A blog about smart marketing and conversion optimization.

I know I’m supposed to be professional, but do I have to be boring?

I’m splayed across my couch, thinking about how I’ve signed dozens of guest blog posts, realizing just how boring they make me (and Clever Zebo) sound.

Take my Unbounce author page, where I describe myself as…

a revenue optimization expert and cofounder of Clever Zebo, a group of web marketing strategy experts dedicated to helping interesting businesses get more customers online. While Igor loves to geek out about search engine marketing, conversion funnel optimization and partnership development, he’s also a pretty fierce snowboarder, musician and beer taster.

Snazzy! :-

Ok, here are some alternative takes.

Igor Belogolovsky is cofounder of Clever Zebo, a team of online marketing strategy pros. In his spare time, he finds nuts for squirrels.

Igor Belogolovsky is cofounder of Clever Zebo, a team of online marketing strategy pros. He blogs under the influence and heckles little-known cartoonists on ICQ.

Igor Belogolovsky is cofounder of Clever Zebo, a team of online marketing strategy pros. He does not drive steamboats.

Igor Belogolovsky is cofounder of Clever Zebo, a team of online marketing strategy pros. He enjoys a good laugh, except when it’s at the expense of another’s misfortune, in which case he doesn’t enjoy it.

Igor Belogolovsky is cofounder of Clever Zebo, a team of online marketing strategy pros. Among his most underwhelming talents is an uncanny ability to unwittingly end a perfectly pleasant conversation.

Igor Belogolovsky cofounded Clever Zebo to outwit and wrestle its predecessor, not-so-Clever Zebo, into submission.

Igor Belogolovsky is cofounder of Clever Zebo, a team of overgrown hyenas tasked with drinking excess bathwater in local communities.

Igor Belogolovsky is cofounder of Clever Zebo, a team of online marketing strategy pros. He prefers cookies to Jewish guilt.

How do these strike you?

Heads up: I’m going to plug our client’s blogging contest in this post. Yes, I’m plugging it because they’re our client and we love them — but more than that, I’m plugging it because it’s a pretty sweet deal, and I’ll tell you why I think so.

It’s not every day that an opportunity crops up to earn a valuable backlink — from a PageRank 6 site — with relatively little effort.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Our friends at BestVendor, who focus on software and app ratings, are offering you this opportunity until October 31, 2012. To get your juicy backlink right now, all you have to do is create a list of useful apps and tools around a theme. For example, we put together a list of “Killer conversion tools for the clever startup.“

On top of writing in a little backlink for yourself, you can also win a $1,500 Amazon card or an iPhone 5 if you share your list and garner a bunch of views.

Ok. Sales pitch is over. Go do it!

Enter the BestVendor list-a-thon

Now.

Joint webinars can be a gold mine. Not only do you give your audience added value but you get access to another company’s audience to boot.

Producing successful joint webinars takes some work but is ultimately worth it. Here’s our list of highest priority action items with some reminders to keep you on track.

1. List your webinar partner dream lineup

When we started the Clever Zebo joint webinar series earlier this year, I was skeptical that CEOs and founders would take time out of their crammed days to work on a webinar together, even if we had a relationship. Many joint webinars and hundreds of participants later, I was wrong. Over and over again I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how willing awesome, fast-growing companies are to team up. Start by contacting any friends you have at companies you admire (or ask friends to recommend companies to team up on a webinar with). All you need is 1 or 2 joint webinars under your belt to start reaching out to bigger and bigger companies.

2. Pitch prospective partners with a good topic

The hardest part of a joint webinar is choosing a topic interesting and relevant to both companies. Because we don’t want to invite direct competitors, this can be tricky. In our webinar series, the primary theme is conversion optimization and a/b testing, so I find case studies relevant to both us and the partner (Wistia: does video improve conversion rates?;
Help Scout: how customer service improves conversion rates; ReTargeter: the impact of different banner ads, etc.) The point is come prepared with a great topic when reaching out.

3. All they need to do is invite their people

This is the most important part. The true value of joint webinars is in getting access to your partner’s database (and them getting access to yours). Do everything else for them but make it a condition of joining the webinar that they reach out to their database. Unless they have an enormous social following, social media mentions aren’t enough. Get them agree to send a dedicated email (newsletter inclusion is an okay alternative but usually doesn’t pull as well).

4. Stay on top of your partners

People get busy. Don’t assume anything will get done unless you push. Here’s what I do to keep partners on point:

– Send a check list at least two weeks before the event.
– Send at least 2 reminders/check-ins per action item
– Add Google Analytics UTM parameters to the registration link so I know when their people register
– Do an audio-visual check a few days before and verbally review all their todos

5. Expand your recruiting

Now that you’ve produced 1 or 2 successful joint webinars, it’s time to ramp up your efforts.

– Put together a kick-ass recruiting email that talks benefits of their participation
– Research 25 companies that would be a good partner (regardless of size)
– Email and social media bug those companies

6. Create amazing webinars

Most company’s webinars suck — it’s just a voice speaking over a boring PowerPoint.
Add video and music, ask your audience lots of questions, run polls and show the results, spend a little extra time in
the research process to extract real value-add insights.

Wanna see how it’s done? Register for Clever Zebo’s next webinar.