Automating Your Email List Growth

Automating Your Email List Growth

by | Mar 7, 2024 | Business

Hey there, fellow digital explorer! Are you tired of the constant hustle to grow your email list? Do you dream of a day when your list blossoms while you sleep? Well, my friend, that day has come. In this post, we’re going to dive into the magical world of automating your email list growth. So settle in and prepare to revolutionize the way you think about list-building.

Computer displaying Pinterest page for email list growth

Leveraging Traffic with Pinterest SEO

First things first, to grow that email list you’re going to need one essential ingredient: traffic. But not just any traffic, we want quality, engaged users flocking to your website. And how do we do that? One word: Pinterest.

Now, before you start thinking of Pinterest as just another social media platform to manage, let me stop you right there. Pinterest is a powerhouse for SEO. That means, instead of the daily grind of social media posting and interaction, you focus on creating pins with longevity—pins that work for you around the clock.

The strategy is simple: automate your pin setup. Fill a queue with your carefully crafted pins and schedule them to post automatically. This is how your content starts to work its magic in the Pinterest algorithm. As your pins gain traction, they perform better, and voila! You’ve earned yourself a prime spot in organic searches on Pinterest. And the best part? This traffic is directed right to your site, with minimal ongoing effort from you.

person in white long sleeve shirt and blue denim jeans taking a quiz

The Power of a High-Converting Lead Magnet

Now that we’ve got a stream of visitors pouring in, it’s time to capture their attention with a lead magnet. But not just any lead magnet—a high-converting one. This is your golden ticket to turning casual browsers into devoted subscribers.

While there are many types of lead magnets you could use, I’m a huge advocate for quizzes. Why? Because quizzes have consistently proven to convert higher than your average lead magnets. They’re engaging, interactive, and if done right, incredibly effective at qualifying your leads.

Imagine a quiz that’s so closely aligned with what you offer that it feels like a natural extension of your brand. That’s the kind of quiz that not only captures email addresses but also provides you with valuable insights into your audience’s needs and preferences. It’s a win-win: your subscribers get personalized value, and you get a list of engaged and interested leads.

person writing on white paper

Setting the Automation in Motion

So, how do we set this automated list-building machine into motion? It starts with setting up those pins. Keep in mind that initially, you’ll need to invest some time into creating and scheduling your pins. It’s not entirely hands-off from the get-go, but the upfront work pays dividends.

If you’re looking for even more automation, consider investing in paid ads on Pinterest. This can further boost your visibility and drive additional traffic to your website without the need for constant pin management.

Once your Pinterest strategy is in place, it’s time to connect the dots. Direct that incoming traffic to your website, specifically to your quiz. From there, let the quiz do its magic, automatically collecting those shiny new email leads. These aren’t just any leads; these are engaged, interested individuals who are more likely to become loyal fans and customers.

Remember, the pins you’ve put out there will continue to generate traffic for weeks, months, or even years down the line. It’s a system designed for longevity, one that gets closer to ‘set it and forget it’ than most strategies out there.

Do you truly want this to be completely automated? Hire me as your Pinterest manager so you don’t have to do anything with Pinterest yourself! I can also build you a high-converting quiz so you don’t have to figure that out either.

So there you have it, folks. Automating your email list growth is not just a pipe dream; it’s a very achievable reality. With the right tools and tactics, you can wake up to a growing list of engaged subscribers, eager to hear from you. Now, go forth and automate!

The Secrets of Eye-Catching Pinterest Design for Online Promotion

The Secrets of Eye-Catching Pinterest Design for Online Promotion

by | Mar 5, 2024 | Pinterest

Hey there, fellow Pinners and visual content creators! If you’re diving into the vibrant world of Pinterest to promote your brand or personal projects, stick around. We’re about to embark on a whimsical journey through the land of Pinterest design principles, where aesthetics meets algorithm in a whimsical dance of pixels and SEO.

brown conch shell on right human palm

The Art of Legible Text in a Sea of Pins

First and foremost, let’s talk text. It’s the silent shout that stops the scroll, the bold statement amidst a mosaic of ideas. In the bustling bazaar of Pinterest, your text needs to cut through the clutter like a hot knife through butter. Why? Because your audience is zipping by at the speed of thumb-scrolls, and your content needs to be digestible in a split-second glance.

Whether they’re squinting at a smartphone with a duo of columns or lounging with a laptop laden with a six-column spread, clarity is king. Plus, here’s a juicy tidbit: Pinterest’s all-seeing eyes can read that crisp text, giving your SEO a hearty high-five as it boosts your pin in the algorithmic arena. So, choose your fonts wisely, make them bold, make them beautiful, but most importantly, make them readable.

Some affiliate links may appear in this post.

Clarity and Creativity: The Dynamic Duo for Pinterest Design

Next up, let’s chat about imagery. Clear, high-quality images are your golden tickets to the Pinterest hall of fame. But before you start snapping photos or designing graphics willy-nilly, why not play detective? Launch a reconnaissance mission with your keywords, and see what the competition is serving up. You’ll find a smorgasbord of styles, but here’s where you get sneaky – you either blend in with a twist or go rogue and stand out.

Consider this: test both approaches. Some pins will resonate with the masses while others will beckon the bold. The point is, play with regular design principles like balance and alignment, but do so with a dash of panache. Centered, neat, and tidy wins the race, but don’t be afraid to dance on the edge of the avant-garde. Just remember, chaos may intrigue, but harmony endears.

woman standing surrounded by pink flowers

The Pinterest Palette and Proportions: Pink, Verticals, and the 2:3 Ratio

Now, let’s whisper a little secret – Pinterest has a crush on pink. But don’t let that limit your chromatic choices! The rainbow is your oyster, and creativity is your pearl. When it comes to design, there’s no one-size-fits-all. Yet, if you’re aiming for a slam dunk in the Pinterest design department, the 2:3 ratio is your playbook. It’s like the golden ratio’s cousin, twice removed, on the artsy side of the family.

But, as with all things in life and design, rules are meant to be experimented with. So, while you aim for that perfect vertical, let your imagination run wild within the confines of that digital canvas. Make your text sing, your images pop, and above all, have a blast. Because when you’re having fun, your audience can’t help but join in.

In conclusion, as you venture forth into the realm of Pinterest promotion, arm yourself with legible text, clear images, and a spirit of experimentation. Embrace Pinterest design guidelines, but don’t be shackled by them. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create pins that not only catch the eye but capture the heart and imagination of every scroller-by. Now go forth and pin with purpose!

Hire Katie Hart as a Pinterest manager

Using Pinterest to Grow Your Email List

Using Pinterest to Grow Your Email List

by | Mar 4, 2024 | Pinterest

Welcome to the colorful and creative world of Pinterest, a place where inspiration blooms and ideas flourish. But beyond its compelling images and DIY projects, Pinterest holds a treasure trove of opportunities for savvy marketers and content creators like you. Today, let’s dive into how this visual platform can become a powerhouse for growing your email list – turning pins into sign-ups and browsers into subscribers!

aerial photography of concrete roads

The Traffic-Generating Powerhouse

Pinterest isn’t just about pretty pictures; it’s a robust traffic-generating platform that can funnel a stream of visitors to your digital doorstep. Imagine each pin as a beacon, drawing in users by the droves, guided by their interests and searches. To harness this potential, your mission is clear: capture their curiosity and guide them from a pin to your site. Here’s where the magic happens – as they land on your pages, you’re presented with a prime opportunity to transform this traffic into a growing email list.

But how do you make that leap? It’s all about providing value that’s too tantalizing to ignore. Entice them with a compelling reason to join your email community. Remember, this isn’t about a hard sell; it’s about extending an invitation to a journey they can’t resist.

woman standing on street

Warming Up the Cold Crowds

Despite its potential, Pinterest traffic can be as cold as a winter’s day. Most users won’t know you, and their first encounter with your content is akin to a digital handshake. That’s why your Pinterest SEO game must be impeccable. Pinpoint accuracy in your keywords ensures that your pins surface in searches by individuals who are genuinely seeking insights or solutions related to your expertise.

But getting them to your site is only half the battle. Now, you need to kindle the spark of interest into a flame. How? By offering a lead magnet that resonates deeply with their current quest for knowledge. Think of it as offering a warm cup of tea to a traveler from the cold – it’s comforting, inviting, and, most importantly, personalized.

One strategy I advocate for is the quiz. It’s not just a fun distraction; it’s a high-converting tool that can quickly turn a cold visitor warm. A well-crafted quiz not only engages but also paves the way for a more personalized follow-up via email – exactly what you need to win over a subscriber.

Pinpoint Precision with Lead Magnets

The key to unlocking an email subscription lies in the relevance and precision of your lead magnet. Generic freebies won’t cut it; your offering must align seamlessly with the content that drew them in. If your pin leads to a specific article, your lead magnet should feel like a natural extension of that article – think content upgrades, checklists, or exclusive insights.

And while quizzes are my go-to, don’t shy away from experimenting with different types of lead magnets. The goal is to provide something so valuable and tailored that the thought of not signing up feels like a missed opportunity. That’s how you convert a passerby into a subscriber, and a subscriber into a loyal fan.

Let’s not forget, the traffic from Pinterest is not only substantial; it’s motivated. These are individuals on a mission, looking for answers, tips, and inspiration. With the right approach, you can channel this motivation into a thriving email list, teeming with individuals eager to hear more from you.

Final Thoughts

Remember, growing your email list with Pinterest is a dance of attraction and value. It requires understanding the platform’s unique dynamics, respecting your audience’s initial detachment, and presenting irresistible incentives. But with the right strategy, Pinterest is more than just an inspiration board – it’s a powerful list-building tool that can elevate your digital presence and forge lasting connections with your audience.

It can be a lot to take on if you’re already running everything else in your business. That’s why I specialize in helping entrepreneurs use Pinterest to grow their traffic, sales, and email lists. If you’re considering outsourcing your Pinterest, you can take my quiz to find out if now is the right time, or check out my services directly!

3 Things I Needed to Go From Wannabe to Successful Entrepreneur

3 Things I Needed to Go From Wannabe to Successful Entrepreneur

by | Sep 16, 2018 | My Tech and Travel Journey

3 Things I Needed to Go From Wannabe to Successful Entrepreneur

I should be on a plane right now. Heading back to Pennsylvania, ready to resume my 8-to-5 on Monday.

Instead, I’m sipping tea at my lovely house sit in Oxford, waiting for my clothes to air dry (because dryers aren’t really thing in Europe), deciding what I want for dinner, and strategizing about how to grow my business.

Location independence was a dream of mine for so long, but I always had this fear in the back of my head that it wouldn’t happen. I was smart, but not special. Creative, but lazy. Great with ideas, but not ambitious in the slightest.

So I maxed out my two-week vacations with trips to Europe and NYC and Chicago, gradually started investing in better courses online from people who were living the life I wanted, and began hanging out in communities online with people who were starting businesses.

But I still had no clients, and it felt like I would never have a successful business. Then 3 things changed.

These are the 3 things that changed for me between “wishing” for location independence and it actually becoming a possibility!

1. I found a tribe. The Bucketlist Bombshells were all about having location independence, but not having to work for years and years to get to that point. Through their courses I rediscovered my love for design and learned the best way to start earning a steady income while traveling – an ongoing service-based business.

2. I found a niche. I was completely intrigued by the idea of being a Pinterest manager, but it seemed almost too good to be true. So I signed up for a course, and then a few others. We’re still bit of a newer thing, so Pinterest management often gets grouped with social media, even though it’s not very social. What I really loved about focusing on Pinterest was a) it used my design skills, b) I could do the work whenever I wanted due to scheduling aka complete time freedom, and c) it provided a tangible result for clients – more traffic to their websites.

3. I found a mentor/client. After a little success with Pinterest design, I knew I would need to have some ongoing management clients to bring in steady income. The problem was, while I knew so much about Pinterest from the courses I’d taken, I had no experience actually managing a Pinterest account for someone else! Enter Susi. I shared in her group promo thread an offer I was trying out – 50% off my services for 3 months – and she took me up on it! And she has shared about my work in her group several times, leading to additional clients. I’ve also gained so much from what she shares, from improving my mindset to making travel more affordable with house sitting!

That’s it. Those are the 3 things that changed for me, between being a wannabe entrepreneur to the beginning of an actual business!

How long did it take? I found my tribe in April 2017, and it took a bit before I bought their courses and started doing them. I first heard about Pinterest management in November 2017, and bought my first course in January 2018. I had my first Pinterest design client within a month, while I was still finishing up the course, and Susi became my first management client in March 2018.

Want to know more about my journey? Join the Create Wherever Female Entrepreneur Facebook group!

Want to hire me as a Pinterest Designer and Manager to help you get more traffic, leads, and income for your blog or business? Check out this page to see what I can do to help you grow!

My Experience Building a Quiz with Interact

My Experience Building a Quiz with Interact

by | Apr 18, 2018 | Pinterest, Resources

My Experience Building a Quiz with Interact

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may get a small commission to fund my travels if you choose to purchase anything. I’m only an affiliate for products and services I’ve tried and loved, and will always be completely honest about any drawbacks or issues I find!

Are you as addicted to quizzes as I am? Whether I’m figuring out which Disney princess I am (Belle, duh) or evaluating my business knowledge and preferences, I love finding out more about myself.

So when Interact offered me an opportunity to try out their quiz-building platform, I jumped in right away! Who wouldn’t want an inside look at how quizzes work? (Well, I suppose some people won’t care, but I’m a complete geek about stuff like that!)

Starting with Interact

I started with a video walk-through of Interact’s site, and I was immediately impressed. Not only is everything clean and professional, but they have so many integrations and options available for businesses and bloggers to use for lead generation. When you combine the viral possibilities of a great quiz with in-depth data gathering, it’s clear that Interact can be a game changer for marketing.

And with clients like the World Wildlife Fund, The Home Depot, and Greenpeace, Interact plays in the big leagues. But small and medium-sized businesses are not forgotten. One of my favorite tech education sites, Skillcrush (a connection I discovered by happy accident), uses their platform to gain 10,000 subscribers annually, and Interact’s Lite Plan is robust and affordable enough for almost any solopreneur or start-up.

Quizzes can be dead simple or extremely complex. Interact has a library of more than 100 pre-built quizzes in many niches that you can use as is, or customize to suit your business. I started out by choosing one of these templates and examining exactly how all the different parts worked together. The most popular type of quiz is the personality quiz, where choices/answers lead directly to specific result options, but they also offer assessment and scored quizzes. After a few minutes poking around the pre-built quiz, I felt confident that I could create a custom quiz on their platform!

Building My First Quiz

I started with a fairly simple concept for the quiz. As a Pinterest manager, I have potential clients wondering if hiring me is right for their business. And to be honest, many times it’s not the right step for a business to take just yet. If they have no way to convert the traffic Pinterest brings, have no content to promote, or have more time than money to invest in their business, it may be better for them to wait. But for businesses that are ready, this quiz would provide reassurance that a Pinterest manager can help grow their reach, and it would also educate them about some of facets of Pinterest management (design, scheduling, A/B testing). And like some of my inquiry forms, this quiz would give me information about where they stand, to be better prepared for client calls.

Two vital techniques helped me create my quiz easily: 1. Start with the results, not the questions. 2. Draft your questions and the answers they relate to before you start building in Interact. I used Google Sheets to draft my quiz, putting the results along the top as columns and the questions along the side as rows. I learned from the demo and sample quiz that each answer can lead to more than one result, and multiple answers. So I repeated answers a few times in the columns when they would lead to more than one result, and fit two answers in one cell under one result if needed. You may want to grab a sheet of paper to draft if your quiz is threatening to get unwieldy in a spreadsheet.

Interact recommends 5-10 questions for quizzes, with 7 being the sweet spot for people finishing quizzes and getting accurate results. I ended up with 8 for mine.

Putting the Quiz into Interact

Since I had everything ready, creating the quiz in Interact involved mostly cutting and pasting what I’d already written into the platform. I reworded and expanded things as I added them, and even added a few answer options. While drafting was very helpful for getting organized, it was a little tedious entering more than 30 different answers into the quiz – but I do believe that extra step created a more refined result in the end. As I get more familiar with Interact, I believe my drafts will be a little more rough/conceptual before I move them to Interact’s platform.

Also, while my quiz is text-based, you can also use image answers! CC0 stock images from Pixabay are integrated right into the quiz builder, and you can upload your own images as well (there is 2MB limit per image, so you may need to resize first). I did include photos for the cover/intro of the quiz and each of my results, and I highly recommend you do the same, at a minimum. You can also add images to each of the questions.

I added the results first, then put in the questions one at a time, with their answers. I clicked the “Edit Results Correlations” in each question/answer page to match up the answers to the results, which was super easy!

Branding the Quiz

I chose my brand colors and the Google font I use on my site to make the quiz look like it belonged. I also was able to add my logo/favicon, but I was a little disappointed at limited options related to the logo. I also added my photos at this point in the quiz creation.

Quiz Integration

This was probably my least favorite part of setting up my quiz – but it’s mostly because Interact has so many possibilities and I wanted to do it right. Also, connecting to an email service is inherently a lot less fun than dreaming up a quiz! I really love that you have so many options with Interact’s platform – customizing calls to action for each result (which you can do when you create your result options, but I ended up going back and editing them at this point, once I had a clearer picture of where I wanted them to lead).

You can force quiz takers to give their email address before they get their results, but Interact recommends that you offer a subtle “skip this step” option as well.

Interact offers a number of different ways to incorporate the quiz on your website, complete with a WordPress plugin. However, I had several issues with trying to set up an announcement bar for the quiz. First, the color picker was extremely buggy, and I had a hard time adding my color hex codes, as most times I clicked on the popup it would disappear. I also wondered why it hadn’t carried over my brand colors from the quiz. Sure, I might want to switch them around, but it would save a few steps. You can’t change anything but the colors and the text – no font, sizing, button shape/shadow, etc. options.

You also can’t build more than one announcement bar option for each quiz. So with wanting to promote my quiz both here on Create Wherever and on my Quite Katie site, I was faced with a dilemma – which branding should I use for the announcement bar? The navy, light blue, and bright pink of Create Wherever would clash with the peach, teal, and burgundy of Quite Katie. But that was rendered moot by the next issue I faced.

Interact’s announcement bar covers fixed headers. Instead of sitting nicely above all your content like hello/announcement bars are supposed to do, it clumsily overlaps your vital navigation. When my announcement bar didn’t look nice with either of the two options they offered for placement, I researched the issue, and all their help files had was “oh, your site must have a fixed header” – no options for solutions. I reached out to them regarding this, but haven’t heard back.

Since my Quite Katie site has the navigation underneath the main header image on the home page, I was able to incorporated the bar properly on that page of the site only. I changed the branding to match that site, and it was good to go! But I still wanted to have the announcement bar integration here on Create Wherever. I tried searching for Interact and Divi (my site’s parent theme), but came up empty. I then began to look outside of Interact integrations and see how others had included hello bars with Divi. I found a fairly expensive plugin and a free Divi announcement bar generator. The generator had some styling issues (putting the button flush with the bottom of the bar instead of vertically centered) and it, but fortunately I know CSS and was able to fix the issues in the generated code.

So far, my solution works, but I would love to see Interact bring their announcement bar up to the level of the rest of their service. Perhaps they assume that larger companies will already subscribe to a hello bar option?

Conclusion

I’m super impressed with Interact so far, and it has great potential to help businesses grow!

As I just created my first quiz with Interact, I don’t have results to share yet! Look out for an update to this post, or (more likely) a link to a follow-up post after I’ve used Interact for a few months!

I do have one positive story already though – the day after I finished the quiz, a potential client was unsure if she needed a Pinterest manager. I sent her to this quiz, and her result was Yes! Her business could benefit from a Pinterest manager. We have a call scheduled next week!

Try Interact out yourself, and I’d love to hear about your results with the platform!

Want to hire me as a Pinterest Designer and Manager to help you get more traffic, leads, and income for your blog or business? Check out this page to see what I can do to help you grow!