The first time I heard of Kartra, I did a double-take. Funnels…affiliates…what?! You see, I’m a full-time writer with a passion for painting on the side. I’ve sold my art through social media and referrals; however, I’ve never worked with an automated marketing platform before, and I had no idea just how much they can help a solopreneur like me (or you) boost a business.
When I joined the Kartra team, it was like diving into a whole new world. Kartra is such a powerful platform, with a heck of a lot of cool features — so many in fact, that at first I was intimidated to say the least. That is, until I realized just how intuitive and easy Kartra is to use.
The Kartra platform is not only well-organized, but also presents helpful tips for the complete beginner, like myself, that make starting up a breeze. As I began to play with the platform, I decided to build my own business, beginning with a website, for my passion project — my art.
The ultimate goal with a platform like Kartra is to get your product set up with online shelf space in your own virtual store (so your customers can access it), then market it so it’ll sell like crazy. Fidget Spinner crazy. In my case, my product is my original art. For others, it could be a book, fitness coaching, tutoring services, homeopathic remedies, or practically anything you can think of.
Join me in my journey through this series and discover all that Kartra can do and, together, we’ll learn how to harness this powerful platform for your business, too.
First up — setting up the basics of your online presence so you can start selling your products.
Getting started:
Log into Kartra and the first thing you’ll notice is a clean layout with a blue navigation section on the left side. Then, your eyes might wander to the handful of modules in the middle that track your sales, subscriptions, traffic, and conversions, as well as a helpdesk for your customers to reach you. And if you haven’t noticed it already, in the very top right, there’s a profile button, next to the alerts and contact icons.
With so many different buttons on which to click, you might think, “Where the heck do I start?”
Well, that’s why I’m here! Let’s walk through getting your initial funnel set up in just five quick steps.
Step 1: Create your profile.
Click on your profile button in the top right-hand corner and Kartra will whisk you away to your personal page, where you can upload a photo, fill out a security question and do all the other simple tasks that you’ve probably done on many profile pages in the past. See, not so hard, right? Right.
Step 2: Make a list and check it twice.
The second step to set up your virtual marketplace is to make your very own customer list. To get here, click on “Campaigns” in the left blue sidebar.
If you’re confused what a “list” is, worry not. There are super helpful “info” sections in pale yellow at the top of the page that explain. In this case, your list is your way to segment your customer base (also known as “leads”) by organizing them in easy-to-access groups.
For example, for my art business, I began with three lists — one for prior customers who’ve already bought my art, one for prospective customers who’ve inquired about my art, and one for email subscribers who want to get updated about my art.
Step 3: Get yourself paid.
No, this third step doesn’t earn you any money… yet. Its purpose is to allow you to integrate Kartra with a payment system so customers can pay you for your product/services. Pretty darn important, wouldn’t you say?
You can integrate Kartra with other types of platforms too, such as SMS and memberships, but for this step, we’re just enabling ourselves to get paid. To read in-depth about how to add integrations, check out this handy blog article.
Note: you must have a business account on whatever platform you are trying to integrate. For example, I had a personal PayPal account and was not able to integrate it until I went into PayPal and upgraded to a verified business account.
Step 4: Put your product on (virtual) paper.
Whether you’re selling fitness plans or fine art, your next step is creating your product in the Kartra system.
Click on “My Products” in the left blue sidebar. Then, simply hit the green “+” button to add your first product. Kartra will walk you through a series of steps.
Keep in mind: to progress to the next step, you must always click on the green Confirm button at the top right of your configuration screen. Kartra will wait patiently until you click here to move you along. If there are any steps you’re unsure about, such as your product landing page URL, you can always go back and configure it later.
Once you’ve finished, you’ll get a nifty congrats bar, along with an HTML code. Paste this code in the <BODY> section of your product’s main landing page. This will allow Kartra to count unique visitors, calculate conversion rates, etc.
Step 5: Opt for an opt-in form.
If you want to capture leads, you’ll need to collect customer information with opt-in forms. Kartra not only makes this very easy, but gives you all kinds of sleekly-designed templates for creating them. You’ll place opt-in forms on your marketing web pages, whether they’re hosted in Kartra or externally. Don’t sweat; we’ll be learning how to make a stunning site in the next blog.
An opt-in form allows potential customers to subscribe to your mailing list, or in my case, contact me for an original art commission. To create your own forms, go to “My Campaigns” in the left sidebar, then click on “Campaigns” in the top navigation, and then select “Forms” in the sub-navigation.
You get to choose your form fields, and reorder them, too. Do you want just a name and email? Or do you want to add a phone number and city as well to the data you collect? Once you’ve configured your opt-in form, you can always edit how it looks later within the Pages section of the Kartra platform.
Not so tough after all.
Give yourself a big pat on the back, do a little dance, and treat yourself to something nice…you’ve just laid the foundation for your online sales and marketing! This is essential to engaging prospects and turning them into paying customers. And, it just took five simple tasks to get there. Easy, isn’t it?
Kartra is an intuitive platform that allows you to do so much and grow your business with minimal effort. Stick with me to discover everything this all-in-one platform has to offer in the next installment of The Beginner’s Guide to Kartra.
Next up:
Build a breathtaking marketing website and create your first email campaign to solicit customers.
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