JM Life and Business: July 2016

Saturday, July 30, 2016

10 Tips for Planning a Successful Company Conference

Planning a company conference can boost your career and visibility. It can strengthen company sales and morale, depending on its purpose.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Listen to Your Own Voice

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” Ram Dass

When was the last time you experienced real silence?

Or even spent quiet time in nature?

Or your bedroom?

Maybe you're a master of this and meditate in silence daily.

I'm still working on it.

But the louder my life becomes, the more I value silence.

And it turns out science is backing this up.

Giving a few reasons to carve out silent time for yourself on Episode 360 of The School of Greatness.

Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play or TuneIn

The School of Greatness Podcast

The-School-of-Greatness---LewisHowes3

“Silence is not the absence of something, but the presence of everything.” – John Grossman

Continue Seeking Greatness:

JOIN ME IN OCTOBER FOR THE SUMMIT OF GREATNESS!! REGISTER HERE

Music Credit: Frozen Voices by SANDR

Did you enjoy the podcast?

When is the last time you sat in silence? Will you take my hour challenge?

The post Listen to Your Own Voice appeared first on Lewis Howes.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

3 Growth Hacks That Catapulted a 'Drunk-Dialing' App to Sober Success

Feel like talking to your best bud at 2 in the morning after drinking too much? Who ya gonna call?.

5 Critical Marketing Metrics to Follow

Understanding and utilizing these formulas should guide how you promote your business.

7 AdWords Features You Didn't Know Existed

Over the years Google AdWords has evolved into a marketing tool that helps businesses drive leads and outrank their competitors. But what if I told you that the majority of business owners, marketers, and strategists weren't taking full advantage of all AdWords has to offer? Queue the motivation for this article. Check out these 7n AdWords features you didn't know existed to help elevate your campaigns to the next level.

1) Call-only campaigns

Google has cited that 70% of mobile searchers call a business directly from search results. Because of this proven consumer behavior, in February 2015, Google AdWords introduced Call-Only Campaigns. These campaigns are for businesses who place more value on a phone call than a website visit conversion.

Call only campaigns are only for mobile devices and feature a large clickable number with a few short lines for text. In theory, every click you pay for is a phone call to your company. This type of conversion allows you to create a bidding strategy based on how much value your company places on a phone call.

2) Ad Extensions

Have you ever noticed that some ads appear to be “bulkier” or have extra features than others? That's because they are using ad extensions! These extensions allow you to get a higher click-through rate (CTR), increased visibility, and better user experience. To give you an idea of what each manual extension is used for, here is a brief synopsis:

Sitelink extensions - Allows you to add links from your website to help people find what they are searching for.

Call extensions - Allows searchers the ability to click a number to call your business.

Callout extensions - Allows you to add extra ad copy so you can tell searchers what sets you apart from the competition.

Location extensions - Allows searchers nearby to find your location or give you a call (map pin, navigation assistance, or call option).

Review extensions - Allows you to showcase reviews from reputable sources.

App extensions - Allows searchers to click a link that sends them to the app store to download your app.

Structured Snippets - Allows you to add descriptive text to learn more about a product/ service.

Below is an example of an ad with callout, sitelinks, & location extensions:

*For a more in depth look at ad extensions, check out this blog “7 AdWords Extensions You Should Utilize to Improve PPC Conversion Rate”.

3) Customer Match

If you follow inbound marketing best practices then you probably have a few email lists built up from your efforts. Lucky for you, AdWords has a way of retargeting those users in their Google search engine with customer match!

You can now upload a list of email addresses to AdWords and show those prospects ads when they are signed into Google Search, YouTube, or Gmail. This will allow you to show them new products or promotions to re-engage them back into your sales funnel.

4) Ad Customizers

Ad customizers enable you to change the text in your ads based on what someone's search query is. For example, if you have several products in the same category (like different HP printer ink cartridges) you can set your AdWords ad up so the displayed text will match the specific product a searcher is looking for: “HP printer ink 564” vs. “HP ink”.

This is also especially helpful when you have an offer or sale that is only for a limited time. Before ad customizers, you had to change your ad text everyday to reflect the countdown, but now you can set a new dynamic ad parameter that automatically changes the ad text to a new number each day.

5) Interest Targeting

Gone are the days where the only way to target searchers was through keywords alone. Nowadays, Google's Display Network offers a few different ways you can target audiences by interest to increase the chances your ad will be shown to people who are most likely interested in your product/service.

In-market Audiences

To reach an audience who is actively searching and comparing your product or service, use in-market audiences. How does this work? Google looks at browser history (via cookie tracking) to find out what market segment a person is researching, and temporarily categorizes them in that market. Thus tailoring ads related to the theme that person is searching.

Affinity Audiences

Compared to in-market audiences, custom affinity audiences are analyzed based on overall interests and identity. Google will analyze online patterns in order to find possible matches to an interest category. This means that although they may not be actively searching within that category, they still have a connection that makes it likely they would be interested in a product/service.

6) Promote App Downloads Directly

For companies that have their own app, Google now has App Promotion Ads. Simply put, these ads have buttons that allow searchers to click and download the app straight from the app store on their mobile phones.

This helps eliminate any extra steps the user has to take in order to convert (like visit your website to download, only to be taken to the app store from there).

7) AdWords Editor

To round out our list of features you didn't know existed, this last feature will help you manage and stay on top of your campaigns. The AdWords Editor is a free desktop app where you can download and manage multiple accounts for offline editing. The benefits? This editor allows you to do more things in less time than using the web-based interface.

Features include the ability to:

View different parts of your account at the same time

Edit items side by side

Use keyboard shortcuts to jump around account

Easily undo/ redo changes

Bulk edit to make multiple changes

Next Steps

Are you taking advantage of all 7 of these AdWords features? If not, I would encourage you to explore all of the tools AdWords has to offer to assist in the success of your campaigns and alleviate some of the burden of maintaining your account. If you haven't yet made the plunge into incorporating AdWords into your marketing strategy, be sure to download this free ebook “Why Google AdWords Should Be Part of Your Inbound Marketing Strategy”:

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

3 Critical Questions To Confirm Your Purpose

Burundi is a small country just east of Congo in Africa. Several years ago, a young man was walking through the countryside when he came across a small keeper of elephants. The man had a fence made of what looked like vintage bamboo wrapped around the herd. Within this fence were 10-12 massive elephants; some weighing in at over 10,000 lbs.

Interestingly, these elephants were restrained by a simple rope wrapped around their ankle tied to a metal rod hammered into the ground. It was obvious these elephants could, at any time, break free from their constraints, but for some reason, they did not.

The young man shocked by what he saw, had his translator ask the keeper why these animals do not break away from these mere tethers. His response was, “When they were very young we tied them up with large chains to a 4-foot steel post hammered deep into the ground. It was sturdy and strong enough to keep them from escaping. As they grew older, they became conditioned to believe they could never break free. Today, out of convenience, we simply keep a rope wrapped where the chains once were. We believe they could easily break these ropes, but they don't.”

How often do outdated beliefs, practices, and history keep us from breaking the tiny ropes that keep us from our purpose? How often do the patterns from our past, poison our future?

Living a life of purpose is a universal desire. A longing for fullness, color, variety, and depth. But too often we are controlled by our past. With every opportunity, resource, and tool available to escape, we still believe in the strength of that rope.

As I say often to those who follow me, “Today isn't rehearsal. This is your life. The pace of time is moving rapidly to your final day. A day you cannot control. A day where time stops and you will only have what you had.”

In my experience, there are three simple elements which make up the vast majority of our physical story. Our work, our relationships, and our location.

But sadly, our culture likes to turn simple solutions into complex problems. We like to over analyze and reason away the very things that could solve our troubles.

Below, I have outlined what might seem too simple to be considered brilliant; but I disagree. Like me, if you can manage to break free from the limits of your past and live within the answers to these three questions, you'll find yourself living the life you've always wanted.

3 Critical Questions To Confirm Your Purpose

What are you most passionate about? If your passion is not your profession, you have a problem. We spend the majority of our lives working; and if you dislike your job, you often dislike your life. Sticking with the pattern of college, steady job, retirement, and death typically pulls purpose from the picture.

So what drives you? What work makes you come alive? Maybe you have a dream to start a business, launch a profitable blog, or build a charity. Regardless of what chains you wore as a child, it's time to break free. We live in a world filled with resources and support to help cut that rope and create that career. The question is, do you believe it?

Who's most important to you? Life is only as meaningful as the people you experience it with. But too often our fears keep us from words to be said and commitments to be made. Instead, we live on as independent entities homesick for relationships we believe we can't have.

But not anymore. I don't believe we are victims to life, I believe we are victors. We have choice and we have the ability to create the relationships we desire. So who is the one person most important to you? Who makes you better, loves you fully, and brings joy to your life? If you're on a separate journey from this person, it might be time to reconsider the path you're on.

Where is your favorite place on earth? It's baffling to watch millions of people lay down their dreams for destination and settle for living vicariously through the social media feeds of those brave enough to live. It's common to find comfort in familiarity. But if you have a desire to live on a farm (like our family does), yet you live in a city, it's time change that. If you hate the cold of the Midwest and fill your home with images of tropical destinations, it's time to chase that.

Location determines the majority of our activity. And just because you were born one place, does not mean you must die there. Look, in maturity, we must come to the realization that someday isn't a day and a dream without a plan is merely a wish. If your heart desires a destination in which you believe you can thrive, then it's time to begin planning. Because even if you can't move today, you can start making steps to move there in the future.

Bottom line, if you're working on what you're passionate about, with the person most important to you, in a place that brings adventure and excitement to your story, then you are living your purpose. Don't let anyone make it seem more complicated than that. These people are merely individuals still struggling with the conditioning of their history's chains.

Reality Check

These are big goals that fill big spaces in our lives. It took our family almost 3 years to begin living within all three of these questions. Three years of difficult decisions, personal sacrifices, and brave moves.

But as in most areas of life, money makes our plans a bit easier. For us, it meant doubling down on our business. For you, in might mean starting a business. So if you're looking to take the next step in turning your passion into your profession, to knock out question #1, let me help you. Over the past several years, I created an affordable and realistic program to help everyday people create the career and income they want. If you're interested, consider my video below.