My new website is complete. Special thanks to Michelle Martello from Minima Designs for such a bang-up job.
We made a few significant changes and I wanted to share some detail on the what and why.
1. Get rid of the “Bob Dole” problem.
Most personal websites are written in the third person. My previous website was “Joe Pulizzi this” and “Joe Pulizzi that.” Those days, in my opinion, are over.
In today’s online world, we are rewarded for NOT speaking like a big, boring corporate entity.
So…I rewrote every page like I was talking to someone I just met at a conference (in my style and tone).
2. Lean into what differentiates me.
As you can see, the site has “just the right amount” of orange. Hurts your eyes, doesn’t it?
Orange sets me apart from other content entrepreneurs, so we leaned heavily into that.
In addition, I changed this newsletter name from “The Random” to “Joe Pulizzi’s Orangeletter.”
Go big or go home!
3. There can only be one.
So many things to talk about, right? Well, that’s all fine and good, but the goal of my website is to “convert the website visitor into a long-term subscriber.”
On every page I have just ONE call-to-action, and that’s the newsletter. I talk about the books, the podcast, the foundation, but only focus on one thing to signup for – the newsletter.
4. Don’t talk about everything.
On the previous site, I mentioned every single book I’ve ever written. That’s not helpful at all.
For this site, I focus on what I believe will most help the visitor. For example, of my eight books, I only show three of them, and actively tell visitors NOT to purchase my out-of-date books.
5. Add a welcome series email.
I ditched Mailchimp and added ConvertKit. I then launched a four-day welcome sequence that looks like this:
– Day 1: Ask them what they would like to receive from me and give them my free goal-setting guide. I learned this from Ann Handley (always ask a question to subscribers first. You get insight and it helps deliverability).
– Day 2: Give them my free investing guide and why I believe it’s helpful.
– Day 3: Deliver my “best of” content – articles, speeches, podcast episodes.
– Day 4: Focus on how I can help or work with the person long-term.
After that, they’ll get the newsletter every other Thursday (as you know).
So…
1. Make it personal
2. Lean into your content tilt (what makes you different)
3. One call-to-action
4. Edit your accomplishments
5. The welcome email series works
Shoot me a note back and let me know what you think.
Two News Items
It’s no secret that Content Inc. is my favorite business book. I believe it’s the most helpful book out there for content entrepreneurs. Well, my friend Fernando Labastida has translated that book into a Spanish audio version. You can pick it up here.
(fyi, the Danish version is here, just in case)
For those of you in Northeast Ohio, my friends at Marketing AI Institute are putting on their 2nd annual “AI in CLE” event on November 15th (5 PM to 8 PM). This is a great opportunity to network with other local content creators and marketers to discuss the future of AI. I’m sure it will be fun as well. I’m hoping to make it myself.
Wrong Kind of Sell
I passed by a house this week that recently went up for sale.
There were two very visible signs. The first was a “Beware of Dog” on the fence leading to the backyard. The second was a “Beware of Dog” on the front window.
Now, you’d think that a person who wants to sell their house would remove these signs before putting up the “for sale” sign, right?
Smartbox Moving says it this way:
They may be your best buddies but your furry friends don’t appeal to everyone. Pets are messy, dirty and stinky and not all buyers love them. Some people might be turned off by the fact that there are pets in the home so it’s important to find a place for them to go when you are showing your home. You should also remove any evidence of pets living in your home such as food bowls, cages, and toys.
Good advice.
Do You Need a Name Change?
This week we announced a major brand change. No longer is our event Creator Economy Expo. It’s now Content Entrepreneur Expo (registration is now open…May 5-7th).
This is the second major name change I’ve been a part of. The first was Content Marketing Institute (from Junta42).
In this article I go through both changes and why (and how) we made the change.
Does your content brand have the right name? If you are unsure, the article might help.
Here Comes X, the Payments App
If you are a listener of my podcast, This Old Marketing, you know we’ve been talking about Elon’s long play into X becoming a full-fledged payments app.
Well, in a recent staff meeting, Elon detailed his nefarious plan, saying:
“When I say payments, I actually mean someone’s entire financial life. If it involves money, It’ll be on our platform. Money or securities or whatever. So, it’s not just like send $20 to my friend. I’m talking about, like, you won’t need a bank account.”
Now, like most things Elon says, we don’t know if this means integration with a bank, leveraging crypto, or something else. But we do know this…Elon (and his investors) will never make their investment back by being a floundering social media app.
More to come on this.
Free Goodies
If you just subscribed to this newsletter, you can disregard this note (but thanks for being here). But for you old timers, I have two free giveaways as part of our welcome series you might be interested in.
First, here’s a PDF of my goal setting guide: record, repeat, remove (just in time for 2024).
Second, here’s a PDF of my investing and diversification guide (again, just in time…)
I hope you find value in both of them.