Graceful Resources

Online Scheduling and Web Design Help

Brent Peterson

What is a Landing Page and Why You May Need One

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In the previous post, there’s a strategic landing page suggestion for any broken link on your website. But to be honest, I did not discover what is a landing page until late last year as a student of Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula.

A landing page by most definitions is an independent web page with a clear and single call to action.

The call to action on a landing page is typically a form to capture the email address of a page visitor (or lead).  As a result, a landing page is also referred to as a “lead capture” or opt in page.

Landing Page Origin

According to this Wikipedia entry on landing pages, Microsoft first created landing pages to boost weak online sales of Microsoft Office in 2003. Whether they helped or not is debatable, but since then, landing pages have become a very popular marketing tool for online entrepreneurs like you and me.

And where there is demand, there is a marketplace of software providers ready to fill this niche! Two different software solutions alone are referenced in this post.

Landing Page Analogy

Think about a landing page like a flyer to see a band play at a local venue. The flyer essentially has just one purpose and that is to inspire you to go to venue at a set time.

Once there, you buy a ticket and enjoy the show.

What_is_a_landing_page

In comparison, the band’s studio is its website.

The studio is where the band creates music, just like a website is where you create content in the form of a blog, online courses, etc.

A landing page does not replace a website.

It promotes it.  It is your flyer.

Landing Page Examples

You can see landing page examples on this page.  In fact, the page itself is a landing page using the landing page creator of the Rainmaker Platform – the software that runs this website – here are all the reasons)

For comparison, here is a landing page example from Evan Michael Zislis, best-selling author of the book ClutterFree Revolution.

This example for Evan uses Leadpages software.  Leadpages is a Software as a Service (SaaS) company based in Minneapolis and they are recognized as the industry leader in this fast-growing marketing niche.  LeadPages lets customers create and host an unlimited number of landing pages for their businesses.

Here are some popular types of landing pages that Leadpages has templates available for customers as a starting point:

  1. Sales
  2. Opt In
  3. Webinar
  4. Upsell
  5. Thank You
  6. Product Launch
  7. Pre-Cart
  8. Page Not Found Error

For more information about LeadPages, here’s a comprehensive review.

What is a Landing Page and Why You May Need One

If you are planning to grow an email mailing list for your business, a landing page will help you statistically toward that objective.

Just don’t forget:

A landing page is a flyer for the band. It does not replace the studio!

Hope this helps,
Brent

How to Fix and Benefit from Error 404 Page Not Found

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Ironically, it took a spammer to notify me that this website you are on now had a big gap in its design. It is the same error that inflicts all websites until something creative is done about it.

The error is the infamous “404 Page Not Found” message that we’ve all run into on the web visiting other sites.

404_Error_PageNotFound_Pain

Technically speaking, according to Wikipedia, here is the definition of the 404 error:

The 404 or Not Found error message is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) standard response code, in computer network communications, to indicate that the client was able to communicate with a given server, but the server could not find what was requested.

Translation for you and me:

A visitor to your website clicks on or types into their browser a broken page link.

For example, an Error 404 Page Not Found message will be displayed on a screen by default if someone types in your domain name correctly (e.g. https://GracefulResources.com) into her browser but not the page address (e.g. https://GracefulResources.com/testmonials instead of https://GracefulResources.com/testimonials).

The Dangers of Error 404 Page Not Found

In my case, the helpful spammer ironically revealed to me that my Error 404 Page Not Found was also displaying my entire sitemap including a resource I have for sale to help job interviewers.

404_Error_PageNotFoundMessage

In other words, if people have access to the full sitemap, they could access any resource without actually paying for it.

The more common danger of Error 404 Page Not Found is simply that your site visitors will abandon their visit to your website if they run into this roadblock, and they most likely will never return.

How to Fix and Benefit from Error 404 Page Not Found

The platform I use to run my WordPress site is Rainmaker and I discovered there is a built-in feature to automatically re-direct any site visitor from an invalid page address to a landing page of my design .

(Rainmaker Platform has a built-in landing page creator too – here’s a summary of my favorite features of this all-in-one solution for entrepreneurs.)

To truly benefit from an Error 404 Page Not Found message, I recommend creating a “Page Not Found” landing page that becomes an opt in page for your mailing list.  Here is my example and a screen shot:

PageNotFoundExample

Once you’ve created your landing page, simply go to Settings / Content from your Rainmaker Dashboard and then scroll down to the 404 Page section and select the page name you gave your landing page.

In my case, I literally gave the page name “Page Not Found” so that when anyone uses an invalid page address, they will be redirected to https://gracefulresources.com/page-not-found/.

404_Error_Page_Rainmaker

You can again check out the landing page directly from this actual web address (https://gracefulresources.com/page-not-found/) or you can try out any invalid address for my website (e.g. https://gracefulresources.com/not-a-real-page/) and see how the infamous 404 error message is now fixed with an extra benefit!

Other Solutions to Error 404 Page Not Found

If you are using other software comparable to the Rainmaker Platform as the foundation for your online business, I encourage you to investigate whether there is a similar feature to re-direct any broken page links.

If you have a standard WordPress site, there appears to be a couple plugins available to address the infamous Error 404, but I strongly encourage you to test any plugins first in a staging environment for your website (the WordPress hosting service I use for my non-Rainmaker clients is WP Engine and it has a great built-in staging environment for customers.)

Another solution to consider is LeadPages which has a landing page template for the very purpose of converting a page not found problem into an opt in opportunity.

The Ironic Benefit of Error 404 Page Not Found

Thanks to technology, a broken page link on your website is no longer a bad thing if you set up a solution that instantly turns the error into an opportunity to promote your business and grow your mailing list.

Hope this helps,
Brent

FREE QUICK REFERENCE TECH GUIDE (click here): Discover the Graceful Resources I use and recommend for websites, including the reasons why, plus the mistakes to avoid when starting out in digital commerce.

Please let me know if you have any questions via my contact form or in direct response to my free Graceful Journal email mailing list.

I’m here to take away the pain of figuring out how to use new web technologies so you can gracefully profit online from your passion in life.

Top Reason for Starting a Blog

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In my previous journal entry, I outlined the three biggest benefits of starting a blog.

Or in my case (and perhaps for you as well) re-starting a blog on a new website.

I’m admittedly not the poster child for blogging consistency.

It’s one of those things I know I should do (SEO benefits are real when done right). And it’s one of those things I know I can enjoy doing (if I don’t treat it as a chore – one of the reasons I now brand this blog as my graceful journal).

My Blog Confession

I have fallen off the blog wagon multiple times over the past five websites.

My primary reasons for breaking the blog habit were primarily two-fold:

  1. I didn’t schedule writing time into my weekly calendar.
  2. I over thought the whole process (I’m a recovering perfectionist ;).

Note to self and to you, my friend:

Don’t repeat my mistakes.

We’re talking about a blog (short for web log) here.  It’s not a dissertation.

Nobody really cares about some grammatical type-o.

People care about what you have to say if it helps them.  They want to know about your journey.

That’s what matters.

Top Reason for Starting a Blog

That being said, the top reason for starting a blog (and maintaining a blog) truly from a business perspective is something less altruistic than the benefits outlined in my previous journal entry.

You see, my mission with this new website called Graceful Resources is to help you gracefully profit online from your passion in life.  I’m here to make the technology side of things your graceful enabler.

I want you to be profitable.

And the world needs for you to be profitable.

You have something special to share with the world, but if you can’t come out ahead financially, your dream will die.

Top Reason for Starting a Blog

Without money, you can’t cover your website operating costs – and the costs do add up.

(If you’d like a summary of the resources I use and recommend, my free tech guide covers it.)

Without money, you can’t grow.

Without money, you can’t serve others.

 Click Here to Never Miss a New Journal Entry

And the most essential and proven strategy to make money online gracefully and professionally is simply this…

Grow your email list.

Why Your Email List Matters

Without an email list, you can’t build relationships with your audience.

Without an email list, you can’t notify your audience of new posts.

Without an email list, you can’t share information with them about your new online course, ebook, etc.

Without an email list, you can’t segment your audience based on their interest (I use ConvertKit for this aspect – here’s why).

Without an email list, you can’t be profitable.

Every Blog Post Should Grow Your Email List

If your next blog post or journal entry doesn’t grow your list, write a better post next time.

No worries. This is a learning process and we’re on this journey together.

And make it real easy for people to join your mailing list from your posts. The pop up forms I use on this site built on the Rainmaker Platform all run through OptinMonster software.

To see a pop up example click here, and if interested, here’s a review I wrote on OptinMonster.

Blog posts work for you. Just don’t fall over the blogging wagon like I did.

The world needs to hear your voice.

And you need to be profitable.

Hope this helps,
Brent

FREE QUICK REFERENCE TECH GUIDE (click here): Discover the Graceful Resources I use and recommend for websites, including the reasons why, plus the mistakes to avoid when starting out in digital commerce.

Please let me know if you have any questions via my contact form or in direct response to my free Graceful Journal email mailing list.

I’m here to take away the pain of figuring out how to use new web technologies so you can gracefully profit online from your passion in life.

3 Benefits of Blogging

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I’m big fan of blogging.

I think it is the most authentic form of advertisement for online entrepreneurs like you and me (and it’s ok to turn off the counts on those social share buttons if you are just starting out).

A blog post allows you to showcase your authority on a topic through words, images, and videos.

And when you optimize it correctly for search engines (I use and recommend the Rainmaker Platform for this capability as well), your posts become organically connected to the questions people all over the world are googling about.

SEO

Important Distinction from Online Advertisements through Facebook and Google

When you reach an audience through paid “sponsored” ads, you still haven’t demonstrated your authority on the problem people are trying to solve.

What you have demonstrated is your ability to write and target a good advertisement (or you have demonstrated your budget to pay someone to do it for you).

I’m not knocking advertisements. They can be valuable part of your business plan and if you can track a positive return on investment (ROI) of your advertisement spend, keep doing it.

But blogging still wins.

3 Benefits of Blogging

  1. Blogging is Free

    Ok, it is not truly free from an opportunity cost perspective. You still have to put in the thoughtful work to create the posts or to aggregate posts from other writers who share your passion. You also need to optimize it for search engines (I will offer tips in that area on this blog). But when you blog, you are not handing over cash to Facebook or Google.

  2. Blogging is Authentic

    When you blog, you share your voice with the world. When you blog, you let the world into your journal. When you blog, you become a real person with real interests, struggles, and solutions. When you blog, you go the extra mile in service to others. When you blog, you become authentic.

  3. Blogging Gives You Content to Re-Use

    Each time you blog, you are creating content that can be used for multiple purposes. You can use the content as an opportunity to share something new with your existing audience. You can use the content as part of an ebook or course for sale on your website (don’t worry – all successful online entrepreneurs do it). You can also use the content for a speech or webinar (also a popular tactic).

Benefits_of_Blogging_Desk

Benefits of Blogging

There are certainly more than three benefits of blogging, but hopefully these three benefits will inspire you to get in the habit of blogging. There are enough advertisements. The world needs to hear your authentic voice.

Hope this helps,
Brent

FREE QUICK REFERENCE TECH GUIDE (click here): Discover the Graceful Resources I use and recommend for websites, including the reasons why, plus the mistakes to avoid when starting out in digital commerce.

Please let me know if you have any questions via my contact form or in direct response to my free Graceful Journal email mailing list.

I’m here to take away the pain of figuring out how to use new web technologies so you can gracefully profit online from your passion in life.

How to Remove Counts on Social Media Share Buttons

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You may also have a love/hate relationship with the counts on social media share buttons. Thanks to the Rainmaker Digital Support Team – the true techies behind this site running on the Rainmaker Platform (here’s why Rainmaker is recommended), there’s an easy way to remove social share counts.

So what exactly are the counts on social media share buttons?

The counts on social media share buttons are the public scorecards on blogs that display how many times your post is shared across different social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The buttons also serve to help site visitors share your content across the social media channel of their choice (and that is a very good thing).

Here’s a social media button count example from the popular Copyblogger blog (the same team behind the Rainmaker Platform):

SocialShareSample

As you can see in this example, this post has already been shared a total of 1390 times. Wow!

The Bright Side of Counts on Social Media Share Buttons

Social share counts demonstrate “social proof” that your content is worthy of sharing. More importantly, it also gives a usually-reliable perception that the author is an authority on the subject matter.

The logic is that if the author’s blog posts are well written, the author’s current and future products for sale (e.g. books, courses, membership programs) are also worthy of consideration.

It’s good logic and one that I subscribe too as a blogger and entrepreneur myself.

The Dark Side of Counts on Social Media Share Buttons

Social share counts indirectly punish the people just starting out (or starting over). A compelling blog post with just three shares is still a blog post with just three shares (and one of the shares may be your own and another is from your best friend).

As a result, it can create an often false perception the person behind the content is not noteworthy.

The counts on social media share buttons can also be inflated by bots and hired hands.  In fact, less than a year ago Twitter announced on its blog that it will be shutting down the tweet count feature.  That’s why you may now see count totals on social media share buttons on a post for Facebook but not Twitter.

You can still tweet the post like this one, but you can’t see the number of tweets.

How to Remove Counts on Social Media Share Buttons

The code to remove social share counts is quite simple and the social share buttons still appear and work as designed (which is very important).
To remove social share counts on blog posts, you will need to enter a simple code into your website theme CSS file.  CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and is used to describe how web elements are displayed on the screen.

Here is the code to remove the counts on social media share buttons:

.content .share-filled .count {

display: none;

}

If you are using the Rainmaker Platform, here are your steps:

1. Select Design and then Custom CSS:

SocialShareStep1

2. Paste the code at the end of your Custom CSS and then click Save Stylesheet:

SocialShareStep2

3. Refresh one of your blog posts to see if the share counts are now hidden but the share buttons are still working:

SocialShareRemoval

If you are familiar with WordPress (but not using the Rainmaker Platform at this time), you probably noticed some similarities to native WordPress. That is because Rainmaker is based on a WordPress foundation (but designed to be more user-friendly on the inside).

How to Remove Social Media Button Counts on Other WordPress Sites

To remove social media share counts using native WordPress, you also want to update your theme Stylesheet (style.css).

To access this file, select Appearance and then Edit CSS (you can also select Editor and then your style.css file):

Edit CSS

Important Note:  Test your changes in a staging environment or create a production backup before you make any changes.

(For non-Rainmaker sites for my family and clients, I use and recommend WP Engine for hosting WordPress sites that are built on the Genesis Framework. WP Engine provides customers with both a staging environment and real-time backups for their WordPress sites. Here’s a complete summary of why I use and recommend WP Engine.)

When to Remove Counts on Social Media Share Buttons

In summary, removing counts on social media share buttons is a strategic choice based on where you are on your online platform journey.

If you already have a sizable mailing list audience, it probably doesn’t make sense.

But if you are just starting out (or starting over like me), removing social share counts may be a smart strategic move.

You don’t need to compare your social media button counts to those on blogs that have been growing for years. And you don’t need other people to make the same comparison.

Comparison
You just need to focus on delivering great content on your website every week. That is what should be judged by others (not the number of shares on your brand new website).

Hope this helps,
Brent

OptinMonster Review: 10 Reasons to Give OptinMonster a Try

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So what exactly is OptinMonster?

OptinMonster is a premium lead generation software that creates eye-catching forms for your website visitors to sign up (or “opt in”) for your email mailing list. Click here for a live OptinMonster pop up form here on this website.

In software industry speak, OptinMonster is a Software as a Service (SaaS) product. What that means, is that OptinMonster is licensed on a subscription basis and it is centrally hosted (translation: you login to your OptinMonster account on their website to design your opt-in forms and to specify where and when the forms then display on your websites).

OptinMonster-Mascot

It is sounds complicated, it is not.  SaaS delivery models are typically more user friendly and the OptinMonster user interface is one of my favorites in the industry.  You’ll love the degree of form customization that OptinMonster offers at your fingertips. While this is a slight learning curve with any new product, you’ll get the hang of it fast even if technology isn’t your thing.

OptinMonster actually did not start out as a SaaS product (you previously had to download and install the software on your own website). Now all you have to install on your website is a plugin (if you are running a standard WordPress website) or to embed some html code (if you are running a more robust WordPress like Rainmaker – which is what this site runs on).  No worries: OptinMonster offers clear instruction on the embed process. I’m not a developer either and it was easy to setup.

How much does OptinMonster cost?

OptinMonster starts at $19/month for the Basic plan while the more robust Pro plan (the one I use and recommend) is $39/month.  You can also save a lot of money by pre-paying for an annual plan (also what I have and recommend).

The cost of an OptinMonster license will likely pay for itself after a short amount of time because professionally designed opt-in forms are proven to significantly grow email lists.

And if you maintain an email marketing list through a company like ConvertKit, then you are able to stay connected to your leads, segment your audience, and share products and services your business offers at the right time and to the right people.

OptinMonster Review: My Lead Generation Lesson Learned

I spent a significant amount of time trying to design my own opt-in forms when I was using Constant Contact (and then AWeber) as my email list provider. The designs were never integrated fully into blog posts and I lost future connections with potential email subscribers. When I researched what successful website and blogs were using, I noticed features such as:

  1. Professionally designed opt-in forms in sidebars and at the end of blog posts
  2. Opt-in pop-ups on mobile devices
  3. Slide-in pop-ups from the right corner of the screen
  4. Pop-ups that display when I am leaving a site
  5. Opt-in bars that go across the site in the header or footer (tip: footer bars are great for mobile devices)

OptinMonster is the only software solution I could find that offered all these features and is compatible with SSL certified web pages (so that I can protect my site visitors’ email addresses when entered into a form).

10 Reasons OptinMonster is the Best Lead Generation Software

    1. Extensive Library

      Select from a high converting template library (you’ll love the variety of form types available).

    2. Point-and-Click Template Builder

      Easily customize forms to match their brands.  See example at the end of this post.

    3. Unlimited site capability (Pro Plan)

      Install OptinMonster forms on multiple sites for your business, family, or even for your clients – which is what I am able to do.

    4. Integrated A/B testing

      Easily determine which opt-in form works the best with built-in Google Analytics.

    5. Exit-Intent Opt-In Forms (Pro Plan)

      Design forms that pop up when a site visitor is about to leave your site my moving the mouse off the screen (you can try it on this page if you are viewing this post on a computer screen).

    6. MonsterLinks 

      Create an effective 2-step opt-in process from a text link (click here for an example) or opt-in button:

       Free Lead Magnet Guide

    7. Mobile Specific Opt-In Forms (Pro Plan)

      Smart technology that allows you to create pop-up messages specifically for your mobile audience. If you are viewing this post on a mobile device, you will likely see it after a slight delay.

    8. Slide-in Pop Up Forms (Pro Plan)

      Non-intrusive Pop-ups that appear in the right corner of the screen of a computer monitor. See example in the bottom right corner if you are viewing this post on a computer screen.

    9. Integration with all major email marketing services and website platforms.

      One-click integration with email services like AWeber, ConvertKit and all major website platform like WordPress, Drupal, Shopify, and Rainmaker.

    10. Page Level Targeting

      Display OptinMonster form only on certain pages and under certain conditions.

Give OptinMonster a Try

OptinMonster offers a 100% no-risk money back guarantee. If you don’t like OptinMonster (although I think you’ll love it too!), you have 14 days to ask for a refund.

Full Transparency: I have a sponsor affiliate relationship with OptinMonster so if you decide to invest in OptinMonster via this link (or any of the OptinMonster links in this post), I am eligible for a nominal thank you bonus (20%) from the good folks at OptinMonster. There is no extra cost to you and your use of my link helps support the Graceful Resources platform.

For the record, I would use OptinMonster even if there was no affiliate program available. It’s that good!

If you become an OptinMonster customer too, I encourage you to set up an affiliate relationship with them as well.

Any Questions about OptinMonster?

If you have any questions about OptinMonster, please let me know via response to the free email mailing list or my contact form. I am here to help.