Not that long ago, virtual reality was just another emerging technology that most businesses didn’t see a need for.

Well, that might be changing.

In this episode I speak with Zerafina Zara who is an expert in the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (XR) spaces.

And we talk about:

• How Zerafina's interest in dance set her on a path towards working with virtual reality
• What a Holographic Stage is and how it might be used in a business
• Whether small businesses might be able to use some of the amazing capabilities that these technologies bring to create new opportunities to better serve customers and grow
• Why augmented reality might be better for business meetings than Zoom
• The benefits of VR meetings for introverts
• Why making rollercoasters the first thing you try on VR is a bad, bad, very bad idea
• Whether the Metaverse actually exists
• Your online avatar, relationship building and communities
• Evoking emotional states with VR and promoting a sense of self-agency and control
• According to the gurus, how long you'll be spending in a VR headset per day for work (the answer might surprise you)
• Whether VR could be used to help people with disabilities and some of the ethical considerations around that
• An example of using VR to enhance the coaching experience

It’s a fascinating interview about a subject that has the potential to really change how we interact in the business world.  And it’s something that you, as a small business owner, should be starting to think about now.

If that sounds interesting to you, have a listen.

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Have you ever seen a billboard or advertisement that just stuck in your head?  One that you remembered months, if not years later?

What is it that makes those marketing messages stick?

In this podcast episode, I talk about some marketing messages that I saw in my recent travels and why those messages stuck like velcro to my brain.

RESOURCES

“How To Choose Which Quiz To Use” Free Training:  https://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/how-to-choose-which-quiz-to-use-training/ 

Podcast Rescue:  https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/podcast-rescue/id1644925604 

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If thinking about using SEO to increase traffic to your website makes you feel seriously overwhelmed, then this episode may help.

It’s a case study where podcast host, Trudy Rankin sits down with SEO expert, Graeme Knight from New Route Digital to talk through the results of an SEO audit he ran on a neglected website.

The goal? 

To show you the process from start to finish of starting to use SEO in a serious way to grow website traffic numbers.

In this, and subsequent episodes we’ll be walking you through the process, the data and the outcomes, warts and all.

We talk about:

• How we're widening out an existing case study to include a more in-depth SEO approach
• The sadly neglected website I want to revive
• What Graeme’s SEO audit process involved
• Getting a sense of what to do first and how to deal with all the “things” that need doing
• What “relevance scores” are and why they matter
• Picking which keywords to start with
• Why search intent matters when looking at keywords
• Art versus science when it comes to picking the right keywords
• My lightbulb moment for future content creation
• Is it possible to shortcut the whole process?
• Keyword cannibalisation
• Getting started with a Backlinks gathering strategy

If you’re interested in following along on this experimental (for me) process, have a listen.

We hope you find it useful.

Here's the link to the website page we've been working on.

https://themenopauseeffect.com/7-top-natural-indian-home-remedies-for-menopause-relief/ 

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The risk and impact of burning out is something that most people want to avoid. 

And when a recent podcast episode on burnout rapidly became my most listened to episode ever, I knew we’d hit a nerve.  

So I’ve asked Counselling and Clincial Psychologist, Katrina Streatfeild to come back on the podcast and talk about what we can do to move beyond burnout.

We talked about:

• Beyond normal - all the things happening in the world right now
• How old coping mechanisms might not be enough anymore
• Long term stressors, stress hormones and our ability to cope
• How do we get off the hamster wheel?
• The impact on others when we are compassionate for ourselves
• The necessity of acknowledging that the world has changed
• A process for reimagining our future
• Defining what's realistic in terms of goals now
• How do we figure out what's meaningful now?
• Setting new baselines
• What to do if you don't know what success looks like any longer

So if the thought of facing an unknown future has you feeling a bit exhausted, you are not alone.  Have a listen and try the process Katrina is suggesting.  It may help. 

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Have you ever secretly (or not so secretly) dreamed about starting a live event?  Maybe a conference or a series of live workshops?  Something longer than just one day?

But the thought of doing it was so daunting, you’ve never had the courage to do it?

In this episode I talk with Dr Eibhlin Fletcher, the founder of the Get A Grip Of The Grind Festival, which is now in it’s 5th year.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing.  And Eibhlin has some advice for anyone thinking about starting up and running that event.

We also talked about:

• The origins of the Get A Grip Of The Grind Festival
• The impact of going tech-less for short periods of time
• What was involved in starting the festival
• Winging it, the things that can go wrong and the things that will always go wrong
• Working with local businesses and getting them to help out
• Eibhlin's biggest fear in running the festival and what actually ended up being the hardest part
• Other key challenges, like keeping everything fresh
• Rogaines (no it’s not medicine)
• Feeling free to do stuff that makes you feel young again
• The difference having help can make
• How documentation and delegation, in that order, can help spread the load, but can slow down decision making
• When customer service is not your strongest point …
• Being the visionary / ideas person ...
• One piece of advice for someone thinking about running a festival or event
• The philosophy of having no regrets

If you’re interested in what Eibhlin has to share about the ups and downs of starting a big event, have a listen.  You’ll be glad you did.

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The first few podcasts that Cliff Duvernois started went into pod fade within a few short months.  It wasn’t for lack of trying.  He truly believed that podcasts were important for business growth.  But he couldn’t get past the sense that unless he was doing everything perfectly and getting thousands of downloads, then his podcast was a failure.

It wasn’t until Cliff had a breakthrough “aha” moment where he realised that there’s a difference between podcasters who get thousands of listens and entrepreneurs who use their podcasts to serve their business, that he was able to make podcasts that really work for his business.

In this episode we talk about:

• Whether you have to be an extrovert to successfully start a podcast
• Overcoming perfectionism
• What pod fade is and what’s it’s biggest cause
• Cliff’s first rule of podcasting
• Building relationships through podcasting
• The wrong way to build those relationships
• A better way of introducing what you do in your business
• Monetising a podcast, even if it’s very new with low listener numbers
• Opening up about who you are as a person
• How sharing parts of the process you use to help people can help with the “know, like and trust” development process
• Whether the numbers of podcast downloads matter
• Insights into Cliff’s success results/metrics
• How you can speed up the time it takes to start a podcast
• How Cliff helps entrepreneurs start their own podcast
• Shownotes and stories
• Podcasts and YouTube

If you’re nervous about starting a podcast for your business, especially if you’re an introvert, this episode will help you develop your own effective approach.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lisa was struggling to juggle both her career and her role as a carer for a family member with ongoing health issues.

Because of the demands of her carer role, she finally had to give up on her career and was looking around for something she could do that was just for her.

When she discovered Online Business Liftoff where we teach carers and people over 50 how to start their own online business, she realised she’d found exactly what she was looking for.

As Lisa went through the program, she struggled to decide exactly what her business should be about.

In this podcast episode, Lisa shares how the Online Business Liftoff team helped her discover her calling and what has now become the heart of her business. 

We talked about:

• The start of Lisa’s journey into entrepreneurship
• How she figured out what her business should be about and who she could help
• How she now helps her clients and what’s involved
• How everything starts with a quiz
• Community and what that means within the Online Business Liftoff Community
• Future goals for the next 5 years and how Imposter Syndrome can sometimes help us achieve those goals

Being a carer and finding time to focus on something that’s all your own can be a difficult balancing act.  Lisa’s story is proof that it is possible.

If you’re interested in hearing more about Lisa’s journey from struggling carer, to having a business of her own, have a listen.  You’ll be glad you did.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you been thinking about using paid ads to help build traffic to your website, so you can build your email list?  But you’re not sure how to get started?

Or maybe you have tried ads before, but so much has changed in the world of ads, especially with Facebook, that you’re not sure it’s still worth doing?

Today’s podcast episode features Oscar Garcia.  Oscar  has run online ads for the past 7 years.  And he’s used what he’s learned about ads to grow a business past the half million dollar mark in less than a year.  He did it by successfully running ads to a $27 offer that still currently works today - despite all the targeting and privacy changes that are happening.  

And Oscar is also the host of the OMG! Show, which is a podcast that helps business owners run profitable, paid traffic funnels

In this episode we talk about:

• Oscar’s journey to a successful business, which included doing something not many people do, when they get their first client
• What he did when he discovered that his marketing degree had not prepared him for real life marketing
• Starting his own agency and successfully growing it
• The strategy Oscar discovered for running profitable low ticket offers
• Why your audience size for Facebook matters even more, thanks to recent changes
• Advice on how long to test ads before switching them up
• The process Oscar uses to optimise his ads
• Why knowing your numbers is so important
• What to have on your sales page to maximise conversions
• Tips for planning your numbers baseline
• Why an upsell is like a slice of cheesecake
• Tips around bumps, bonuses and upsells
• And more …

 

There is a lot of really useful information here.  So if you’re interested in using ads to grow your email list, have a listen.  You’ll be glad you did.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Having great copy for your website, your sales pages, your emails and your ads is super important for getting people to buy from you … whether you’re simply asking them to trade their email address for a digital download, or asking them to pull out their wallet and purchase something.

The tough reality is that writing great copy that converts is a skill that can take a long time to get good at.  It’s all about practice, practice, practice.

Fortunately, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  There are some great frameworks out there that can help you learn how to write great copy a lot faster.

In this episode, I talk with Meredith Kallaher, a conversion copywriting expert.  We talked about:

• The conversion copywriting framework that she uses and how it will make things so much easier, not just once, not just twice, but lots
• Why you need to make your customer the hero, not you.  
• Shortcuts you can use to get your copy done more quickly
• The 3-step process that Meredith uses to create and optimise her conversion copy (spoiler alert, it involves testing)
• Why knowing your numbers is so important (and why you shouldn’t let your Google Analytics dashboard scare you away from tracking your numbers

If you’re wanting better copy that converts, this podcast episode is full of tips and techniques you can use to help you get that copy.

So, if you’re interested, have a listen.  You’ll be glad you did.

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Did you know that Google Business Profile used to be called Google My Business?
And did you know that having your Google Business Profile filled out is a really excellent way for people to find you? Even if you don’t have a locally owned business?
My Google Business Profile is in serious need of a makeover. So I asked experts Amanda Magho from Ahadi Creations and Matt Woicik from ML2 Solutions to join me on the podcast and share some of their best tips. These tips are based on their experience of helping their clients make the most of their Google Business Profiles.
In this episode we talk about:

• Keyword stuffing … what’s okay and what’s not
• Which should come first, your Google Business Profile or your website?
• What kind of photos to add to your profile
• Whether you should have a Google Business Profile if you’re an online business
• Why getting reviews is so important
• How to deal with it when people give you bad reviews
• Ways of asking for reviews
• Advice re posting events on your Google Business Profile
• The number 1 thing you should do that will increase your Google Business Profile impact
• What if you want to have more than one profile?
• Other online places where people can find your business, that you should be claiming
• How to do with overwhelm when it comes to building your Google Business Profile
• Why you really, really, really need to claim your Google Business Profile

If Google Busines Profile is something you’ve been ignoring or if you are thinking about tweaking it to make it more impactful, this episode will really help you.
And you’ll want to have a listen. You’ll be glad you did.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.