The Captain Coder Podcast

If you’ve been in business longer than 5 minutes, you know that there are a lot of things to pay attention to. It’s so easy for many of these things to hit the back burner throughout the year and even cause problems the longer you go without taking care of them.

As this year winds down, this is a great chance to take a few simple steps to prep your marketing for 2024.

Let’s take a look at the 7 steps you should take now to clean up your marketing and get ready for the new year!

In this episode, we’ll cover:

• The data you need to look at
• Talking to your dream client
• How to review your goals
• The marketing pieces you need to clean up
• And how to plan your marketing strategy for 2024

MENTIONED RESOURCES:

Leads Growth Strategy

How to Get Your Dream Client’s Attention

Unlocking the Earning Power of Email Marketing

FREE RESOURCE: Get more leads from your website

Follow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

Hear a lot about marketing funnels but have no idea what that means? 

Online experts often talk about funnels and how they can help your business grow, but they very often break it down so you understand where to start.

Here’s why this is so frustrating to me - funnels don’t have to be overly complicated and they can be incredibly powerful to help you turn prospects into customers.

With a marketing funnel, you can improve your customer engagement, increase your conversion rates, and bring more people to your business.

So how does this all work?

In this episode we’ll cover:

• What a marketing funnel is
• How to market to each stage of a funnel
• The types of content you need at each stage
• Marketing funnel examples
• Ideas for your own business
• And how to keep customers coming back

FREE RESOURCE: Get more leads from your website

Follow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

Where do you find people online that want to work with you?

One of the easiest traps to fall into when you’re a service-based business is to rely on referrals only. While referrals can bring you some of the best-fit clients, you can’t control how consistently they come in.

Take control of your leads and get the right people to your business - all with online strategies.

In this week’s podcast, I’m teaching you six ways you can drive more leads into your business, including:

• How to set everything up to convert those leads
• Where to focus your long-term strategy
• How to get in front of a new audience
• Ways to effectively network online

Let’s break down some of the best ways to get out of your box and get people to your business - consistently.

MENTIONED RESOURCES:

Episode 49: How to Get Your Dream Client’s Attention

FREE RESOURCE: Get more leads from your website

Follow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

Know you need a website, but you have no idea where you should put it?

You’ve probably heard that Wix is easy, or Squarespace gives you beautiful templates, or you found a template that you like for ShowIt, or that WordPress is the best for SEO and flexibility (but has a steeper learning curve).

So which one do you go with anyway?

Where you build your website matters.

We’re going to break down the biggest pros and cons of each of these website builders and platforms, including: 

• The costs
• The flexibility
• The features
• SEO benefits
• Web Accessibility
• And more of each platform

You’ll be able to go into your choice feeling confident that you’ll get what you need - right now.

FREE RESOURCE: Website Builder Comparison chart

Follow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

An optimized website can help you grow your service-based business online, bringing in new leads and sales on autopilot. But how do you get people to come to your website in the first place?

While you can use social media, email marketing, and ads to drive people to your website, you don’t want to have to work all the time to get those new leads.

That’s where SEO comes in!

When you want your website to generate leads and sales for your business, especially as someone who provides services for your clients, you need new people to visit your website regularly via search engines.

Today, we’re going to cover:

• The power of SEO
• How to optimize your website for SEO
• Creating free Google accounts to improve SEO
• How to get others to link to your website
• And how to build your SEO authority

These tips will help you improve your website’s ranking in search results, attract more visitors, and boost your bottom line.

MENTIONED RESOURCES:

• Google Search Console
• Google My Business

FREE RESOURCE: Get more leads from your website

Follow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

Can you still get good results with organic social media?

That’s the big question that Ania of Ask Ania Media and I are discussing in this wide-ranging episode.

No ad budgets needed here! If you want to get the most out of your time on Instagram, this episode is perfect for you.

We’re Gonna Dive Into:
[05:07]: The importance of organic traffic and storytelling
[06:11]: What the algorithm really wants from you
[08:11]: The role of emotion in a world of AI
[11:12] The mix of content your audience wants
[13:34]: How to stop their scroll
[17:28]: How to use calls to action
[23:40]: How to drive traffic to your website and landing pages
[34:02]: The power of stories

Mentioned Resources:
Ask Ania Media
AAM on Instagram
AAM on TikTok

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to grow your service-based business. Are you ignoring it?

For many of us, we believe that “no one” opens emails so why should we send them.

But email marketing has one of the best ROI potentials for any digital marketing method out there. In fact, email marketing has the potential to drive an impressive $36 for every dollar you spend.

When you’re ignoring emails in your business, you’re leaving money on the table.

So how can you as a service-based business unlock the earning potential of email marketing in your own business?

We’ll cover:

• The power of email marketing
• What you need to send emails
• How to get people on your list
• And how to keep them connected

MENTIONED RESOURCES:
Episode 45 - Grow Your Email List with a Lead Capture People Actually Want to Download
ConvertKit

FREE RESOURCE: Get more leads from your website

Follow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

Trying to build your service-based business online? Your website has to convert.

As a service-based business, your website has to convince your potential customers that not only can you solve their problems, but that they need to spend a lot of their money with you.

More than that, your website should be an investment. An investment that should at some point, generate revenue for you.

If you want your website to generate leads and sales for your service-based business, then you absolutely need these 5 key elements.

We’ll dive into:

• Writing in your customers’ lingo
• How to put benefits first
• Backing up your claims
• Building easy calls to action
• And getting those leads who aren’t quite ready

MENTIONED RESOURCES:
Episode 45 - Grow Your Email List with a Lead Capture People Actually Want to Download
Episode 65 - 3 Ways to Build Trust with Your Website Visitors

FREE RESOURCE: Get more leads from your website

Follow me on Instagram: @captaincoder

What’s the one thing that can kill a lead or a sale on your website before you even get a chance at that conversion? The critical factor that can undermine your entire marketing strategy and the beautiful website you just designed?

It’s a lack of trust.

When someone makes a decision to work with you, it’s not the quality of your service, your pricing, or even the visual appeal of your website.

It's their belief in your ability to deliver the service and promises you’re making. If your prospect doesn’t feel confident that you will actually follow through with what you’re promising, they’ll head back to Google and find someone else to help them.

How can you quickly build trust with your website visitors?

You need to add some social proof to your website.

Let’s break down what that looks like and three simple steps you can take to add trust to yours.

Mentioned Resources:
Get More Leads from Your Website
Episode 40 - Press Jockey

Julia Taylor, founder of GeekPack, took her self-taught love of coding and created a business that works to get more non-traditional people into tech.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Julia and I dive into what it means to create a mission-focused company. From starting GeekPack and understanding her bigger purpose, to how she builds a profitable business and keeps her team on board with their overall calling.

Plus, she talks through how their mission keeps them going through the tougher days, the power of community, and how she personally stays on top of everything as an entrepreneur and leader.