Lesson 5 – Two examples of how to use your Shareworthy Freebie to get traffic

Yesterday I taught you how to create a freebie that’ll makes people think “I can’t believe this is free, and I’m going to tell everyone I know about it.”

Quick review of that strategy:

• Create something your ideal client can take action on to get what they want.
• Give it away in exchange for an email address.
• Share it online with an irresistible call to action that gets the attention of your ideal client and compels them to come to your website to sign up.
• Overdeliver on results.
• Ask them to share it with anyone they know who might find it helpful.

So creating this freebie is gonna take some time, but I can promise you, it’s gonna be SO worth your time.

Focus on the information first, not the format.

I want you to commit to making the time for it and get it done. It really is the key to marketing yourself online.

And today I’m gonna give you a few ideas on how to “share it online” to help you along…

Because when I say “share it online” I don’t mean “put it on your website” or “post it on your Facebook page where you have 0 followers”

That’s not marketing, remember? That’s just publishing content.

We are going to share our freebie where we know our ideal client is already hanging out online.

For me, that turned out to be Facebook Groups.

Which I didn’t even know were a thing back in 2015…and they are still going strong now.

I also didn’t even know “online business” was a thing back then.

I actually almost quit my web design business and gave up on my dream altogether. I was so burnt out from working one on one with clients and not charging enough. I was gonna finish up my projects and close up shop, and put my dream a box, tape it up and forget about it.

But my goal and my compelling reason were too strong. They wouldn’t let me quit.

One day on my way to work I was listening to a podcast and this guy was being interviewed all about how he makes money by recommending web hosting and teaching people how to get their website set up, and when people used his special link to buy their web hosting, he’d earn a commission.

I was like, “Wait. What? Did I just hear that right? You mean that I can teach people how to get their website set up, not have to spend every waking minute doing it for them, and make money? I need to learn more about this right now.”

And so I did. And I discovered that all the tools I had already been buying to build websites for my clients had these affiliate programs.

And that the guy on the podcast who was already doing this (turned out to be Pat Flynn, btw) wasn’t teaching the whole web design process, but just enough to get people started.

So I saw an opportunity to help those people take the next step, to build the actual website RIGHT after they set up their hosting.

So I created a video training series that taught the exact method I used to build an entire website for my clients and added my affiliate links for the things people had to purchase to make it all work.

And I decided I wasn’t going to charge for the training, but I was going to give it away in exchange for an email address.

Because I knew that later on I’d want to offer some kind of paid training and I wanted a list of people to offer it to.

So I had unknowingly built a Shareworthy Freebie (more on that later), but I had NO IDEA what to do with it at that point.

Just like you, I thought, “How are people gonna find this thing? No one ever found my last website…”

So I started doing some research, and it just so happened that I had the first part right (something valuable to give away in exchange for an email address that’s more than just a newsletter… check!)

And in my research, I discovered these things called “Facebook Groups” and I joined one focused on helping people like me grow their email lists.

And one day I saw a post that said “Promo Day! Share a link to your freebie here and get feedback from the group!”

So I did, totally expecting just to get feedback.

And my website traffic exploded overnight, and I quit my day job!

Okay, that’s not at all what happened…

What really happened was that I got my very first website visitor, my first email list subscriber, and my first two affiliate commissions totalling $150, all within the first few hours of sharing my Free 5 Day Website Challenge in that group.

And then… every time someone asked how to build a website in that Facebook Group – that girl that was my first subscribed, posted a link to my training and said how awesome it was.

And I thought… “What is happening right now????”

It seemed like such a small, insignificant thing to do.

Like, posting a link to my freebie in a Facebook group can’t possibly be enough to grow a business.

But it was.

I posted in that thread every single time it came it. I looked for more entrepreneur Facebook groups and joined them, posted on the promo days and answered people’s website questions.

And then I had 10 subscribers. Then 20. Then 50. Then 1000.

Strategy #1 – Facebook Groups

FB Groups are low-hanging fruit because groups by nature are organized around specific topics, and you can easily search for groups that are full of your ideal client.

• You teach people how to sew? Search for sewing Facebook groups.
• How to build a website for their online business? Search for entrepreneur Facebook Groups.
• How to become a work-at-home mom? Search for Mommy Facebook groups.

Now, you can’t just go in there and start posting links to your freebies.

Read the group rules. Some groups have promo days, some groups have strict rules against promotion.

That’s where this little hack is going to come in:

On your personal Facebook Profile, change your banner image to your irresistible call to action, and your freebie name with a “button” to click to learn more.

You can create the banner in Canva.

Then upload it, click on it and put a link to your freebie in the description.

Then, when you’re engaging in conversations and helping people with their sewing questions in the Facebook Group, you can mention that you have a freebie and that they can just click on your name to get it.

They’ll see your banner with the big Click Here —> button and the description with the link will open up.

Or you can reach out to the group owner after you’ve been contributing to the group for awhile and ask if you can share it (or if they would like to share it if they think the group would benefit).

That’s what Website Marketing Lab Student Kelli Femrite did to get her freebie featured to a Facebook Group of 800 of her ideal client:

Or you can strategically join groups that have promo days (promo days are great for group owners – they get lots of engagement and tell Facebook to show posts from the group in people’s feeds).

Strategy #2 – Tap your own network

Remember how I got my first clients not by building a gorgeous, SEO optimized website, but by saying the words “I’m a web designer” out loud to someone?

You have an amazing free piece of content that the people in your life that know and love you would love to share with people they know that could benefit from it – all you gotta do is TELL PEOPLE ABOUT IT.

You have an email address book, right?

And Facebook friends, I bet?

And probably a ton of contacts in your phone?

I’m a student in his Bryan Harris’s Growth University program, and this next strategy is something I learned from him, and it’s so simple…

Start reaching out to those people ONE BY ONE and say something like…

For people you think would be interested:

“Hey Name! So I just started my side hustle as a virtual assistant, and I made a free guide on how to hire the right VA. I’m also sending out a couple emails a month about outsourcing + managing a team. I thought it might be something you’d be into. Want in?”

Make them say yes or no – if they say yes, ask them for their best email address and add them to your list. If you send them a link to sign up themselves, they might not get around to it!

Also ask them who else they know who’d be interested and ask them to connect you with that person.

For people you think know other people who’d be interested:

“Hey Name! Guess what? I finally started my web design business!!! I know you’re not in need of a website, but I created a free training for entrepreneurs on how to DIY their website, and I’m also sending out a couple emails a month about marketing. Who do you know that would be interested?”

Notice I didn’t say “Do you know anyone who would be interested?

That’s a yes/no question.

I want to prompt their brain to answer the question I asked, which is “WHO do you know that would be interested?”

They’ll either respond with names, or with no one.

When they respond with a name, you can say something like “Great – can you connect us?”

So here’s a little confession: this strategy terrified me when I first started my business.

It’s such a simple strategy, but I had major imposter syndrome about putting myself out there as an “expert” and a “web designer” when I didn’t have a degree in web design (only 10 freaking years of designing websites for my job…)

My mindset was all backwards.

I was making it all about me and what people might think of me, and not about my ideal client and how I can help them get what they want.

Had I thought “This Shareworthy Freebie I created can really help people. I want to get it into the hands of as many people as possible, and if people tell me no or don’t respond, no biggie. I just promise myself I won’t quit.”

Because at least I would have taken action on it, regardless of the outcome.

And that’s a lot of what marketing is – taking a bunch of strategic action when you can’t always control or predict the outcome, and then analyzing what happened and making adjustments and taking more action.

Now you might be thinking…

This is it, Shannon? These are the traffic jumpstart strategies you’re giving me? Facebook groups and people I already know? What about Facebook Ads and search engine optimization and Instagram and Pinterest and webinars?

These strategies don’t seem like enough, do they?

• They don’t seem like they’d actually work.
• There’s no complex system to implement.
• It’s not going to result in a windfall of subscribers overnight.

Looks can be deceiving.

These are powerful strategies that when repeated consistently over time can bring you thousands of email list subscribers that ALREADY TRUST YOU (= are more ready to buy from you).

These two strategies are just a couple of the simple-yet-powerful marketing strategies I teach that are all about building relationships that you can leverage over the long-term to get more customers.

• Even if the social media algorithms change and you gotta pay to get your content seen.
• Even if Google decides to change how it ranks pages in search.
• Even if everyone abandons your favorite social platform overnight for the next shiny new thing.

You’ll always know how to find your ideal client online. That’s what Matt Baker, VP of cloud accounting software Freshbooks, said was the #1 most important key to an entrepreneur’s success on my podcast – knowing how to find clients without relying on ads + fighting with algorithms.

So you can do things fast, and put all your eggs in a basket you don’t even own – or you can slow down and market yourself in a way that withstands changes in tech.

Marketing is like getting a train up to speed.

It takes energy and effort to get the train going, but once it’s going, it’s hard to stop it.

You’re gonna put in work up front to get the word out about your Shareworthy Freebie.

But once you get it going, it builds its own momentum (especially when your freebie is shareworthy).

……..

Now it’s your turn.

Your action items for today are on page 7 of your workbook:

• Action Item #1: Take the next 5 minutes to search Facebook for groups full of people who are your ideal client and bookmark them.
• Action Item #2: Brainstorm 5 people in your personal network who are your ideal client (or know people who are) and write them down.

If you’ve already joined the Website Marketing Lab, you’ll want to revisit the “Six Degrees Hypothesis” for more ideas on tapping your network.

Do it now.

……..

There is a lot more to using the Shareworthy Freebie to strategically turn traffic into customers.

Once you’ve used this strategy, there are still questions like…

1. What do I do with these people after they’re on my email list?
2. How do I convert my subscribers into customers?
3. How in the world will I find the time to create this freebie and set it up and market it?

Want answers to these questions? Then stay tuned for the next lesson!

If you’ve already joined the Website Marketing, you’ll want to revisit Module 3, “Email Made Easy” and Module 4, “Marketing Mastery” to take a deep dive on what we’re learning next.

Here’s a recap of the mini-course so far:

Lesson 1 – The very first step to getting traffic
Lesson 2 – Marketing 101
Lesson 3 – How to attract your ideal client
Lesson 4 – How to create a shareworthy freebie
Lesson 5 – Two examples of how to use your shareworthy freebie to get traffic.
Lesson 6 – How to turn your subscribers into customers