Email

ConvertKit Free Trial and Free Product Creation Masterclass

April 12, 2017 by Brent Peterson Leave a Comment

ConvertKit is a professional email marketing service with some notable benefits in a crowded marketplace (here’s why I switched from AWeber, Constant Contact, GetResponse, and MailChimp to ConvertKit).

If you are just starting out as an online entrepreneur or you are changing direction with your web toolkit and business products, ConvertKit is a great foundation for email marketing.

ConvertKit is actually easier to use than AWeber, Constant Contact, GetResponse or MailChimp.

It’s also more powerful for your business because it allows you to create unique tags for your email list.

ConvertKit Free Trial

At any time, you can test out a ConvertKit 30-day free trial via this promotional link:

ConvertKit Free Trial

The ConvertKit free trial is good for one month free of charge for up to 1000 subscribers.

After thirty days, the cost is $29/month (until you exceed 1000 subscribers).

If you already have over 1000 subscribers (or you know ConvertKit is right for you), you can lock in two months of ConvertKit for free today by selecting the Pricing tab on the ConvertKit website and then click on the Annual Billing button:

Then click TRY IT FOR FREE in the ConvertKit column that fits your subscriber list size.

ConvertKit Free Trial and Free Product Creation Masterclass

If you are seeking guidance on how to create a new product, ConvertKit again offered a free product creation masterclass starting on January 15, 2018.

Details from ConvertKit on the free product masterclass are provided below.

As an extra bonus, if you are new to ConvertKit, you also qualify for the ConvertKit Free Trial for one month.

What is the Product Creation Masterclass?

A four-week long project walking you through every step it takes to create a successful product from scratch.
Twenty daily lessons sent straight to your inbox, Monday through Friday running April 24th through May 19th.
Weekly live trainings led by the ConvertKit team walking through the lessons and answering questions.
Four expert interviews from Melyssa Griffin, Jeff Goins, Chris Guillebeau, and Maya Elious where they share their experience in building online products.
Free trials to Samcart, Thinkific, Meet Edgar, and Teachable for all registrants, including a 30 day free trial of ConvertKit for new customers.

I hope these free resources are of value to you.

If so, here is what you need to do:

Sign up for the free ConvertKit trial.
Schedule time on your calendar starting January 15, 2018.
Grab a good cup of coffee (or two) each day.
Take great notes and make your first (or next) product happen!

Full Transparency

Graceful Resources has an affiliate relationship with ConvertKit so if you decide to invest in ConvertKit via any promotional link on this site, I am eligible for a nominal commission from the good folks in Idaho at ConvertKit if you decide to pay for the service. There is no extra cost to you.

If you start using ConvertKit, you are encouraged to set up an affiliate relationship with them as well. You’ll want to spread the word too. The software is that good, and I would use and recommend ConvertKit even if there was no affiliate program.

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

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

3 Email Marketing Tips When Things Go Wrong

February 11, 2017 by Brent Peterson

What often holds me back from sending out emails to my interest list is that I’m afraid my emails aren’t good enough. I forget that when you are in genuine and sharing stories (like I did last week in this post), it’s really going to be ok.

But I do agonize over what to say and I get paralyzed by my own analysis.

Can you relate?

The reality is that we are are completely overthinking things. It’s just an email folks.

Yes, some people will be deeply disturbed by our messages and unsubscribe from our lists because they are in an “unsubscribe kind of mood“.

I get that and I’ve been there. Then I often realize I unsubscribed from someone with a high level of integrity and honesty.

So I go back and opt back in, and save my “unsubscribe moments” for email marketers who seem to try to sell us something with every automated message that was scripted years ago.

The reality is good people like you and me sometimes send email messages with errors in them.

We are humans after all.

And we are using email marketing software that was well… designed by humans.

So it’s been known to do weird things too even when we test out the message before sending it out.

The key is to know how to response gracefully when errors do occur.

3 Email Marketing Tips When Things Go Wrong

1. Be Timely

When you send out an email that has an error in it like a broken link, be timely with your response. If you notice it (or someone on your list tells you), craft a follow-up message as soon as you can.

My client Martina Wing is a passionate manta ray advocate in Hawaii. She is in the process of migrating her email list from AWeber to ConvertKit with my project help.

We are using a really cool marine life coloring book lead magnet as an incentive for her existing list to “opt back in” (you’ll discover more about Martina’s journey in upcoming posts).

The other day, the wrong version of a message was sent to over 2000 people.

Within an hour, Martina crafted a follow-up message with the graceful introduction:

Oops! Accidents happen. Please accept my apology. Here is the correct message for your response…

2. Be Authentic

When errors occur (or plans change), take ownership. Don’t blame someone or the email server for something simple that goes wrong.

Let the miscommunication be an opportunity to show authenticity and humor.

My client Darcy Eikenberg offers career coaching services and products through her business Red Cape Revolution. She is offering a free video training series this month to help professionals make their make career decision of 2017 (you can check it out here).

When she realized the early bird savings she promised on her upcoming course was communicated for the wrong week, she took ownership of it and then offered to increase the savings!

3. Be Careful

When you discover an error in your email message to your list, you’ll also want to be careful with the follow up message.

What I mean is don’t be in such a rush to send out another broadcast that you forget to send yourself a copy of the new message first and test the links.

I will confess, as a Certified PMP, I am really particular about testing when it comes to software. I put it on schedules for my own projects and for client projects using Teamwork software from Ireland.

That being said, testing is still required even if it is not in your project plan.

If you send a follow-up message with the same or another error, your window for being timely and authentic has closed.

Don’t send a third message.

Otherwise, members of your list will then be in a truly “unsubscribe kind of mood“!

Hope this blog post helps,
Brent

If you’d like to stay connected to my work with clients and the transformation they are experiencing, simply click here to sign up for my email list. You’ll receive professional advice and examples every week.

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!