How to use digital marketing to sell more

A great advantage that the internet and digital marketing have brought to beginning entrepreneurs, is being able to compete on a better level of equality with large companies.

The online release of a brand, product or service costs much less than the dissemination via traditional media, and with the right strategy, you can achieve excellent results and reach a large number of people.

At the present time, increasing sales with digital marketing is the best choice. To a lesser or greater degree, your persona is probably online. Although there is no exact manual on how to do this, there is a list of actions and strategies that are fundamental. Check out!

– How to create buyer personas for my business

1. Transform likes into sales with Instagram Shopping 

Instagram Shopping is a feature that allows brands to create a virtual showcase within the social network, where followers can explore and even buy products without leaving the channel.

After setting up a business profile on Instagram and uploading a product catalog on Facebook (Instagram’s parent company), you are eligible to tag your products in your feed and stories. Thus, users who view your content and are interested, no longer need to browse to your website if they want to make a purchase; instead, they can simply click on the product to be directed to the sales page corresponding.

Basically, what makes social selling such a strong digital marketing tactic is the elimination of friction. By allowing your followers to make effortless purchases, Instagram effectively brought the power of search to social media.

– 6 ways to sell on social networks

2. Optimize your website based on SEO

A website has to be attractive and informative, since these are basic requirements to involve the user. However, to generate traffic, it is necessary to work on optimization based on SEO standards. 

This work aims to make adjustments that make a website more suited to what search engine algorithms – such as Google – require. As a result, you will get a better ranking, with your website appearing at the top of the SERPs.

Everyone knows that when doing a search on Google, it is natural that we are more likely to visit sites that appear on the first page, especially those at the top. In general, 75% of users do not access the second page of results.

An optimized website has a better ranking, appears on this first page and is more visible to the eyes of those who did the research. The chances of receiving clicks are greater, generating more traffic and conversion.

– 12 practical SEO tips for beginners

3. Start a content marketing strategy

Developing a Content Marketing strategy  is an excellent way to increase sales with digital marketing.

Blog posts have a great ability to generate traffic to a website, increase consumer interest and engage. But in order to achieve this, you need to produce high quality content that is relevant to your target audience.

– How to use your Blog as a marketing tool

Users are interested in educational posts, but not too generalist. Many of these people also want to know more about a particular product or service. Therefore, a content strategy must provide posts for all levels of the sales funnel.

– Understand How the Sales Funnel Works

In addition to blog posts, you can use periodic communication through newsletter and social networks. And don’t forget the videos! Launching video content via the YouTube channel, posting stories and making live streams are an excellent way to engage audiences today.

Optimized for SEO, these posts can attract the right leads, educate them and generate the knowledge needed to make a purchase decision.

4. Bet on customer reviews

You started using Instagram Shopping, made sponsored ads on Google and Facebook, invested in content and things are going well, in the sense that they are driving a substantial amount of traffic to your site, but they’re also doing poorly, in the sense that views aren’t converting at a high rate. 

This is the time to bet on social proof, or, in other words, on comments made by customers.

Online consumers tend to be more cautious before closing a purchase, as they are not seeing the product / service and have no proof that it really works. Therefore, the opinion of others is so important that it ends up becoming an important digital marketing action.

Putting reviews and comments on your sales pages is a simple and proven way to turn more visitors into customers.

– Tips to get more Reviews for your course

5. Use the referral marketing

Referral marketing can turn the enthusiasm of your most loyal customers in a steady stream of new business.

The idea is to identify satisfied and loyal customers to your brand and, through some type of reward, encourage them to recommend your business to their own network of relationships.

The triumph of this strategy is that your potential customers are much more likely to trust referrals from friends and family than ads. 

This digital marketing tactic is very similar to using customer testimonials; the main difference is that it is more direct, since it is the famous mouth-to-mouth marketing.  

6. Automate and track your email marketing campaigns 

Email marketing is one of the most effective digital marketing methods, and also one of the simplest. Email messages result in 66% of consumers making a purchase.

These emails should contain information about products, discounts, content offers, discount coupons, among other things. The idea is to bring your brand closer to the customer and create a lasting relationship with them.

Automation is the feature that allows you to send emails to a wide base of contacts, standardizing messages and increasing your chances of reaching them. It also makes it possible to track the reception and how the leads were engaged.

From this strategy, it is possible to feed these leads and take them to the most advanced stages of the sales funnel. In this way, the results are, in addition to engagement, the increase in conversions.

An important fact to note is that email marketing is not used for the primary purpose of generating new leads. Your real mission is to nurture leads that have already shown some interest in your brand. 

– How to create an email marketing campaign

7. Join an affiliate program

One of the great advantages of digital marketing is the possibility of scaling sales in a way that was previously unimaginable. And it is in this aspect that an Affiliate Program is unique.

Affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns a commission to advertise products of another person or company. To do this, the affiliate simply looks for a product / service he likes, makes it known, and gets a share of the profit from each sale he makes or leads won. Sales are tracked through affiliate links from one website to another.

This is an excellent tool to boost the sale of online courses, since hundreds of people start to publicize your course without you having to set aside a budget to pay for it and, as in referral marketing, a product recommended by someone else has a greater chance of conversion.

Working in partnership with affiliates, making your product attractive, with good commissions and awards to provide to your Top Affiliate base, your chances of increasing sales are much greater, because, in addition to applying all sales strategies to your product, you will also have other experts doing the same.

– How to use Affiliate Marketing

8. Increase your sales game with pop-ups

Another way to boost your digital marketing strategy is with pop-ups: the windows that temporarily occupy the screens of websites to present offers or news.

You can use pop-ups to attract a potential buyer with a discount offer, launch notice or to indicate a product complementary to what he is buying.

Pop-ups do not have the best reputation in the world, but there is a reason they are still in use today: they work! Especially when used to present legitimately relevant offers to people, such as a limited time discount, a pre-sale with unmissable conditions, etc.

Use them correctly and they can generate a ton of additional revenue for your business.

– Tips for organizing the pre-sale of your online course

Sell ​​more online courses using digital marketing

No online business can succeed in a scenario in which the competition is increasingly fierce without innovative ideas for marketing and a well-designed and implemented dissemination strategy. 

Digital marketing is the marketing of the present and the future. In addition to all the benefits it brings to your business, you can track the results of your efforts with incredible precision, which means that it is easy to see which strategies are producing profitable results and which need revision.

Tools like Google Analytics allow you to check these results in detail. In addition, many marketing automation software can also help you.

– How to use Google Analytics

For those who create online courses, this is an excellent way to attract and retain students.

Complete eLearning platform, Coursify.me is the ideal solution for those who want to create, sell and advertise courses on the internet.

With perfect integration with the main social networks and content platforms, with Coursify.me you are already halfway through the job of positioning yourself well in search engines and attracting customers.

Serving businesses and professionals in more than 60 countries, Coursify.me is a dynamic and customizable Learning Management System (LMS).

– Learning Management System: What is it?

To know more, visit our website, test the platform and see how easy it is to profit by doing what you love.

The post 8 digital marketing tips to sell more on the internet appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

But, if you want to get a slice of this pie, you need to find a niche that people are looking for. In other words, it is necessary to find out if there is a market for your course.

What you need to define before start creating online courses

You have an excellent idea for creating online courses, you’re ready to start developing the content, but the question arises: is there a market for this product?

How do you know if your idea will be a huge success or a big failure?

The answer is simple: do market research.

Researching whether there is an audience interested in your online course before creating it is very important.

Unfortunately, most people find this part too complicated and end up “going blind”, which tends to go wrong. Write it down: planning is the first step to success.

– Simple guide to create and sell online courses

The good news is that it is quite simple to validate your idea for ​​an online course. There are several online tools that facilitate market research.

But first of all, start by answering the following questions:

1. Is there a demand for your course topic?

Naturally, you want to invest your money, time and effort in something that is in high demand. Otherwise, creating online courses and building a distance education business will be a complete waste of time.

To find out if a topic is in demand, here are some tips:

Ask people 

Ask friends, family and people who fit your target audience, that is, have a relationship with the area and theme you intend to teach. Find out what their difficulties are and what they would like to learn. 

You can use social media, email, join groups and discussion forums, among other channels, to get as many responses as possible.

Check the competition

This survey can give you an idea if the topic you intend to address has a demand and if enough people are already trying to solve it. Search Google, Amazon, popular podcasts and other online education-related platforms. Take the opportunity to use your competitors as inspiration to create successful online courses.

But be aware, if there is little or no competition, this is a bad sign. It probably means that there is little or no demand for your idea.

Do a keyword research 

Google is a powerful tool that you can use to analyze the demand of their course. Use the keyword planner to find out what people are searching for and what topics are most searched for. 

Another great keyword tool is Answer The Public. Just select keywords related to the course topic and see how many questions arise. The more questions there are, the greater the interest in the subject.

– How to define and search for keywords

2. Do you have a specific target audience?

Many people who start creating online courses make the mistake of assuming that their course is perfect for everyone. However, those who do not focus on a specific group, end up reaching anyone.

It may seem counterintuitive to restrict your course audience, but it is proven that courses have sold best when created with a specific target audience in mind.

To define who your client is, answer the following questions:

• Do you know someone who would be interested in taking your course? If so, what do you know about this or these people?
• What is the age group of your target audience? Genre? Economic status? Profession? You must have specific demographics in mind.
• What are the problems of this audience?
• What do they want to achieve? What would be the ideal outcome that your course could offer?
• How much are they willing to pay to get the desired result? 

The answers to these questions will help you define your buyer persona, that is, your ideal customer.

– How to create a buyer persona

Keeping that persona in mind is essential to learn how to create online courses that meet the expectations of the audience you intend to reach.

3. Do you have a powerful goal?

Of course, one of your goals when creating online courses is to make money, but that should not be your only reason to dive into this endeavor. In addition to increasing your income, you need to have a greater motivation when it comes to teaching.

Without a real passion for your topic, you will not be as enthusiastic as your competitors, and your potential students are sure to notice, which will result in less sales. 

Many professionals create a course just for the purpose of winning and forget that the most important thing is to serve your audience.

The result? Low sales rate.

So, be sincere and answer yourself what your goal is. What is your motivation to teach on this topic?

Perhaps you have had an experience that has taught you some valuable lesson, and now you are inspired to share what you have learned.

Perhaps you love your profession or some other subject with all your heart, and the idea of ​​passing on your knowledge is wonderful.

Or maybe a friend or loved one has inspired you to share something you know, that has made all the difference in his life.

Doing an internal search is just as important as external search. If you have no motivation other than money, you may need to rethink your idea of ​​creating online courses.

3 ways to validate your idea before creating online courses

Thanks to technology, you have several simple and free tools online to validate your course idea.

Conducting a survey is important to assess whether there is a market for your course and to give you more security before you start.

There are different channels for making this query and Coursify.me has listed three that you can test before creating online courses.

Google

Go to Google and start with the obvious, do a search for keywords and phrases related to the topic of your course.

Think about how your potential audience could search for that topic on the internet and don’t necessarily include the word “online course”. Pay attention to these results:

• How relevant is your idea of ​​an online course to searchers? In what position does it appear?
• Videos appear on the first page?
• Are there any paid ads related to the topic?
• Are courses on the same topic already available?

If these items appear in your search, contrary to what may look, this is a good sign. It means that there are other professionals or companies that agree that it is possible to profit from this idea.

When creating online courses, you want to address a niche where people are spending money.

– 10 profitable niches for online courses

If no competition appears, you need to think about why no one is investing in it.

BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a powerful SEO tool that evaluates shares on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest and Instagram.

Just type a topic or keyword in the search field and the program will show you which sites are gaining the most likes, shares and links related to the subject.

These results provide a good sense of how popular a topic is and on which channel it attracted the most attention.

This not only helps to validate your idea before you start creating online courses, but it also shows you where it’s most interesting to start promoting it.

It is also possible to know what engagement it has and how your competition is doing.

Amazon

You may be wondering what Amazon has to do with creating online courses, and the answer is: nothing. But don’t forget that the focus here is market research.

Website where we can find everything today, let’s remember that this is only possible thanks to a powerful search engine.

The Amazon Kindle Store area is particularly valuable for course creators. It contains a large number of eBooks on various subjects.

Through Amazon’s search engine you can find out if there are books on the topic you want to address and if they sell well.

Enter your search terms in the search bar and select “Kindle Store” from the side menu.

If you see several results related to your course topic, and if any of them are on Amazon’s Best Sellers list, this is a good indication that you are on the right track.

As simple as it may be, this market research is very effective in helping to validate your idea before finally starting to create your course.

Create and sell online courses with Coursify.me

Determining whether there is a market for your course is as important as creating and selling it. 

Remember that you don’t have to have tons of experience or qualifications to teach on your chosen topic.

What you need is a passion for the subject, a willingness to teach and a determination to create well-made and effective online courses that stand out from the competition.

And, most importantly, you must strive to create a course that meets the needs of your target audience. Do this and the money will follow.

In addition, all you need is a Learning Management System (LMS) where you can host your courses and that is easy and interesting for your students to access.

– Whats is a Learning Management System

Elearning platform, Coursify.me has integration with other content platforms, such as YouTube and Vimeo. In addition, the user can upload videos, texts, images, audios and any other material that is hosted on Dropbox or on his own computer.

Attending schools, companies and professionals in more than 60 countries, Coursify.me is a dynamic Learning Management System, ready to serve you. 

To learn more, visit our website, test the platform and start creating online courses right now.

The post Creating online courses: how to validate my course idea appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.

Now, this learning method has already established itself as one of the most important trends for 21st century education.

Blended Learning: what it is and what its importance for education

Blended learning, also known as b-Learning, is a combination of offline and online instruction where students interact with the instructor, the material, and other students through both a physical classroom and an online platform.

Also known as semi-presential education, this is understood as a type of fusion between traditional education and modern methodology that uses technology.

Defining exactly what Blended Learning is can be quite complicated, as it is a comprehensive term. Currently, one of the most accepted definitions by scholars is the following:

“A teaching method to which you integrate technological as well as virtual activities in conjunction with traditional teaching, using planned activities that have a pedagogical value.” 

It is important to highlight its hybrid concept, that is, a methodology that adequately aggregates teaching by technological means, without replacing, but integrating with the traditional format.  

Blended Learning uses technology not only to supplement, but to transform and improve the learning process.

Since Internet access increased and Distance Education emerged and began to consolidate, educators and school administrators realized the importance of seeking more innovative teaching models.

The goal is to meet the needs of new generations of students for a more efficient, interesting, personalized education and connected with this reality in which technology is part of everyday life.

The great advantage of blended learning is that it offers “the best of both worlds” – that is, the advantages of online education combined with all the benefits of the traditional classroom.

– 8 things you need to know about online education 

A specialist who has helped in the dissemination of these practices, Michael Horn says he considers that blended learning is the only way to promote the transformation in education networks.

“Blended Learning opens up space for teamwork and the development of critical thinking like never before,” he said.

He further stresses that this approach is able to offer students both knowledge and opportunity to develop the skills you will need to be successful in life.

Online Courses and Blended Learning

Blended learning presents itself as a solution that mixes two possibilities of education and allows the teacher to experiment and increase his results.

At Coursify.me we have courses in this format that have been quite successful.

We observe professionals who mix online modules with face-to-face classes, or create an online course as support material for the classroom teaching, such as the example below:

https://farazs-web-development-school.coursify.me/

This combination of methodologies also contributes to another change in education that has been debated in recent years: the flipped learning.

Flipped learning: evolution in education

Flipped learning is a teaching methodology that makes the student protagonist in his own learning, promoting an active, investigative and collaborative learning.

In this model, the student studies a certain topic at home, with the help of technology, and goes to the classroom prepared to debate, discuss his doubts, contribute with ideas and thus exercise an active role in the classroom, being a transmitter of knowledge, not just a receiver.

Scholars have long advocated the positioning of the student as the protagonist of the class, learning more autonomously, with the support of technology, to optimize the effectiveness of education.

Disseminated in recent years by professors Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams, the flipped class methodology has achieved positive results, having been tested and approved by universities like Duke, Stanford and Harvard.

Despite the concept being considered an innovation, big names in education already talked about the importance of this form of active learning before.

We must remember, for example, that Paulo Freire was adept at having the teacher transform the class into an interactive environment, using resources such as videos and television. 

“We don’t have to end school,”he said in a dialogue with Papert in 1996, “but rather to change it completely until a new being as current as technology is born.”

Unfortunately, the change is slow, but some schools and universities are already doing this and, soon, we may see surprising results.

Meanwhile, blended learning and distance education continue to escalate, proving their benefits for a future reality that, we all hope, will bring concrete and positive changes to education.

Advantages of Blended Learning for schools and students 

Many debates have been made around the advantages and disadvantages of this method, and whether it is better or not than classroom teaching. 

As with e-Learning, the best conclusion reached was that it is not necessary to define whether one is superior to the other, both have their positive points and can be used together.

– E-Learning Market Growth

It should always be remembered that not all students learn in the same way, some are more visual and auditory, while others are more practical, needing to interact and perform activities to be able to assimilate the content.

Mixing online and offline teaching, it is possible to take advantage of both methodologies, among which the following stand out:

• Greater time flexibility;
• Decreases the need for mobility;
• Decreases costs;
• It promotes integration among participants, with a consequent exchange of experiences;
• Enables the development of collective dynamics;
• Facilitates student assessment;
• Enables field work and visits to places of interest;
• Better learning results through the use of more diverse means of information.

Teachers who want to start exploring the potential of online teaching can choose as a starting point mixed course, using online classes to reinforce the content taught in the classroom.

Blended Learning in Brazil

In Brazil, blended learning is widely used in higher education with subjects taught through distance learning.

In 2016, Positivo University (UP) launched its first three undergraduate courses in the hybrid mode: Physical Education, Pedagogy and Gastronomy.

“We need to meet the needs of society, the work market and these students, who learn in a very different way than we learned ten years ago. Today, we already have a group of professors at the university who work with active methodologies and who increasingly integrate the technologies with the classroom. The objective of the hybrid courses is to train professionals capable of developing leadership skills, problem solving and technologically connected with a changing world ”, says the academic dean of UP and director of the Brazilian Association for Distance Learning (Abed), Carlos Longo.

According to Longo, the acquisition of information can happen through a dynamic Learning Management System (LMS), with e-book, games and video lessons.

– Whats is a Learning Management System

In addition, tuition fees are up to 30% lower, and may even serve residents of other cities and contribute to reducing the number of 15 million adults between 25 and 30 years of age who do not yet have a college degree in Brazil.

Distance Learning in the face of the COVID-19 crisis

Since the pandemic caused by COVID-19 spread around the world, dozens of schools have been using eLearning as a way to maintain classes, since all face-to-face activities have been banned.

In this scenario, institutions that were already familiar with some concepts of blended learning and mixed teaching in the classroom with technological activities, took the lead.

– Tips for using eLearning in school education

With no deadline to end, social isolation as a way of flattening the virus contagion curve continues, forcing schools to quickly adapt to online education.

The demand for eLearning learning platforms for hosting online classes has grown all over the world.

– What is an e-Learning platform

There are already several elementary and high schools offering access to classes within online platforms, in an attempt to continue education and prevent the school year from being lost.

However, aware that many students and their families still do not have access to computers and a stable internet, blended learning is the best solution to guarantee the right to education for all.

What many schools have tried to do is use online means to pass practical activities, which students can develop at home, within their routine.

Thus, long theoretical classes, which would be unfeasible for elementary school children, whose attention is very difficult to maintain for a longer period of time, are avoided, giving preference to activities based on experimentation.

While education officials debate what to do if isolation recommendations continue, each school looks for a solution and runs to adapt its classes to the digital format.

– Step by Step to Create Online Courses

Digital School at Coursify.me 

A complete and ready-to-use Learning Management System, Coursify.me has been hosting several elementary and high schools.

A good example is the Chapeuzinho Vermelho school, which created its digital school and managed to take its classes to each student’s home:

https://chapeuzinhovermelhodigital.coursify.me/

With all the necessary resources to enable and facilitate online learning, the platform has a friendly and fully customizable interface, allowing each school to maintain its visual identity, facilitating student recognition.

The Coursify.me features integration with other content platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo, which is ideal for teachers who want to provide lessons in videos.

–  Learn how to record videos at home

In addition, users can upload videos, texts, images, audios and any other material that is hosted on Dropbox or on their own computer.

There is no limit on the number of students allowed, and the school has full control over who has access to the classes, being able to monitor each student, to find out who registered, attended the classes and fulfilled the activities sent.

Attending schools, businesses and professionals in more than 60 countries, the platform is a dynamic Learning Management System, ready to serve you.

Visit our website, test the platform and invest in blended and distance learning to continue educating your students in the best possible way. 

The post Blended Learning: How your school can combine online and offline teaching  appeared first on Blog Coursify.me.