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4 Ways to Manage Risk on Web Projects

March 23, 2017 by Brent Peterson

Risk is Everywhere.

The entrepreneurial world of web pages and email marketing is no exception. Thankfully, there are four proven ways to manage risks on your projects.

In project speak, risk is defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI) as:

An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on a project’s objectives.

The Good News

Risk can be positive.

For example, you get more subscribers to opt-in to your new email mailing list than you anticipated. Or you realize more online sales of your product or service than you were assuming.

(You’ll discover four valuable project responses to positive risks (aka opportunities) in a subsequent blog post. Click here to join the free mailing list and never miss an article about the project side of online entrepreneurship.)

The Bad News

Risk is more often negative.

For example, your new opt-in form to build your mailing list isn’t working correctly. People are interested in what you have to say or offer, but they are unable to join your list. If that happens, it is likely they will never return to your web page.

The same case applies if your online checkout process does not work. People lose confidence in a business online in a moment’s notice.

Managing Risk is Critical

Any new resource or process you offer online in service to others is created in a project.

And your success depends significantly on your ability to then manage risks on your projects.

Project management helps you.

4 Ways to Manage Risk on Web Projects

There are four commonly accepted ways to manage negative risks on projects. Once you are familiar with them, you will be better positioned to plan ahead for the inevitable risks of doing business online.

1. Accept the Risk

When you accept a project risk, you take no action unless the risk occurs. This is an appropriate response to risks that are low in probability or when it is not reasonable to avoid, mitigate, or transfer the risk. A common acceptance strategy is to have contingency reserve in place (often in the form of time or money) if the risk occurs.

2. Avoid the Risk

When you avoid a project risk, you are eliminating the source of the risk from your project plan. For example, one way to avoid the risk of spam in your blog comments is to disable the comments feature on your website. The most extreme way to avoid a project risk is to shut down the project.

3. Mitigate the Risk

When you mitigate a project risk, you are taking action to reduce the probability or impact of a risk. A common (and smart) way to mitigate the risk of technology not working on your web pages is to execute a test plan. A test plan directs you to put your own processes like an autoresponder sequence to the test. You don’t want to learn your opt-in form or online shopping cart is not working days or even weeks after “going live”.

4. Transfer the Risk

Lastly, when you transfer a negative project risk, you are shifting the responsibility for the risk to a third party. Any insurance company is in the business of risk transference. You pay a premium for someone else to manage the risk if it occurs. In the digital commerce industry, a company like Rainmaker Digital manages WordPress plugin security risks for its customers through the Rainmaker Platform. That’s one reason the platform is a more expensive investment than a standalone WordPress site.

Project Management Works

The secret to successful entrepreneurship is simply this…

Plan the work and then work the plan.

The four ways to manage risk are critical elements of any project. Plan ahead and don’t accept all risks. Instead, plan to avoid, mitigate, or transfer most of your risks.

Your success depends on it.

Seeking professional project guidance for online entrepreneurship in a supportive and interactive environment?

You may be interested in the upcoming Graceful Resources project on How to Build an Email List.

Stay Connected to Project Announcements

Even if you already have a mailing list, the scope of the project is worth a close look. It is designed for professionals like you who have other full-time responsibilities.

Risk strategies will be clearly outlined for participants.

Cheering for your online success – one project step at a time!
Brent

Talent is Overrated: How to Become an Entrepreneur

March 16, 2017 by Brent Peterson

You have a passion burning inside you. Something you want to share with the world.

To keep the inspiration you share going, you need to stay clear of copywriting selfies And you need to be profitable.

Otherwise, you will not have the resources to expand your reach. It’s a simple matter of cash flow in the world of entrepreneurship.

Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made?

It’s an age-old question that may have prevented you from getting started because you assumed entrepreneurship is an innate talent (it’s not).

Entrepreneurship is a learned talent – even if society continues to judge (wrongfully) that entrepreneurs are born that way.

How to become an entrepreneur is rooted not in natural talent, but in grit.

Talent is Overrated

Angela Duckworth, Ph.D. is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the best-selling book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.

In the book, she outlines a four-step process to prove that true grit (not innate talent) leads to success. The four steps for your entrepreneurial success are outlined in this short post, but the following example from the book is noteworthy to debunk the success myth.

Is Practice and Hard Work the Key to Success?

In 2011, psychologist Chia-Jung Tsay posed this question to musical experts.

An overwhelming majority said practice and hard work are indeed the keys to success.

Great news, right?

In the same study, the musical experts then listened to two recordings and were told:

One recording was a naturally talented musician.
The other recording represented years of hard work.

While the experts said they favored hard work, they then overwhelmingly chose the naturally talented musician as being superior.

Here’s the catch from the study:

The experts heard identical piano pieces by the same musician!

So what they believed (inaccurately) is different from what they actually knew to be true.

The myth of talent is widespread.

How to Become an Entrepreneur

According to Angela Duckworth in the book Grit, the process to become an entrepreneur (or an expert at any craft in life) involves four steps:

Identify a Burning Passion in Your Life
Practice that Passion with Commitment
Connect Your Work to a Higher Purpose
Persevere When the Going Gets Tough

These four steps don’t happen overnight or for that matter, even in a month.

But they offer hope to you in a world flooded with false headlines and advertisements about instant success.

Plan the Work and Then Work the Plan

If you are seeking professional guidance for online entrepreneurship in a project-based learning environment, you may be interested in the deadline for the upcoming Graceful Resources project How to Build an Email List – Even Without a Website.

Stay Connected to Project Announcements

No innate technical talent required. Just bring your passion and perseverance.

Your entrepreneurial grit will be developed.

One step at a time.

Cheering for your project success!
Brent

How to Promote Your Website for Free

March 10, 2017 by Brent Peterson

You’ve got a great message or product to share with the world!

And you should profit from your passion so you can serve more people. You may have a website or landing page already published – awesome if you do, but no worries if you don’t yet.

One you have at least one landing page in place, you are ready to build an email list so you can stay connected to your audience.

(If you need help getting started, there’s an inexpensive Graceful Resources project launching in April titled How to Build an Email List – Even Without a Website)

Why Your Email List Matters

With an email list, you can build relationships with your audience.

With an email list, you can notify your audience of new blog posts.

With an email list, you can announce your offerings to people who already know you.

With an email list, you can segment your audience based on their interest (ConvertKit is recommended for this aspect – here’s why).

With an email list, you can be profitable and expand your great message or product to a global audience.

How to Promote Your Website for Free

There are multiple common strategies to promote your website (and email list) for free such as:

Publish and optimize blog posts to generate organic SEO traffic
Share your web content on social media
Add a link to your website or landing page in your email signature
Talk about your web page in person at events
Include your website in your professional profile on LinkedIn

Here is one more professional uncommon option that is available to you today:

Promote your website for free on this website (specifically, on the Graceful Resources Lead Magnet Examples page)

There’s just one catch…

Ok, there are two (but they’re both helpful to you):

You need a lead magnet (if you need help creating a lead magnet, the upcoming Graceful Resources project will cover that step too).
You need to be a Graceful Resources email subscriber (it’s completely free).

When you become an email subscriber, you will now experience three benefits:

FREE weekly project lessons learned to apply to your current or future landing pages, website, and email marketing.
Announcements about deadlines for affordable professional projects to help you build a strong email list and online business.
FREE professional publicity for your website on the Graceful Resources Lead Magnet Examples Page.

Your Passion Matters

You have a special gift to share with the world, and you should profit from your passion so you can serve more people.

If you have ever wondered how to promote your website for free, you now have another professional option through Graceful Resources:

Graceful Resources Lead Magnet Examples Page

Cheering for you!
Brent

Subscribe Today

3 Bad Words to Avoid in Copywriting

March 1, 2017 by Brent Peterson

The previous blog post about the upcoming guided project was a copywriting mea culpa.

Stated humbly another way, it was a content selfie. You deserved better.

It contained three bad words to avoid in online copywriting, both in web content and email forms.

The project announcement has now been adjusted but you can probably spot the three bad copywriting words between these original and revised paragraphs:

Original Paragraph

In alignment with my three goals to guide you strategically, keep you moving forward every week, and save you time and money, I am now preparing a new interactive do-it-yourself guided project for those who want to build an email list even without a website.

This project is for professionals like you and me who what to get things done now.

Revised Paragraph

In alignment with the three goals of Graceful Resources to guide you strategically, keep you moving forward every week, and save you time and money, a new guided do-it-yourself project is being launched to help you build an email list even without a website.

The project is going to be a meaningful experience for you as an entrepreneur to start building an email list of people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say or offer.

3 Bad Words to Avoid in Copywriting

As you probably guessed, the three bad words to avoid in copywriting are:

Me
My(self)
I

Full Disclosure: There were originally 27 instances of these three words in the post How to Build an Email List Even Without a Website. Ouch!

Hat tip to copywriter Carrie Glenn who shared the dangers of me, myself, and I.

So as you share your passion with others, be mindful of these three words.

They are the copywriting equivalent of a selfie.

Me, myself, and I focus the content on the writer (not good).

You, yourself, and yours shift the content focus to the audience (good).

Plural Words to Avoid in Copywriting

Accordingly, avoid the plural selfie versions as well:

Us
Our(selves)
We

They are just as damaging but thankfully easy to correct too.

If you decide to join in the upcoming guided project (click here to stay connected to announcements), you’ll be able to share drafts of your content with the Graceful Resources team and with other project participants.

Copywriting selfies will be caught! 🙂

Hope this blog post helps,
Brent

How to Build an Email List Even Without a Website

February 22, 2017 by Brent Peterson

You have a great message to share with the world and you can be successful reaching a global audience. But there are three goals you need to realize to accelerate your dream.

These three goals are to:

Receive Strategic Direction
Move Forward Every Week
Save Time and Money

In the online business world, your success depends on the fulfillment of these goals through professionally managed projects for web content and email marketing. This website called Graceful Resources and an online interactive project (details below) were designed with you in mind.

The secret to your entrepreneurial success is simply this…

Plan your work and then work your plan.

In alignment with the three goals of Graceful Resources to guide you strategically, keep you moving forward every week, and save you time and money, a new interactive project is being launched to help you build an email list (even without a website).

Project details are included below for your reference and consideration.

How to Build an Email List Even Without a Website

The project is a meaningful experience for you as an entrepreneur to start building an email list of people who are genuinely interested in what you have to say or offer.

If you’d like to receive a 25% discount opportunity and get started with a FREE Lead Magnet Guide, simply click here.

Title: The Lead Magnet Project
Structure: Interactive Guided Do-It-Yourself Project

Target Audience: Professionals who are…

Looking to Build a New Email List to Start Promoting their Passion and Helping Others Through Planned Products, Services, or Events
Not Ready to Launch a New Website Just Yet (or Have No Intention to Manage a Website)
Frustrated with the Opt-In Results on their Existing Website
Intimated by the Technical Side of Online Entrepreneurship
Ready to Roll Up Their Sleeves, Learn New Skills, and Produce Tangible Project Results
Eager to Connect with Other Professionals in a Supportive Online Project Environment

Start with Your FREE Lead Magnet Guide

By the end of the project, you will learn how to:

Create an attractive opt-in incentive or lead magnet
Set up a professional opt-in landing page and form with Leadpages to promote the lead magnet (participants can also use their own landing page software)
Select a memorable custom domain name to automatically redirect to an opt-in web page
Establish and test SEO settings for the new web page
Develop a double opt-in sequence to minimize spam and cross-promote current or planned offerings (optional)
Draft an automated welcome message to set expectations with new subscribers
Integrate and test an opt-in form with ConvertKit (participants can also use their own email marketing service)
Tag email subscribers into an automated welcome sequence
Deliver the welcome message and lead magnet to subscribers automatically
Segment subscribers based on interest tags in welcome message (optional)
Develop a marketing strategy (including the use of Facebook and LinkedIn) for the lead magnet and email list
Establish an email communication rhythm with the email list for long-term engagement

Other Project Notes:

Participants will be issued a Teamwork user account to securely log-in to the project from any browser. For those who don’t know, Teamwork is a project management-based software application based in Ireland. The Graceful Resources team uses it to manage custom projects out of Virginia for clients as far away as Hawaii, and absolutely love it for online collaboration and for getting things done in a logical sequence. Teamwork starts at $49/month and is a game changer for any part-time or full-time entrepreneur. Project participants will get to use Teamwork under the Graceful Resources software license at no additional cost.
Participants can also download the free Teamwork Projects app to get notifications and add task comments from their phones.
Written or video instructions will be provided for each project task.
Ongoing online support and feedback on each task will be provided by the Graceful Resources project team. Participants are also encouraged to support one another with online feedback throughout the project.
Each conversation will be grouped and stored by project task so finding and contributing to a relevant conversation is simple.
Project risks will be posted to further guide participants with their own strategic decision making.
Project documentation will be handled via Teamwork and your Graceful Resources login account.
The retainer fee for Graceful Resources custom client projects start at $500/month. But you are obviously not going to be able to charge that amount for this project.

Join the Project Interest List

In support of your three professional goals to:

Receive Strategic Direction
Move Forward Every Week
Save Time and Money

… click here to stay connected to projects announcements and to take advantage of a 25% discount opportunity details. How long you stay connected to the project is entirely up to you.

It’s going to be a very supportive project environment with this promise…

You are going to learn valuable marketing and tech skills (even if you never thought you could understand web technology) and you are going to produce meaningful results.

Once more, the secret to entrepreneurial success is simply this…

Plan your work and then work your plan.

For more information on the Lead Magnet Project – including Frequently Asked Questions – please visit LeadMagnetProject.com.

Cheering for your online success – one project step at a time!
Brent

What is Exit Intent? And 3 Benefits of Exit Intent Opt-In Pop-Ups

February 18, 2017 by Brent Peterson

Exit Intent is one of those new online marketing terms like Autoresponders (which was defined in this earlier post). It refers to a popular online lead generation strategy that you would recognize in use (but perhaps not by name) as you surf the web.

As a professional project manager specializing in web design and online lead generation strategies for clients, I try to stay up to date on all the latest marketing lingo so that I can explain concepts in easy to understand terms.

Admittedly, I test out my understanding and explanation on my family first. If the eyes roll, I keep working on it!

Once the concept is ready for introduction to a client, we determine if it makes sense strategically to implement it as part of the project schedule.

What is Exit Intent?

Technically speaking, Exit Intent is the name for the “exiting” mouse movement of a website visitor that triggers a pop-up message on the screen.

Stated another way, as your cursor moves to leave the active browser tab, a message pops ups to grab your attention before you leave.

You can manually trigger an exit intent pop up on this site via this link and you should see the following message:

Is Exit Intent kind of annoying for site visitors? Well, yes.

Is Exit Intent kind of effective? Well, yes.

3 Benefits of Exit Intent Opt-In Pop-Ups

1. Exit Intent Pop-Ups are Less Intrusive than Time-Based Pop-Ups

You are probably very familiar with time-based pop-ups on the center of website screens.

Some appear the moment you arrive on a website before you have a chance to read anything. Others appear after a set number of seconds or as you scroll down the page a set percentage.

I don’t know about you, but I find time-based pop-ups very disruptive and I am quick to exit them out (and not opt-in to the form).

2. Exit Intent Pop-Ups are an Online Elevator Pitch

When you use an exit-intent pop-up, you are automating your elevator pitch so that site visitors know what you are about before they leave.

Is there a chance someone is not interested in your content or business? Absolutely.

But if you are able to solve a problem someone is experiencing, you’ll want to catch the site visitor before they leave. Often, your value proposition is a lot clearer in an exit intent message than on a random web page.

3. Exit Intent Pop-Ups are Somewhat Effective

You won’t realize great opt-in rates on an exit intent pop-up because well… people are trying to leave.

Will get some leads on your email list that you would have otherwise missed? Absolutely.

And that lead could become a customer for years to come.

Exit Intent pop-ups are often worth the brief interruption.

My Software Tool for Exit Intent

I use OptinMonster for exit intent (and all my pop-up variations – including the footer bar) on this website. I highly recommend this cloud-based software and you can discover my lessons learned with OptinMonster in this online review.

Once someone opts-in to your campaign via OptinMonster, the software is smart enough to not generate a pop-up again for that user!

I plan to incorporate OptinMonster setup, design, and integration in at least one of my upcoming guided do-it-yourself projects using Teamwork software from Ireland.

You can catch announcements about these interactive project offerings via my email mailing list (click here to not miss out).

Exit Intent is worth adding to your toolkit and testing as a lead generation tool.

Hope this blog post helps.

I’m here to help you succeed, one project step at a time.

Brent

Special Bonus: All subscribers to my mailing list can add their own lead magnet web addresses at any time to my upcoming lead magnet examples listing here on the Graceful Resources website. So free publicity for their respective websites!