5 Core Elements You Need to Convert Your Target Audience

You know it… I know it. Every single online marketer out there knows it. We. Want. Conversion. We want leads, and we want sales. I mean, our businesses NEED conversions to thrive. So why the eff is it so freaking hard to actually convert people into leads and buyers.

Good question… *enter this post*

Lately we’ve been talking about the four machines you need when building your business: operations, traffic, conversion, and customer experience. (Just in case, here is the overview if you missed.)

We’ve already talked about your operations machine and traffic machine, so click either one of those links to check out the posts on those.

NOW we’re getting into the sexy stuff… conversions, baby!

Okay… maybe it’s not that sexy, but let’s be honest. It’s what everyone wants from the word go when starting their businesses.

I know I’m not the only one.  😉

Before we dive into the 5 elements, let’s clear something up. A “conversion” means something different to different people. For example, funnel strategists and content strategists look at conversions in different contexts… the former looking for sales while the latter is likely looking for leads.

So let’s start by sidestepping the big words (like “conversion”) and just say what it is: ACTION.

Want to dive a little deeper into the subject? Listen to Bobby discuss the concepts in this post in Episode 275 on the Certified BADA$$ Online Marketing Podcast!

Here’s What We’ll Be Covering…

A conversion is simply that… someone is taking action on a CTA (call to action) you’ve laid out for them. Here are some examples:

You: “Hey… sign up for my free thing!” <— There’s your CTA.

Your audience: “Okie dokie!” *clickety click* <—- There’s your conversion.

Or…

You: “Yo… check out my sweet new offer and buy that mess!” <— There’s your CTA.

Your audience: “That looks super dope. Sure! I’ll buy it.” *clickety click cha ching* <— There’s your conversion.

Okay… maybe I’m too old to pull off words like “sweet” and “dope,” but you get my drift.

Conversions are simple, right?

In theory, yes. In practice… now that’s another story.

But I’m going to try to simplify the conversion process by diving into the 5 best ways you can convert your audience in the post below!

You can thank me later. 😎

The post below is taken from the transcript of The Certified BADA$$ Online Marketing Podcast Episode #275. Click the player above to listen to the entire episode!

The 5 Elements of a Conversion Machine

You could probably come up with more or maybe split some of these elements up into different ones. But we’re going to focus on five elements of a conversion machine and help you understand how all of this fits together. 

1. Your Website as a Conversion Tool

A lot of people ask me, “Do you really need a website?” Maybe it’s because there’s been a craze of people saying you just need a funnel, not a website. And some people just operate on social media. 

But what I will tell you is that building a website is still a very good decision. 

Now, do you have to have a website to build an online business? Nope. But should you build an online business? Yes, you should. Why? 

Because your website is your centralized hub where you can do quite a lot of things. When we talked about your traffic machine, we talked about creating your weekly content.

Well, if you don’t have a website, it’s hard to create weekly long-form content. Having a central location that you own… that’s yours for your content is important. 

Your website is also the central place for other forms of messaging. So, you need to think about creating a website that’s optimized for conversions. 

In other words, you should think about your website from the perspective of:

• How do I design it?
• How do I put the right messaging on it?
• How do I create the right pages or design the right pages so that people who land on the website will be likely to become a lead or buy something from me?

Those need to be the goals of your website. Now, we’re not going to dive deep into how to create a website here, but at a high level, there’s a handful of pages that almost all of us will need. 

Homepage

You’re gonna need a homepage. That’s just the landing page, right? That’s the thing that if somebody, in my case, just clicks or types in BobbyKlinck.com, that’s my homepage. 

And my homepage serves the purpose of, I like to say, the air traffic controller. It helps people figure out where to go from there. 

So, your homepage delivers some messaging and tells people or they can figure out if they’re in the right place or if you’re right for them. More importantly, it helps to direct them to the right page on your site. 

About Page

You should have an about page, and, by the way, it’s not a place to put a bio that looks like a CV or a resume.

Seriously.

It’s a place to tell your story and lay out your credentials of why you’re a trustworthy source. But you should do it in the form of a story with some other elements there.

You can get fancy and put things in beyond the story. But largely, this should be told from the perspective of your origin story, how is it that you got to be where you are now helping your ideal customers the way you do. 

Oftentimes, that’ll be by you talking about how you struggled with a lot of these things or talking about how you saw other people struggle, and then you applied your expertise to help them with those problems. 

Content Page

You’ll also have a page for your content. Like I said, if you have a blog, a podcast, or a YouTube show, you should have a page on your site where you collect that so that people can access it and get to your content on your site. 

Additionally, you should have a page where they can purchase something from you. And one of the things I tell people is that long-term, you’ll have multiple offers, but early on, when you’re starting in your business, you should have a “buy anytime” product, like a low-priced e-book or one-on-one direct coaching or services. 

It’s something that won’t require a ton of your time. There should be something on your site so that someone can say, “Yes, I want to give you money!” Or, “Hey, let’s get on the phone so that I can talk about giving you money.” 

You want something to do that and you need an optimized page and website. So those are some of the core pages. 

You may also have a contact page and things like that. And your website may get more complicated, but everything you do with it should be from the focus of how you move people along the journey of converting, whether that’s joining your email list or potentially buying something from you. 

2. Converting with Your List-Building Strategy

List building should be a focus for you as an online business owner. 

You should constantly think about how to grow your list. How do you get people to raise their hand and say, “Yes, I want you to talk to me? I want you to email me. I want you to send me information.” You do this through a combination of opt-in forms and lead magnets. 

Now you can have a form where people are simply signing up for your newsletter, but what I’ll tell you is not a lot of people are going to sign up for a newsletter unless you have a reputation for sending really good emails. 

Even though I’m known as someone who sends really good emails, very few people come to my website and simply sign up for my newsletter. What you do instead is create freebies and opt-ins and lead magnets. And then you’re going to have an opt-in page where they sign up for that. 

But you need to have a concerted plan for this. And it needs to be something that you’re constantly working on and constantly thinking about. 

I don’t mean every minute of every day, but you should track your list growing regularly. And if it’s not, you need to work on that. Remember, those will be the elements that will get people to take that first step of going from traffic to elite. 

3. Your Email Marketing Conversion Strategy

Email marketing is one of those things that people talk about in a lot of different ways. And I love email! I think it’s great. It’s how I’ve built my business. No doubt. 

But what I’ll tell you is I have a very clear idea of where email fits into the overall journey. And let me explain what it is. 

Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools that you have to convert people from lead to buyer. If you’re creating a business that’s like mine (you’re selling your knowledge, your expertise, or your know-how), which falls into this knowledge economy or knowledge business, email marketing is the most powerful tool that you have to convert people from leads to buyers. 

Here’s the reason why: Your email is not subject to the algorithms of social media. So, there’s not an issue where only 5% of people will see your emails. 

Now, again, you have to make sure that you’re keeping your email marketing or your email list healthy and getting rid of people who aren’t opening and not engaging. The point is that it gives you a direct avenue to get in front of your audience. 

And I want to be clear… although it’s the most powerful tool to convert your audience, the real power comes not in sending sales emails. 

Your audience will convert because you do email marketing right. You connect with your audience through consistent emails on an ongoing basis. 

It’s a way to build connection, to build the know, like, and trust factor. 

Build that up so that people get to the point that they’re raving fans, that when they’re ready for what you have to offer, there’s no question in their mind, they’re buying it from you. 

Your email allows you to have this ongoing connection, conversation, discussion with your audience that builds a level of trust. And that positions you almost as a friend so that people will then want to buy from you. 

You have to think about email and be intentional about your email marketing from just about every perspective of where you’re coming at things. And that means thinking through the initial sequence of what do people experience when they first get on your list, and then what are you sending on an ongoing basis to build the connection. 

I think it’s critically important. I’ve found great success with it. So, I believe that every online entrepreneur should have email marketing as part of their conversion machine. 

4. Your Product Suite Matters

I want to be clear… your product suite will almost always be a work in progress. And what I mean by that is you never arrive at a point where you have a complete product suite that will not have to change. 

But I want you to also hear that I’m not talking about a product. I’m talking about a product suite. You should have different products to serve people who are at different phases or different segments within your audience. 

If you only have a single product, you’re going to have a difficult time converting people because there are all kinds of people at different phases and different segments at different parts of their journey. And only a very small segment will be right for your product. 

You might say, well, no big deal. Then they’ll buy it when they’re ready. 

Well, they might. But the problem is, if someone joins your world, but you don’t have an offer that’s right for them and you’re not going to have any for six months or a year, because they’ve got a lot of stuff they have to do before they’re ready, well, they’re going to go looking for someone who can help them with those initial steps. 

What’s gonna happen?

If that person has things to help them early on but also has a product that competes directly with your one and only product, the chances are that your audience is going to go to someone else. And if they get them results, they’re going to buy from them, not from you. 

And so, this is part of why I say you should have a mix of products to serve people at different phases along their journey. That way, you’re establishing a relationship with people.

You can have repeat customers, they can buy from you multiple times, you can become their person. Your audience oftentimes is going to want different types of solutions at different phases of their journey. You have to recognize that. 

But ultimately, when you’re creating products and thinking through a product mix, you need to figure out the steps that your target audience is on, the different ways that you can solve their problem, and come up with multiple solutions. 

But also ask this question, “What do the people in my audience actually need?” 

It doesn’t matter what you want to create. You must create products to meet their needs, where they are now. 

A quick little note here: I don’t want you to hear this and say, “Holy crap, I got to go out and create 50 products right away!” You don’t! 

You’re almost always going to start with one product. 

And generally speaking, you’re going to start at either very simple and inexpensive or very high touch, helping people in a one-on-one capacity. So, you don’t tend to create stuff in the middle early on.

You want to start with something very small, easy no-brainer, or very involved. One-on-one direct work with people generally is the best way to go and start, and then build things out over time. 

When you do this right, people will convert because you’re offering them exactly what they need. 

It doesn’t matter what you want to create. You must create products to meet their (your audience’s) needs, where they are now. 

5. The Converting Power of Your Messaging

Messaging, in some ways, permeates everything you do. It’s part of your traffic machine too. But when you think about messaging, this isn’t generally as much about educational content.

This is often more about thinking through PR, positioning your brand, positioning your products, describing how you can help people, and doing some other important things like that. 

But ultimately, so that you understand it, a way to think about marketing is that it’s about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time to convert them into the right offer. And your message is critically important here.

If you can’t explain the benefits of your product in a way that resonates with your audience, you will have a tough time selling. 

Messaging is important, but it’s less important than creating the right product. If you create the right product for people, meet people exactly where they are, and deliver exactly what they need, you don’t have to do a ton of messaging. 

You don’t have to do a ton of convincing people to buy your product because they’re going to look at it and say, yep, that’s what I need, and they’re going to buy it. 

Part of the job of messaging will be to make the case to your audience of why they should be listening to you and why your approach is the right one. You need to figure out those pieces of your messaging. 

Marketing is about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time to convert them into the right offer.

Summing Up Your Conversion Machine

Again, your conversion machine is about taking traffic and turning your traffic into leads and buyers.

In some cases, you’ll turn traffic straight into a buyer, and that’s great. Oftentimes, if you have a more expensive product, you’ll first turn them into a lead. Then from there, you will nurture them into buyers. 

But even if you have inexpensive products, some people won’t buy, and so you’ll turn them into a lead and then nurture them into a buyer. That’s the goal here. 

The big pieces here are your website, making sure that it’s optimized to convert, you’re building your email list, you’re using email marketing the right way, you’re building the right product suite to match people and meet them where they are, and you’re dialing in your messaging. 

When you get all of these things working in sync, your conversion machine will be humming, and you’ll have no problem making money because people will be ready to buy. So that’s your conversion machine. Make sure that you’re building that. 

Coming up next, we’re going to dive into your final machine, which is your customer experience machine. It’s one of the most important parts of an online business yet one of the most overlooked. 

In the meantime, you can learn more from my FREE training program, BADA$$ Online Marketing™️ University (BOMU™️). We have full courses that are designed to help online entrepreneurs like you build a thriving business that you love.

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