Live Q&A! Websites, Batching, Opt-Ins, Sponsors, & Pitching!

Hey loves!

Super excited to bring you a quick-fire round of LIVE Q&A from the Female Christian Entrepreneur FB Sisterhood. Ya’ll brought the FIRE. Juicy yet tactical questions like:

What should be on our website homepage?

How to best batch content?

Best opt-in strategies? Which work best?

How to land paid sponsors?

How to pitch and get speaking gigs on podcasts?

How to launch your new podcast…

And, so much more!

Come get your learn on.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:11)
First question is from Ashley Carroll and she was wondering what are the big don’ts and do’s for your website homepage and what should you make sure to have on there? So when it comes to your website homepage, you guys, you have to think of this as like the cover to your magazine. Okay.

(01:13)
So inside of your website, you have all the little components like meet me the about me section, how to work with you, contact you stuff that you recommend, your products, your courses, like all the things are there, your blogs, your podcast page, but what’s the most important thing on a magazine cover.

(01:35)
It’s who are you? Right? What is this magazine? Who are you? What do you do? And the highlights of what your brand stands for and what your website has to offer. So if you were going to think of it as the coverage to your magazine, that homepage of your site, what would you have on there?

(01:54)
So I know Ashley Carroll super well. She’s a client and student of mine. So Ashley, on your website homepage, you would want to have obviously Ashley Carroll from So She Grows podcast, a top podcast for Christian motherhood and, uh, Christian wives and transformation in your motherhood communication and something.

(02:19)
You’re gonna talk about like, what’s the title of your magazine? What do you do then? You’re going to have an amazing picture of you. And then you want to think about what are the juiciest things that I offer? What are the solutions that I provide?

(02:30)
And those are going to be the little categories on your homepage. You can do the best of the podcasts, have three episodes that are best of, and then you can have some testimonies. Then you can have a work with me or listen to all the free, juicy content over here on my show with a button.

(02:46)
It’s the cover to your magazine. Hey Charity, Hey, if you guys are on live, say what’s up, yeah. What should you not have on the homepage of your website? You should not have, Oh, and you should have a freebie. You guys need to have an opt-in of some kind on the homepage of your website.

(03:04)
What should you not have? Your blog, like anything that’s really content rich. Take a button over to where it’s content rich. Hey Brooke. How are you guys? Hey everybody. All right. Next question. Uilani asks best strategy for planning content.

(03:27)
Oh, Hey Michelle. Okay. Best strategy for planning content is to repurpose. It’s to repurpose guys. So I don’t really, this is me. This is me. Okay. I don’t really love to create a bunch of content really far out because I don’t know what I’m going to be feeling. Hey, Uilani, I’m just answering your question.

(03:49)
I don’t really like to create content that goes out past roughly 45 days. Cause I don’t know what I’m going to be selling. I don’t know what I’m going to be excited about. I don’t know what inspiration that God’s going to lead me to. And so I like to just repurpose.

(04:04)
That’s how I plan content. So I know roughly what I want to talk about, give or take over the next couple of weeks. I do have some episodes prerecorded, but I leave space so that I can have inspired action in between. I leave open spots for me to be creative.

(04:24)
So for example, I knew what I was going to talk about today on the podcast. And then next Monday is open so that I can have a moment of inspiration. If I don’t have something that I want to talk about on Monday, I just pull up from the episodes that are prerecorded.

(04:38)
Now, how do I repurpose that? I take the one blurb that I write for my podcast description and my VA shares it everywhere. She shares it to Pinterest, Facebook, Facebook group. I posted an Instagram stories. We send an email out with that, so like for me, it’s not so much about planning content. It’s about repurposing it.

(05:02)
That one little description that one podcast episode goes everywhere. Okay. Hey Ronica, if you guys are watching live, say what’s up. If you’re watching the replay, just pretend you’re live. It’s so much more fun. Teresa Huff asked is it is a quiz good for a freebie?

(05:20)
Well maybe depends on what your quiz is about. I spent a lot of money on quiz software for opt-ins and they never really converted. People would start the quiz. Like I had a huge rate of people that would start the quizzes, but they never completed them.

(05:36)
So my, my best performing opt-ins is a simple checklist for my podcast. Like how to start a podcast. It’s a checklist. The second highest opt-in that we have is the Mompreneur Business Blueprint because it’s really, really content rich. And it’s really helping you guys solve a problem that you’re asking me all the time.

(05:59)
So it’s not about whether it’s a quiz or whether your freebie’s a checklist or whether your freebie is a video it’s about, does your freebie solve the number one problem that your person has in a simple, easy way? And is it uncomplicated to get it?

(06:16)
I think the reason that quizzes don’t convert is they’re not, it’s not easy. It’s annoying. Like we don’t have that much time. Okay. So there’s my 2 cents on that. All right, let’s go to the next question. This is from Angel McElHaney. How do you get on a virtual summits? And is it the same thing as podcast pitching?

(06:37)
This is a great question. I’ve only been on two virtual summits and they came to me and asked me to be a part of it. But what you could do is you can go into the groups where you think your similar niche influencers are so angel, you could go into mompreneur groups and blogging groups and podcasting and groups and work from home, mom groups and goal digger and all of those Facebook groups and ask, hi, who’s running a summit in here. I would love to get featured.

(07:11)
This is what I talk about. I talk about multi-passionate moms, blowing up engagement, Facebook group engagement. I would love to come on and teach, teach my systems for growing community and fostering leads using social media connection strategies, right Angel? Someone tagging Angel cause she’s gonna want to see this.

(07:31)
So Angel, you can go in there and do some outreach. The other thing you guys might consider is do your own summit, do your own virtual summit and invite other people to be on with you. All it is is a collaboration of people with similar markets, doing videos, doing interviews together, sending it out to their list and then sharing the people that opted in with each other.

(07:55)
Like it’s actually very simple and it’s really fun. And so if you can’t find any, you can do one yourself. Is it the same thing as podcast pitching? Yes, pretty much. It’s visibility. It’s a visibility play. Okay. Next question. Jenna Griffith asks how to land sponsorship deals for your podcast. Well you have got to be super excited about a product service or human enough to enough to the point that you are constantly using it and recommending it.

(09:31)
Like you, guys don’t take a sponsorship offer just because you want money. Only take sponsorship deals that that offer a solution to your listeners, your subscribers, your blog, readers, that you can’t offer. Example.

I’m constantly being asked for contracts like Stef, what do you use for contracts? All of that. And I did not, I’m not going to do that. I’m not a lawyer and I didn’t want to offer a really expensive solution.

(10:03)
So when the contract vault reached out to me about sponsoring me, I normally say no, 99% of sponsorships, I say now, but this one was a solution that I couldn’t provide. I knew that you guys needed an affordable option. So I was like, okay, I’m totally open to this. And so they came up with what they wanted to do. We came up with a solution to where it was mainly profit upfront, which is amazing.

(10:30)
So you guys can negotiate between profit upfront, a commission, profit structure, or purely commission. For sponsorship deals, I prefer profit upfront and to get paid because you guys haven’t heard me talk about it a bajillion times. So you may not convert really high at the beginning.

(10:49)
So I kinda just like to cover my bases and I prefer profit. So I said yes to that offer. That was someone that came to me now in contrast, let’s say that there was a planner that I loved. I was so excited about this product and I wanted them to come be a sponsor.

(11:08)
I would just shoot them an email, be like, Hey, I love your product. I’ve used your product for four years. I promote your product. I’m already in affiliate. So they know that you’re legit and then tell them, I would love for you to sponsor a show.

(11:21)
I’ll pitch your company and your product. You hook my listeners up with a coupon code and we’ll set up a commission structure for that. That’s it. You just reach out and, what to charge for this? There are industry standards. You guys can Google those. That’s fine.

(11:39)
I charge a premium because those spots are worth a really high profit margin because I can just sell my own stuff and make 80% profit margin. So if you’re going to sponsor my show, they really have to pay a premium. However, people are willing to pay a premium as sponsors, if you have niche listeners, right?

(11:59)
So for example, if you have a podcast, all about self love and past trauma, and you get a sponsor in the online therapy space, you’re so niche, every human being, listening to that show is going to be open to online therapy, I hope. They will pay you more knowing that you have a niche market. Cool. Okay.

(12:21)
Next question from Suzanne Bauer, what are the pros and cons batching tasks? We already covered this one. I’m just going to say that, but oh no, we didn’t cover this batching. Okay. So the pros of batching is creating a bunch of stuff up front, like podcast episodes.

(12:39)
It saves you time and energy in the future. The con is that you now are stuck with like what you created. So again, my only thing I want to say here is that if you’re going to batch, that’s your Instagram, or you’re going to batch your podcast episodes.

(12:53)
If you’re going to pre-write captions, leave yourself room for creative flexibility. Every other, I leave open because I’m like, I don’t know what I’m going to be led to say. And I can’t not be allowed to say it because I already batched my episode.

(13:09)
So leave yourself room for creativity. Batching is amazing. I think it’s a great idea to have a couple of weeks of episodes or descriptions or whatever you want to batch, pre-done so that you have some, some wiggle room if life gets cray cray, next question.

(13:27)
Kendra D. Carol asks fun ideas to get an email list ramped up. Yeah. So one of my favorite strategies for boosting my email list, you guys is to go into Facebook groups with my freebies and be like, Hey, you guys, I have a brand new freebie that I created.

(13:49)
It’s the Mompreneur Business Blueprint that walks you through how to start a profitable business from, in order from step one, to step, whatever are any of you willing to take a look at it and give me your feedback. And I’m serious about that. I do want people to give me their feedback and to look at the freebie.

(14:07)
I have gotten hundreds on hundreds of people this way, and it boosts my email list and I send them the freebie and they all check it out and then they come and subscribe. And it’s awesome! So there you go. There’s a free strategy for you on that.

(14:24)
Michelle Moore asks, how do you pitch yourself to be on other shows? This is a huge block for me. I’ll admit, I think part of it is a confidence problem, but I also don’t know where to start. Okay. So if you’re going to pitch yourself to be on podcasts, you guys want to consider a couple of things.

(14:44)
Number one, what other show has your niche has your demographic. Don’t pitch people just to pitch find one that you can actually add value. Okay. Then you want to actually check it out and listen, and like be a little bit knowledgeable about their show.

(15:02)
Like I can tell when somebody pitches me and they don’t know what I’m all about, they come over and they’re like, Oh, will you teach funnel? Can we come on your show and like teach funnels. And it’s a businessman with a weird business podcast. I’m like this is the Mompreneur Mastermind Show. And I’m like, not all about funnels. Like this is really weird. No, you cannot.

(15:23)
But someone that comes over and they’re like, Hey, Stef, like I have a similar niche. I noticed you haven’t taught on blank on LinkedIn or something. Can I teach on this topic? Like, come with value. What can you teach that they haven’t taught and then get in the DMs and do it casually?

(15:41)
So my second tip here is after you’ve discovered a podcast that has a similar niche and then you pitch them, just do it normally be super normal. So for example, if I was going to come pitch Ronica who runs the podcast for teens and really want to help inspire her audience, let’s say that I am a counselor for teens.

(16:04)
I would come to Ronica’s inbox and be like, Hey, Ronica. I noticed you run real talk for teens, and I love your podcast. I’m actually a counselor for middle school, middle school students. I would love to come on your show and pour out some value about how learning from home is kind of hurting our social skills and how we can still grow socially as teams and as parents, how we can foster that growth.

(16:30)
Are you open to this? Of course, Ronica would, well, I think Ronica would say yes, because I’m coming to her with value. I’m talking to her about why I’m a good fit for her show. So you guys, if you just take an extra 10 minutes to prepare and not just come across as spammy and self-serving, you are going to get yeses and pitch 10 shows and expect one to two yeses when you get started.

(16:59)
Next one, Sarah Ann, when you coach someone and use it for the podcast later on, how does that work? Do you ask for permission? Has anyone said no. Ooh, great question. So what we do is when somebody signs up for coaching with me, they get their contract and they get a release. They can choose to sign the release.

(17:23)
If they choose to sign it, I can use our episode on the podcast. Now it’s totally optional. I have had people say, no, I think I would have, I probably have 10% of the people that I coach who say no. Most people say yes, which is really exciting.

(17:43)
That’s how that works. It’s really simple. Now I also am really clear like, Hey, I am not promising that your episode’s going to make it. Cause I coach 10 people a week. Like I don’t have the capacity to share everyone’s episode.

(17:58)
So in the email we say, please sign this release. If you give us permission to use the coaching on the air. However, no promises like, coaching sessions are chosen based on a variety of factors and timing and uniqueness of the situation and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

(18:14)
Alright, next question. We got two more, three more questions here. I’m going to try to get through these as quickly as possible because I have a coaching call in 12 minutes, Sarah Ann asks, second question from Sarah Ann. Tips on pricing for coaching for the first time?

I have a large audience on YouTube and I’m launching my podcast in a few weeks. Yay. Get it, girl. I’m going to start offering coaching, but I have no clue how to price half an hour. So Sarah, you want to consider what is your value in the work marketplace?

(18:52)
Because you want to be able to charge something that you feel really worthy at that price point. The second thing you want to consider is what are you coaching on? What are you coaching on? And then third, you want to ask yourself, what is the result of my coaching worth to someone and number four, where is my person at?

(19:11)
So for example, if you’re going to coach on makeup tutorials and you’re teaching a brand new stay at home mom, how to do her makeup, you need to price accordingly, right? Like what would this cost in the marketplace? I don’t know, 30 bucks an hour. What is my worth in the marketplace? Let’s say you could charge 30 bucks an hour in the marketplace.

(19:28)
Where is she at? Well, she probably doesn’t have a ton of expendable income cause she’s a stay at home mom and you’re teaching makeup. Not minimizing makeup. I’m just saying that she can also do that for free on the internet. So I would probably start that one at 37 bucks an hour, for example, versus, okay. I am teaching how to go from six figures to seven figures.

(19:51)
I’m teaching the launch strategy of going seven figures in your business. My value is a thousand dollars. If I was to go do consulting on this in the marketplace. Oh my gosh. Great. I am talking to someone who’s already established at six figures. They’re making 500K a year. They want to go next level. I think you can charge a thousand bucks an hour.

(20:10)
Now here’s the other thing start lower so that you can saturate so you can get social proof. And then as soon as you’ve booked out your calendar for 60 full days, okay. 60 to 90, if you really want to be safe, but 60 is good. You’re like booked solid for two months in a row. Raise your prices.

(20:28)
Next question. Daly Garza. What social media platform should I focus on to get more traffic? I am overwhelmed by Instagram, Facebook, the group page, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Okay. So Daly, the problem and why you’re overwhelmed is you did not mention one platform that you own.

(20:49)
You guys are overwhelmed because you cannot build a business on social media. Social media is here to cultivate you guys already. You guys didn’t come here. You didn’t find me on Facebook and you didn’t find me on Instagram. You found me on my podcast. Where did you guys find me? Those of you that are watching.

(21:04)
And if you’re doing the replay comment below, what was your first first experience with me? Was it hearing me on another show? Or was it on my podcast? Was it my YouTube videos? What was it? How did you find me? Share. So if you’re overwhelmed, stop focusing on social media.

(21:20)
Go listen to my episode from today, you guys go listen to it. It’s episode 213. It’ll change your life. Just, just go, just go with them. Okay. You’re going to love it. But if you really want one social media platform, pick the one that lights you up, set boundaries, and then share it.

(21:36)
Just share your podcast or share your YouTube or share your blog. Those are the three that you can own. YouTube, podcast or blog. You must have one. You must. If you choose podcasting, do it with me in Podcast Pro University. And I will teach you all my ways, yay. Alright, next question.

(21:57)
Jane Chan, is it worth having a YouTube channel and a podcast channel for different audiences? Should you record yourself visually for YouTube and then use the audio for the podcast? Okay. First of all, you shouldn’t have two different audiences. You need to find the common denominator between your audiences so that you can grow one brand for 99% of you.

(22:21)
That’s the answer. Okay. You then need to pick one platform that you show up on that’s like your thing. Pick the one that is the best fit for you. If you guys noticed, my child walked in here 10 minutes ago and slammed the door, like that’s a normal occurrence.

(22:38)
So video is probably not my jam. However, podcasting is what’s up. Cause I can sit behind the mic. I can just be me like, video is also distracting for me. And then, um, I just like to speak speaking is my thing. So I choose podcasting. However, inside of podbean, where I host my show, I just click the button that says, share to YouTube.

(22:59)
It shares all of my episodes with all my SEO, with all my titles and my juicy descriptions already over there for me on YouTube. I choose to not have video because I just want to do it automated and easily and simply. Now, if you wanted to have video, you totally could record your podcast in zoom with the video on, take the MP3 for your show for your podcast and the video file for YouTube. Perfect. But don’t create two separate things.

(23:28)
No, no, no. Last question. Megan Whiteside ideas on what to do weeks before launch to create buzz. Okay, I’ve done so many launch episodes on my podcast. So please go listen to those, but I’ll give you just super quick in a nutshell, you need to create a list of every single person. You know, all of those people are going to leave you a written review on the day of launch. Okay?

(23:54)
Number two, create a launch team, have people be excitedly sharing your episodes for you over the first three days and give them a gift or, or a giveaway for being part of the launch team. You’re going to have to give them what you want them to do each day to drive traffic. And you can also make it fun, make it a contest, almost as if they’re affiliates for you. And they’re promoting your podcast.

(24:18)
The entire goal of a launch you guys is to get written reviews. That’s it. Written reviews within 48 hours of launch. Why we want to drive the algorithm. We want to get high on the charts and you want to chance at hitting new and noteworthy. What else can we do? You can make sure that you have SEO killer keywords and amazing tagline.

(24:40)
Your art is, is next level. You didn’t color it with a crayon. You know what I’m saying? Like it’s clear your description is stellar and that you launch with three episodes. So those are some inner strategies that you can do. You can promote everywhere on social media. Give people an inside sneak peek at what’s coming. Do a giveaway. You can do a contest for everyone that leaves you a review.

(25:07)
I hope you guys loved this Q&A. I’m going to do another one later today over in Podcast Pro University for all of my podcasting students. And if you guys are not a student of PPU, let’s go, come on. If I haven’t like, how can you not have a podcast yet and be on this journey with me? Podcasting is so much fun. So if you guys are not in PPU, you can learn about it at podcastprouniversity.com, join us.

(25:34)
There’s over 320 students. Everybody is having success. It’s amazing. You’re going to love it. Podcasting is easier than you think. I’m going to give you all my strategies. You can just repurpose. Do it from home and your PJ’s from your closet. You can delete the section where your kid came in and slammed the door and talked about poop. Like it’s so good.

(25:55)
It grows your audience. It grows your profits. And all of my strategies are in this course, plus the community. Like it’s amazing. So we’re in about that there. And y’all if you want coaching from me, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m pretty much booked for October.

Like actually literally I think I have two slots left for the entire month of October. So if you want to grab a session, I would hop on that. You can just email us at support@stefaniegass.com and we’ll squeeze you in. We’ll get you on the books. God bless you guys.