to figure out how to make a budget so that you can hire them. It is standard practice to set aside 20% of sales as part of your marketing budget. I’ve seen other places online where the figure is much lower because they are saying that it depends on the target audience. In fact, I’ve seen suggestions of between 2% and 10% of sales. After working with several businesses over the years what I’ve seen work effectively is a budget that is somewhere between 10% and 25% of sales. Included in the figure is the cost of hiring team members like a social media manager, copywriter, graphic designer, ads manager, SEO specialist and many more. By the way, copywriters are not cheap and the work they do is very effective. SEO specialists do require a long-term view of 12 months minimum. Budget Example If your business is doing $15,000 a month and you decide to set aside 20% of that figure. Then you’ll have a monthly budget of $3,000 available to spend on marketing, this will work for a short-term marketing campaign. By the way, you should be doing 3-4 launches a year on top of your evergreen campaigns which will help you to have a bigger budget for marketing. Need help improving your evergreen and launch campaigns? Check out my portfolio here to see how I’ve helped other businesses like yours to increase their income. You can start to exponentially improve your business results just by hiring a Fractional CMO for as little as $500 to $1,000 a month on an as-needed basis. There’s also the option to hire a good consultant on a project-by-project basis for a flat rate. Freelance Marketing Consultant Rates FAQ Well, you probably have a number of questions that you need to clear up before taking the next step. So, let’s look at the most frequently asked questions that many small businesses have before hiring their first Fractional Director of Marketing. 1. How much should I pay a marketing consultant? The reality is that it depends on a few factors including: The skills you need in your business right now What results you are hoping to achieve Their experience level How much budget you have available each month The quality of work needed While the average rate is $150/hour there’s also wiggle room to do profit share to sweeten the deal. 2. What is an acceptable marketing budget when considering bringing on a marketing consultant? There are many sources online that suggest a budget of between 2% and 5% of sales. However, based on my experience you are better off setting aside between 10% and 25% of sales. The reason for this is that you’ll need to hire a small team to help you implement your marketing plan. 3. What kind of results can I expect from hiring a marketing consultant? It really depends on why you want to hire them in the first place. What type of work would you like them to do? Before rushing out and hiring someone to develop and execute marketing plans for your business, spend time thinking about why you want to hire them. Are you looking to increase sales or leads by 10%, make your brand more loveable, increase market share, get help with an ad campaign or get more visibility around your customer journey? When you know what you need then you’ll be better able to choose the perfect match for the job because not all marketing consultants are created equal. Unlike a regular employee, lunch hours, sick days and vacation time will not be a worry for you. 4. What should be included in your marketing budget? This is a great question because it is so easy to forget all the small things that you need to promote your business. Here’s a short list of what you should include. Tools, software and apps A percentage of utility bills like heat, light, broadband and phone Employees and freelancers Ad spend Memberships and subscriptions Training Coaching Office space As you can see it is quite easy to forget all the things that go into promoting your business. I always forget the apps and storage. Lol🤣 Summary As a teenager whenever I heard the name consultant I always thought that the person would charge anywhere between $10,000 and $100,000 for their services. However, we now live in a society where you can get the help you need to grow personally and professionally for a small fee rather than a king’s ransom. Yes, the market rate for bigger organisations will be much higher. While starting a business can be difficult, growing that business exponentially without the proper help can be hard. I can’t help but giggle at the fact that the number of social media channels to manage is increasing which is quite stressful for entrepreneurs. Believe it or not, I thought that growing your business from $15,000/month to $100,000/month is difficult. However, after helping one client achieve this goal my eyes have truly been open. To put it in a nutshell, it is not as hard as those coaches out there are telling you. Need help to grow your coaching business? Take a look at my portfolio here and if you like what you see just book a call with me to discuss your requirements.

Nellie sighed, her business has experienced a great level of success over the last 3 years but now she wondered how to get clients through Facebook Ads. She knows that in order to take her business to the next level and generate the revenue needed to fulfil her dreams. It was imperative for her to scale her cash flow. Nellie had about 110 clients on a monthly retainer or subscription. What would be nice is if she had two new groups of clients. Project-based clients for VIP day engagements Consulting clients who needed more high-end services Have you experienced something similar to these points in your business as well? You’re making 2-3 sales a week on your signature offer You are making between $12k and $15k per month consistently It is your dream to get to $20k and then $50k per month but you’re not sure how Just recently, I was listening to one of my peers say that they were unsure what to do next to get the results they needed in their business. In this resource, you’ll learn a simple step-by-step process about how to get clients through Facebook Ads. Why Facebook Ads? Before looking at that process, it’s important to understand why Nellie is interested in learning about Facebook marketing. So, let’s spend some time looking at the latest Facebook advertising statistics. Facebook currently has over 3 billion monthly active users based on an article from Demand Sage. According to Hubspot, Facebook Ads reach 62.2% of all Americans from age 13+. In that same resource, we can see that there are over 10 million active advertisers on the Facebook platform compared to an audience of 2.25 billion in terms of advertising audience size. That means, only 0.45% of active advertisers compared to the audience size. I’ll let that sink in for a second. During 2022, Meta generated $113 billion in ad revenue. This means they make $51/person in their advertising audience. Most users in the US are aged between 25-34. Facebook is used by 67% of social media advertisers and 25% of marketers say that Facebook has the highest return on investment. Now that you know this essential information do you think Nellie’s interest in using Facebook Ads for her business is justified? Ideal Client No matter how good the Facebook ads statistics appear to be. It is really important that you answer this question. Is your target audience hanging out on Facebook? If yes, then it means that Facebook is a great platform to get clients. Having a clear understanding of who your ideal client is will help you to succeed with Facebook ads. The reason for this is that one of the most intriguing aspects of Facebook Ads Manager is the ability to choose the right audience. This is accomplished using a process called audience mining. A few good examples of this are knowing who your target market follows, what they listen to, where they spend their time online and what apps they use to stay informed. If you know that they like shopping at Lululemons, own a Peleton and spend winters at Breckenridge in Colorado every year. Guess what? You can use Facebook audience targeting to find them. Facebook Page One of the first things you’ll need to have in place if you want to find clients through Facebook ads is a business page or a Facebook page. All you need to do to get one is to sign up and complete your details. You can name the page after yourself or use a business or brand name. It would be best if you also have a branded email address and a website address. If you’ve never created a page before head over to your personal profile and click the 9 dots on the top right-hand side. You’ll see the option to create a page in that menu. Please note that apparently there are different versions of the platform depending on where you are located so yours may look a bit different. After creating your page, complete the About section as much as possible. If you are like me and you have a business that’s 100% online then there’s no need to include a physical address, phone number or opening hours. Meta Business Suite After creating your business page you’ll be given access to Meta Business Suite. It is like the control centre for all your business needs on Facebook. You’ll be able to upload images and videos to your library so that you can plan, schedule and publish content. You can link your Facebook page to your Instagram account. After getting a minimum of 100 likes on your business page, you’ll get access to insights (formerly known as audience insights). The scaled-down version of this control centre is called Facebook business manager. If you want to understand the differences between the two platforms you can check out this resource here. In my experience, you are better off using Meta Business Suite because it has everything you need. Facebook Pixel Many years ago when I was a new kid on the block learning about Facebook ads. I never realised how important it was to help Facebook with audience targeting. If there is one thing you need to do months or years in advance of running ads is to install your Facebook pixel. You can use it to track your website visitors. Here’s why… The technology that Facebook uses to find leads and buyers for your products and services is extremely good. Let me show you what I mean in real terms. A few months ago I started running ads on Facebook to a specific audience. In that space of time, my ad has been seen by close to 17,000 people and I got over 500 leads from that Adset. Now imagine if someone gave you a list of 17,000 people and asked you to use it to generate leads for your business. Will you be excited? Lol!!🤣 Installing your Facebook pixel is not the easiest thing in the world and the process keeps changing. Rather than going through those steps here please head over to YouTube to get the most up-to-date methods. How to Find the Right Audience As I mentioned previously, one of the most important skills that you can develop from running Facebook Ads is the ability to do audience mining. It’s very similar to panning for gold but without damaging your knees, messing about with metal detectors or covering a lot of territory. In fact, all you need is a great understanding of the habits of your audience and access to the section or tab of your Business Suite called audiences. It is advisable to develop or create a saved audience before creating a campaign. To do this head over to “All tools” and scroll down until you can find “Audiences”. When you click through you see the ability to create audiences in there. When you click on ‘create audience’ you’ll see the option to create a saved audience, a custom audience and even a lookalike audience. Audience Mining Let’s spend a little bit of time looking at audience mining because it is where many people get it wrong. The most effective campaigns are the ones where the person running the campaign has invested time and effort in audience mining. For the purposes of this resource, we’ll choose the option to create a saved audience so that when a campaign is created we can just choose this audience. After choosing a saved audience you should get a pop-up window that looks like this one. Give your audience a name, choose their location, age range, gender and language. Next is the best section of all called “Detailed Targeting”. Earlier on I mentioned a specific audience. People who owned or had an interest in Peletons, wear Lululemons and spent winter every year at the Breckenridge ski resort. Guess what?? When I selected all three my audience size was 62 million which is too big. So I opted to narrow my audience further and choose those who had an Instagram business profile admin. My audience size went down to 2 million which is manageable. Facebook Ads Funnel Another well-known secret is to step your potential customers through a Facebook ads funnel. When you look at the buyer journey there are several stages to include the following. Brand awareness Consideration Decision Retention So, you can develop a set of Facebook ad campaigns that take people from becoming aware of your brand to signing up for a lead magnet, joining a masterclass or workshop, and purchasing your offer. Finally, they purchase again and become a raving customer. Here’s a big hint for you, people who are loyal to their brand include regular buyers of the following brands. Starbucks Apple Lululemons Pelotons Wholefoods You might want to create a sticky brand like these so that you can build a loyal following too. Facebook Ads – Phase 1 So, the first step in that journey is to write down your business goals and to get people to know that your brand exists. This can be achieved by creating all or one of the following. Page likes campaign (for new followers) Video views Engagement You’ll notice that in each of these campaign types, a very low commitment call to action is required. They can like, watch and react to a piece of content by liking it or even sharing it. You can create ads using single images or videos by adding the images at the campaign level or using an existing post that’s published on your page. In the know, like and trust factor phenomenon, potential clients are getting to know your brand. Engagement campaigns are an excellent way to build social proof. Facebook Ads – Phase 2 Now that they have seen you once or twice it’s time to test that brand recall with lead-generation activities. People are now required to give you their contact information in exchange for something valuable. This can be achieved with the following campaign types. Instant forms (on Facebook leads) Conversions (leads via a landing page) Messenger (asking people to send you a message) Using any of these methods will require you to test your pieces of content to see which one will give you the qualified leads. My advice would be to start by using the one that has the lowest path of resistance or quickest results. You can start with Instant forms to collect email addresses and then move them to a landing page lead campaign when you find a winning lead magnet. Facebook Ads – Phase 3 Now that your potential clients know you and like you, it’s time for them to trust you which is achieved with sales. Here are the campaign types at this level. Conversions (run ads directly to a sales page) Messenger ads Booking a call As I said earlier Facebook has this cool technology available that knows who are the people who complete forms, engage with content or make a purchase. All you need to do is choose the specific audience with the right amount of pain that will take action. A clever trick to test all the different offers you have available is to use a tripwire offer. You can test 3-5 different offers to see which one will convert. When you find the one that makes the most sales it’s time to send traffic directly to a sales page with this offer. After you have your first 50 results or sales you can create a lookalike audience so that Facebook can easily find you more buyers. Also, remember that you can build as many lookalike audiences as you want by country, region, age, etc. Facebook Ads – Phase 4 At this point, you have your first 100 buyers and you want them to buy other offers from you. You can email them and advise them of your new offers and you can use retargeting ads to get them to buy those new offers. This is achieved by creating a custom audience of previous customers or people who take a specific action. When you create a custom audience you’ll see a window like the one below. Then choose website and you’ll see a different window that looks like the one below. Remember that you can create as many custom audiences as you want to get the best results for your business. After you’ve done this successfully you’ll be able to choose this as an audience inside your Facebook ad campaign. How to Get Clients With Facebook Ads Now that you have a better overall understanding of how Facebook ads work using a phased approach. Let’s look at how to bring this all together in one neat bundle. 1. Create Your Offer Quite a number of people get this piece wrong so let me explain what I mean. If you have a program that teaches people how to become a better version of themselves using personal development. Then alongside that program, you need to create an offer. The offer is the container or packaging that you’ll be using to sell and deliver your program. Your offer is the content that goes on the sales page in order to tell people about your program. An offer is very different from your program and is used to put a framework around your program. 2. Lead Magnet Only after you’ve spent time creating the offer and you’ve completed it can you create other smaller items like a lead magnet. When you are super clear on your offer it becomes super easy to create the lead magnet. Your lead magnet should be designed to bring people into your world by solving a small problem or answering a few questions. It can also give them a quick win. 3. Remove Creative Burden ($7 Offer) Depending on your type of business the next level up from a lead magnet could be a template or a planner that’s high value at a super low price like $7. For example, if you are new to Facebook ads you’ll come to realise that there are a lot of assets that you’ll need to create like ad copy, images, lead magnets and videos. How would you feel if someone else could offer you a shortcut like templates that you can customise so that you don’t have to create yours from scratch? In the same way, with your audience think of how you can remove the creative burden from your audience by giving them a high-value, low-cost offer. This $7 offer can be used as a trip wire when running your first set of conversion offers. 4. Appointment Bookings or Events Depending on your type of business once you have the potential client on your list you can nurture them with email marketing. Then invite them to book an appointment with you and close the deal. The alternative way is to run an event like a challenge, a workshop or a masterclass and at the end invite them to work with you as a client. The secret is getting them on your list or into your community like a Facebook group. All About Conversion Rates The one thing that everyone needs to look out for is a good conversion rate. If you have all the other elements of your Facebook ad campaign ready to go and you are apprehensive, like many people, because you are scared to lose money on ads. Here’s some advice for you on how to tell if your ads are performing well. If your cost per lead is $1.50 – $2.00 each then check other statistics like your CPM, CTR and CTR Link-Click-Through-Rate. Here’s a good rule of thumb to follow. CPM -> should be less than $30 CTR all -> should be 4% or higher (if not, change the image) CTR Link-Click-Through-Rate -> should be 1.5% or higher (if not, fix copy) If all of these are bad it could be the lead magnet itself or the audience. This is the reason why people hire a Facebook ad manager to figure all this out for them. For sales conversion type ads you’ll also need to look at the cost per conversion and the return on ad spend (ROAS). There isn’t a fixed rule for spend on sales conversion ads because it really depends on the lifetime value of your customer (LTV). If your customer spends $2,000 and stays with you for 12 months then you’ll need to decide on your customer of acquisition (CPA). Remember to factor in all the costs in your business like lights, heating, software and staff. Maybe you’ll decide that you’re willing to pay up to $300 to acquire one customer so make the budget and stick with it. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Here are some popular questions that you may have when it comes to setting up and running your first ad campaigns. 1. What’s the best audience for Facebook ads? There are several ways to figure this out without a lot of work. If you already have an audience on a blog or social media then do some research on who those people are by looking at your analytics. You can also go to the Facebook Ads Library and see what other people in your niche are doing. When you find an ad that resonates with your offer have a look at who is engaging with their ads by going to those people’s profiles. 2. Do Facebook Ads Get Better Over Time? Yes, they actually do. The first 7 days allow the algorithm time to understand who the target audience should be. After the first 7 days, you may need to tweak the ad copy or the images. It is a good idea to keep updating the images to give Facebook several types of content to keep the ad set fresh. 3. What are the Three Types of Targeting on Facebook? These three main types of targeting include saved or the main audience, lookalike audience and custom audience. 4. Which Niche is Best for Facebook Ads? Any small business owners who are selling their offers online. Your business will need to have either all or a section of it that can handle the digital side of things. This could be lead generation or processing orders. 5. How Much Does it Cost to Run Facebook Ads? Depending on the type of ad you can start from as low as $2 a day for Page Likes or engagement campaigns and $20 a day for Sales Conversion campaigns. Summary I have met so many small business owners and entrepreneurs who are terrified of losing money with Facebook ads, I was there once upon a time but instead of living in fear of something that could help my business, I decided to master it instead. I’ve always said to my fellow business owners to start small with a Facebook lead ad and then take bigger steps along the way. Using Facebook ads is a great way to grow your email list when compared to depending on the traffic from a search engine. It can take you one year to grow your email list to 1,000 subscribers using organic methods or 1-3 months with Facebook ads depending on your ad spend. At the end of the day using Facebook ads is one of the fastest ways to land clients when you need them like yesterday. Need help with Facebook Ads? Book some time in my calendar here for a free consultation.

Are you wondering how to get clients from Facebook groups without feeling icky? You’ve come to the right place because I’ve made at least $10,000 using this method. In fact, let me tell you the story of Ethney… Like many people getting started in business Ethney had big plans of how well her business would do during its first year. Ethney was a planner so she wanted to prepare everything before finding her first client. She developed a solid business plan, put all her software and systems in place, and got her branding and website ready. She also hired an accountant and even consulted with a lawyer for her contracts. So, when you look at her business from the outside it was perfect. However, there was only one problem… Ethney didn’t have a single client. It means that she really needed to get clients fast otherwise she’d end up with one expensive hobby. So, what can she do to resolve this problem? In this resource, you’ll learn 5 ways to find clients using Facebook groups as well as what you need to do to be ready to get paid. 5 Reasons Why You’re Not Getting Clients in Facebook Groups Before diving into how to quickly and easily find clients using Facebook groups, let’s first at 5 ways that don’t work. A little background about me… I started my digital business just before 2020 when we had that major global event. My first client as well as my first $5,000 online came from me finding a client using a Facebook group. I’m telling you this so you’ll realise that I’m not just talking about theory but something that worked for me in real life. So, here are 5 ways to repel potential clients inside Facebook groups. 1. Ignoring a Potential Client’s Request to Not Send a DM I see this quite often inside Facebook groups where a potential client would say something like “no DMs”. Quite a number of freelancers or VAs would ignore this and send a direct message anyway. I remember there was a time when I advertised a role for one of my clients and I asked potential freelancers to send me a DM. It was so overwhelming that I swore never to do it again. 2. Not Paying Close Attention to Their Requirements One of the most annoying things anyone can do when offering a service is not ‘listening’ to your potential client’s needs. When a prospective customer publishes a post inside a Facebook group giving an overview of their needs and pain points. In many instances, they are looking for a specific solution or result. For example, the person may say, “I’m not looking for a program or training but a done-for-you service”. A freelancer may write in the comments, “___________has a really amazing program that would be a great fit for your needs”. What does the client want? These potential customers are normally cash-rich and time-poor so they have no interest in yet another training program. 3. Using Vanilla Responses When Commenting When trying to get the attention of new clients one of the best ways to get lost in the crowd is to reply like everyone else. Responses like “I sent you a DM”, “here’s a link to my portfolio” and “Applied”. Yes, I hear complaints all the time from freelancers who say that they don’t bother applying for a role that has dozens of comments on it. The question though is, what are you doing to stand out in that crowd? 4. Doing a Copy and Paste Attempt Another reason why you’re not getting clients using Facebook groups is when you take a slapdash approach. In other words, you prefer to hurriedly apply or reach out to 100 potential clients every week. Instead of spending quality time reaching out to only 25 using a unique approach for each one. Remember that quality beats quantity every single time. 5. Looking for Work Posts This may sound strange… You are looking for clients and publishing a post inside a Facebook group saying that you are looking for clients doesn’t really work. The reason for this is that it screams desperation and potential clients will take advantage of this weakness. There is a clever way to do this which I’ll mention later in this resource. Your Ideal Clients Okay, to begin this journey, having a very clear picture of your ideal client would help you to succeed at finding clients in Facebook groups. If you don’t know who your ideal target audience is then you won’t have a deep understanding of how you can help them. Let’s look at a specific example of a social media manager. As you probably know when a client is looking for a social media manager the person they are likely to hire is someone who understands their clients. Here’s why… Your ideal client dislikes the hiring and onboarding process, so the person who can hit the ground running is the person who’ll get the job. Take some time to figure out what you enjoy doing the most in the services that you provide. Also, figure out which clients you absolutely enjoy working with to provide that service. Knowing who your ideal client is, where they hang out, where they go when they have specific questions and where they are in that painful journey will enable you to speak to their need better. Joining Relevant Groups When you know who your ideal client is and where they go to ask questions then it’s time to join those groups. Did you know that as of August 2022, there are over 10 million groups on Facebook? That’s a lot of Facebook groups! Also, the maximum number of groups that you are allowed to join is 6,000. It means that there is so much opportunity out there when it comes to finding clients in large Facebook groups. Are you still wondering which groups to join to find your clients? Let me ask you a question… What software or platforms are your clients using daily in their business? When they have a problem or question with that platform where do they go for help? Let me give you a practical example, I enjoy helping clients with Kajabi and ActiveCampaign. So, I’ve joined groups in that area of specialisation so that I can meet potential clients. For example, Kajabi has an official support group on Facebook. Therefore, you should do the same, even if all your clients are interested in are bullet journals or pretty stationery. Depending on your offer remember that you can also join local groups to find clients. Start Your Own Facebook Group Did you just say that you cannot find a group on Facebook where your clients are asking questions? If you said yes, then I would encourage you to create your own FB group to develop a sense of community. Now, I have to tell you that growing your own Facebook group is hard work and it does require some level of strategy to pull it off. Using Facebook lead ads or Facebook ads with the lead objective is an effective way to grow your Facebook group. The good thing about having your own Facebook group is that you decide who gets in or not. Your Facebook group members will get access to you and learn the best practices for their business. You get to post whatever you want (well almost because Facebook is now deleting posts everywhere like crazy). You’ll have a group of business owners at different stages of their growth journey and it means that your pipeline of prospects will always be full. As a service provider, you can publish valuable content and even use live video to warm up the members of the group so that they can become ideal customers. Another advantage is that you’ll get to assign group admins and assess your client’s needs by looking at the popular posts inside the group. Create a Facebook Business Page In order to build that know, like and trust factor online it’s important to have a presence about who you are and what you do. It not only builds brand awareness but tells people in your industry that you are serious. A great way to achieve this is by having a Facebook page. It demonstrates that you are serious about doing business online. If you are worried about having a page without any likes or only your friends and family like the page. Remember that you can always run a page likes campaign so that you can get to your first 100 – 200 page likes. It’s important to complete it as much as possible so that you can let Facebook know that you are serious. There’s no need for you to add an address or phone number and you can always link to another social media platform if you don’t have a website just yet. How to Get Clients from Facebook Groups Now that you have an overall idea of how to know your ideal clients, why join relevant groups or even create your own Facebook group as well as what you shouldn’t do. Let’s look at 5 ways to find clients using the strength of Facebook groups. Remember that you don’t have to use all of these methods. In fact, just using one of them will get you the results that you need. 1. Answering Questions This one may or may not come as a surprise to you but answering questions in a clever way always sets you up as an expert. The answers you give must provide value without expecting anything in return. In fact, when you answer the question it would be like writing a summary of a blog post for the question that has been asked. Of course, there are some questions that would take a bit of screen sharing to illustrate the solution so try bullet points instead. So, do as much as you can within reason. At the end of your answer or at the start you can say something like this. “Several of my clients had a similar challenge and the way I solved it was….” Or, “some of the members of my group had a similar challenge and we got it sorted within 24 hours by doing…” 2. Asking Open-Ended Questions Sometimes a potential client may come into a group and say something like, “I’m trying to make a decision between X and Y, what’s your preferred option”. Most service providers will jump in the comments and say, “X” or “Y” but you need to be the person that sticks out and instead ask an open-ended question. In case you don’t know what that is, these types of questions need a deeper answer other than yes or no. They normally start with, who, what, where, when or why. The response to this type of question is never a one-word answer and the response will give you the ability to ask even deeper questions. When you ask these questions you stand out as an expert and as someone who really cares about your potential clients. 3. Building Relationships I am sure that you didn’t see this one coming. Lol!!😂 So often we forget that social media is a place to get to meet new people and build a network of people who know, like and trust each other. Yes, you are looking to find clients online but it’s also important to find people who you enjoy working with for a long time. If you have been a freelancer or a virtual assistant for some time, you’ll know that there are scammers as well as clients who can be scary to work with. Therefore, building relationships will help you to know who the nice people are in a group. Also, you’ll get a bunch of referrals from building relationships because these people know you as the go-to person for the service you offer. 4. Commenting on Promo Threads There are some groups that have threads/posts for specific days of the week. Be sure to read the rules before joining those groups or even after you join so that you don’t get in trouble for sharing links or promoting on the wrong day. Some of them allow you to tell everyone what you do without sharing a link to your business. Others let you share your latest blog post or free offer. I can think of one specific one that encourages you to look for beta testers for your product or service. There are even some that would encourage potential clients to say what type of service they are looking for or what problems they are experiencing. 5. Guest Speakers Did you know that there are groups where people are looking for guest speakers? You are probably thinking why on earth would you be interested in groups for guest speakers? The truth is that you are an expert in the service that you offer because you solve a problem. There are coaches, course creators and group owners who are always looking for guest speakers to help their members solve problems. For example, my 3 areas of specialisation are funnels, digital marketing and tech set-up. Therefore, I can offer some insight into how people can overcome problems they are facing in these 3 areas. You can do the same for your area of expertise. How to Jump-Start Your Results in an Existing Group After joining a group consider looking for existing content where you can join in the conversation. You can go as far back as 3-6 months and start commenting on those older posts. In large Facebook groups, this can be tricky if you don’t know how to add value. When inside the group, go to the search bar for the group and search for the following: The keywords or phrases that your potential clients use to describe their problem The name of the software and tools they use to solve those problems Here’s an example of a search in a group that I’ve joined. First step, head to the top of the page and click on the little magnifying glass so that the search bar will pop up. Enter your keyword, name of software or problem phrase and hit enter. You’ll see the results on your right as well as options on your left to customise the search results. I would normally toggle on “most recent” so that I can see them in reverse chronological order. Next step, scroll through the results until you find a post where you can add value and write a comment, always adding valuable resources too. Summary While finding clients from Facebook groups may not be the easiest task in the world it sure beats going out in the rain and cold in a market selling goods. Or worse, attending a trade fair and handing out business cards. In fact, you can meet more people online or even network faster online to a much bigger audience. The trick is to do it consistently for 3-6 months so that you become the go-to person in your area of specialisation so that others will start tagging you on autopilot. You’re probably thinking that you have no idea what your area of speciality is in terms of expertise. Or you may be worried about what will happen if you change your expertise. The reality is that you need to start somewhere and then when the time comes to change you can refer those potential clients to others in your network.

Rebekah lost her job last week so, she decided she wanted her own online business but she had one problem. She didn’t know how to get clients online. Her background and experience spanned 20 years working for Fortune 500 companies in her capacity as Human Resources Director. So, the idea of doing any kind of sales and marketing for a business was foreign to her altogether. However, she knew that for her business to make money she needed to figure out how to get clients fast. Let me know if you find these relatable at all. You’ve always wanted to start your own business but wondered how to make it work The whole 9 to 5 job scene is no longer appealing The fear of failure at a business venture is keeping you stuck in that cubicle Getting that first client would really boost your confidence by 1,000% If only you knew how to navigate the digital marketing world effectively to find paying clients. In this post, you’ll learn practical ways to get clients online that would say yes to you even though you don’t have experience as an entrepreneur. How to Build Trust and Authority Before diving into the process of finding clients for your new business let’s talk about building trust. Believe it or not, the number one reason why potential clients may not say yes to you is because they don’t trust you. You’re probably thinking, well Alvern, I don’t trust me either so why should my potential clients? The truth is the only difference between you and the person who has been in business for 3-10 years is that they are more confident than you. Yes, confidence is the thing that separates those who book clients and those who don’t. So, how do you get clients to trust you? Did you know that potential clients will “check you out” before deciding to have an initial chat? Since this is the case it is important for you to give them something to chew on by creating 2-3 social media profiles. This helps you to establish an online presence. Here’s what you can do, choose a business name and then… Create an Instagram profile for your business Publish a Facebook business page Create a simple one-page website (use a Canva template) Right now it may all seem quiet because you don’t have any content published yet but hang tight because we’ll look at that next. What Content to Publish on Social Media? When you’re just starting in business it’s really difficult to figure out everything on your own. One of those things includes knowing what to post on social media also known as content marketing. The number one tip I’m going to give you next is going to change your life forever (well almost) and here’s why. Most solopreneurs complain that social media feels like a constant content hamster wheel where you have to post fresh content daily. However, I can tell you that 3 times a week is fine. The secret to coming up with 365 days of content ideas is this… Write down the top 12 topics in your niche. If you get stuck remember that you can always use ChatGPT to help you complete the list. Now that you have the list head over to Answer the Public, type each topic and take note of the top 30 questions for each one. At the time of creating this resource, you could create a free account and get 3 free searches a day. There’s also the option to get a lifetime account for only $79. What to Do With Those Questions from Answer the Public? Now that you have the questions be sure to grab the one with the highest searches. You can choose to do all the questions focused on a specific topic in one month or place them in a spreadsheet and shuffle them. For each question create content suitable for each social media type. Here’s an example of what I mean. One of the questions on the topic of lead generation was, how to generate leads with Facebook Ads. I can map out the content like this… A carousel on Instagram Also, a Reel outlining the same question Repurpose that Reel on TikTok as well as my personal profile A simple post on my Facebook business page Create a blog post and podcast episode Repurpose the carousel and caption as a post on LinkedIn As you can see, one question can lead to several pieces of content by type. Your Ideal Client If you’re one of my existing blog readers or podcast listeners you should know by now the importance of focusing on your ideal client. Are you unsure as to who your ideal customer or target audience is? If yes, figure out who is the person you would like to serve, I struggled with this for a few years too. It was only after working with a few clients that I got to know who my people are in real life. Recently I discovered that you can reverse engineer the process of finding your ideal clients using artificial intelligence. Once you have an idea about what you want to offer you can find your ideal client avatar as follows. Head over to ChatGPT and create an account if you don’t already have one. Tell ChatGPT your profession or area of specialisation and ask it to give you a list of services you can offer (I did this pretending to be Rebekah and I got a list of 17 services) Next, pick one of the services listed and ask ChatGPT to outline a program for that specific service (I chose HR Strategy + Planning and asked ChatGPT for a program outline) The next step is to ask ChatGPT who it thinks the ideal client is for the program (I did it again for Rebekah and got a list of company types by business stage) Finally, ask ChatGPT to create a specific client avatar for the program ( I did this for Rebekah and got back the screenshot below) As you can see creating a client avatar is now easier to create thanks to artificial intelligence. Your Client Sales Funnel Just before I go into a lot of details about how to find clients it’s important that you have a system in place for client acquisition. The reason for this is that every potential client is at different stages of their decision-making process so you’ll need to nurture them along the way. Here’s an example of what the different stages of your client’s journey will look like. One other important thing to note is that it is a lot easier to convert leads into sales if your prospective clients are problem-aware. If you need help understanding what I mean then take a look at this diagram below. When someone is problem aware you don’t need to spend a lot of time educating them about their problem before you can introduce your solution. Now that you know who your target market is and what content you need to provide at each stage of their journey let’s look at how to find them. How to Find Clients Online You probably already know this but there are so many ways to find clients online because it all depends on your niche and your potential clients. The first step, ask yourself, where do your clients hang out? What resources do they use to find solutions? Knowing this will help you save a lot of time and money. Write a shortlist of the top 5 places where you believe your client is hanging out. Let’s look at a list of ways to find clients online. 41 Ways to Get Clients Online Whether you are doing freelance work or a virtual assistant or you just started a side hustle looking for client work or freelance clients. You are going to find these techniques valuable to your situation. No matter what business model you have or maybe you have an established small business and you considering pivoting into offering something for service providers there’ll be something here for you too. If you enjoy cold pitching by writing cold emails or messages, I’ll talk about a powerful tool that you can use. 1. Instagram Content Suppose your business is focused on offering services related to Instagram like social media management, social media strategy, Reels creation and editing, etc. on a number of social media platforms. The best platform for you to publish content regularly is Instagram. Even if you don’t offer any offers, products and services related to Instagram you can still get clients on this platform by focusing on Reels and carousel posts. Your content should offer scroll-stopping value so that you can attract engagement and get visits to your profile as well as link clicks. If all else fails you can also use Gary Vee’s $1.80 rule and use the One Dollar Eighty service to implement it. 2. TikTok Videos Oh my, a few years ago when TitTok was new on the scene everyone thought that it was a platform only for young people. Now here we are and it is considered mainstream because of the fact that you don’t have to dance to get your point across. So, how do you win on TikTok? Find 3-5 accounts that resonate with your audience and take note of their handles. Take a look at their last 10-20 videos and what you’re looking for are those videos that receive a higher amount of engagement than usual. Look at the type of caption as well as the number of hashtags used and make your own version. 3. Facebook Profile Until recently I always believed that I couldn’t use my Facebook personal profile to build awareness of my business. One day, I published a Reel that got over 2,000 views which really surprised me. Since then I switched to the professional or creator mode and I’ve been getting great engagement on my content. Of course, there are a ton of other things you’ll need to do which you’ll be able to find in this training here. By the way, this is very different from a Facebook page or business page. 4. Eventbrite I’ll be honest, I never saw Eventbrite as a place to find clients until I saw a 60-minute training on how effective this can be. It does require you to host a recurring training at a basic level over a period of 6 weeks. A good example of this would be “Introduction to Social Media Management”. As you do this over time you’ll build up a following on Eventbrite. After hosting the training you can have a call to action for viewers to book some time in your calendar to discuss their requirements further. 5. Facebook Ads Did you just cringe at the thought of running Facebook Ads? Lol!! Yes, there are a lot of people who had terrible experiences with running Facebook Ads but I can assure you that this stuff works. There are two different ad campaigns that would get you results fast. The secret to getting results using Facebook advertising is to start with a lead magnet. Using Facebook Lead Ads and a budget of $300 to $500 a month you’ll be able to grow an email list of 300 leads every month. I’ve created an entire resource on Facebook lead ads here. An alternative method to get clients fast is by using Messenger Ads but you really need to know your target clients very well. 6. Webinars Depending on where you are in business webinars also called masterclasses are a great way to get new clients. This type of resource is only good if your offer is over $500. It does involve setting up a high-converting funnel around the webinar to include follow-up emails but it certainly does work. You’ll need to have an offer that’s already been validated in order for webinars to truly bring revenue into your business. 7. Workshops Think of workshops as a way that help your clients get a quick win around a specific corner of your business. For example, if you teach people how to become a 5-figure food blogger then your workshop will focus only on a small part of it like food photography for beginners. Workshops are a great way to give potential clients a taste of what it’s like to work with you and it could be part of your larger value ladder. 8. Pinterest Organic Marketing So many people continue to underestimate the power of Pinterest. Yes, it’s not like how it used to be during the years of 2010 to 2019 but I still get potential clients visiting my blog from Pinterest every single day. You need to keep in mind that it takes 3-4 months for a pin to really get into its groove and then from there onwards it will keep delivering traffic year after year. Using Tailwind to help you schedule your pins can save you a lot of stress and anxiety. Also, remember that you can get potential clients from Tailwind communities too. 9. Pinterest Ads (Promoted Pins) If your clients hang out on Pinterest and you are running an event like a 5-day challenge using promoted pins can be a great way to get more sign-ups in a short timeframe. What’s great about promoted pins is that you have the ability to target potential clients by keyword. In terms of campaign objectives, you can target by awareness, consideration or conversion (see screenshot). Equally, there are also exciting options available when it comes to targeting. Currently, the available options include. Audience list Interest and keywords Demographics Placement and tracking It’s important that you set up your Pinterest pixel in order to target an existing audience or even a lookalike audience of people who engage with your website or blog. 10. Blogging If you want to build authority over a long period, let’s say 5-10 years then starting a blog is such a great way to create impact that moves the needle. Depending on your marketing strategy, you can have a blog with about 20 blog posts that are very high quality answering the top 20 questions in your niche. There are some business models where a blog is one of their main sources of income which means they’ll need to blog 3-5 times a week. Whichever option you decide is best for your business remember that getting clients from blogging only happens when you have a funnel implemented to grow your email list. 11. Podcasting Oh my, starting a podcast can be quite scary because unlike a blog you’ll have to show up regularly and people will hear your voice. The great thing about having a podcast is that you get to decide what kind of style you would like to implement. These styles include: Solo Interview Co-host Story-telling Bite-sized Panellist In other words, you can get really creative when it comes to creating episodes. You can also decide to do it in seasons and you can also dictate the frequency. When I first started my podcast in 2017 I was terrified that I would run out of content and I was doing it once a week. Here I am 6 years later and I’m doing it once every 2 weeks and I haven’t run out of things to say yet. Lol!! 12. Guest podcasting On the flip side of this coin is the idea of becoming a guest on other people’s podcasts. The one thing disliked about having guests on my show was the post-production. It took so much time. However, being a guest is easy, you just show up, answer questions and get exposure to other people’s audience. You can do this 2-3 times a week for 50 weeks of the year. Of course, you’ll need to have an amazing story, hack or success to share. It’s important to have an easy way for listeners to reach out to you or join your email list. 13. Guest blogging Being a guest on someone else’s blog isn’t as easy as being interviewed on a podcast. Guest blogging will require you to create a unique piece of content that would resonate with another person’s audience. Many blogs that accept guest posts will also have a list of requirements for you to follow so that you can abide by their rules. Depending on the blog, there’s a chance that you will not be able to share links to an offer. Sometimes all you’ll get is a link to the home page of your website. 14. YouTube Videos One of the strategies that continue to grow your list on autopilot year after year is having your own YouTube channel. Yes, I know that you are cringing at the thought of creating videos every single week. There’s also the fact that you’ll need to edit those videos in such a way that will grow your channel. At the end of the day, video marketing is not for everyone but if you can do it then it will be worth the effort, especially after getting your first 1,000 subscribers. 15. Display Ads A huge shortcut to getting your content seen on YouTube is display ads. This type of ad is created inside the Google Ads platform and it allows you to display your video in front of other people’s organic videos on YouTube. When you are setting up the campaign you’ll have the option of targeting specific channels where your ad will be displayed. It’s important that your video grabs the attention of your audience within 3 seconds for this to work. 16. 5-Day Challenge A few years ago, 5-day challenges were all the rage. Nearly everyone and their grandmother were having a 5-day challenge. Times have changed to a certain extent and having a 5-day challenge isn’t as popular unless it really focuses on delivering a promise where people feel truly stuck. The bottom line is that 5-day challenges do require a specific delivery method which Alina Vincent teaches so brilliantly with her online course. Yes, you can do it without her help but why put yourself through the unnecessary hassle? 17. A Summit Have you ever attended a summit? I’ve attended many of them and I’ve also been a speaker at one of them. It’s a great method for generating leads. This is going to sound weird but at the time I wasn’t even interested in obtaining the email addresses of the attendees (I have them saved somewhere). Lol!! I guess at the time I didn’t have an offer that I thought was relevant. In short, participating in a summit is a great way to grow your email list and reach new potential customers. 18. Other People’s List At the time of creating this resource, ConvertKit recently launched what they called Creator Network where you can collaborate with other people who have email lists. The catch is that you’ll need to be on the Creator Pro plan which gives you access to the newsletter referral system. As far as I can remember there are also other criteria to be able to use this referral system but if you’re interested it can set you back $79/month to use it. 19. Press Releases Are press releases still a thing? Well, if you said yes then you are right. Head over to Google, type in any topic or person’s name and take a look at the news tab. You’ll see that even today with the trend of 100% digital business, artificial intelligence and space travel you can still do press releases with success. Why, because people are nosy. Lol!! They always want to know what’s happening in the lives of the people they look up to or the solutions that they use. Simply head over to this list to look at the top 10 press release services available today. 20. LinkedIn Articles Have ever done a search on Google only to find a LinkedIn article in the top 10 results? Well, here’s why that is the case. As a platform, LinkedIn has a domain authority of 99 out of 100 which is really powerful so when you publish an article on their platform you get eyeballs from your network. However, your article will rank on page one of the Google search results page especially if the competing content isn’t as strong as your article. It’s important to remember that you’ll need to have a LinkedIn profile in order to write articles. 21. LinkedIn Posts/Videos Another cool way to attract high-paying clients to your services is by publishing content like videos or regular image posts to your feed. This does require something different in the actual content itself. It does require a bit of market research. Look at a few profiles that attract your potential clients to their content and make a note of what they are posting in terms of content type, hashtags and length of captions. As a general rule content will fall into four different categories. Emotional Entertainment Educational Engagement So, have a look at what’s working for your audience. Remember to check out my specific resource to find clients on LinkedIn fast. 22. X posts (formerly Twitter) No one saw this one coming but now that Twitter has become X it is difficult to say what will happen over the next few years. What we do know is that everything seems to be normal on that platform. The key differentiating factor of Twitter (I just can’t say X) is that it’s great for live events or getting live updates on anything. If your strategy is to publish facts or general information the type of post that does great is statistics or infographics. Lists posts are valuable as well. 23. X Threads (formerly Twitter threads) Potentially one of the most unique types of social media posts is a thread post. It takes some thinking creatively to decide what to post and how to lay it out in a threaded format. Some people are gifted in this area but for the rest of us, we can depend on a tool like this one to help us. It even comes with a free version. What I like about it is that it helps you by providing you with viral tweet examples as well as prompts to write threads. Remember that the most important are of your Twitter account is your profile to use that real estate wisely to pick up clients. 24. Joint Ventures One of the things I enjoy about joining coaching programs is the ability to develop relationships with peers in your industry. Ever since I started my online business I’ve met so many like-minded entrepreneurs online from around the world and all walks of life. You build a relationship with these people which leads to trust and then that desire to want each other to succeed in life. So, this is where developing joint ventures is so lucrative. Also, have a look at JV Zoo. Someone is doing a summit and they are looking for a specialist in TikTok marketing. If this is your area then you can put your name in the hat. 25. Sponsorships Recently I was given the opportunity to sponsor a magazine which sounded like a great idea at first. All they wanted was $300 and my business will be featured in 3 issues and they have a large audience. There are a few things to consider when considering sponsorships. Who is the audience? What’s the size of the audience? What offer will appeal to them? What return on investment can you expect? Are your goals realistic? In my opinion, sponsorships are great for growing brand awareness or keeping your brand top of mind for your target audience. 26. Online Directories Depending on the type of business you have and where you’re located using online directories can be a great way to find clients. I literally had to stop for a second to go and see if the Yellow Pages was still a thing and I couldn’t believe my eyes. While it has been a rocky road for the Yellow Pages we’re now seeing a plethora of similar directories like Bark, Thumbtack and Yelp. The most important thing to remember is that there are people looking for services on these platforms. 27. Facebook Groups If there is one place I like to find potential clients it is inside Facebook groups. I found at least 3 clients using this technique. I was surprised to learn that you can join a maximum of 6,000 Facebook groups!! I’m not sure why on earth anyone would want to join 1,000 groups let alone 6,000. When you think of all of the successful digital businesses that you follow they all have one thing in common, they have a Facebook group. If you are interested in becoming a digital nomad you can join my group here. In large business groups, both clients and service providers hang out together. Most importantly you can do a search in Facebook groups to find out what your potential clients need and develop services around their pain points. I have created a separate resource about the goldmine that exists inside these communities. 28. Speaker Opportunities A great way to get in front of an existing audience is by offering to speak on a topic of your choice. You can also become a paid international speaker if this is something you would like to do for a living. If you’ve ever watched someone do a presentation on TED Talk then you know how valuable it is to be a speaker on stage. It brings you instant credibility and the opportunity to showcase to the world your brilliance. Of course, you can acquire clients using this method as well. 29. Quora While Quora is not as popular as Google, Facebook, TikTok or Instagram it is a great place to answer popular questions and grow your authority. You can also take a look at what questions are being asked and piggyback on the popular ones to increase your clout. Finding clients on Quora is a long game because, just like blogging, you’ll get a better return on investment if you stick to it. In this example, you’ll see the user gained 3,000 followers over a period of 2-3 years on Quora. So, if you want over 1.3 million eyeballs on your business give Quora a try. 30. Course Marketplaces If you ever purchased a course on Udemy or Coursera, you’ll know that finding courses on business topics is easy. However, what you may not have noticed is the profound ability to get instant authority and recognition from them. In fact, many big names in the industry have used Udemy as a platform to build authority. If you were introduced on a radio program or podcast as a coach with 5,000 students and 1,500 five-star reviews people would sit up and listen. They don’t care if those 5,000 students only paid $9.99 for the course they just know that you are a leader. Of course, it means that you get clients as well from Udemy and your interviews. 31. Reddit One of those platforms that’s not your usual place to find clients is Reddit. While I don’t have any direct experience finding clients on Reddit I know it’s great to gain exposure. I was browsing Reddit to find golden nuggets recently and I found this gem here. What I liked about it is that it shows us an example of how to link an external resource like a YouTube video to grow your audience. However, what I did find is a subreddit call for hire. It is the place where people go to post the jobs that they have available. I didn’t even know that it existed until recently. By the way, it’s also the place where you can post your availability for doing work. 32. Medium A very cool way to attract your ideal clients is to write a results-driven post on a platform like Medium. Like LinkedIn, Medium ranks high in the search engines so the unique, scroll-stopping articles you publish there will grab attention. The key is to focus on a pain point that your clients struggle with like meal planning, weight loss, meal prep, storage ideas, Pinterest marketing, etc. At the end of your article, you can have a bio that leads to a lead magnet, your services page or your calendar. 33. Upwork Many freelancers have a love-hate relationship with Upwork because of the amount of scammers out there. Also, the rates that clients want to pay can be very low ($5 an hour). If you are just starting out and you want to build a portfolio of client work then Upwork is a great place to start. The key to landing great clients is to build out an amazing portfolio and include a video to stand out from the crowd. I’ve made $4,000 on Upwork so I’m talking from experience not theory. 34. Instagram Live Series Do you love a challenge? When I was first starting online I challenged myself to go live every day for 30-60 days on my Facebook page. While it did not specifically land me a client it showed me how challenging it can be to do a live every day and it increased my visibility online. Instagram is a great place to go live and it’s even better if you can do it with a friend or 3. The most important thing you need to do is choose a series of topics that address your potential client’s pain points. One main drawback is that you can only go live using a smartphone on Instagram. 35. Local Chamber of Commerce While you probably think that joining the local Chamber of Commerce is so 1980s what you need to realise is that people prefer to hire locals. Every Chamber of Commerce have a listing of all their paid members online so it’s important not to miss out on this opportunity to be there. Depending on where you live, whether it be a town or a small city, many small businesses like to support a company that is local to them. For $300/year you can just get listed and let your potential clients know that you’re open for business. 36. Google My Business Still, on the topic of local business, Google has a service called Google My Business that helps you get ranked on the first page in your local town. You’ll need to have a local address because Google will send out a verification code to that address. So, whenever someone searches for a photographer, digital marketer or plumber in their local town, your business will be shown in the listings. It’s really simple to complete, you’ll need to create a Gmail account for your business and away you go. 37. Masterminds Another great way to find potential clients is by hosting a free mastermind covering something that your clients struggle with. For example, there are women over 50 who would like to pick up running, if you’re an expert in this area you can host a mastermind for beginners. A great way to fill the seats for this masterclass is by running Facebook Ads for the event. You can also have a chat with the owners of Facebook groups where your audience hangs out and do a collaboration with them. 38. Stand Out Online Membership A very established way to get in front of other people’s audience is to pay to do so. Yes, sometimes it’s difficult to find some of these places but Christina Rowe has a Facebook group with over 700,000 members. One way she helps others to get in front of her audience is through the Stand Out Online Membership program. It is priced at just $197 a month and you get the opportunity to go live every week, get featured in a blog post, be added to their business directory and be featured in podcast episodes. The only thing left for you to do is come up with your irresistible offers. 39. AppSumo If you are a software developer and you are looking for a way to find beta clients a great place to find them is on AppSumo. Normally the owner of the software and Appsumo will come to an agreement in terms of payment for publicity. Once that’s agreed AppSumo will promote the software for a few days or weeks so that people will buy the software through a lifetime deal. It’s a win-win situation for all involved because small businesses get the software they need for a great price and the software developer gets clients. 40. Fiverr While Fiverr is similar to Upwork in a number of ways it’s actually different because they actually have premium services. These include Fiverr Pro, Fiverr Certified and Fiverr Enterprise. It means that potential clients pay top dollar to get access to the freelancers in these three sections. Let’s be fair while Fiverr was built on the premise that you can get almost anything for $5 the platform has grown and become a great place to get stuff for a business. All you need to do is decide what you would like to offer, set up a seller account, name your price and wait for the enquiries to roll in. 41. Job Boards One of the most overlooked places to pick up new clients is job boards. Yes, in many cases the roles on job boards are looking for full-time employees but that doesn’t mean that the hiring manager is not willing to consider hiring a contractor or freelancer. Popular places to pick up new clients include Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor and ZipRecruiter. There are also a number of freelancing and contractor-specific job boards including the following: FlexJobs People Per Hour Freelancing Females We Work Remotely Dynamite Jobs Twine Hire a Marketer 42. Cold Outreach (*bonus*) Let’s agree on this one thing. One of the scariest ways to pick up new clients is by doing cold outreach. Here’s the main reason why it’s scary. Fear of rejection. Nobody likes that feeling of getting a no. However, here’s something that you probably didn’t know. Cold outreach is one of the best ways to get a new client because there’s very little competition. To use this method you’ll need to develop a template for yourself where the first paragraph contains a hook that would stop them in their tracks. A great tool to help with this is a tool that will help you generate these using AI and LinkedIn, you can find it here. You can also outsource this to a VA using this service here. How to Get Clients Online – FAQ At this point, you may have additional questions about getting clients online. Here are some of the top questions and answers on this topic. 1. What is the best way to get clients online? It really depends on where you are in your business journey. If you are just starting a freelance business Upwork, Fiverr, Reddit and a number of Facebook groups are the best ways to get clients online. 2. How to get clients fast? The fastest way to get clients is by using paid promotions like Facebook Ads and Google Ads. These are very useful if you have a local business too. 3. How do I get my first 5 clients? There are several ways to get your first 5 clients, these include referrals from people you know, responding to job opportunities inside Facebook groups and applying through job boards. 4. How do I get clients with no experience? You can offer to do a free 30-day trial with a local business at a lower hourly rate and after that 30-day period, you can decide to continue on a full contract at standard rates. 5. Why am I not getting clients? It really depends on what you’ve tried already to get clients. If you have done cold outreach or applied to roles on job boards it could be that your application process needs tweaking. If you’ve done interviews and you didn’t get through to the next round then you can consider tweaking your interview technique. There are a number of factors that could affect your ability to land clients. However, with a few simple tweaks, you’ll be getting clients in no time at all. 6. How to Attract Clients Fast There are several ways to accomplish this using both organic and paid methods. Here’s a very detailed resource that walks you through how to attract clients even as a newbie. Summary As you can see there are so many options when it comes to finding or getting clients online as a freelancer. Depending on the services you offer to clients there are niche-specific and even role-specific channels where you can find clients. The most important thing is figuring out what you are offering and also determining where your potential clients are already hanging out. If you are applying for roles but your not landing any clients consider tweaking your application style or process. However, if you are landing tons of interviews but no one is hiring you then consider offering something unique, lowering your rates or improving your interview technique. If you need feedback on your client finding techniques consider joining my free Facebook group and ask for help there.

Aoife broke out in a cold sweat because she wondered how much to spend on Facebook Ads. In the past, she dabbled with Facebook Ads spending $600+ with very little return on that investment. You see, Aoife saw many entrepreneurs and small business owners who publish stellar results from their Facebook Ads campaigns. This has never been her experience but it would be lovely if she could finally crack the code and get significant results for her business. Facebook is one of the most powerful tools that allow businesses to quickly and easily create targeted campaigns to reach their desired customers. With its growing popularity, it is important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. I have come across many marketers feeling nervous about Facebook ads’ costs and budgets. Many get iffy with thoughts of how much to spend on Facebook Ads and what is a good daily Facebook ads budget.  In this comprehensive guide, you will learn how much to spend on your Facebook Ads in order to get the best results. In the end, you will have a better understanding of how to allocate budget and run effective and successful Facebook Ads. How Much To Spend On Facebook Ads – Budgeting Guide For 2023 With the right Facebook Ads strategy, you can reach your target audience and grow your business. But how much should be spent on Facebook Ads? The answer depends on your budget, size, industry, and goals. To work out optimal spending, it’s important to set a budget that is realistic and achievable.  If you’re ready to start advertising on social media, don’t be intimidated by the Facebook cost. You can start small with just $1 per day and start seeing results. This approach works for those who have a limited budget and want to test the waters before diving in. Before you start looking at allocating more money, here’s a step-by-step guide that you can use. Step 1: Determine Your Monthly Facebook Advertising Budget When it comes to determining your monthly Facebook advertising budget, the key is to start small and adjust as you go. There are a number of factors that would lend to good results. For example, a lead generation campaign using the most relevant ads can be achieved at the lowest cost. To be more specific Facebook lead ad cost is surprisingly low per lead compared to other objective types. You’ll want to consider how much you can realistically afford to spend. Another way to look at it is what is your lifetime budget. A good starting point is to allocate 5%-10% of your overall advertising budget to Facebook and Instagram ads. This will give you the flexibility to experiment and learn from the campaigns.  Once you’ve allocated a budget, it’s important to track your results. This will give you an idea of how effective your campaigns are and how much you should be spending. Try using different budget strategies for different campaigns.  For example, you can use a cost-per-click (CPC) pricing model for campaigns that focus on conversion rates, and a cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) for campaigns that focus on brand awareness. With the right budget and strategies in place, you can ensure that Facebook Ad campaigns are working for your business. Step 2: Consider The Size Of Your Brand & Average Product Cost When it comes to deciding how much to spend on Facebook Ads, the size of your brand and the average cost of your product are two important factors to consider. Small business owners tend to have a much lower budget than larger brands and hence may not be able to afford the same amount of advertising.  The cost of your product will also play a role in how much you spend on Facebook Ads. If you’re selling a premium product, you may need to invest more money in ads in order to reach the right customers. On the other hand, if your product is more affordable, you may be able to get away with a lower Facebook ad budget. Ultimately, you need to consider the size of your brand and the average cost of your product when deciding how much to spend.  Step 3: Distribute Your Facebook Ad Spend Based On Objectives If you’re looking to maximize your Facebook ad spend, the key is to know how much money to put into each of your objectives. This helps you to better target the right audiences and get the best results for your money. Generally, it is recommended to allocate a budget based on outcomes. For instance, if you want to increase brand awareness, aim for a higher budget for reach and high-frequency ad sets. One example of brand awareness is traffic campaigns which require the implementation of a Facebook pixel. These ad types are normally used by big brands to warm up an account. If you want more conversions, allocate more money to conversions. Additionally, you can create audiences for each objective and analyze how much you should be spending based on their performance. The key is to use the data to make informed decisions and stay flexible.  A good starting point is to allocate 1/3 of your budget towards lookalike audiences, which will help you quickly build an audience. Lookalike audiences are based on existing customers, so you can be sure that you’re connecting with people who are likely interested in your product or service.  With another 1/3 of your budget, you can target interests and behaviours, which will ensure that you’re reaching people who are likely to take action. This could be anything from people who have recently moved house to avid gamers.  Finally, the last 1/3 of your budget should be used for retargeting campaigns, which allow you to reach out to people who have already interacted with your business. This is a great way to drive conversions and maximize ad spend. So there you have it – a strategic way to distribute your Facebook Ad spend. Step 4: You Can Start Small With Just $1 Per Day You can start with a small budget of just $1 per day and go from there. You can experiment with different ads, find out what works for your target audience, and slowly increase your budget as you go. Plus, you don’t have to commit to a long-term contract – you can pay as you go and adjust your budget at any time. However, do bear in mind that conversion campaigns would have a higher cost when compared to lead generation objectives. Step 5: Pass The “Learning Phase” With 50 Conversions Per Week Figuring out how to run effective Facebook ads can be a daunting task. And one of the biggest hurdles is getting past the learning phase, where you’ll likely spend a lot of money with no return. To ensure you get the most out of your Facebook ad campaigns, it’s important to set a tangible goal. A good place to start is aiming for 50 conversions per week. This will give you a baseline number to measure your success and help you get a better grasp of how much to spend. With some trial and error, you’ll be able to identify an easy way to reach 50 conversions per week. After that, scaling up your ad spend to get even more conversions is just a matter of tweaking your ad spend, content and targeting. So don’t be afraid to take the plunge and reach for those 50 conversions per week goal. However, keep an eye on your conversion rate. Also, your landing page and ad creatives can have a significant effect on your total conversions per week. Step 6: You Can Scale To $20/Per Day/Per Ad Set With the right strategy, you can scale your ad spend up to $20 per day per ad set. This means that you could be spending $20 a day on each ad set, with potentially unlimited returns. But don’t jump into this too quickly. You need to have a plan in place to ensure that you’re spending money wisely. To start, you should have a clear understanding of your target audience and the type of ads that will be most effective. Once you have that data, you can create a budget, and experiment with different ad sets and spending levels. You can then adjust your spending levels according to performance.  Step 7: Identify Your Winning Ad Sets & Scale More Identifying your winning ad sets and scaling more is essential to success on the platform. With a successful ad set, you will be able to get more out of your ad budget and maximize ROI. To identify winning ad sets, you should start by testing with different creatives and targeting options. Once you have found a winner, you can then scale up your budget and increase the reach of your ads. Pay close attention to your Facebook ad campaign metrics and optimize the ad sets that are performing well.  Step 8: Always Have ROI In Mind Whenever you decide to spend money on marketing, always have a return on investment (ROI) in mind. This means that for every dollar you spend, you should be getting back more than a dollar in sales. How much you spend on Facebook ads should always depend on the ROI you expect to get from them. Of course, the amount you spend on Facebook ads should also depend on your budget. Setting a budget and sticking to it is a must when it comes to online advertising. But you should also make sure that the budget you have set is realistic and achievable. That way, you can ensure that you’re always getting a good return on your investment.  5 Things To Avoid When Spending Money On Facebook Ads 1. Not Spending Enough Not spending enough is one of the biggest things to avoid when spending money on ads. The cost of Facebook ads can quickly add up, so it’s important to budget for your campaign goals. But it’s also important to spend enough to see results. If you don’t spend enough, your ads may not get the reach or engagement they need. Too often, businesses fail to invest enough in their Facebook Ads campaigns, resulting in minimal returns. The key is to set a realistic budget and adjust it as needed. 2. Quitting Too Soon Quitting too soon is one of the biggest things to avoid when spending money on Facebook ads. It’s easy to become discouraged when you’re not seeing the results you want right away, but it’s important to remember that it takes time and effort to see success. Before you give up, make sure you’ve given your campaign a fair chance. You may need to adjust your strategy or tweak your targeting to get the results you want. It’s also important to be patient – results don’t come overnight. Don’t be afraid to experiment. 3. Choosing the Wrong Type Of Campaign & Objective One of the most common mistakes is choosing the wrong type of campaign and objective. When selecting your campaign type, you should make sure it aligns with your goals. For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, then a Reach campaign would be appropriate.  If your goal is to generate sales, then a Conversion campaign would be more suitable. You should choose an objective that is directly related to the action you want people to take, such as clicking on a link or making a purchase. Making the wrong choice can result in your ad not being seen by the right people or not achieving the desired results.  4. Not Analyzing The Data Analyzing the data is one of the most important things to do when spending money on Facebook Ads. Not doing so can result in a huge waste of time and money. It’s essential to understand your data in order to gain insights, make adjustments, and optimize your campaigns. Without analyzing the data collected from your ads, you won’t know what’s working and what’s not. You won’t be able to identify patterns, which can help you better target your audience. If you’re not analyzing the data, you’ll be blindly spending on ads without any real understanding of what’s driving your results. So, it’s important to set aside time each day to review your data and make adjustments.  5. Not Calculating The Marginal Profitability Another important thing to avoid when spending money on Facebook ads is not calculating the marginal profitability. It’s easy to get lost in the glitz and glamour of the ads and be tempted to spend more than you need to.  But, if you don’t pay attention to the marginal profitability of your ads, you could end up overspending and not seeing the return on investment that you wanted. Marginal profitability refers to the rate at which your profits increase, or decrease, with each additional dollar you spend on a campaign. Calculating it will help you make sure you’re spending your money wisely and not wasting your budget. Marginal Profitability Example Let me give you a practical example of marginal profitability. Let’s say you are running a conversion campaign for a smaller item like a digital planner priced at $17. Initially, you were getting conversions when you were spending $20 a day, however over time you increased your budget to $35 a day and this is what happened. At $20 a day, you were generating 3 sales a day but after increasing your budget to $35 a day you now make 4 sales. Doing the math you realise that at $20 a day, you make $17×3 = $51 but a budget of $35 a day only yields $17×4=$68. In this case, it would be better to return to a budget of $20 a day because your profit is better at this level. The other option is to set up upsells in the backend so that you can increase your profitability. How Much to Spend on Facebook Ads – Real Example Recently I wanted to test a lead magnet I created and use it as a basis for growing my email list. Like any entrepreneur, I have several options to test the effectiveness of a lead magnet. These options include organic marketing and paid marketing. I did not have a lot of time to use organic marketing so I opted for Facebook Lead Ads. So, with $200 in hand, I decided on a budget of $10 a day for 2 weeks. Here are the results that I got. 159 leads with an average cost per lead of $1.26 cent. It means that I now have 150 more people on my email list. I’m also running a 5-day challenge to see if any of these will convert into long-term clients. People Also Ask Is $5 a Day Enough for Facebook Ads? The answer is yes and no. It depends on what type of ad you’re running and what your goals are. For example, if you’re just looking to increase brand awareness and reach more people, then $5 a day is probably enough. However, if you’re looking to drive more conversions or sales, you will need to spend a bit more. That said, with $5 you can still test out different strategies and see what works best. Keep an eye on the analytics and adjust your campaigns accordingly, you can slowly increase the budget and get better results.  What Is a Good Daily Budget for Facebook Ads? Figuring out a good daily budget for Facebook Ads can be tricky. Your total budget will depend on your overall marketing goals, as well as your cash flow. If you’re just getting started with Facebook Ads, a good rule of thumb is to start with a minimum budget and then bump it up. The best budget for your Facebook Ads will depend on your goals. Are FB Ads Worth It in the 21st Century? With so many businesses competing for customers, advertising on Facebook has become an increasingly popular way to reach potential customers. But are Facebook ads still worth it in the 21st Century? The answer is a resounding yes! Facebook ads offer powerful targeting options and can be used to reach a wide range of different audiences. Plus, they are relatively inexpensive and easy to customize. So with the right strategy, it’s possible to get a good return on your investment.  Conclusion Facebook Ads help to reach new customers and build your brand. But it is important to know how much to spend on Facebook Ads. First, you need to set a budget that you can afford to pay. Once you have a budget, you can determine how much to spend on different types of ads, such as boosting posts, running event campaigns, or targeting new users. You can also create audiences for each type of ad and analyze how much you should be spending based on their performance. This way, you can make the most of your Facebook Advertising budget and take your business to the next level. Improve your return on Facebook ad spending by leaving it to someone who can help. Book a call in my calendar here to learn more.

Kimberly heard a lot about Facebook lead ads cost and she was wondering if it will work for her business model. As a new course creator Kimberly was finding it difficult to figure out what marketing strategy to use to achieve her goals. While Udemy and Coursera look like attractive options because they have an existing audience. Kimberly knew straight away that these course marketplaces are not the best solution for her dream life. Let me know if you can relate to these points. You’ve enrolled in several coaching programs that promised visibility but didn’t deliver You don’t have an existing audience to promote your course After spending $1,000s on resources you’re wondering if to throw in the towel All you need to see is a silver lining behind your current dark cloud If only there was a way to grow a targeted email list of potential students quickly and simply with a minimum budget of $1,000/month. In this post, you’ll learn how Facebook lead ads can be a breath of fresh air and how they can generate leads for you while you sleep at a very good price. What is Facebook Lead Ads In case you are brand new to Facebook advertising and wondering why you haven’t heard about it before this is for you. One of the best ways to explain Facebook lead ads is to show you what it looks like and how it works. However, before doing that here’s a brief explanation. Facebook lead ads are a form of advertising specifically designed to generate qualified leads for businesses. The reason it is called Facebook lead ads is because the lead generation occurs on the Facebook platform itself. It means that people viewing the ad will be given the opportunity to enter their details to obtain the offer without having to leave Facebook. So, everything occurs on the platform. How is it Possible to Generate Leads Without Leaving Facebook When you are logged into Meta Business Suite and you click on Ad Manager you’ll see the opportunity to create a campaign. After clicking ‘Create’ at the campaign level you’ll see a list of objectives to choose from which will determine your ad type. Choosing leads as your campaign objective will give you a list of possible results that you’ll receive from running this type of campaign. Notice the four options given include: Calls Instant forms Conversions Post engagement It is important to note the conversions in this particular case refer to you generating leads on your own web property. As opposed to getting them to sign up via Facebook. ‘Instant forms’ is the not-so-popular name for Facebook lead ads. What Does the Lead Ad Form Look Like? After creating your ad set and creatives you’ll see the option to customise your Instant form before publishing your Facebook ad. As you can see Facebook is pretty thorough in that they’ve included an area for Privacy policy which is very crucial. This is because you’ll be collecting personal details or contact information like an email address. The key to getting high conversion rates on these forms is to remember that people are busy so the less you ask them the more leads you’ll get. Although a Facebook pixel isn’t required to run an instant forms campaign you’ll still need a link to your privacy policy page. This leads us to the next question, the ad. What Does a Lead Ad Look Like? If you’re wondering how different a lead ad looks compared to regular ads the answer might surprise you. A Lead ad looks very much the same as regular ads with the only difference being the call to action at the bottom. Typically the call to action would be to download the free resource that you will be offering them in exchange for their details. Here’s an example of one such ad as it would appear on Facebook Of course, this resource would not be complete if I fail to include what Instagram ads look like so here you go. I bet just seeing these two examples just gave you lots of ideas about how you can do the same in your business. Where Do the Leads Go After People Complete Their Details When your potential clients complete the form Facebook saves them inside a CSV file which you can manually download daily. I know what you’re thinking, isn’t that a lot of hassle? Well, the good news is that there are several ways for you to automate the lead collection process. Depending on what you are using as your email service provider you can integrate it directly with Facebook or you can use a third-party platform. The two third-party platforms that integrate with Facebook instant forms are Zapier and Make.com. If you decide to use Zapier then you’ll need to use the paid version but you can use the free version of Make. You also have the option of using ActiveCampaign because they have a direct integration with Facebook Lead Ads. Using ActiveCampaign’s direct integration means that you’ll need to upgrade to the Plus plan so it would set you back $75/month on the monthly plan. Yes, it does require some technical ability to know what you’re doing but many of these solutions have step-by-step training on YouTube. Any direct or third-party integration also gives you the ability to deliver the freebie or item that you promised in the ad. How Much Do Facebook Lead Ads Cost? If you’re wondering about how much Facebook lead ads will cost for you I may not be able to tell you precisely. However, I can tell you what the typical range is for a lead ad that’s performing as it should. A normal lead cost can be $1.50 each if your ad is performing in the good range. An excellent ad can cost 0.30 cents to 0.99 cents each! I’ll cover what are the telltale signs that you have the ability to get this lead ad cost shortly. These figures do not apply to webinar leads or lead generation that is done on your own web property like a website or landing page. How Much Do 1,000 Facebook Ads Cost? When you set up a lead ad campaign normally Facebook charges per impression (not per lead or per click). However, you can see in the report based on the leads you receive the cost per result or per lead. In other words, if your campaign doesn’t generate any leads at all you still get charged per impression. If your campaign is overperforming then this actually works well in your favour because the cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) should be $20 or less. It means that if you’re only paying $1 per lead then every 1,000 people who see your ad 20 will sign up for your freebie. This represents a conversion rate of 2% which is quite good. Anything less than 1.5% means that your copy may need to be improved. How Much Should I Spend a Day on Facebook Ads? Specifically as this resource to Facebook lead ads, the suggested budget is $10 – $15 a day. When you first set up your campaign to get it approved you can start with $10 a day. After it has been approved wait about 3-4 days and check to see how it’s performing. If your cost per lead is $1.50 – $2.00 each then check other statistics like your CPM, CTR and CTR Link-Click-Through-Rate. Here’s a good rule of thumb to follow. CPM -> should be less than $30 CTR all -> should be 4% or higher (if not, change the image) CTR Link-Click-Through-Rate -> should be 1.5% or higher (if not, fix copy) If all of these are bad it could be the freebie itself or the audience. This is the reason why people hire a Facebook ad manager to figure all this out for them. Do you need help from a Facebook Ads Manager or Strategist? Book some time in my calendar here. Is $5 Enough for Facebook Ads? Yes, I’ve used a strategy where I had Facebook ads running for $5 a day and I got results. If you start off at $10 or $15 per day and you find your winning combination of image, copy, freebie and audience then here’s what you can do. Every 1-2 days reduce your budget gradually by $2.50 a day. In other words, you start at $15 then reduce the budget to 12.50, then $10, then $7.50 and so on until you get to $5 a day. What was very surprising is that Facebook still delivered 10 -12 leads a day when my budget was $15 and $10 a day. I enjoy testing Facebook Ads just to see if the daily budget actually makes a difference. One of my coaches would say if you give Facebook $50 to spend in a day they will do it and give you the same result as $10 a day. Lol!!🤣 What is Better Google Ads or Facebook Ads? The honest truth is that it depends on a combination of things. Here’s that list of things. Your niche/audience The goal of your campaign How much you are hoping to spend The offer Your funnel I know that it’s not the answer you are expecting but the competition on Google Ads can be very high depending on your niche. It can also be very low if your niche is less competitive. My advice is to start with Facebook and when your campaign is proven and generating results then you can move it to Google Ads. Why is my Cost Per Lead So High on Facebook? If you are using Instant Forms on Facebook then check the following stats in your reports. CPM – if it’s less than $25 then leave it. CTR all – if this figure is less than 4% then try split testing with a new image CTR Link-Click-Through-Rate – this figure should be 1.5% or higher if not then create a new ad with new ad copy Be sure that the form is as easy to complete as possible If all of these are terrible then either your audience or your freebie needs changing or both. Do you need help figuring it all out and you would like someone else to manage it for you? If yes, book some time in my calendar to discuss your options. Alternatively, you can visit the Facebook Ad Library for inspiration on how you can improve your ads. How Do You Calculate Lead Cost? Bearing in mind the fact that Facebook charges per 1,000 impressions we’ll use this as our main metric to calculate lead cost. The best way to demonstrate this is by choosing a budget. So, let’s say you have a budget of $100 and after one week that budget is used up and you look inside your campaign and see that you have 70 leads. Here’s the formula to calculate your lead cost. Total ad spend divided by total leads generated. So, $100/70 = $1.43. It means that your cost per lead is $1.43 each. Most likely your total impressions would be somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 if all the other stats were within range. When Is It Okay to Pay More Per Lead There will come a time when your campaign is performing really well and you decide to capture the leads on your own web property. This could be a landing page or website where you have a funnel set up. You’ll already know the customer lifetime value of your offer based on the history of your lead ad Facebook campaigns. Let me explain what I mean by this statement. For example, you run lead generation campaigns for 12 months and you notice that when you spend $300/month on ads you get 10 customers who spend $97/month each. These customers stay with you on average for 10 months which means the long-term value of each customer is $970. So, let’s break it down a bit. You spend $30 to acquire a customer who spends $970 with you. It means that you’ll probably be willing to spend up to 50% of that $970 figure to acquire a lead because you know that your funnel works. In that case, spending up to $485 per lead is normal practice if you know that the return on ad spend is $970. What is a Good Monthly Budget for Facebook Ads If you are running a Facebook lead ads campaign then you can expect to spend between $10 and $15 a day. I would normally advise my clients to budget for a minimum of $300/month to spend on Facebook lead ads. The reason for this is that every new ad has to go through a learning phase so that Facebook can figure out the right people in your audience for the ad. Facebook lead ads cost is dictated by a combination of copy, target audience, freebie, image and budget. It’s important to remember that there are other businesses bidding for the attention of the same audience that you chose. Therefore, the person with the highest bid and the most relevant ad wins. Is Facebook Ads Still Worth it Today? Yes, because if you sit and think about it for 60 seconds here’s what you need to consider. Facebook has 2.95 billion monthly active users that’s almost 3 billion Facebook users which means that your potential customer is hanging out there every day. The chances of you getting into your car and driving around your neighbourhood to find your precise potential customers and only paying $2 or less per lead is slim. Instead, you can sit at your computer and use that gas money to create a Facebook campaign for $100 and already you’ll be able to generate high-quality leads for your business. The average cost-per-click is between $0.50 and $1.50 which is quite good compared to Google Ads which could be $3-$5 without any results at all. It means the cost of advertising on Facebook is still relatively attractive today even for a small business on a shoestring budget. Because Facebook is a social media platform it continues to gather information on its users day after day which means better results for everyone. How to Set Up a Lead Ads Campaign step-by-step? First, you’ll need to have a Facebook Business page already live as well as access to Meta Business Suite. Head over to Ads Manager and create a campaign Select the objective labelled ‘Leads’ and give your campaign a name The next section is your ad set where you choose your conversion location (should be Instant Forms) and set your daily budget. Choose your audience location, age group, gender and audience interest and use the recommended placements. Select your Facebook page and Instagram account and choose a single image. My advice would be to have at least two formats of your single images; one square and the other 9:16 or vertical. Write your copy in the section labelled ‘Primary text’ feel free to let it reflect your personality (I like to add emojis). Choose your call to action and spend time customising your form (the thank you section of the form is a great place to add a call to action like ‘follow me on Instagram – with a link) When you are happy click publish bearing in mind that it’s not possible to edit the form after it has been published. The integration with third-party tools can be done after the form is published and while you wait for your campaign to be approved. To get the most out of your time setting up the ad have your ad copy, images and form content ready or pre-written before you create the campaign. Don’t Become Complacent It’s important to remember that your Facebook ads can experience ad fatigue which means your potential audience no longer sees the ad. For this reason, it’s advisable to create new images and ad copy frequently. Keep testing them every week to remain fresh. A clever way to do this is by going to the Facebook ad library to look at what others in your niche are doing. Read their ad copy and look through their images for inspiration so that you can come up with your own version that works. I have over 100 best-performing ad examples in my library that I use as a resource to pull from with my clients. So, it’s a good idea for you to collate a list of 50 ad examples as your go-to when you need to switch things up a little. I’m not a copywriter but I also have swipe files with high-performing ad copy that I use as a resource with my clients. If you need help with your Facebook ads here’s the link to book some time in my calendar. Summary As a small business, you can keep the cost of Facebook advertising low by choosing a campaign goal of instant forms also known as Facebook lead form ads. The beauty of this campaign type is that you can target different audiences with custom questions (less is more). This campaign type also helps build brand awareness apart from generating great lead quality. After some time you can create a lookalike audience from your winning campaign and use that lead data to attract leads inside a sales funnel. What I really like about Facebook lead ads is that you tend to get a new lead within 24 hours of the campaign being approved. The secret to finding winning Facebook lead gen ads is to keep testing until you find the right combination of all the different ad elements. So, when your image is great, find the ad copy to go with it, and the right audience and you’ll be off to the races in no time.

One afternoon I along with my 3 friends decided to step out for lunch. On the way, Sophie asked me to stop at a new Italian restaurant. She had seen an amazing advertisement and great reviews on Instagram and finally, we had Italian that afternoon. This is the power of social media advertising. It has revolutionized the way we communicate, build relationships and find new customers. Social media advertising is a great way to reach a large audience and promote your business, but the cost of social media advertising could make a hole in your pocket.  This guide provides a detailed overview of the cost of social media advertising and how you can make the most of your budget. Social Media Advertising Glossary  If you’re new to the game of advertising, navigating the complex language and terminology of the industry can be a huge challenge. Following is a comprehensive guide to the social media advertising glossary, to help you understand the lingo used by industry professionals and ensure that you’re well-equipped to take advantage of all the different platforms.  CPC (Cost-per-click) – The amount you’ll pay for ad placement when your ad is clicked PPC (Pay-per-click) – The amount you pay for the clicks your ads get, meaning you only pay when someone actually clicks your ad. CPM (Cost Per Mille) – Also known as Cost per Thousand Impressions, is an amount you pay when your ad is shown a certain number of times.  CPL(Cost Per Lead) – The amount where you only pay when someone clicks on your ad and takes action, such as signing up for your newsletter or filling out a contact form. CPV (Cost-per-view) – You pay for every view generated by your ad. This means you don’t have to worry about clicks or impressions, you only pay for the views that actually count. CPA (Cost Per Action) – Also known as cost per acquisition. This is the amount you pay for every user that clicks on your ad, visits your website, or even makes a purchase.  CTR (Click-through rate) – The CTR is a measure of how many people are clicking on your ad. This number will vary based on the type of ad you’re running and the platform on which you’re running it. ROI (Return on investment) – ROI is the return on the money you spend, so you can determine whether your investment is worth it or not. ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) – is very focused on the return on ad spend for a specific ad campaign. It is different from ROI because it only considers the cost of the ad but excludes other fees like copywriting, graphic design, ad management etc. The formula to calculate ROAS is Revenue/Ad Spend Social Media Advertising – Budget’s Guide When it comes to social media advertising, budgeting is not only important but a challenge as well. I like to think of myself as your personal budget guide when it comes to social media advertising! To start off, the cost of social media advertising depends on the platform you’re using and the type of ad you’re creating.  To narrow down marketing platforms for your business, you need to have clarity on the monthly budget vs the bidding options on different platforms. Before you review the average CPC and CPM on various platforms, it is advisable to set a budget and focus on tailoring your campaigns to reach the target audience more effectively. Minimum Ad Budgets For Different Social Media Platforms  Facebook = $1/day for impressions, $5/day for clicks  Instagram = $1/day for impressions,$5/day for clicks Linkedin = $2 /click, $10 /day Twitter = No minimum Youtube = $10/ day Pinterest = $2.00 for impressions, $0.10 for clicks TikTok = $50/day for campaigns, $20/day for ad groups Average CPC For Different Social Media Platforms  Facebook = $0.97 Instagram = $3.56  Linkedin = $5.26 Twitter = $0.38 Youtube = $3.21 Pinterest = $1.50 TikTok = $1.00 Average CPM For Different Social Media Platforms per 1000 impressions  Facebook = $7.19  Instagram = $7.91  Linkedin = $9.68  Twitter = $6.59  Youtube = $6.46  Pinterest = $30  TikTok = $10  Monthly Ad Spend For Different Social Media Platforms  Facebook = $200 to $1500 Instagram = $200 to $1500 Linkedin = $300 to $1500 Twitter = $200 to $1500 Youtube = $200 to $1500 Pinterest = $200 to $1500 TikTok = $200 to $1500 CPC vs. CPM vs. Monthly Social Advertising Costs – Table Comparison Social Media Platform Average CPC Average CPM per 1000 impressions Monthly Ad Spend Facebook  $0.97 per click $7.19  $200 to $1500 per month Instagram  $3.56 per click $7.91  $200 to $1500 per month Linkedin  $5.26 per click $6.59  $300 to $1500 per month Twitter  $0.38 per click $6.46  $200 to $1500 per month Youtube  $3.21 per click $9.68  $200 to $1500 per month Pinterest  $1.50 per click $30  $200 to $1500 per month TikTok  $1.00 per click $10  $200 to $1500 per month Bidding Options For Different Social Media Platforms Facebook = CPC, CPM, CPL, CPA Instagram = CPC, CPM, CPL, CPA Linkedin =  CPC, CPM, CPS, CPO Twitter = CPC, CPM, CPE, CPF, CPD Youtube = CPC, CPM, CPV, CPA Pinterest = CPC, CPM TikTok = CPC, oCPM, CPV, CPM How To Start With Social Media Advertising – 8 Practical Steps Social media advertising is becoming increasingly popular for businesses, but it is not free. You need to set a budget, as the cost of social media advertising can vary depending on the platform you’re using and the type of ads you’re running. But don’t worry – there are plenty of cost-effective ways to get started.  1. Identify Your Audience Knowing your target audience is a key step in creating an effective campaign. Too often, people jump in without really knowing who they’re targeting, and the result is an ineffective ad campaign. Before you start, ask yourself, who are you trying to reach? Once you know who you’re targeting, you can tailor your content, language, and visuals to speak directly to them. You can also use tools such as Google Analytics or Facebook Insights to get more detailed information about your audience.  2. Select Your Social Media Platform – Start Small! When it comes to social media advertising, it’s best to start small and work your way up. Trying to manage too many platforms at once can be overwhelming, so it’s important to focus on one at a time. Once you’ve got a decent number of followers, you can start producing content and running campaigns.  3. Look at Industry Benchmarks Industry benchmarks can give you an idea of what’s possible for your budget and what kind of return on investment you can expect. They can also provide a sense of direction and insight on how to structure your campaigns and allocate your resources. Take a look at the Facebook Ad Library to see what others like you are doing in terms of Ad copy and creatives. 4. Educate Yourself With Relevant Knowledge You’ve heard time and time again that knowledge is power, and it’s especially true when it comes to social media advertising. If you want to get started with your own campaigns, the best way to do it is to educate yourself.  There are plenty of resources to help you out. With a little bit of research and practice, you’ll be ready to hire someone to run a successful social media advertising campaign for you in no time! 5. Don’t Forget the Organic Strategy and Organic Data Don’t forget organic strategy and organic data when you’re learning how to start with social media advertising. Sure, paid advertising campaigns have their place, but organic social media activity is important too.  It’s all about building relationships with your customers and potential customers, so it’s important to focus on what brings people to your page. Organic data can also help you to better target your paid campaigns.  6. Consider Split-testing If you’re looking to start with social media advertising, consider split-testing different copy, creatives and audiences. Split-testing is a great way to test out different strategies and see which one works best for your business. The concept is simple, create two versions of an ad and then test them against each other to see which one performs better. You can test different things, like the headline, the image, the copy, and more (only changing one item at a time). 7. Refresh and Update Your Creatives Refreshing and updating your creatives is a great way to keep your social media advertising campaigns feeling fresh. The first step is to assess what kind of creatives you need for the campaign. This could include images, videos, GIFs, or interactive content. Once you’ve identified, you can start creating or sourcing. It is important to remember that the goal of your campaign is to engage with your audience, so make sure your creative is indeed creative and eye-catching! You can then start testing them across different platforms.  8. Always Keep Mobile in Mind From smartphones to tablets to wearables, mobile technology is increasingly becoming an integral part of people’s lives. As a result, it’s essential to ensure that your business stays ahead of the curve. This means optimizing content for smaller screens and creating ads that are easy to read and engage with.  7 Factors That Influence The Cost of Social Media Advertising Social media advertising can be a great tool to reach new customers and grow your business. But understanding the factors that influence the cost of social media advertising can help you better understand how to lower the cost of your campaigns. I. Size of your audience The size of your audience is one of the main factors that influence the cost of a social media ad. The larger the audience (100 million), the more expensive it will be to run a successful ad campaign. That’s why it’s important to start narrowing down to build up your audience over time. You can do this by targeting specific groups with relevant content and by running targeted ads. So if you’re looking to maximize your ROI, it pays to define your audience first.  II. Location Location plays a major role in the cost of social media ads. Different countries, states, and cities all have different costs associated with running a social media campaign. Factors such as the size of the population, the competitiveness of the market, and the rate of ad saturation all influence the cost of social media ads. For example, running a campaign in a major metropolitan area may cost more than running a campaign in a smaller city. The size of the target audience can also affect the cost. It is important to identify the right location based on your business.  III. Demographics  Demographics are one of the most important factors to consider when it comes to the cost of social media ads. Knowing the age and gender of your target audience can help you tailor your content to appeal to them. Income and occupation can help you determine the type of people who are more likely to purchase your products or services.  IV. Season Seasons play an important role in determining the cost of social media ads. The competition for ad space during the holiday season is usually much higher than the rest of the year. This leads to higher prices for ads, as companies are willing to pay more to get the word out about their products and services. As the holiday season approaches, the cost of ads will likely go up, especially for popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It’s also important to keep in mind that the cost of ads can vary depending on the time of day and day of the week. Ads placed during peak times or on weekends usually cost more than ads placed during off-peak times. Quick note: It’s important that you keep your Facebook ad running 24/7 to get the best return on investment so peak and off-peak don’t apply to Facebook Ads. V. Industry The industry is a major factor that influences the cost of social media ads. Different industries have different levels of competition, which can affect the cost of social media ads. For example, a highly competitive industry like the automotive industry will have a higher cost per click than a less competitive industry like the pet food industry. A larger target audience will require more ad impressions in order to reach the desired number of people, which will increase the overall cost.  VI. Ad Relevancy Ad relevancy is an important factor when it comes to social media advertising. Ads that are relevant to the target audience will have a higher chance of success. Another factor is ad placement. Ads should be placed in appropriate locations on the platform to be seen by the right people. The quality of the ad itself is important. Ads should be engaging, well-designed, and contain relevant content.  VII. Ad Quality The quality of an ad is one of the most important factors that influence the cost of running a social media ad. The higher the quality of the ad, the more effective it is likely to be. A few things that affect the quality of an ad on Facebook include the domain name, and the legal features around the website associated with your domain name like privacy policy, terms and conditions, etc. Another important factor is how people are engaging with your ad. How To Lower Cost Of Social Media Advertising – 8 Easy Steps  Social media advertising is becoming an increasingly popular way for businesses to reach their target market. However, it can be costly, especially for small businesses with limited budgets. Fortunately, there are some ways to lower the cost of social media advertising. 1. Choose a Less Expensive and Narrow Audience One of the best ways to lower the cost of social media advertising is to narrow down your audience. By narrowing your target audience to a specific demographic or location, you can get more bang for your buck and limit your ad spend. You can also use features like A/B testing to determine which ads are successful and which are not. A quick tip: Your audience size shouldn’t be smaller than 500,000 if you’re running a lead Ad campaign. 2. Tailor Your Ads to Your Ideal Buyer Persona Tailoring your ads to your ideal buyer persona is essential for effective social media advertising. Knowing who your ideal customer is and what they need will allow you to craft compelling and effective ads. You’ll also want to make sure you are targeting the right audiences on the right networks.  3. Focus on user retention User retention is essential to the success of any business. It costs much less to keep a customer than to acquire a new one. That’s why it’s important to focus on user retention, finding ways to keep customers engaged and coming back for more. One way to do this is to lower the cost of social media advertising. By using re-targeting ads and optimizing your campaigns, you can reach the right people at the right time without breaking the bank. You can also use customer feedback to improve your campaigns and create personalized experiences that will keep customers coming back. Finally, don’t forget the value of offers and discounts.  4. Reduce Your Ad Frequency This means not bombarding your audience with ads all the time. Instead, you should be strategic when it comes to targeting and timing. Aim to target the right audience at the right time, and you’ll be able to get more out of your ad budget. You can also look at reducing the frequency of your ads by running them in segments. This way, you’ll be able to test different strategies and see which ones work best. By taking the time to optimize your ads, you can make them more effective and lower your overall cost. Yes, your potential audience may need to see content from you 67 times before taking action but limit your ad frequency to 1.5 times. 5. Set a Campaign Budget Setting a campaign budget is a great way to make sure your money is working for you. You can do this by making a list of all your expenses and then subtracting any income you make. This will give you an idea of how much you have to spend each month. Once you have this figure, you can start setting a budget for yourself.   6. Cap Your Bids One of the best ways to lower the cost of social media advertising is to cap your bids. By capping your bids, you can control the amount of money you are willing to pay for each impression or click. This helps you to target your audience more effectively and helps you to stay within your budget. It also helps you to focus your campaigns on the most important metrics, such as cost-per-click and cost-per-engagement.  7. Think about obtaining User-Generated Content User-Generated Content (UGC) is an increasingly popular way to supplement your social media presence and lower your costs of advertising. The key is to find creative ways to engage your followers and encourage them to generate content for you. By offering an incentive to your followers, you can generate a lot of engagement and content. You can also create a hashtag and encourage users to post content related to it. Plan to collaborate with influencers and ask them to post about your product or service. By taking advantage of these strategies, you can easily obtain the UGC you need to lower your social media advertising costs. 8. Warm Up Your Account When you create a new ad account that doesn’t have any history on any of the ad platforms it is important to warm it up first by running specific types of campaigns. These types of campaigns include video views and lead ad campaigns. After running these kinds of campaigns for 1-2 months platforms like Facebook can then trust you with their audience to run conversion campaigns. This means your cost of advertising on social media will be lower compared to brand-new accounts that are targeting the same audience. Conclusion Social media advertising is an invaluable tool for businesses of all sizes. It’s a great way to reach a broad audience, build brand awareness, and increase conversions. However, it can also be a costly endeavour. It’s important to have a firm understanding of the costs associated with social media advertising and how to make the most of your budget.  Make sure ads are relevant to your audience and adjust them as necessary to make them as successful as possible. Remember, the audience on social media is an extension of your brand. They deserve to be treated as such and you can do that by creating engaging ads that are worth their time. Need help with advertising on Facebook? Check out this resource about Facebook Ads packages here.

Melinda was excited because she found out that it was possible to generate income online by selling courses. However, she had lots of other questions that needed answers. The most obvious question is this. How much can you make selling online courses? The answer depends on several factors such as your niche, audience size, business model and competitiveness of your field. There are thousands of online course providers offering anything from basic English lessons to advanced programming skills. If you want to start earning some extra cash, then you should consider starting your own online course. The e-learning market is growing and is a great source of potential revenue. You can sell your courses through multiple platforms, including Udemy, Teachable, Skillshare, and CreativeLive. Each has its pros and cons, and you’ll need to decide which suits your style and target audience. You can scale up as you go to reach more students and create additional courses to increase your potential revenue. In this post, you’ll learn how much you can make from online course sales and other tips and tricks. Is It Possible To Earn Money Selling Online Courses? Yes, it is possible to sell online courses for profit. There are several ways to do this, such as through Amazon, Clickbank, Udemy, Teachable, Skillshare, and others. The key to making money from these platforms is to create high-quality courses that teach something valuable and useful. Your educational content should have real value. You can opt to create your course on a course creation platform or WordPress site and market it through social media ads or Google Ads. Great options for generating revenue if you do not already have a built-in audience to whom to sell your course.  Another option for earning money from selling an online course is to utilize an online course marketplace like Udemy. Potential students visit these sites seeking out online courses which can reduce your marketing pressure. A downside might be the competitiveness of offerings and the low cost of courses on these sites. Additional marketing outside the platform and creating a stellar brand reputation is the best option for helping you manage these downsides.  How Much Revenue Can You Expect From an Online Course? Income in the course creation field can vary widely. Course creators might make only a thousand dollars a year from a course while others might be raking in more than a hundred thousand dollars a year in passive income. Several factors go into what end of the spectrum you might find yourself on. 1. Marketing Effort First, how much effort you put into marketing your course is going to have a huge impact on how much return on investment you will see. To get people to purchase your course they need to see it and for them to see it you are probably going to need to show it to them in the form of an ad, social media post, Pinterest pin or blog post. Your advertising style and strategy are going to depend on factors personal to you but rest assured putting effort into marketing will pay off. Once people have found your online course you want them to go beyond browsing. The percentage of viewers who become students is your conversion rate. The higher your conversion rate the higher your revenue. Bear in might that the lowest acceptable conversion rate when it comes to online marketing is 1%. 2. Addressing the Pain One way to increase your conversion rate is to offer students value and a compelling reason to buy. They want to learn new skills via the online education industry. Your job is to make sure your digital courses appeal to them by offering value and quality. It’s important that your course helps your students move away from pain and towards pleasure and that you address these points in your sales page copy. 3. Price Point The third factor that goes into determining how much you can make from selling online courses is the price point. While it stands to reason that the higher you sell your course for, the more you will make, you can’t set the price so high you have no students. You have to strike a delicate balance between a lower price that doesn’t reflect the quality of your course material and a higher price that discourages conversions. Choosing an ongoing membership instead of a one-time payment can make the price point attractive. Additionally, consider any fees or advertising costs of revenue the platform you choose to host on will take. 4. The Numbers Here’s an example when it comes to figuring out how much revenue you can expect from your online course. Course prices can range between $97 to $997 on the low end. In the mid-range category, you’ll be looking at $1,297 to $4,997. When it comes to high-end aka high ticket course prices you can expect to see $5,997 to $19,997+. Therefore how much revenue you can expect will be calculated as follows: Number of enrolled students x course price So if your program sells for $997 and you get 10 sales a month then your annual revenue will be as follows: 120 x $997 = $119,640 These revenue figures exclude expenses and other overhead costs. How To Increase the Value of an Online Course As we laid out before, your earnings for an online course will equal the number of potential students who view it times your conversion rate times your price point. To increase all three of the numbers you should consider the aspects which I’ll cover shortly to launch a successful online course. Brand’s Recognition Do you already have a successful blog or a sizable social media following? If yes, then you are halfway there by already having a company or personal brand. If not, no worries. You can start building a brand today and working toward a large audience. For those that already have a brand, whether it be personal or professional, consider how you can leverage it to sell your online course to your target market. If your course is not related to what you are currently posting, start to move your posts in the direction of your course to begin establishing your brand’s relation to the topic. Your brand is one of the most powerful marketing tools you possess. If you are starting from scratch, it is a good idea to build your brand with your online learning course sales in mind. Start accumulating followers that are interested in your course idea and you can convert them to students when you launch a course. Make your new social media platform a lead magnet. Your Level of Knowledge Teachers should know something about what they intend to teach and that applies to you too. Choose a topic that you can educate your students about. A topic to display your expertise. You don’t have to know every single little thing about the topic you choose for your online course but you should know more than the Average Joe. Potential students want to know that their teacher knows what is up. If adding a certification or brushing up on your skills will benefit you, do it! If potential students are more likely to convert when they see your additional training that will only increase your revenue. Investing in your personal development is one of the best things you can do to establish your expertise in the field. The Depth of the Subject of Your Course  The topic of your course is understandably going to have an impact on your revenue. In the formula mentioned previously the larger the number of students you can get to enrol in your course offerings the larger your income. A Case Study Your topic is going to affect the course enrollment. However, you should not change your topic away from an area in which you are qualified to one in which you are just going to fill a trend in online learning. Sticking to what you know best is going to create more income for you in the long run than any trend will. If your topic has a high rate of interest you will also find that you are probably not the first to offer a course on the subject. So, though the number of people that view your course might be high they might not be converting to students but rather opting for other courses. You can remedy this by offering value and quality. Include a case study of what your potential student’s journey looked like before enrolling in your course as well as their results after taking the program. What’s Included Give students a reason to buy your course rather than browsing through another twenty additional options. You can do this by creating a sales page that establishes your course is created by an expert(you!) and offer value via things like free digital downloads, a live coaching component and other bonuses. You know from experience that browsing becomes exhausting. Converting potential students into students benefits not just you but also them by allowing them to end their search and move on to learning. If your topic is more niche perhaps you will have fewer people viewing your course but it creates opportunities for you elsewhere. You can increase your price point if options are limited. When you are the only show in the town you have a bit of power over the price of admission. You might also see a high student conversion rate since students are so excited to finally find a course offering about their interests. Especially, if students need to develop a skill for their job or business that’s not available online. An online course that will help them will encourage them to purchase yours if it meets that need. Your Target Audience Your target students are the people who will ultimately decide how much you earn from your online course. You need to understand and cater to them to increase your revenue. Consider hosting a webinar or challenge to establish yourself in your field and find out from potential students what they are looking for in a course. You can use the webinar to tease your eventual course as well. You can take their feedback and use it to create marketing strategies for your course and set your price point. As valuable as your knowledge you have to meet market demand. Hosting a webinar also means that you will collect the email addresses of the attendees.  You can use that later to convert these interested people into students when your course is ready to launch. Be sure to offer them a freebie or discount for getting in early and helping you with the course creation process. Market Size and Competition You aren’t the first person to create an online course and it would be silly to pretend you are. Take the time to consider the other players in the market. Understand the dynamics of pricing and how much you might expect to make from an online course.  You have all the tools and skills you need to create a course on any topic and should not be discouraged by the competition. Rather leverage your knowledge of the competition to make your online course even better. If you scope out the competition you might also be able to find gaps in what they are offering. With that knowledge, you can fill that gap with your course. Advertise to potential students that your course covers x, y, and z.  Create value and increase your student conversion rate. If you have noticed that other courses are missing an essential piece of the puzzle other students have probably noticed too. Assure them that they are in good hands with you and that they will get all the pieces to complete their learning puzzle. How to Make More Money as an Online Course Creator Determine Your Ideal Price Point Just like Goldilocks, you want your course to be priced just right. Not too high and not too low. An overly expensive course will drive off potential students and negate any gains that might be made from increasing the price of the formula.  Price it too low and you are giving away your valuable time, effort, and knowledge for less than it is worth. Market research is key to striking the perfect balance. Create an Effective Sales Page Once you have gotten students interested in your online course through marketing you need to convince them to purchase the course. Your sales page is the ideal place to offer that last push. You are selling a high-quality product and you can use your sales page to highlight that.  Include testimonials and reviews related to your subject. You can highlight your experience in the field. You can offer students a bonus for signing up now!  Create a sense of urgency and offer value. You have a lot of tools at your disposal to get browsers to convert to students and increase your online course income. Create a High-Converting Sales Funnel Once you have created your sales page you need to funnel your potential students to it. You can create a sales funnel via effective social media marketing that grows your following. You can use your email list to direct students to your sales page and create excitement. Start teasing the course before it launches and start a countdown. Make it something they cannot miss! To grow your email list offer freebies that require a potential student to sign-up with their email address. You could create a free newsletter that offers value to readers to start getting names on your email list if you don’t already have a list at your disposal.  If you hosted a webinar to gather information from students those attendees are prime potential student conversions. Reach back out to them and get them enrolled in your online course. Invest in the “Right” Marketing Strategy There are many ways to advertise in the 21st century. Take the time to identify the one that works best for what you are offering. Set your budget and invest in tools like Facebook Ads or Google Ads. Perhaps try a less conventional advertising strategy like Podcorn, a marketplace where podcasts can present offers for you to sponsor their podcasts. The options for marketing are as limitless as the internet. With a little thought and investment, you will be on your way to a large online course revenue in no time. Persistence and consistency are key. Develop More Courses! It might be counterintuitive, but creating more courses can be a way to not only create more revenue from online courses through the volume of sales from additional offerings but also to increase the sales you are making from existing courses.  Consider creating a mini-course or planner and offer it at a low price point to increase interest in your larger course. People like a deal and once they see the real expertise and opportunity for growth your courses give them they will be excited to move on to your offerings at a higher price point.  Students might also be attracted to what they see as a series of courses since it means there is a way to continue to learn if they enjoy what they get from the course they are purchasing. This lends itself well to fields that naturally progress in difficulty like learning to code. Which Online Courses Are the Most Profitable? The most profitable online course is the one that you are able to successfully create and market. Having said that, there are topics that tend to generate more interest than others: Business and Entrepreneurship People seem to always be interested in working for themselves. These courses remain popular for people with a business idea and a dream and also those looking to scale up their existing business. Entrepreneurship isn’t something one completes and thus there will always be a demand to learn more about it. Computer and IT Learning to code is popular and not without reason. Coders are some of the most in-demand people in the job market. It is no wonder people are flocking to online coding courses since it is a skill that can bring you gainful employment without a degree. Web Design Though a sub-niche of computers it is worth mentioning on its own. It remains one of the most popular subsegments of online learning in the computer field, If you have a talent for graphic design this can be a great course to create. Do not be discouraged if your field isn’t above. Any high-quality online course can generate good revenue if marketed well.  What Is the Cost of Creating an Online Course? Just like revenue from online courses can vary widely, so can the cost of creating one. The hosting platform you choose, there are dozens out there, will affect your upfront cost and how much you earn as you go.  You might want to hire a video editor or a copywriter to polish your material which is an additional expense. You might need to invest in software or a higher-quality camera to really create your vision of a course.  There isn’t a high-cost barrier to entering the online course creation field but you can increase your cost as your needs and desires dictate.  Conclusion Online courses are an ever more popular offering on the internet and many people consider making them to have a source of passive income once they are launched.  Creating an online course is an investment of time, labour, and perhaps money depending on the course you are creating and what equipment and materials you already have. Given this, it is natural to be interested in knowing how much you can make selling courses online before you begin.  Course viewers x course conversions x course price = revenue The secret to increasing your income from online courses is to increase one of the three numbers in the equation. Potential students viewing your course can be increased via effective marketing and creating a sales funnel. Course conversions can be increased by creating value for your students, making a great sales page, and highlighting your experience. Careful with the third factor, price. You do not want to increase your price beyond the point the market can bear.  To help you navigate the factors that go into how much you make from creating an online course, book a call and create an action plan. 

Nancy was extremely excited she finally got clarity on the idea for her online courses but she wondered how to sell online courses. Like Nancy, many aspiring course creators struggle with figuring out their offer, ideal client and marketing strategy. After playing around with the A.I., tool ChatGPT, Nancy was able to get a comprehensive overview of her offer, big promise and ideal client in granular detail. However, before creating her course she needed to have a chat with her prospective students in a group setting, like a Facebook Group. This will help her validate her offer and course content as well as enrol her first students at a beta price. Major Tip: Before you sell online courses it’s important to get really clear on your offer, ideal client, big promise and course content – see the ChatGPT videos below for more. Looking to Start Selling Courses Online? Are you looking to start selling courses online? If yes, then hold tight as I give you a deep dive into this interesting topic. It has all the information you need to get started on the right foot.   In this post, you’ll learn some great insights into how to start selling your very own online course. I’ll highlight best practices as you consider how you will proceed with your digital products. Selling courses online has become extremely lucrative over the last decade. This explosion in popularity is forecasted to continue. The eLearning market is expected to reach $350 billion by 2025. This is good news for those who have exciting online course ideas. Selling courses online is a great way to earn passive income. The key to success lies in creating high-quality content. If you understand and are passionate about your subject you can succeed in creating courses that appeal to students.   There are several ways to go about achieving this. As I go through this resource, you’ll also learn how to increase your course conversion rate and how to focus your marketing efforts. Why Make and Sell Your Own Online Course? There are many different ways to monetize your skills and knowledge. You can make money online with an online course.  It doesn’t matter if it is your first time teaching or if you have some experience under your belt in the education field. With hard work, passion, and a good idea you can make a lucrative digital course. Online courses are a growing industry making them a great option for breaking into the work-from-home space. With an online course, you are also your own boss and in control of your online business.  You can create a course that requires little oversight from you that has a passive income. The flexibility and growth of selling an online course are some of the greatest benefits of the endeavour. If you’ve ever dreamt of creating a more secure and stress-free lifestyle for yourself, online course creation is the way to go.  Content creation can also be a stimulating experience for course creators who are passionate about their subject. In turn, this passion helps you create content that students will enjoy and learn from.  Making your passion your business is a great idea since it allows you to engage with what you love whenever you work. Your knowledge of your field will also grow as you research and create content for your students. Why Is Having an Online Course Profitable? Online course creation has a very low barrier to entry. You can essentially create an online course for free. Your greatest resource is your expertise in your subject matter after all.  If repurposing content the investment of time can be minimised as well. Expenses you may face in creating an online course are all optional. Some things you could choose to invest in are: Software programs to create graphics or edit video Video and audio recording equipment An editor for written content A graphic designer A professional videographer or photographer Keep in mind that these are all optional! You can choose to spend as little, or as much, as you’d like to create your online course. Since the cost of course creation is low you can create a profitable online course. Another cost to consider is hosting your online course. Different platforms for hosting come at different price points.  Their models also vary. You can choose to subscribe to a course creation service or you can choose to share revenue with a site. It is also possible to create your own course. This will require coding knowledge or the ability to find free WordPress plug-ins. Creating online courses is a popular path to online revenue due to the low cost of entering the field. The low costs also create high profitability. Another interesting thing about the profitability of online courses is that the revenue can become passive income. Your course can generate sales long after you complete its creation.   Once you create your course the costs to maintain it is lowered apart from marketing expenses and hosting fees. You can set goals for yourself to recoup your costs and then sit back and let any additional sales become extra income. How Do You Make a Successful Online Course? To sell your online course you need to have one! Even better if it is a great course full of good content and well-researched. I’m sure yours will be! Let’s go through the steps to a successful online course together (at the end I’ll show you a cool hack to sell it successfully). 1. Find Your Niche Assess your areas of expertise. What are you most knowledgeable about and able to teach others? From there, think about what people might want to learn about in your field.  Do market research to see if there are any gaps in the market for your field. You can create multiple courses if you identify several areas that meet the requirements for course creation. You can also consider developing a series of courses that build on each other. 2. Identify Course Type Once you have a topic, think about how it is best presented. Most courses take several hours to complete and are performed at the student’s pace or at dates set out by the teacher over several weeks.  Choosing between these two versions comes down to how much you need to be involved. If you are going to mark projects it is good to set dates for completion.  When students are submitting work based on their own timing you might not have time to grade their materials in a timely manner. If your course grading is all automated you can let students work at their own speed. You can choose another format if it works better for you. Consider a Bootcamp that condenses your teaching into a couple of high-intensity days of learning.  This is currently a popular option for coding but can be used in other fields of study as well. This format might appeal to students so that they can achieve results quickly and stay motivated. A mini-course is a good option for covering a small, niche area of your field. If teaching photography, for example, your mini-course could deal with adjusting just one setting on the camera.  In addition to being a good format to cover just one niche topic, mini-courses can also serve as marketing tools. You can offer a mini-course as a bonus for signing up for your course to create value. You can also give mini-courses away, as a bonus, in exchange for the student’s email. Then add the email to your email list to market your other course offerings. 3. Choose the Best Medium for Your Course Courses can be presented through a few different content types. Images, videos, texts, and audio are all popular choices. Which you select will depend on the type of material you are presenting. The best practice is to vary the content throughout your course to keep students interested and motivated. Within the field of video content, you also have options. You can make the image displayed as a slideshow and just have a voice-over. This combines graphics and audio. You can also present to the camera directly. Consider supplementing with images if recording yourself. 4. Produce Your Own Online Course Make sure your instructions are clear and concise. Don’t assume that everyone knows everything about your topic already. They are in your course so they see a need to learn more. Instead, explain things step-by-step. This makes it easier for learners to follow along and understand exactly what you’re asking them to do. Make sure to include quiz questions and assignments. They give learners immediate feedback on their understanding of the material. They also encourage students to practice what they’ve learned. Ensure that your course materials are accurate and high-quality. Avoid looking like you’ve rushed the process and thrown out a product without care. 5. Select the Best Course Platform Consider where you are going to host your online course. There are several options in this area as well. You can host the course on your own website. You can use a platform that hosts your course.  Some of these sites are also marketplaces where you can also sell your course to students. The different course platforms each come with their own sets of pros and cons that we will cover later. 6. Establish Course Pricing and Sales Targets Choose a price for your course that values the effort that you have put into creating it while also being within your students’ budgets. Consider doing market research to see how similar courses are priced. Stay competitive without undervaluing yourself. It is always good to be working toward your goals. Establish sales targets that you can motivate yourself to work towards. You can make money selling online courses but you need to stay motivated. 7. Launch Your Online Course Launching your course is not as simple as just clicking a button and making it go live on the web. You should consider carefully a launch strategy to start making money from your online course fast. Create a buzz about your launch. Some options you consider for your course launch are a countdown timer to the launch date, a special offer for signing up early, or an opening webinar. If you are excited your new students will be excited too! 8. Create a Community Once your course is launched, create a community for your students to connect and learn from each other. This online community will be a great study tool. Students can also clarify each other questions about the class procedure. You can use a service like Facebook Groups to achieve this, make a subreddit, or use a connection feature on another platform. Using a social media platform as a host for your community has the advantages of being free and being a place where your students likely already have log-ins. You can also consider creating a community on your website. While this requires the upfront work of making it, it does have its advantages. You are in complete control of the content and the user experience. You can also charge for access to the community. Remember as you go through the work of creating your online community that it will benefit your students. It will also benefit you by serving as a marketing tool for your online course. 9. Promote Your Online Course Once your course is created and launched you can further devote yourself to promoting it. Digital marketing is an essential piece of the course creation puzzle and will help you reach your sales goals. Continue to stay involved with your email list of potential students via a newsletter or promotional offers. Promotional offers could include limited-time-only discounts or freebies for signing up for the course. Consider placing ads across the web with a service like Google Ads that will advertise your course on platforms that appeal to your target students.  Social media marketing is vital. You should be actively using your social media platform to reach potential students. Respond to comments and post consistently. You can also use paid advertising services to reach potential students who don’t follow you. How To Set the Price of Your Course You’ve spent hours writing content, creating slides, designing graphics, and putting together videos. Now that all that work is done, you’re still stuck wondering how much money you should charge for your course. You know that a lot of your time and effort went into creating the course but how much is that worth exactly? Pricing your course is a delicate balance between charging enough to compensate you for your expenditures, knowledge, and time, while also not setting your price so high that it scares students away.  You have to find the sweet spot. A good way to do that is to research how courses similar to yours are priced. Bear in mind that as your course garners reviews it will appeal to more students and you can always increase your prices. When thinking about pricing your online course you also need to consider HOW to charge for an online course. There are two main methods – subscription-based and fixed-price. Subscription-based model (membership) In a subscription-based model, students pay a recurring fee for access to your courses. This model can make sense if you are frequently adding new course material or if your field requires practice. With a subscription model, students can keep engaging with your content and continue to develop their skills. A good example of a subscription-based online course is online fitness memberships. These memberships offer students access to online fitness courses and other related materials.  Students continue to pay the subscription as they repeat the videos. The fitness instructors also continue to release more videos for their members to access. Fitness is a lifelong journey and continuing to engage with the materials makes sense. Fixed Price model In a fixed-price model, students pay a fee and then have access to a set amount of content. You can choose to make the amount of time they have access limited but this is not a common practice.  This model of paying one price for access to content is the most common form online course payment takes. This is also the model on popular online course marketplaces like Udemy. Course Payment Plan Another factor to consider in your pricing is whether you would like to offer a course payment plan. In a fixed-price model, students would pay one set price for the course but break it up into instalments under a course payment plan. A somewhat similar idea in the world of subscription-based courses is tiered memberships. Students can pay a lower price but do not have access to the full features of the course. A Successful Sales Page for an Online Course Your sales page is where you present your course to prospective students. It’s possibly the first impression that a potential student will have of your business, so it needs to be well-designed and professional looking. A good sales page should include: An introduction to the course (what does it cover?) You wouldn’t buy a product that you don’t understand and neither will your students. You also want to avoid disappointing students who thought that they were buying a different kind of course or product. The benefits of taking the course What will this course help your target student achieve? Lay this out clearly and attractively for them on your sales page.  Will it help them improve their business? Will it teach them a new macrame technique that will allow them to start creating fibre pieces with multiple colours? Lay out exactly what skills your students will level up with your course. Any extra value your course might offer  Why should students choose your course over the other HIIT course two search results down? Use your sales page to show the value of your specific course. Will your students get any additional materials? Tell them!  Do you have any special certifications relevant to the course or many years of experience? Tell them! Also, include testimonials and reviews so they can see that others have received benefits from your teaching. The price of the course Though it might seem obvious, don’t forget to include the price. Your sales page is the moment of decision and your students should have all of the information in front of them. It’s important that your sales page has a clear call to action (CTA) button that leads students through the process of purchasing your course. The CTA button should lead students directly to the checkout process. If you want to add extra functionality to your sales page such as a free trial, you can link to that as well.  Where Can I Sell My Courses Over the Internet? Selling courses online is a great way to earn money from home. There are several ways to sell courses online, such as through Amazon, Teachable, Udemy, and others.  The best part about selling courses online is that you don’t need any inventory or physical space to do so. All you need is a computer and an internet connection. Your inventory will be on the internet and you will have a place to put it, in other words, you will need an online course hosting platform. Let’s discuss the different types of platforms for selling your online course. Through Your Own Website A great option for hosting your online course is your own website. You can code the course from scratch, use a stand-alone online course hosting platform, or use WordPress plugins.  This option is great for course creators who already have an online audience that they can direct to their course. It also allows you to maintain complete control of your content. Some downsides to this method are that you are responsible for all marketing and for taking payment. Protecting your students’ credit card and personal data is of the utmost importance. Don’t skimp on setting up your online payment system. You can consider using Stripe as an easy and safe way to take payments on your website. All-in-One Platforms for Online Courses Online course creation is made simple with an all-in-one solution. Course creation services in this bracket aim to have everything you need to set up a course, accept payments and market your online course. Examples of all-in-one course platforms include Kartra, Podia and Kajabi. These types of platforms generally operate on a subscription model. As your course creation needs increase you can move up the payment plan tiers to access more features. A benefit to using this method is that all that you need is one place. It also takes away the need to have or to hire technical expertise. Some downsides include having to pay an ongoing fee and not having complete control of the platform. Online Course Marketplaces Online course marketplaces also help you create and host online courses on their sites. You will have all the tools you need to create a course right there on your host site.  In addition, your course will be added to the site’s marketplace! These marketplaces have students actively searching to take online courses like yours. These platforms also cater to students as well as course creators. They can come there to browse and search for courses.  In exchange for offering you access to their student pool, these sites will take a share of your course sales. The access to students could also come with the downside of students having access to your competition’s course with the same search. Is It Really Worth It To Sell Courses Online? Yes, it is! Selling courses online is a great way to earn money from home. There are several reasons why selling courses online is worth it. Inventory First, you don’t need any inventory. You can get started with computer access and your own knowledge of your field. Location Independent Second, you can sell anywhere at any time. You aren’t limited by the constraints of time or place on the internet. Own Schedule Third, you can set up your own schedule. Since you are not working a traditional 9-5 with online course creation you can make a schedule that fits your lifestyle. Work from Home Fourth, you can work from home, at a coffee shop, from a villa in your dream vacation spot, or at the beach. You get it. You can take your online course creation business anywhere you can dream. Income Generation Fifth, you can start making money from selling courses right away. You can make a course for a low financial investment. As your first sales roll in you could already recoup your investment and begin profiting. Find Your Passion Sixth, you can build a business around what you love doing. Your course should cover something you are not only knowledgeable about but also excited about. Follow your passions. As the saying goes, if you love what you do you never work a day in your life. Passive Income Seventh, you can create passive income. Online courses can be created in a way that requires very little ongoing involvement from the creator. As you step away the income you generate becomes a passive income. Scale Quickly Eighth, you can scale your business quickly. Once you create one course you can find gaps where other courses can go. Your students can approach you with other areas they need development. You can then create more courses. Sales of online courses are also limitless. Even with one online course, you can scale. Just keep marketing and finding new students. Flexible Hours Ninth, why stop at one course or niche? You can create an entire range of courses based on market trends, feedback from your students and updates on your course topic. Minimal Investment Tenth, you can grow your business with minimal investment. As you create new courses you can continue to do so on a low budget. Just make sure you are turning out high-quality content. Your marketing costs can also be kept low. You don’t even need to spend on Facebook ads if you can grow your following organically through hard work. Online course creation doesn’t need to break the bank. You don’t even need a computer if you can access a public library. Don’t let any potential costs stop you from creating the online course of your dreams. How Can I Turn Prospects Into Students? The best way to turn prospects into students is to provide them with valuable information about your product or service. Once they find out what you do, they may be interested in buying from you. If what you are offering is unclear or confusing you will have less success in the long term.  When marketing your course, always clearly lay out what you are bringing to the table and have a clear call to action. The call to action should lead them to your lead magnet or sales page. Don’t confuse people by making them navigate through several pages to get to what you are offering. Ensure that you are creating a sales funnel and email list. Utilise these tools to reach out to people that have expressed interest in your online business so that you can convert them into students.  Freebies Consider offering them freebies to sign-up or offering them a mini-course as a taster. You can also offer limited-time only discounts to create a sense of urgency for them to purchase. If they have shown enough interest in what you have to offer to give their email addresses they might just need one more little push to become students. If you have your own website make sure you are doing these things to turn prospects into sales. To attract new students, you need to create a website that has useful information for visitors.  Include relevant blog posts that establish your expertise in your field. Make sure that your site is easy to navigate and that it loads quickly. Also, include contact information such as email addresses, phone numbers, and physical address if applicable. As we have already highlighted in this complete guide, it is important that you lay out what your students will get from your course and what the course is about on this page.  You will also highlight any special offers you might have and include testimonials. Be sure to include a checkout cart for students to input their credit card information and purchase your course. What Is the Best Way to Market Your Online Course? Marketing online courses can be done in a variety of ways. There is no one-size fits all answer to marketing and will depend on the other choices you have made along the way to creating your course. Social media marketing is a great tool in the online course creator’s marketing toolkit. Using this method will require setting up profiles on various social media sites with the goal of promoting your online course. Using these pages you can interact with interested potential students and push sales of your course. If you are looking for a simple way to get more students to sign up for your course, social media marketing can be the answer. Social media marketing has become one of the most effective ways to market your products or services like online courses.  If done correctly, it will help you reach out to potential students and build relationships with them. Social media marketing is an affordable way to promote your business and increase traffic to your website or course sales page. It’s easy to set up and use, so don’t let it go to waste! Email Marketing Email marketing is another excellent way to market. Create an email list with emails generated from your lead magnet or other sources, and send out emails periodically.  This is a great way to keep people engaged and interested in what you’re doing. You could also include a link to your website or blog so that they can learn more about you and your work. Gather email addresses from people interested in your topic by offering them freebies like a template or newsletter. You can then leverage these email addresses by sending them marketing materials and information that they will find value in. The options for marketing don’t end at social media and email. You can also participate in a podcast or host your own. You can give a TedTalk or create an online community. The options to market are endless. Good Marketing vs Bad Marketing If you want to be successful, it is important that you know the difference between good marketing and bad marketing. Good Marketing: Is focused on your audience Has a clear goal Is measurable Is repeatable Bad Marketing: Does not focus on your audience Adopts a hope-and-pray mentality Is only interested in aesthetics Focuses on vanity metrics (likes, followers, views, etc) As this list shows us, good marketing has a clear target in mind and a clear goal to achieve. Marketing should not be a shot in the dark.  It is also best if you can measure how successful your marketing strategy was so you can make any necessary tweaks before beginning a new campaign. Create good marketing and a great course and you will be making money from online courses in no time. How Important Is Social Media in Selling Online Courses? Social media is an EXTREMELY important part of selling courses online. It is a powerful tool for building your brand, creating social proof, and connecting with potential students.  Social media platforms are where people communicate, build communities, and even get their news. You want to be a part of that ecosystem. If an ad runs in the woods and nobody sees it, was there ever an ad? You can leverage social media for a variety of purposes. The first thing that might come to mind is digital marketing. This kind of marketing via social media can take two basic forms. But all in all, it’s about engaging with your audience and creating content that keeps them interested. You should try to be informative while also entertaining. One way to market is via your posts on the platform. You will create posts with calls to action that implore people to buy your course. These posts will resemble more traditional advertising.  You can also use advertising tools on social media. These are paid ads that will reach an audience beyond your followers. You can repurpose posts on your own page for these ads to keep the content more organic. Social media is useful beyond just traditional-looking marketing, however. All of your interactions on social media platforms do not need to be salesy to be useful toward your goal of selling an online course.  Engaging with people in your field, or interested in it, can help you find students and course ideas. By contributing to communities you can build a good reputation for yourself and your brand. You can also use social media to create your own online community to support your online course. What Is the Most Effective Method for Determining Who Your Target Students Are? The best way to determine who your target customers are is through market research. Market research is the process of gathering information about your potential customer base. This includes asking questions: What Needs Does Your Course Fill? People make purchases to satisfy their necessities and desires. Just by thinking about how your course could fulfil that you can work backwards to find the type of person who would be interested in purchasing your course. You wouldn’t sell ice to Eskimos after all. What Makes Your Course Different? Lots of offerings might be able to fill the same need your course does. This is where you need to think about what sets your course apart. Does your course feature lots of audio content making it easy for people on the go to engage?  Does it come with a planning section when others skip over it? When you find what is special about your course as compared to comparable courses you can get an idea of who might be interested in that special feature and find your target student. Who Already Engages With Your Content? When considering who will buy your course, think about the people who are already exposed to your content. That is your built-in market. If you have a sizable social media following, those users can become students.  While this tip skews more towards selecting a course topic it is still important to keep in mind when creating a model of your target student. Once you have your answers to these questions, you can create a marketing campaign that appeals to your future students. This is how to best sell online courses. Just as you have your ideal course in mind as you create your online course content it is helpful to keep a picture of your target student in mind as you create your marketing strategy. What Are the Best Platforms for Hosting Videos for Your Online Course? The best platforms for hosting videos for your online course include YouTube, Vimeo, and Wistia. These platforms offer different features such as analytics, embedding, and commenting. However, they all provide similar functionality. Choosing between them comes down largely to personal preference. Why do you want to host videos for an online course? Video content is engaging and popular with students. However, when creating videos for an online course ensure they are not too lengthy.  Creating smaller videos allows busy students to break up their study time into manageable chunks. If your video is too long, it becomes difficult to watch and can put off students who would rather read the material than watch a video. The best way to find out if your audience will enjoy your videos is by testing them yourself. Ask friends and family to test your videos and see what works well and what doesn’t work so well. This will help you improve your videos and increase engagement. How to Sell Online Courses Using ChatGPT – Training I’m going to outline step by step how to use ChatGPT to help you map out and sell your online course content. Step 1 Give ChatGPT the information it needs to know about you in as much detail as possible. This video gives you an overview of how to get that done. Step 2 In the next step you’re going to ask ChatGPT for more information about who it thinks is the best client avatar for your program, this video will show you how to get that done. Step 3 Well done on getting this far in the process. Remember to take the results from ChatGPT and add them to your Google document. The next step involves interrogating your ideal client avatar. Watch this video and here to find out how to do that well. Step 4 The next step is where things get a little more exciting. You’ll now want to ask ChatGPT to write 5 emails for you in two separate batches. This video here will explain why you’ll need to break up the content creation process in two. Step 5 We’re almost there. It’s time to look at your options for lead magnets. In this video, we’ll ask ChatGPT to give us suggestions for lead magnets as well as deep dive into one of the suggestions to create an outline. Step 6 Now it’s time to create the welcome email series plus one upsell email. There’s also a bit on creating a launch strategy which you can find in the video here. Step 7 Oh goodness!!! I had so much fun creating these ChatGPT hacks for you. In this step, we reviewed the launch strategy given by the tool and we even created an outline for a 10-day series for you to go live on social media with experts in the market. Check out the excitement in the video. How Simple Is It To Organise Your Content? Organising all of the content for your course is intimidating but also essential. Your students will respond better to a course that they can follow.  The modules should clearly be building to their desired outcome. Instructions should also be clear and easy to follow. Remember that happy students make referrals. Maybe you are a super organised person and nothing about this scares you. Or maybe, like most of us, you aren’t.  Don’t give up hope! You can organise a course. I know it sounds daunting but I promise that it isn’t as hard as you think. It is actually quite simple to do. The first step is to brainstorm everything that will need to be covered in the course. From there you can break down the pieces into component parts that lead to the desired outcome. An Example For example, if your goal is to teach your students how to write a book, then you’ll want to think about what it takes to get published and make money from writing books.  You might also consider topics like marketing, editing, or even self-publishing. The more specific you are with your goals, the easier it will be to find resources on those subjects. Once your brainstorming is done put your thoughts on Trello or use Google Sheets. As you are inputting the information, think about how they flow together and in the best possible order. Then review it.  If you have a lot of ideas, it’s good to go through them one by one and see if they make sense in the context of the course. You can also do this for each module of the course. If you find that some modules don’t work well with others, then you may want to split those out into separate courses. Now that you know the modules and goals of your course, and have an order, you are ready to move forward and begin creating. Keep this organised by making lists you can easily update about the content needed for each section. Review as you go. Conclusion Selling a course online is an attainable goal for you. If you have the knowledge to share you can make a profitable course. However, You will need to spend the time to make it great. Ensure that you keep in mind the needs of your audience when creating your content. Create quality content and compile it in an organised way that appeals to students. Think about your ideal student and what they will need and find interesting. Create a quality online course that benefits your students and that you can sell successfully. With your ideal student still in mind, you can create an effective marketing campaign to sell you online. Utilise different ways of marketing including email lists and social media. Selling a course can be overwhelming so if you need help with the process, schedule a call with me so we can create a great plan for your course idea.

Patty was preparing to start her small business but one question bothered her, what is the actual cost of marketing on social media? During her online research, she found several sources that outlined a large number of different strategies. As someone who is going to be a solopreneur, Patty doesn’t have a big budget available. So, it’s imperative for her to adopt a strategy and develop a plan that will work for her and the way she wants her potential clients to experience her brand online. If it was true a decade ago that everyone was on social media, it definitely is a fact now. Even your grandmother is on Facebook sharing viral cat videos. The fact that everyone is on social media, gives you a good reason to market using social media. Who doesn’t want to be marketing to everyone?  The cost of marketing on social media is a factor to consider as you start considering your marketing strategy. Though you can’t afford to ignore advertising on social media you still want an idea of the costs so that you can advertise on social media while staying within your marketing budget. In this post, you’ll learn who does what on social media, the cost of hiring them, the tools you can use, and the cost of social media advertising. Also, how to calculate your budget and the number one secret that nobody shares on how to get a return on your investment. What is Social Media Marketing? Social media marketing boils down to marketing on social media. Does that answer your question? Probably not. Let’s dig into it more deeply. Social media marketing involves using social media platforms to build awareness of your brand, increase sales of your products, and drive traffic to your website. The platforms for social media are places where people can connect with others and share content. Social media platforms include sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.  You can use your profile on these sites to market to your potential customers. This requires creating content and posting it. You can use planners to chart out your posting schedule. You can also use tools like Facebook Ads to market to people who fit the profile of your customers that might not already be following you on social media.  No matter which strategy you pursue with your social media marketing campaign, you need to advertise on social media. There are 4.62 billion social media users this year. These people represent 58% of the globe. 27.6% of these users say that they discover new products and brands via social media. You need to be marketing to these people to capture your share of the market.  This is the most effective way to generate leads and increase your conversion rate. Social media marketing also offers the advantage of analytics. You can see in clear numbers the number of people seeing and engaging with your content. You can easily track which types of posts resonate with the largest market share and create more posts that get clicks.  Social Media Manager Costs You are going to be marketing on social media. It is a given in today’s climate. Though there are many tools available to ease the process of doing it yourself, you might be considering bringing in help for your digital marketing campaign. How much is a social media manager? What about an intern? Let’s dive into it! Intern Social media marketing interns generally earn around $15 per hour. Their tasks include things like creating social media posting schedules, creating captions or graphics for social media posts, and tracking analytics for already posted marketing.  Interns might not have the experience to tackle large projects or take on the creation of posts. They are a great option to keep you organised and to handle smaller tasks. As your intern gains experience you can begin to entrust them with more tasks, perhaps even working up to content creation.  Freelancer The internet hasn’t just changed the way we connect with each other via the rise of social media, it has also led to the rise of freelancers in fields such as social media marketing services.  With platforms like Upwork and Fiverr, you can hire a social media manager on a per-post basis and see reviews of their previous work. Well-reviewed freelancers on these platforms, on average, start at $285 for four posts on two platforms to $795 for 30 posts on four platforms.  They can be the best way for small businesses to manage their different social media platforms on a small budget. Full-Time Employee On average a full-time social media manager earns $58,000 per year. Though this might seem like a large chunk of change a full-time employee can make sense depending on the size of your business.  They will be fully devoted to tasks like increasing your social media following and planning out a posting schedule. They also handle analytics to see what is and isn’t helping your business.   Social Media Marketing Firm A small social media marketing firm can charge a variety of rates depending on the social media management you require. Prices range from $50-$300 per hour. Tasks that these firms can handle range from responding to customer reviews to creating and publishing Facebook Ads for your company. They will also have graphic designers. Social media marketing firms might seem like an expensive purchase but can definitely be the best option for your social media pages. If you are considering launching a large campaign it can be worth it to have a dedicated team to plan and implement it.  If you want to increase your engagement with people who comment on your posts or leave reviews it can eat up a lot of your time to do it personally and could be a great task for a firm.  Factors Affecting Social Media Marketing Costs A lot of different elements go into creating your social media marketing budget. Are you just in need of some help and can hire an intern? Have you scaled your business and found yourself in need of someone to create an entire social media marketing campaign for a new product? These come with wildly different price tags. Let’s dive into these various factors affecting price.  Your Company’s Size As I’m sure you have found out during your entrepreneurial journey, your needs change as you grow. If you are still running your business as a one-man shop you might consider bringing in a freelancer to handle your posting schedule to open up your time for other endeavours.  If you have scaled your business and are launching a new product, you might consider an agency to create an entire marketing strategy for you.  Specific Business Objectives Your aim in your marketing campaign will affect your budget. Objectives of social media marketing can include building brand awareness, creating sales, or getting sign-ups for your email list. All of these different goals can require different social media marketing elements and this come in at different price points.  Tools and Software The content you post for your social media marketing doesn’t come out of the clear blue sky. It has to be created. Creating content requires investments of not just time and creativity, but can also include an investment of money.  You might need to invest in a higher-calibre camera if taking photos of products for your campaign.  If your brand is built on your personality you might need a tripod to take better photos for your Instagram feed. Canva’s paid subscription might be a necessary investment for creating graphics for social platforms. Social Media Advertising Costs on the Most Popular Social Media Platforms Your business’ social media page is an integral part of your social media marketing. However, you might want to reach people who do not already follow you. This is going to require an investment in ads and sponsored posts. How much do social media ads cost? Let’s dive in.  Facebook and Instagram, both a part of Meta, allow you to set the price you are willing to pay and will deliver you the best results possible within that budget. How Meta calculates your costs varies according to factors like your target audience or your ad placement.  For Facebook, the average cost per thousand impressions is $7.19. For Instagram, that figure ranges from $2.50 to $3.50. The average cost per click on Facebook is $1.72, for Instagram that figure is $0.40 to $0.70. The cost per action on Facebook is $18.68. The cost per engagement on Instagram is $0.01 to $0.05.  For the popular video content streaming service YouTube, the cost per view ranges from $0.01-$0.03. The cost of reaching 100,000 viewers is $2,000. Like Meta, costs vary depending on many factors like the length of the video or the ad campaign’s objective.  For a more in-depth breakdown of paid Facebook marketing check out this episode. Tips on Calculating Your Budget There are a variety of factors to consider when you calculate your social media marketing budget. There is no one-size fits all answer to the cost of marketing on social media. It is a good idea to consider the following when setting your budget: Are you hiring for additional help? If so what kind? Do you need to pay for any equipment or subscription? Are you going to run ads? On which platforms? Will you do a photoshoot? Are you going to need tools for scheduling and hashtag research? Will you be investing in stock photos? From your answers to these questions, you can research the average cost of the option you have chosen. Once you have found the average you can set a personal budget that you are comfortable with.  Though the costs might seem intimidating, consider if you can afford not to invest in social media marketing. Your business needs customers and those customers are on social media. Social media marketing doesn’t require top dollars always. You can opt to do it yourself or to contract out to a freelancer versus hiring an agency. This can keep costs down but make sure that your social media isn’t suffering in return for you saving a penny. Social media marketing creates sales and is worth the investment. One thing you can do is start with one method like posting content organically on Instagram 3-5 days a week for 3 months. Next, look at the metrics and decide if you want to run a paid advertising campaign based on the type of content that is getting the results you need. How To Get the Most Out of Your Social Media Marketing Costs To get the most bang for your buck when it comes to social media marketing you should avoid just throwing money at it. You’ll want your marketing efforts to yield better results and harness the power of social media.  Do your market research. Analyse your target customer, check out your competition, and try out some surveys. Get a lay of the land before you jump in feet first. Then you can map out your goals and outline a plan to reach them.  Keep your eye on analytics. Social media platforms offer built-in analytics tools just for this purpose. Use them to see how your audience interacts with your content and adjust accordingly.  Keep this up consistently not just when considering starting a marketing campaign. The way you evolve with your audience changes and grows and requires continuous reflection.  You can use these analytics tools for more than just seeing what content creates the most engagement. These tools also let you see a snapshot of your audience. Social Media Activity Times One of the most useful pieces of this is activity times. You can see when your audience is most active and plan posts accordingly. You want active social media users to see your social media campaign. In addition to continuously checking engagement via analytics, you should conduct regular social media audits. Set aside the time to sit down and look at your social media. When you look back over time you might find things like schedule inconsistency. If you notice that weekends tend to have a lapse in posts you can consider planning out posts to schedule in advance.  If you look back through your posts and notice that a key aspect of your business is underrepresented you can add that to a priority list. This will lead you to create and schedule posts on the topic. Social Media Analytics + Tracking One of the best ways to get a return on your social media investment is tracking every single thing and checking your analytics/metrics. When looking back over analytics you might find that some content consistently underperforms in engagements. As much as you might enjoy your regular series ‘Monday Motivation: Various Photos and Quotes of Things That Keep People Motivated,’ if it isn’t resonating with your audience you might need to drop it. It isn’t helping you reach your business goals. These audits are also a great time to check your content for broken links or inaccurate information. In reviewing your feed you can also consider if what you find is exciting or dull. If you find that your followers aren’t growing maybe it is time for a new campaign or a consideration of whether your style has become outdated.  Conclusion Social media marketing is essential in the modern era. Nobody can argue that social media is not a powerful influence in all of their lives. And if they are arguing about it they are probably doing it on social media.  As important as social media marketing is, it can still be an extremely daunting proposition. Should you be posting reels? My business is in the digital marketing sphere but everyone wants to see a cat meme right? Should I post it to my Facebook story? There is so much to consider! There is also the budget to keep in mind. Should you opt for Canva Pro? Do you need to hire a marketing agency? Can you justify a freelancer? How much should you bid for Facebook Ads? Don’t get overwhelmed. Check out our 90 Days in 90 Minutes program and develop your social media marketing strategy now.

Eva sat in front of her desktop, contemplating how to set up the online classes she dreamed of launching. ‘But how long should an online course be?’ she thought. She didn’t want to prepare online content that would be too cumbersome for students to complete. For over two years now Eva has been a digital marketer, and quite successful at it, but now she wants to launch into the online course space. For what exactly? To bring her knowledge and skills to students who want to learn.  She glanced over at her email list to see the number of emails requesting her to start already; it made her more determined. If you are also like Eva, seeking to also put your course out there in the online space, you might find yourself asking questions like these: What is the ideal class length? How long should I make courses, so that my students can enjoy the lessons? Will people appreciate a longer course, or do they prefer shorter ones? Will my prospective students be willing to pay for the course if it’s too long or too short? How long are master classes? Will I make more sales if I make the course a bit longer? Will people feel my teaching won’t have value if it’s short? I think I need to increase it a bit, say 8 hours or more. All these are valid questions, so stick to this resource if you want good answers that will guide you through. In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to help you determine the ideal length of your online course including lessons and modules. Factors That Affect The Length of Your Online Course It’s not just about putting out online programs. You want your students to get value from what you will teach them in your e-learning course. Depending on the course and the technicality, course content shouldn’t be less than 30 minutes or more than 4 hours.  There is no set rule on what the length of an online training should be. However, from the process of course creation, you will understand how teaching goals affect online course length. There are other things you might want to consider about the length, which include activities you will provide, what course material you will use, how thoroughly you will dwell on the subject, and so on. An ideal online course length can depend on a variety of factors. In all, your course should be long enough to cover everything that your students need to know without taking much time. What Course Material Will You Use Before putting together a course for your online training, you need to keep these things at the back of your mind:  Check the content material you are putting together and ensure it’s not too complex for the learners. Knowing a particular subject well doesn’t automatically translate to knowing how to put that knowledge together to teach someone else via online learning. Why this? Most course creators make the mistake of thinking their students are at the same knowledge level as them. They make the course so complicated and too long to the point that it is too difficult for students to understand. You have to identify common gaps in your student’s knowledge. Put yourself in their position and ask, as a beginner with little or no knowledge about this subject, will I need all of these? Your aim shouldn’t be to make sales but to impart knowledge, skills, and valuable information, so let your priority be the students. How Do I Spread Out The Modules and Lessons At the time of compiling the course, if it’s getting too long, then you should consider dividing it into modules and lessons. Covering your course topic by spreading out learning materials can help your students reach their learning objectives in less time. Spreading out the information in this way will help the lessons be concise for better comprehension. Ideally, the range of each should be between five to twenty minutes, a maximum of twenty-five minutes. As earlier stated, your students do not want anything that is unnecessarily long or complex, so there is no need to make video content that lasts five hours Also, consider that your students have their schedules. Some might have active jobs or run a business. Think about what their day would be like and make videos that they can cover at their own pace. Students appreciate it when lessons are in smaller bits rather than having the whole chunk of it all at once. This method is also an excellent way to help the brain grasp information better. How To Create a Good Course Outline Spreading out course activities is a great way to facilitate better learning. It is good practice to put the basics of the course first. If your students need to learn about the terminology used in the field of study, then it should be in the introductory section for easy access. Let them be appropriately introduced to the lesson plan. It will keep them excited and have an end result of helping them anticipate more information.  The introduction should also contain the instructions they must follow. This includes how to follow through with the remaining modules and how to carry out the activity lessons collected in the course.   Each lesson activity should be coordinated to give the best learning experience by using invaluable learning techniques. You might want to also include an interactive section in between lessons, say a video of about 2- 5 minutes, that requires them to take a quick test to check their understanding of the online course so far. What Factors Affect How Long A Student Can Concentrate? According to studies, many factors affect attention spans. Factors can range from things on the student’s end to the course itself. Let’s look at some of them. #1 Passion for Knowledge How seriously a person takes something will largely depend on how interested they are in it. The same applies to learning courses.  If the lessons are essential to them, or of great interest, they will be more willing to engage. In addition, the better designed your course is the more willing they will be to pay attention.  Let your course be captivating as well as educational, it will capture your student’s interest, and they will appreciate what you offer in online education. #2 Engaging Courses If you want to get maximum concentration from students, choose activities that will get them to participate. Even though you know the courses are for learning, you can also incorporate a way to teach the lessons that will make them more fun for students. You can make some lessons interactive. It could be a 2- 4 min video. Get them to complete a question-and-answer section.  You can also give them practical classes, tests, and personal research projects to carry out, let them be actively involved in the class, and you will see an increase in engagement and interest. #3 Easy To Achieve Students want to start and finish a lesson without fail. If you’re going to get the best from them, don’t make them afraid by painting a picture of a very tough and complicated course that they are bound to fail.  This will give them cold feet as they already have the mindset of a challenging course. Instead, find the right way to communicate that it’s something that can be done if they put their mind to it. #4 Quality Video and Audio  Since you are creating an online class, you should use high-quality graphics and videos.  High quality improves the appeal to students, don’t forget that people leave reviews online about the courses they attended. The best way to do this is to invest in quality visuals. The recommended video quality is 1080p. #5 A Class That Sparks Enthusiasm  Switch things up a little bit. Instead of the conventional way of introducing the topic of a new module, add some suspense by revealing some clues about what to expect in the previous class.  This creates a mystery that generates enthusiasm for the next class. How Long Should Your Videos and Lessons Be? Now, the big question is, what is the easiest way to structure your lessons and videos so that they won’t be too long or too short? Even though you want to create great content, you should also consider determining how long your videos and lessons should really be to ensure student engagement. This will also determine whether people will appreciate the time they’ve invested in taking the course and if they would buy it at an even higher price tag. Relevancy and Quality of The Course The main objective of an online course is to educate and provide needed information to people. If people are going to appreciate what you do, then it must be relevant to them, and it must answer the questions in their hearts.  To have a large quantity of content, course builders make the mistake of stuffing information that is not necessarily relevant to their courses. This degrades the quality of the course. You want to make your class the best thing that has happened to them. Attention Span The attention span of the average human keeps decreasing, and especially with the constant use of technology, people are used to getting things done in a shorter length of time.  Think of it this way. People will move away from a video that doesn’t capture their attention in at least 8 seconds. That’s how short attention spans have become, so to get your student’s attention, don’t put out lessons that are too long. Even in psychology, it’s easier to understand a lesson when it comes out in smaller portions than taking a long lecture. Long vs. Short Courses Point blank, people tend to like shorter videos, people are busy with so many schedules and deadlines to meet, and if, in the midst of all that, they want to take up a course, they don’t want one that will take up too much of their time. Students want a well-put-together video that they can watch and understand quickly without wasting extra time. So, how long is a short online course? It’s a point to consider. A study that analysed the watch time of video courses considered a sample set of 7 million videos from various learning platforms. It was found that learners found videos that lasted six minutes are more engaging than videos that take a longer amount of time.  If you are a course creator and you want the best engagement and positive feedback, then you should look at best practices. It would be best if you prioritised making videos below five minutes or, at most, five minutes.  This method has been tested and proven as an effective way to get the highest engagement from students. Effective Ways To Keep Your Students Interested Create Short Videos As we’ve discussed, people don’t want to spend too much of their time on online lessons. They want to be able to manage their time, so rather than making long videos that last for hours, make videos students can engage with quickly. Think of yourself in the classroom listening to a long, boring lecture. In that scenario, you are forced to wait until the end. Not so in an online course. It’s just you and your screen, so you might as well switch it off. Help your online students have a better learning experience by decreasing the time they must invest to complete your course. Please give them the modules and lessons in more digestible chunks. It will facilitate the engagement you want to see. Throw in Quizzes The main goal of introducing quizzes, practicals, and tests is to increase the interactivity of the course. When it’s more interactive, it’s more engaging for students in the long run. Make them do a compulsory quiz or test at the end of each module. This should be an expected part of the course so students are transformed as they complete the module. Their scores at the end of each quiz will tell you if they are following the course or not. Conclusion Your online course should be practical and relatable. You want your students to complete the course so make sure it fits into their lifestyle by breaking up content into manageable pieces and keeping the overall length of the course manageable.  Once you have set your goals for your course you can begin considering the most effective way to present your materials to manage time. You are encouraged to schedule a call with me to assist you in planning your course.