I'm a big proponent of "it's about what you sell." I know everybody loves to focus on the follower count and engagement, but what matters more than anything else is what you're actually selling, because we're all making content so we can make money. You're going to make more money when you're selling more, so let's get into some conversion tactics.

One reason why a lot of creators' content doesn't convert is because they don't make it convert. Meaning they don't prioritize the ask. I have to ask you to buy my products, pay for services, and different things like that. If I never bring it up, you won't even know that I sell something. You have to actually make the offer.

Another reason why content doesn't convert from a lot of creators is they aren't consistent enough. If you only pop up when you wanna sell something, I'm probably not gonna buy from you. You're not Beyonce. Most people are gonna require that you're active, you're consistent, that you engage with them and you're a part of their conversation and a part of that specific community if you're gonna sell something. You might get lucky and pop in every now and then and sell, but it's not gonna be consistent and it won't be reliable revenue.

Lastly, your content isn't converting into actual sales because it's not good. This is a painful truth nobody wants to say out loud, but it's the truth. If your content is not actually good and helpful, nobody's gonna pay for anything for you. They won't buy your products; they won't pay for a service. You have to actually put some work into being good at what you do and solve the problem that people want solved.

I know some people will say it's bad to sell directly to your audience, but I think it's a smart thing. If you are a content creator, you should be prepared to sell to your market. What I mean by direct selling is recording an entire podcast episode telling them why they should buy from you. If you're not consistent, if you don't put out quality content, this is going to sound crazy: people won't buy anything; you're not going to get any conversions. But if you put the work in and you are in the right position, it's going to be easier for you to get that conversion, a direct sales episode to me looks like talking about why they should work with you from the point of happy clients and satisfied customers. I don't mean you just sit there with the hour-long infomercial.

What I mean is you can play clips and testimonials from happy clients, you can use some stories from clients you've worked with, and kind of relay that message. It'll also be smart to give them very specific outcomes that they get while working with you.

For example, if I wanted to do a direct sales YouTube video as to why somebody should buy access to the In The Making community, there are a few ways I can go about this:

All of these are good reasons for a creator to sign up to In The Making and join the community. Which you should do right now if you haven't yet.

Something you have to get really good at is mentioning your product or service throughout your content, not with a long pre-recorded ad, but just with a nice clip. A lot more creators could do better if they focused on talking about the product or service that they provide just mid-conversation. It doesn't always have to be planned or curated. You see how I just mentioned my community in the making off the cuff? That's something that you got to do as a content creator. I think it's a skill because I can do this in conversations with other people on other podcasts. I can do this if I'm doing an interview. I can do this in literally any conversation and present a brand properly with relative ease.

The reason why the skill is important is because it's a very natural way to promote a product or service. This works really well if you're talking about partners. If I'm having a random conversation with somebody about how they can record better podcast episodes, I'm immediately going to mention Riverside FM, and then I can tag my affiliate link, and then I make some money off of that. It's just that simple.

I think there are several types of call to actions that you have to use to your advantage. One of my favorites is the newsletter. That's how you got here. The newsletter is great because you're just getting their email and you send them some quality content. It's one of the easiest things to get a call to action.

I'm not a fan of any more is the free ebook crap. I think we've gotten past that point. Nobody wants a free ebook or some free PDF that they're never going to touch or review. It's just going to be downloaded. They might look at two pages and they'll forget that it exists.

I like the call to action of a direct message telling people to send you a DM on socials is really good, because this allows people to build more of a one-on-one connection with you. Usually they'll have a question or they might need something, and then you can just send whatever that is to them directly. It's pretty easy to do, and the best part is once you've done this, you build a connection with that person one-to-one and then you get to sell one-to-many with relative ease. I don't think enough creators use this one to their advantage.

Asking people to subscribe to your YouTube channel or to follow your podcast is a good idea as well because that gets them more of the content. If they're enjoying the content and you just tell them to subscribe, I mean they're going to subscribe. Just make it easy and give people these reminders to take action.

I’m here to help you become a profitable creator. If you have questions, leave a comment or connect with us on YouTube.