We are in unprecedented times in our society and many of you out there have taken a cut in pay or have lost your incomes completely because of the COVID-19 health crisis. 

While we can’t help you from a health perspective, we can share any and all tools and resources we know of for creating and selling digital products.

We’ve been running our online shop Bluchic since 2012 and have experienced our own peaks and valleys. 

Starting an online shop and selling digital products during this time might be your way of earning some extra money during this time.

Below we’ve shared a variety of free and paid tools for creating and selling digital products. 

We hope this helps you during this time of uncertainty and hope you are staying safe and well.

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase we will earn a commission. Keep in mind that we only share about companies that we truly believe in.

17 Tools for Creating and Selling Digital Products

FREE TOOLS FOR CREATING AND SELLING DIGITAL PRODUCTS

MailerLite – email marketing tool we use to deliver lead magnets and share newsletters with our audience. Try MailerLite for free for 1,000 subscribers!

Canva – graphic design platform that allows users to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, ebooks, checklists, and any other digital product you could sell.

Google Docs –  you can create, write, edit, and publish your digital product on Google docs. 

Asana – a web and mobile application designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work.

Evergreen Countdown Timer plugin – create unlimited standard and evergreen countdown timers for your landing page and funnels.

Drift – live chat messenger tool you can implement on your website to answer customer questions.

YouTube Live – a tool to do a live webinar to share details about your digital product.

PAID TOOLS FOR CREATING AND SELLING DIGITAL PRODUCTS

Creative Market – an online marketplace to sell your digital products. 

Bluchic ChicShop WordPress Theme – our WordPress theme built specifically for digital product-based entrepreneurs. 

Bluehost – website hosting platform for your WordPress site.

SendOwl – sell all kinds of digital goods with SendOwl and have affiliate program. You can sell videos, ebooks, photos, patterns, audio, software, etc. 

Flodesk – email marketing tool to help you create and share beautiful newsletters with your audience. You can grab 50% off when you sign up through our link — it’ll be just $19/month for unlimited subscribers!

Bluchic Canva Social Media Templates – our social media templates built in Canva making it easy for you to create social media graphics to promote your digital products. 

Digital Product Download (DPD) – an easy to use digital publishing platform helping creators sell downloads and deliver content like ebooks, software, themes, music, graphics, and more.

Moonclerk – a tool to help you accept recurring payments and one-time payments online. Great for a monthly membership or offering. 

Teachable – a place where you can create and sell online courses.

Bluchic Landing Page Templates – our Landing Page templates bundle where you can create sales pages for your digital products quickly and beautifully. 

Final Thoughts 

If you are struggling to come up with what kind of digital product you can create, we highly recommend checking out this blog post where we lay out the five steps to creating and launching digital products that people actually want to buy. 

We hope this helps you now and in the future. We’re rooting for you.

The post 17 Tools for Creating and Selling Digital Products appeared first on Bluchic.

Virtual assistants are in demand more now than ever. Not only are they easier for your clients to afford than personal assistants, but you’re able to take on several clients at once, work remotely and take on the workload that serves you and your business best.

And the best thing of all? The sky is the limit when it comes to services you can offer as a virtual assistant. And if there is no limit, that means your income potential only keeps climbing and climbing.

So read on, VAs…this blog post is for you! 

25 Services You Can Offer as a Virtual Assistant

Bookkeeping

Most people loath bookkeeping because they don’t have the time, but it’s essential to keep the health of a business strong. So whether it’s sending out invoices, paying bills, helping to prepare taxes or doing payroll for employees, there are a ton of services you can offer under this umbrella.

Graphic Design

When you own a business, your graphic design needs are more lengthy than you ever thought. So if you can design business cards, sales sheets, or logos for clients, you’re in business.

Online Marketing

Everyone needs online marketing no matter what their business is. From creating ads on Facebook to sourcing banner ads, content creation is certainly part of it. But also sell yourself as an online marketing auditor. Consult on where your clients show up in online marketing and make recommendations on where they should be.

Top 8 Must-Haves for Your Virtual Assistant Website

PR

Public relations services can help everyone — not just high-rolling business owners. In addition to pitching clients to news outlets, podcast hosts and other blogs, offer up crisis management, press release writing services and pitch writing (which are shorter and less formal than press releases) as part of your services to offer as a virtual assistant.

How to Get Started with Guest Posting

Reputation Management

A subset of PR, reputation management includes how your customers talk about you online. Making your client aware of the conversation and interacting with unhappy customers can keep their business running smoother.

Social Media Management

Almost everyone knows the benefit of social media, but this is another area that a lot of business owners don’t have time for. Create content calendars for your clients that include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest and show what to post and when. 

In addition, you can create content for all of these social media sites so your clients have a broad platform across multiple mediums.

The Easiest Way To Make Amazing Social Media Graphics in MINUTES

Community Management

Complementary to social media management, community management means engaging with the communities (i.e. potential or current customers) that comment on a post, send a DM (that’s a direct message) or write reviews on your clients’ social channels. This could mean answering customer questions, responding to complaints and overall engaging with people who write on your feed.

Social Media Ads

Open up your social media accounts and you’ll likely see tons of ads. This is a great way to market your business. So add Instagram and Facebook ad content (writing and design) as part of the services you offer as a virtual assistant.

Ghost Writing

Ghost writing is simply writing as if you are the business owner (and you yourself don’t receive a byline). This could be as grandiose as helping someone with their novel or writing blog posts for their website.

Customer Service

Great businesses are that way because of great customer service. But besides social media, customers can engage with a business via email, the “contact us” page on a website or by phone. If you love working with people, this will be an enjoyable task that will really help out business owners.

Why Customer Service Is So Important For Your Business

Live Chat Customer Service

Many e-commerce sites now offer live chat as a way for customers to communicate and ask questions about a company. Offering this type of customer service in real time will allow you to offer more personalized care for your clients’ customer bases.

Administrative Work

Admin work runs the gamut, from doing business audits to helping with product launches and even setting up systems and timelines. Often times, these are those little tasks that make up one big job function.

The Best WordPress Plugins for your Service-Based Business

Recruiting

Helping clients recruit for open positions (whether it’s full-time or contract work) is an essential service. Starting with listing jobs on local job sites and LinkedIn, this also includes setting up interviews and pre-screening potential employees.

Data Entry

This busy work will keep you busy as a virtual assistant, because it’s a component of nearly every business. In addition to entering alphabetic, numeric of symbolic data into your client’s specific software systems, you may also offer data verification as part of this job duty.

Affiliate Management 

Simply put, an affiliate manager deals with the websites that house affiliate links for your clients’ businesses. If a customer clicks and makes a purchase, the website will take a small fee. However, getting into this type of marketing can be a big money-maker for your clients, which is why it’s smart to offer this service.

How To Be A Top Notch Affiliate Marketer That People Trust

Influencer Campaign Management

Influencer programs are everywhere these days. And although your client may be aware of them, they may not know how to get involved. That’s where you can help by identifying influencers, pitching your client to them, helping to negotiate contracts and tracking campaign results.

Contest and Giveaway Management

Contests are a great way for businesses to increase their engagement and tap into new customers. In your area of expertise, you can recommend potential sponsors and partnerships, secure prizes, communicate rules, moderate entries, choose a winner and deliver the prize.

Research Assistant

There is no end to research for a business owner. Whether your clients needs a market analysis  done on their competitors or an audit of their targeted customer base, having the ability to complete many different kinds of research projects will help make you marketable as a virtual assistant.

How to Make Your First $1,000 in Business

SEO Services

That’s Search Engine Optimization in case you didn’t know and it helps increase traffic to a website. Making sure your client’s website it optimized for SEO purposes puts them in front of their target audience and qualified leads, decreases the time they have to spend creating content and positions them as a brand leader in their niche.

Travel Agent

For clients who regularly travel for business, a service you should definitely offer as a virtual assistant includes travel planning. From booking airfare and hotels to making dinner reservations for client meetings, these fun tasks can really help a time-strapped business owner.

Resume Writing

In addition to resume design services, so many people also need help putting all their great experience into a sheet of compelling, digestible information. Have your own resume serve as an example of the type of content you can create for others.

Email Management

A jam-packed email box can prevent business owners from…well…doing business. As part of this service, offer to set up a system for organizing and replying to incoming messages, forwarding messages to the appropriate team members, writing reply emails to their customers’ most common questions and setting up automatic filters.   

How To Get People To Engage With Your Email Newsletter

Project Management

So many businesses have in-house project managers and for good reason. They are the ones who keep a business moving full steam ahead. From kicking off projects and managing timelines to scheduling team meetings and creating processes that help the business run more efficiently, there are so many skills you can offer under this umbrella.

Formatting eBooks and Courses

Many online business owners offer courses or eBooks as another form of revenue. But although they may have the content, they may need help with things like choosing a layout, picking typefaces, arranging footnotes and endnotes and more. 

Event Management

Whether your client wants to organize a small conference, workshop or team event for their employees, many businesses need a person on board willing to manage and plan events. As a virtual assistant, you may be asked to find sponsors, secure a venue, arrange accommodations for guests, promote the event or secure catering.  

Like this article? Pin it!

Final Thoughts

There are so many services you can offer as a virtual assistant, but your first step should be setting up a killer website showcasing all the great things you can do. 

At Bluchic, in addition to our entire line of customizable WordPress themes for your business, but for you Virtual Assistants out there we’d highly suggest our ChicServe theme or for our Divi users our ChicServe Divi Child theme!

The post 25 Services You Can Offer as a Virtual Assistant appeared first on Bluchic.

Have a huge goal for 2020? — like creating and launching digital products? Sister (and mister), you came to the right place!

Anyone… we repeat… anyone can launch a digital product. There are so many whitespace opportunities in the market, and unlike what you may think, not everything under the sun has been created already.

But despite these opportunities for more content, the quickest road to success is that you are creating products that people want to buy.

You could have an amazing product or idea, but if no one wants to buy it (besides your mother or best friend), your online business will only go so far.

So we’re taking some of the guesswork out of taking that leap and creating great products that your audience also wants.

5 Steps to Creating and Launching Digital Products That People Actually Want to Buy 

Step 1: Do Your research

Now, you may be thinking that creating and launching a digital product starts with exactly that. But without validating your product with your intended audience first, you’re making a giant mistake.

That’s because many business owners assume what they think (or want) is going to sell. In reality, you may be totally off base or you may need to make some big tweaks before launching to make sure your digital products are something people are going to want to buy.

Start with doing your research. Talk to as many potential customers as you can, especially if it’s face-to-face or over the phone. If time is of the essence, reach out via email or social media direct messages.

From here, you want to find out what your audience struggles with.

What hasn’t worked in the past and why? 

What problem do they wish someone would solve for them? 

What’s the desired end goal?

By really listening, you’ll be able to find patterns in their problems and help tailor a solution to that. 

Think about it this way: The best digital products solve a problem. Make sure yours is part of that solution.  

What to do Before Launching a Brand New Product

Step 2: Tap Into Your Strengths

After hearing about what your target customer wants, and doesn’t want, the product creating phase can begin. But you want to make sure that what you create plays into what you already know.

If your niche is freelance graphic designers, for example, and your target customers say they have trouble with the accounting side of the business, now’s not the time to launch a course dedicated to math or taxation.

But if you’re a former graphic designer and your target customers say they need help gaining clients, launching a course about getting more business would be the perfect fit.

How to Launch a New Online Shop Product to Existing Customers

Step 3: Create New Digital Content

Creating and launching digital products starts with solving a problem. But there are so many types of content you can use to help your customers solve that problem. Check out some of our favorite mediums to get people the products you sell digitally:
 

• Online courses
• Email courses
• PDF checklist
• Audio training
• PDF workbook
• eBook
• Templates
• Printable content like calendars
• Photography or other artwork
• Tutorials
• Membership to your site
• Software
• Apps

How to be Confident That Your Product Is Going to Sell

Step 4: Market Your Content

No matter what type of digital product you’re creating, launching and then marketing your product in the right way is crucial.

Chances are, your product will be housed on your website (and if so, you’ve gotta read the next step). But there’s so much you can do beyond that to market what you’ve created, bring in new customers, and expand your product offerings to existing customers.

Think about marketing your digital product in new ways. If you have a blog, create a new post about your new offerings to explain more and up your SEO (that’s search engine optimization). From there, you can market your blog post via your social media channels.

You can also create dedicated posts on Instagram, Facebook, etc. announcing the launch of your new digital product and then link them to the purchase page on your website.

Another fun idea? Make a YouTube video or appear on a complementary podcast to tout your new content. House these links on your website and make dedicated social media posts showing your appearances.

The most important thing to remember? Get out there! If no one knows about your new product, no one can purchase it.

Step 5: Update Your Website

When you think about creating and launching a new digital product, think about where you’ll be leading people — to your website! That’s why you want to make sure yours is as professional looking and optimized as it can be.

Don’t know where to start? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Creating Your Dream Website. 

At Bluchic, we have an entire line of customizable WordPress themes for your business. And if you sell digital products, we especially recommend ChicShop, our theme specifically for female product-based entrepreneurs.

And if you’re putting off launching a new digital product because you are too overwhelmed by the technical side of your website, we have Landing Page Templates to help you get more customers and make more passive income.

Whether it’s creating an opt-in page, sales page or webinar page, our landing page templates work seamlessly with any WordPress theme (whether it’s one of ours or not). They help you save time and energy while developing beautiful, professional pages you can be proud of.

Final Thoughts

Launching and creating digital products that people actually want to buy doesn’t have to be stressful or take years. With our list of tips, you’ll be strengthening your product offerings, and your business, in no time.

The post 5 Steps to Creating and Launching Digital Products That People Actually Want to Buy appeared first on Bluchic.

New Year, new website! Or should we say refreshed website?

The beginning of the year is a great time to focus on goals that are both personal and professional. And if you’re an online business owner, chances are some of those resolutions have to do with your online presence.

After the craziness that is the holiday season, you may be busier than you’ve ever been, which makes those few weeks after the holidays the perfect time to get organized, reevaluate and set your business up for success in the New Year.

In today’s blog post, we’re giving you the ultimate cheat sheet on everything you need to know to update your website. It’s the ultimate calling card for your product or service-based business. And making sure it’s functioning in the best way possible will make sure your business will, too.

How to Update Your Website for the New Year 

1 | Check Your Listings

When it comes to reevaluating your portfolio, start at the top. In other words, start with what you’re selling.

Whether it’s products, services or a combination of the two, check your listings to make sure you’re where you want to be. That could be paring down your service offerings based on analytics and customer feedback or ramping up new products based on what you learned the previous year.

Another option? Not changing anything. The important thing here is to think strategically about your business offerings and what makes sense for you.

The Website Pages you Must Have if You’re an Online Shop Owner

2 | Evaluate Your Pricing

It goes hand in hand with your product and service offerings — what you’re charging for them. The New Year is a great time to decide if you’re on target or need to adjust.

Like many other things in life, tuition and groceries, for example, prices tend to go up a little every year. When it’s by a nominal amount, say 1-5 percent, most customers won’t notice. Plus, you’ll be able to keep up with increasing business expenses.

However, if you aren’t getting the traction you need, think about adding some marketing promotions to temporarily lower prices. This strategy can increase traffic and new customers.

3 | Update Your Landing Pages

The New Year can mean a new facelift (for your website!). Now is the perfect time to make sure your online presence is professional and well designed.

Here at Bluchic, we are in the business of helping yours succeed with an entire line of WordPress themes. Whether you’re considering ChicShop, our theme specifically for female product-based entrepreneurs, to ChicServe, which is built for female service-based businesses, we’re able to give you complete flexibility — and customization! — when it comes to your website.

Not only do our WordPress themes look as good as they function, they can also be customized to fit your unique business needs. Whether it’s your about us page, portfolio, service page, FAQs or shoppable pages, you don’t have to sacrifice customization for eye-catching design.

Now you can have both while creating a website that’s easy for you to use and has a great user experience for customers.

6 Landing Page Tips to Explore Your Business Growth

4 | Improve Your CTAs

Calls to action, otherwise known as CTAs, are some of the most important pieces of copy you’ll have on your website.

Whether it’s your contact us page or your product pages, each portion of your website should have a clear goal in mind and communicate what you want your customer to do.

Whether it’s “shop now,” “sign me up” or “learn more,” you shouldn’t leave your customers second guessing.

As your reevaluate your website, take a fresh eye from the perspective of your customer. Could CTAs be stronger or more direct? If so, there’s no time like the present to update them.

5 | Check for Dead Links

It’s a customer’s worst nightmare (Ok, maybe not the worst…but pretty close). Finding a piece of content you want to learn more about or a product you want to purchase only to find out that it takes you to a weird page with the headline “404.” What the…

Instead of being bounced back to your homepage or having users exit the browser, a 404 page can include links that can help your customers find potentially relevant information on another page.

While this is important, it’s an even better idea to check all your links and fix the broken ones. If you haven’t already, download this free WordPress plugin to find the broken links on your website.

6 | Back it Up

Your website, that is! Although this task may fall by the wayside, it’s best to back up your content weekly to ensure your content is protected.

The good news is that it’s pretty simple to automatically back up your files. These plugins, UpdraftPlus and BackupBuddy, are easy to use for the average business owner.  

7 | Double-Check Your Domain

Your domain may be one of those things in your business that runs on autopilot, but if your registration on your domain expires, everything may come to a screeching halt.

To prevent this, first, contact your hosting provider to see when your registration expires. After paying the amount due, consider opting in for auto-renewals.

In addition, this is a great time to make sure all your contact information your provider has is up to date (such as business name, phone number, email address, etc.). 

Final Thoughts

The New Year is the perfect time to plan ahead for your business. So there’s no time like the present to upgrade your website, make it more professional and increase your user experience.  If you don’t know where to start, our ChicServe and ChicShop WordPress themes are just what you need to get started.

The post How to Prepare Your Website for the New Year appeared first on Bluchic.

If you’re interested in taking your business to the next level, then you already know that having your own website is the only way to go.

Here at Bluchic, we are in the business of helping yours succeed with an entire line of WordPress themes. But if there’s one myth we wish we could dispel, it’s the idea that you can’t customize the theme you choose.

Bluchic themes are flexible enough for the WordPress wonder woman and simple enough for the “non-techy” newbies to help build a website that brings their vision to life.

Whether you’re considering ChicShop, our theme specifically for female product-based entrepreneurs, or ChicServe, which is built for female service-based businesses, we’re able to give you complete flexibility — and customization! — when it comes to your website.

In today’s post, we’re going to show you exactly how, because no two businesses are the same.

5 Ways to Customize a Bluchic WordPress Theme

1 | With the Homepage

One thing that both the ChicShop and ChicServe themes have in common is that they both use the Elementor WordPress plugin. With this tool, you get total control of your website’s look and feel without having a background in coding.

Elementor is extremely intuitive, and it allows you to easily drag and drop images, text boxes, headlines and more onto your website — and that starts with your homepage.

The homepage is the calling card of your website, and it’s the first thing people see when they type in your URL.

Whether you choose ChicShop or ChicServe, you can decide whether you want images before copy, copy before images, copy in images … it’s all up to you.

You also have the ability to customize the header and footer with different colors, fonts and navigational functions. You can also add whichever social media icons you want and play with the font and color of your copy.

With ChicShop, we included the social media icons especially on the footers so visitors can focus more on your products. And the header is designed to emphasize images of your products so customers get a feel for your products right away.

Both these also have a Header Notice Bar where you can promote an announcement with a built-in header bar (so no announcements go unnoticed).

ChicServe also has a homepage slider available where you can enable the slider (either full width or box up) and create a static hero image by uploading only one image.

2 | With the About Page

The About page is so important to include on your website, because it’s where new customers will go to learn more about you. Hover over each page to see our options for ChicShop and ChicServe for yourself.

As you can see, the style is completely up to you. With either section, you can rearrange every part of your theme’s layout and colors with no coding or CSS knowledge necessary.

Another feature is that whether you’re a solo business owner or part of a team, you can highlight that here with multiple photos and text boxes available to you.

Mistakes You’re Making On Your About Page (And How To Fix Them)

3 | With the Service Page

With ChicServe, you can rest assured that the design of your website was built exactly for your service-based business model. And that is certainly true in the services pages.

Choose between two completely different services pages that you can completely customize depending on your business goals.

From there you can customize everything you see, from font and color to layout and images. And what’s really great is that this (and the rest of your website) was designed to be responsive so it will fit every screen (like a desktop, tablet, and smartphone) no matter where your customers find you.

4 | With the FAQ Page

The FAQ page is one of the most frequented pages from new customers on your site. It’s basically a one-stop-shop for all the random questions your customers may be asking.

And the great thing is that with ChicShop and ChicServe, you can decide how it looks and functions. From the card style to layout, font, and colors, it’s never been easier to make this page how you want it.

How to Know When to Hire a Professional to Customize Your WordPress Theme

5 | With the Shop Page

No two e-commerce shops are the same, and with our ChicShop theme, yours can be completely customized, too.

Shop with content sidebar layout

Shop with full width layout

Shop with sidebar content layout

With the WordPress WooCommerce plugin, you have the ability to show your shop layout that works best for you. Whether that’s full width with no sidebar, a left sidebar or a right sidebar.

You can also decide how many rows and columns of products listing work best for you, how big your items are, and how many pages customers should scroll through.

Within each product page, you are also able to enable a zoom capability along with descriptions and reviews so customers fully understand what they are purchasing. And you can show a cart icon on the menu or a floating cart icon on the top right.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to picking a WordPress theme, you aren’t sacrificing customization for design. With our line of ChicShop and ChicServe themes, you can get both!

But the best thing about our customization tools is that they are still easy and seamless to use. So no worries about needing to know code or have a design background. With our ChicShop and ChicServe themes, you’ll get the best of both worlds.

The post 5 Ways to Customize a Bluchic WordPress Theme appeared first on Bluchic.

Here at Bluchic, we’re all about helping business owners create awesome websites with our line of WordPress themes.

From ChicShop, our theme specifically for female product-based entrepreneurs, to ChicServe, built for female service-based businesses, our goal is to give you flexibility with an automatically responsive design your customers will love.

In addition to looking amazing, these two themes have another thing in common. They both use the Elementor WordPress plugin.

You may already know all about Elementor from our blog post on the best WordPress plugins for your business, and this one is one of our favorites. But in today’s post, we’re going to expand on that so you’ll know why a Bluchic WordPress theme is the best option for you.

 

Free Email Course: Launch your dream website in just 5 days!

We’ll show you exactly what you need to do to launch your website – even if you aren’t tech savvy. Lessons will be delivered right to your inbox.

SIGN UP FOR THE FREE COURSE

3 Reasons why you Should Use Bluchic 

A Perfect Match

When it comes to offering you complete customization, the Elementor WordPress plugin is our secret weapon. With this tool, you get total control of your website’s look and feel without having a background in coding.

As much as we love WordPress on its own, you’ve never been able to easily drag and drop images, text boxes or headlines into your webpage. Elementor allows you to do exactly that, which makes the whole experience very user-friendly.

This also makes it perfect for beginners because it’s so easy to use. Because our ChicServe and ChicShop themes already have the Elementor WordPress plugin built into them, you’ll be able to create a website that looks exactly like our demo site in just a few hours!

We’re Better Than Divi

Elementor isn’t the only drag-and-drop tool you can use for your website. One of the biggest competitors is called Divi.

Although Divi is cheaper, it has a harder learning curve which makes it more difficult for newbies to learn. Elementor is much easier to get the hang of plus it’s more intuitive to use.

One big difference between the two is the interface. With Elementor, you can do a live preview of your design while editing in addition to showing a fixed sidebar to add new elements to your page or access other functionalities of the site.

You can also edit the text directly on the page by clicking and typing in the box. The text editor and the stylized page automatically sync up so you don’t have to worry about copying and pasting information.

With Divi, the interface includes floating buttons that open different popups to edit your content. In general, it’s tougher to look at and navigate. 

Elementor also has a cool feature called global widgets. This allows you to have the same widget in multiple areas on your site, and you’re able to update all of them at once. In addition, Elementor has more widgets and theme building functionality.

Divi does have global modules so you can add a single widget on multiple pages where you can update all of them at once. It also lets you edit on the back-end.

Another thing about Divi is that when it’s deactivated, it will show the Divi shortcode code, unlike Elementor. 

This means that if you ever stop using Divi for any reason and remove it from your site, it will look like a bunch of confusing code on your website which is not what we want!

In general, both are good options, but Elementor wins. The user experience is much better which will make everything you do (editing, adding content, moving modules, etc.) that much easier. 

7 Ways To Improve The User Experience On Your Website

… and Showit

Showit is another website builder that allows you to drag and drop. It’s a standalone website builder which means it isn’t housed on another website platform (like Elementor is with WordPress).

Showit was created specifically for creative professionals and photographers. 

This can make it somewhat limiting for other business owners. It’s very similar to the Adobe Suite, which photographers should love. But for those who aren’t familiar with Adobe products, this can mean a steeper learning curve.

When it comes to features and tools, the Elementor WordPress plugin offers greater flexibility and customization because you have access to the entire WordPress ecosystem of plugins.

Not all WordPress plugins work with Showit, which can make designing a challenge if you know the exact plugin you need through WordPress but it’s not compatible.

Elementor also leads the pack when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). In general, there are more tools available to help optimize a WordPress website, while allowing you to have greater control because you have access to their server.

How to get Started With SEO

Final Thoughts

Picking a platform for your website is a big decision. From functionality and tools to user experience and customization, the Elementor WordPress plugin wins the battle every time.

When you say yes to our ChicServe and ChicShop WordPress themes, you automatically get this amazing plugin with it. So you can feel confident that you have the best tools at your fingertips for your website.

The post 3 Reasons Why You Should Use Bluchic appeared first on Bluchic.

When it comes to your brand and business, your website is your calling card. That url where customers can reach you says so much more than the 10-30 characters you’re choosing to string together.

On today’s blog post, we’re giving you the 411 on WordPress — how to move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. The difference can actually make a big impact when it comes to your business and can help streamline your branding. 

 

Free Email Course: Launch your dream website in just 5 days!

We’ll show you exactly what you need to do to launch your website – even if you aren’t tech savvy. Lessons will be delivered right to your inbox.

SIGN UP FOR THE FREE COURSE

How to Move From WordPress.com to Self-Hosted WordPress?

Making the Difference 

For newbie business owners and bloggers out there, many think WordPress is simply WordPress, and there’s nothing more to it. But there are actually two routes you can go with your website, WordPress.com and a self-hosted WordPress site via WordPress.org.

WordPress.com is free (gotta love the f-word!). It’s a quick and easy option for hosting. 

All you need to do is sign up for an account, choose a site name that hasn’t been chosen, pick a templated design and launch your website.

This is a good option for people doing business on a very small scale or as a hobby. You don’t have to know any of the technical aspects of website hosting or design because WordPress.com takes care of all the hassle for you. But it does come with some drawbacks.

Namely, you’ll have WordPress.com as part of your website address. So in our case, our web address would be Bluchic.WordPress.com—this obviously is super clunky and not ideal. 

To use our own domain without the WordPress.com tacked onto the end, you have to pay annually and your storage space is limited (so you have to watch how many photos and videos you upload).

The self-hosted option is WordPress.org. This means you’ll purchase your own domain name and hosting plan to house on your website.

With this option, you’ll have full control over your site (and there isn’t any copy you have to tack onto your website address), you’ll be able to upload custom themes to give your website a personalized look, you can upload WordPress plugins to enhance the usage and functionality, and you’re able to monetize your website by running banners and advertisements.

For a business owner, WordPress.org is the way to go all day, every day. 

If you want to generate income, you’ll want the flexibility and full control over your website and functionality. It’ll also help you streamline your branding and let you make the best choices when it comes to the look and feel of the experience you’re trying to emulate.

If you’re a business owner or blogger looking to move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, follow these steps: 

Step 1: Purchase a Domain

In order for you to have a self-hosted website, you need to be able to call it something. But, alas, the sky is not the limit. You have to choose something that isn’t already taken.

You’ll also need to find a domain registrar (think something like GoDaddy or Namecheap). Sites like these also have checker tools so you can see if your idea is available, and if not, something similar you could use.

Next, just go through the order process on said domain registrar and verify the ownership. Easy!

9 Questions to ask Yourself Before Choosing a WordPress Theme

Step 2: Purchase Website Hosting

Many newbies think once you have your domain name, you can get to rocking and rolling. But you actually need a hosting service, too. Simply put, this is a company that provides the technology and services needed for your website to be viewed on the internet.  

For beginners, a popular option we love is Bluehost. And for more intermediate business owners, check out Siteground and Flywheel. (FYI — some of these are affiliate links!)

From here, you’ll need to decide what type of hosting you want: shared hosting, virtual private servers, dedicated hosting and managed hosting. Learn about the differences between them and which one is right for you in our blog post, 8 Questions to ask When Choosing a WordPress Hosting.

Step 3: Export Your Content

This is where moving from WordPress.com to WordPress.org gets a little techy. So follow these bullets to easily export the amazing content you’ve already created.

• Sign into your WordPress account.
• Go to your blog’s dashboard and click on WP Admin.
• Look for the Tools tab and click on export.
• Click on start export.
• From here, you can pick and choose which content you want to export or you can export everything. Click on what you want to export and then click Download Export File.
• This will download an XML file onto your computer filled with all your posts, pages, comments, etc.

Step 4: Install the Importer

The next step is to install the importer on your new site and then do the following:
 

• Go to your dashboard and click on Tools > Import.
• From there, click on Install the WordPress Importer which will import your posts, pages, etc. from your export file from Step 3.
• A new window will pop up with the WordPress Importer plugin. Click Install Now.
• When this is done, a new page pops up confirming that everything was installed properly.
• Click on Activate Plugin & Run Importer.

10 Essentials To-Do List After Installing WordPress on Your Website  

Step 5: Import Your Content

Now is the time to upload your WordPress.com export file.
 

• You’ll be automatically redirected to the import page. From here, click on Upload file and import.
• Assign your posts to new authors or assign post to an existing author on your new site by finding them in the drop-down list.
• Check the Download and import file attachments box and click Submit.

Step 6: Test Your Site

Even if you followed all the right steps to move from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, there may be glitches that follow you.

You’ll want to thoroughly test your site to make sure everything is looking and functioning as it should. This means all the images should be there, all the buttons are working, the formatting looks correct, etc.

If you’re having issues while in the testing phase (especially with images not transferring), check out the WordPress plugin Import External Images.  

The 7 Things You Need To Do Immediately After Launching Your New Site

Step 7: Celebrate!

Once your site is functioning the way it should and you have moved everything over from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, now is the time to get creative.

Building your dream website should be affordable and stress-free. 

Our WordPress themes allow you to create a beautiful and professional site that your customers will love. Check out our customized WordPress themes to make sure your site looks as good as it functions.

Final Thoughts

For serious business owners (or those who mean serious business), moving from WordPress.com to WordPress.org is a no-brainer. The pros are endless and it’s not as difficult as you may think. With these steps, you’ll be loving your website even more.

The post How to Move From WordPress.com to Self-Hosted WordPress? appeared first on Bluchic.

Building your email subscriber list is a solid strategy to grow your business in the digital age. Although in-person, personalized connections will always have a time and place, you can’t ignore the fact that more customers equals more sales (and more email subscribers equals more customers).

In a previous blog post, we told you everything you need to know (plus the kitchen sink) about lead magnets. Why you should have one. Why they’re valuable. Why they’ll turn followers into subscribers.

All that (free!) knowledge we gave you is the foundation for today’s post — creating a free resource library. 

 

Ready to create your lead magnet but have no idea where to begin?

Enter your info below to download the FREE Lead Magnets 101 workbook.

How to Create a Free Resource Library 

What it Is and Why You Need It 

Lead magnets draw customers in and entice them to provide you with their email address in exchange for an incentive. Whether it’s a downloadable workbook, checklist or email course, it provides value to your audience.

But what happens when you create a dozen lead magnets, also known as content upgrades? 

Do your readers enter a new email address every time they want another piece of free content? 

Do they need to resubscribe…and then resubscribe again? Heck no!

This is where your free resource library comes in. It’s basically a one-stop shop for all that amazing free content you’ve created. Here are our top reasons why they are great:

1. It adds value to your brand and positions you as an expert.
2. It makes it super simple to house all your lead magnets.
3. It will grow your email list.
4. It motivates you to create amazing content for your community, which will keep people engaged. 

The 4 Elements of an Irresistible Lead Magnet

Resource Library 101

Before you start a free resource library, you need content to put in there. 

Aim for at least 5-6 free pieces of content before your library goes live. 

This is substantial enough while allowing your library to grow in the future based on your business goals and the needs of your audience.

When it comes to content though, quality is definitely better than quantity. 

You want to make sure your offerings are providing people value. Really think about your target audience. What do they want? How much information do they need?

Another good rule of thumb is to offer variety. If you take a peek at this awesome freebie library (Spoiler alert: It’s ours!), you’ll see we have something for everyone.

Whether it’s a resource about WordPress, marketing, social media, eCommerce or fun desktop wallpapers, the variety will surprise and delight new subscribers.  

7 Easy Ways To Drive Traffic to Your Lead Magnets

Think About the Details 

As much as we wish it were the case, just having awesome content housed on a page on your website isn’t enough. To create an effective free resource library, you have to think about the logistics.

How is it that people will be able to use your content? 

We definitely recommend using a service like Google Drive or Dropbox to allow your audience to easily download your content. For them, all it will take is one click to get what they want (an easy experience is always a good thing!).

To make the page look good, and increase user experience, create a custom image for each of your freebies. 

Although this is technically optional, it’s so much more effective than a list of what you’re offering. 

Create Your Library Page 

The one mistake you can’t make when it comes to creating a free resource library is forgetting to make it password protected.

The whole reason you are offering all this great content in one place is to incentivize potential customers by getting their email addresses. If they can access your content without giving anything up, they will!

Instead, make it password protected. You can easily obtain their email address which can send a welcome email to their inbox. From there you can send them a link to confirm their email subscription plus a password to access the content.

This little extra step will ensure that your information stays in the right hands.

Two other things to add on there are the freebie images mentioned previously and links to download the content. Here, you’ll want separate download URLs for each piece of content you are offerings. 

Overwhelmed by creating your free resource library? Check out our Landing Page Templates! You can easily create your free resource library in just a few clicks!

Create Your Opt-in page 

An enticing and attention-grabbing opt-in page is a must-have for your free resource library. This is how you actually obtain your readers’ names and email addresses.

Other than those two fields, you should have a link that says something like, “Yes! Sign me up!” or “Yes, I want access to the library.” Just something that tells people right away what will happen when they complete the fields.

Another thing you must have is a teaser copy of what is actually in the library, which will entice people to sign up. Walk the line between giving people a sneak peek of what they’ll find while leaving a bit of mystery.

Try adding a sentence including the “why.” 

Why should people sign up? Why is it valuable for them to do so? 

How to Create an Amazing Lead Magnet That Turns Followers Into Subscribers

Promote Yourself 

When it comes to everything you need to create your free resource library, we’ve got ya covered!

In addition to helping you create a free resource library with our Landing Page Templates, we also have our Canva social media templates that will help you easily create things like Pinterest graphics that people will want to re-pin and share. 

A styled, seamless and consistent look is so important when it comes to these graphics. And our social media templates give you the look you need at a price you want. 

4 Ways To Promote Your Business That Will Give You A Big Return on Investment

Final Thoughts

A free resource library is a major incentive for would-be subscribers. Not having one is like missing out on customers (and sales!). Use these tips and tricks to get your page up and running — and let us know how on this post on Instagram!

The post How to Create a Free Resource Library appeared first on Bluchic.

The best feeling in the world as an online shop owner is getting that email — or proverbial ping — that signals you’ve got a sale. Forget mail…sales are where it’s at.

That sales funnel is one of the most important aspects of your business, too. It’s the process where potential customers become actual customers. And more customers equals more business.

So if you’re tuning in to today’s blog post, lucky you! We’re covering all the ins and outs to boost your sales and make your business a success. 

8 Ways to Boost Your Sales for Your Online Shop

1 | Know Your Target Audience 

If you think of your business and your customer base, reaching your intended audience shouldn’t be like throwing darts at a dart board and seeing what sticks.

You should know your target audience like the back of your hand. That means creating a client avatar you can refer back to. And no, this shouldn’t be a character in a movie.

It’s what your ideal client is like…the “who” behind who is buying your products. To get started creating a client avatar, complete this checklist.

• List all the demographics you know about your client. This can include things like age, location, sex, marital status, if they have kids, education level, etc.
• Think visually. Consider finding a photo or creating a real avatar of your client. As you’re creating strategies, you can visually think back to this person so they remain at the forefront of everything you do. Google “online avatar builder” to get started.
• Create a manifesto. This is the storytelling aspect of your avatar. Whether it’s a few paragraphs or a page or two, this can give context behind the demographics your avatar is a part of.
• Consider their behaviors. Part of creating a customer avatar is knowing details and the other half is about knowing their behaviors. What do they respond to? What gets them up in the morning? What makes them click “order now”? Thinking about this information now will help you greatly down the line.

 
How To Figure Out What Your Audience Wants To Read

2 | Solve a Problem

Knowing what makes people tick is a gift — and necessary if you want to boost sales. The reason most people buy what they buy is because it’s solving a problem.

Whether it’s saving time, money or sanity, think about how your product is going to fill that void in peoples’ lives. 

The next step is communicating that in a succinct way. It’s like shouting your greatness from the rooftops. It may not be comfortable at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Your customers want to know what makes you different from your competitors. And providing that education about your uniqueness and your service’s product-solving abilities will do wonders to boost sales.

The Website Pages You Must Have if You’re an Online Shop Owner

3 | Cross-Promote Your Heart Out

Once you figure out your target audience and the problems you want to solve, the next step is cross-promotion. Chances are, if you have a customer who likes one of your products, they’ll probably like more of your offerings.

But first, have an amazing landing page set up to cross-promote.  We especially recommend ChicShop, which is designed specifically for female-owned product-based businesses. 

This WordPress theme gives you endless customization opportunities and flexibility to showcase your products in the best way possible.

One idea is to have this upselling feature as part of your shopping cart so customers see related products as they are about to check out. 

Another option is building these cross-promoting opportunities within your product pages to make seeing related products easier.

4 | Get Flashy

One of the most effective ways to boost sales? Flash sales! And we should know. This year alone we’ve boosted our sales 55% by just using this tactic alone.

Think of flash sales like a FOMO sale.

People psychologically have a “fear of missing out,” which you can use to your advantage. In addition, people love a good promotion, so combining a promotion with a limited-time offer is a win-win combination.

5 | Build it and They will Come

Even though we live in a digital age, people long for a sense of community. As an online shop owner, building that sense of community is a great strategic way to boost your sales.

This could mean building a community on Instagram, a group on Facebook or a following on YouTube…there are so many ways to foster a sense of community online. 

The important thing is showing your personality and humanity while fostering a supportive culture.

This goes hand-in-hand with your mission of solving a specific problem. The community you build online can be one piece in solving that problem in combination with the product or service you sell.

How To Find Your Unique Voice for Your Online Shop

6 | Lean into Email

Growing your email list is an important tactic when you’re trying to boost your sales. This is because you’re taking traffic that is already coming to your website and then converting that traffic to subscribers (and customers).

By creating an email funnel that will sell your products automatically, you are taking some of the hard work out of making a sale (which means you can spend more time on other things!). 

But instead of random, repeated emails, you’re nurturing the relationship you have with your customer.

These targeted, well-timed emails build trust, authority and education about your products or services. This leads your subscribers to eventually becoming customers.

Want in on our email list? You can sign up here! 

7 | Embrace an Abandoned Shopping Cart

Newbie business owners may think an abandoned shopping cart is the kiss of death. But it’s actually a good opportunity for business owners looking to boost their sales.

If you have your customers opt-in to your email list, you’ll be able to send them targeted offers after they have abandoned their cart. 

Maybe they forgot, got busy, accidentally clicked out of their browser…who knows!?

But what we do know is that emails targeted to these specific customers work. 

Try sending them an email with a 10%-off discount for purchasing that item, and suddenly you’ve made the purchasing decision that much easier.

How to Make Your First $1,000 in Business

8 | Sweeten the Deal

These days, people do not want to pay for shipping. People will even spend more money on your products to avoid paying a shipping fee.

Lean into this consumer behavior by offering free shipping when your customers hit a certain threshold (like $49). 

This also promotes upselling because customers can add several of your products to their shopping cart in order to reach the threshold. And when customers have more of your products in their hands, they are more likely to keep buying from you.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to boosting your sales, a solid strategy will get you far (and make you more money!). These tips will help you get there by creating a solid foundation built on tactics that work. 

The post 8 Ways to Boost Your Sales for Your Online Shop appeared first on Bluchic.

Today’s business owners are busy and need to be more efficient than ever. One way to be extra efficient is getting more leads in less time. Want to learn how? Then today’s blog post was made for you.

The No. 1 thing you must do is have an opt-in page. This page is a landing page you can send people to on your website designed with the specific intention of getting people to sign up for your email list.

Most people want an incentive — otherwise known as a lead magnet — to sign up for your email list. This free offer “leads” them into a funnel where you eventually promote your paid offerings.

Some examples of lead magnets include:
 

• PDF Checklist 
• Video tutorial
• Audio training
• PDF workbook
• Freebie library of resources
• eBook
• Email course
• Printable calendar
• Spreadsheet
• Challenge
• Swipe files
• Recorded webinar
• Screensaver/Desktop wallpaper
• Recorded interviews
• Quiz

 
Now that we’re on the same page of what a lead magnet can include, we’re going to tell you everything you need to know to create a killer opt-in page that will give you more leads in less time.  

6 Things you Must Have on Your Opt-in Page

1 | Headline and Subhead

The best opt-in pages all have one thing in common: They have killer headlines and subheads.

Crafting such messaging isn’t always easy though. You want to provide enough information to let your would-be subscribers know what they’re getting, but you don’t want to write so much that they lose interest. It should also be catchy and hook your audience in.

Want to see a great example? Check out one of ours to help you build a powerful online presence (and we’re not just saying that to toot our own horn).

Even though the size of the font is inverted, “Free Email Course” is the headline in this case and “Create Your Dream Website in Just 5 Days!” is the subhead. (Psst….you can sign up for this free email course by clicking here!)

What’s great about this dynamic duo is that the headline hooks people in but the subhead further entices the audience while explaining the offer.

When it comes to writing your own headline and subhead, you first need to think of a great lead magnet. Then practice writing different messages to see what is the most impactful and attention-getting. Words like “free” are always great as are action-oriented verbs like “create, discover, join,” etc.

How to Create an Amazing Lead Magnet That Turns Followers into Subscribers

2 | Benefits

In order to have an effective lead magnet, you need to be able to tell people what it is exactly they’ll get from it. Now’s not the time to play guessing games or bury the lead. Clearly communicating the results your customers will receive by using the lead magnet is very important.

Think of the benefit as your “why.” Why should someone sign up for your lead magnet? If you can’t clearly articulate that, maybe your lead magnet isn’t focused enough. Go back to the drawing board and try again.

This opt-in page from Ashlyn Writes is laser-focused when it comes to features and benefits.

People’s attention spans online are minimal at best, and this opt-in page clearly communicates the benefit of grabbing someone’s attention quickly. Not only that, but they have cheeky copy that everyone can relate to, “more heart-race than eyes glaze.”

7 Easy Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Lead Magnet

3 | Sign-up Form

The whole point of an opt-in page is collecting subscriber names and email addresses so you can send them targeted offers and education about your product or service down the road. So having these two fields are essential.

Check out this example from House of Brazen.

What’s great about this example is that it includes those two necessary fields — first name and email address. But what’s even better is that she has those fields twice on her opt-in page (at the bottom and at the top).

Now, this may not work visually with every opt-in page, but here it totally does because it bookends her content where she explains the features and benefits of her lead magnet.

When adding in those buttons, make sure yours are easy to spot. 

4 | Call to Action

A lot of opt-in pages have their fields for a name and email address right next to their call to action. If you don’t know what a CTA is, it’s simply the action you want people to take. 

Whether it’s “download now,” “sign up here,” or “take the free course,” you’re being really clear on what it is you want people to do.

In this example from Jenna Kutcher, her call to action clicks into her sign-up form. This is what you’ll see first:

And once you click, “Grab your download here!,” you’ll be taken to her sign-up form.

This is a great example of how you can be creative with your opt-in page while still getting results — more leads in less time.

5 | Visuals

An opt-in page can be very basic, but visuals can go a long way. Whether it’s a pretty background or an attention-grabbing image, it adds a little something extra to your content.

We love this example from Inkwell Press.

This one brings you in by showing off the exact freebie you’ll be able to download, a road trip packing list. With cute fonts, copy and an easy way to organize, it’s no surprise why they chose to include this visual for their opt—in page.  

How Your Website Can Help You Get More Clients and Quality Leads

6 | Social Proof

Once people land on your opt-in page, it’s important for them to see the social proof of other people experiencing great results from your free opt-in.

You can do this by showcasing actual testimonials from happy subscribers, like this example from Pat Flynn:

Or even showing the number of people who have subscribed, like this example from Paula Pant of Afford Anything: 

The 4 Elements of an Irresistible Lead Magnet

Final Thoughts

Getting more leads in less time starts with an amazing opt-in page (which starts with a high-converting landing page template). Hopefully, these tips will have you increasing your customer base — and sales! — in no time.

If you struggle with designing amazing landing pages (including opt-in pages!) be sure to check out our Landing Page Templates. No monthly fees, easy to implement, and gorgeously designed!

The post 6 Things You Must Have on Your Opt-in Page appeared first on Bluchic.