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Willie Crawford
“30 Days To Internet Marketing Success”
Volume 2
by Joe Kumar
Legal Statement
The book “30 Days To Internet Marketing Success” is copyright © Joe Kumar and JoeKumar.com, and all the contributions are copyright © the respective contributors.
No part of this book or the various contributions may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any other means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright holders.
This book is supplied for information purposes only and, as experienced in this subject matter as the contributors are, the material herein does not constitute professional business advice.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher and the contributors are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
The reader is advised to consult with an appropriately qualified business professional before making any business decision. The contributors, Joe Kumar and JoeKumar.com do not accept any responsibility for any liabilities resulting from the business decisions made by purchasers of this book.
You cannot give this book away for free.
You do not have resale rights to this book.
Table of Contents
Alannah Moore – IdeasByPost.com 6
Barbara Ling – AuctionSearchProfits.com 20
Bogdan Ravaru – TheMarketingWizards.com 46
Brian Terry - EbookWow.com 61
Charlie Page - CharliePage.com 98
Chris Bloor – QualityBusinessInstitute.com 108
Diane Hughes – ProBizTips.com 127
Eva Browne-Paterson - EvieB.com 137
Gary Baker: Jempublishing.com 156
Gary Harvey – eProfitNews.com 174
Holly Cotter — HollyCotter.com 207
Jack Humphrey – WebmasterTrafficTools.com 215
Jim Cockrum – SilentSalesMachine.com 227
John Delavera – JohnDelavera.com 235
Kevin Bidwell – All-In-One-Business.com 248
Klaus Dahl – KlausDahl.com 285
Len Thurmond – TheAffiliateReview.com 307
Louis Allport - ReprintRightsEveryMonth.com 316
Mani Sivasubramanian – EzineMarketingCenter.com 334
Michael Green – HowToCorp.com 359
Mike Lamb – Moneyroom.com 376
Mike Merz – IM4Newbies.com 385
Paul Colligan – Colligan.com 400
Peter Sun – PeterSunMarketing.com 428
Rod Beckwith – MrJV.com 435
Ryan Deiss – SiteSightings.com 464
Scott Aughtmon - RecessionSolution.com 489
Semmy Stumpp – Semmy.com 502
Steve Humphrey – MerryMonk.com 529
Stone Evans - PlugInProfitSite.com 546
Willie Crawford – WillieCrawford.com 612
Alannah Moore – IdeasByPost.com
http://www.totallyvirtualentrepreneur.com
http://www.ideasbypost.com
I’ve been working on the web for five years now, though only the last two years have been full-time. I’m originally from London although I’ve been based in Paris for some years, and am a firm advocate of Internet business, enjoying the flexibility it brings me and traveling with my computer as much as I can.
I published my ezine ‘Ideas by Post’ for two years and although I don’t publish it any more – it became just too time-consuming and prevented me from developing other projects – this was an eye-opening two years: through the ezine I encountered all kinds of enterprising and inspiring people all involved in doing business on the internet in a huge variety of different ways.
As a publisher I received a quantity of emails from my readers and many of them asked the same question: “Is anyone really making any money out there in cyberspace – and if so, how can I do it too?”
While I knew I was, I also knew there are as many ways of earning a living in cyberspace as there are entrepreneurs. It was this repeated question that prompted me to research and write The Totally Virtual Entrepreneur: Real-life strategies for making your living in cyberspace, to show people some of the directions that they can go in, if they too want to create themselves a full-time living using the internet as a tool.
If you’d like to keep in touch with me and be notified of my new projects, send an email by clicking here and you’ll be added to my mailing list. This isn’t an ezine, and you won’t be sent ads – it’s just a way of keeping in touch with my friends and contacts.
Answer: By Alannah Moore
Joe’s 30 day proposition made me scratch my head a bit, as two of the major ways I make money on the web and would normally be very confident about, are not suitable for this scenario, as they would need more than 30 days to bring good results that would get me out of my financial hole once and for all.
However it suddenly dawned on me that the strategy I could use to save myself was actually something I had already tried out, and got surprisingly successful results from, so I knew I had found my answer, which is in fact quite a simple one.
What I would need to do in the imaginary emergency situation would be buy myself some time, and once I had secured my next month's rent and enough money for the necessities of life, would turn to the longer-term strategy and put into practice those methods I know will bring me increasing rewards.
I'll now turn to the 30-day plan which will save me from getting kicked out on the street, and then go on and describe what I'd do after that time to increase my revenues in the long term.
As I said, what I would do given this desperate situation is actually something I have done before that was really only a bit of an experiment, but one I found to be rather more effective than I had imagined.
A couple of months ago while changing over the focus of what was then my primarily website at http://www.ideasbypost.com, I found the site was not serving any great purpose while I had my hands totally full preparing my next venture, so, as it got a fair bit of traffic, I decided to put it to some temporary use by purchasing a ClickBank storefront and putting it up on the site. This was really just to see how effective this could be, but I didn't spend much time doing any extra promotion as I was too tied up with other things. The result was completely unexpected - it generated me hundreds of easy dollars in ClickBank commissions over just two weeks that I really didn't have to try too hard to get!
So having already given this system a spin I am fairly confident this would be an effective way to get myself up and running and out of my desperate straits...
Here's what I would do to get this going if I had no website with visiting traffic already in place (which I had when I ran my test).
Day 1
Step 1
Buy myself a ClickBank storefront.
I am going to need to get my skates on, if I am going to receive a nice affiliate cheque at the end of 30 days, because ClickBank send their affiliate cheques out two weeks after the end of each 14 day time span, which means that it will be the results of my first two weeks of work that I will be receiving in a month's time.
No matter, I will work quickly to get my system running, and a nice cheque in 30 days' time is well within my reach.
The ClickBank storefront I personally used for my "experiment" with such success is 1st Promotion, which costs $49 for a year. (During my experiment it was on the main home page.)
There are several other storefronts around as well as this one - but I am going to stick with this one for my 30 day sink-or-swim strategy as I am more than happy with the results I've achieved with it.
Step 2
Buy myself a domain name and some inexpensive hosting. There are plenty of companies around that offer hosting and a domain name for under $25 a year. I'll get one of these.
1st Promotion DOES offer you hosting too, all included, for your storefront, so you do not NEED a domain and site of your own. BUT, if you do get your own site, you can use pop-unders on your site and this will increase your income, as I found.
Step 3
I will set up the site as follows.
Make an invisible frame that makes it look as if the storefront is residing on my site.
Add as a pop-under to this main index page one of the top-selling products of the moment, sold through ClickBank. (Easy to find out what's going well: just look at the top selling products for each category in the ClickBank marketplace and choose one you like, or see what's new by looking at the solo ads you receive yourself.
As it happens, the page I initially used as a pop-under under my own storefront was the first volume of this book, and I made quite a number of affiliate sales this way.)
This pop-under page will be set up to be a page on my site (such as http://www.mysite.com/product.html), again with an invisible frame so that my ClickBank hoplink to this product is concealed. (All this is very easy to do. A newbie can create these 'invisible frames' as long as he or she can get access to their web page HTML and paste in the required code. You can go to http://www.ideasbypost.com/storefront.html and crib the code from there if you want to try out an invisible frame but don't know how to make one.)
I will also set my storefront to have an automatic pop-up - it offers this facility, you just need to log in to the storefront members' area and check a box - and the page I will set to pop up is the affiliate link for other people to purchase a similar storefront. (In this case, you do not need to conceal the affiliate link by creating an invisible frame as the pop-up comes up with no toolbar or address bar.)
(I have found that it works well, making a pop-up of the page where you buy your own storefront. People who click onto the storefront often seem to think it's a good idea and want to purchase one for themselves. Again, I have made quite a number of affiliate sales of the storefront this way.)
I KNOW that these tactics will work, as this is exactly what I did on my site for my 2 week trial period. I found myself getting sales from all kinds of products every single day that people had searched for from my storefront - products I had never even heard of myself - as well as the products that I had been promoting as pop-unders underneath the storefront, and affiliate sales of the storefront itself.
What I am also going to do in my 30 day scenario is set up some other pages on my site with invisible frames for other hot-selling ClickBank products.
(These pages won't be accessible from the home page of the site. All that will be on the home page will be the storefront, exactly as it stands. People will be visiting the other product pages from my promotion of those URLs.)
For these 'product' pages I will set up my ClickBank storefront as a pop-under. That way some people will stray onto that and have a browse, and a percentage of these visitors will end up making purchases.
There are 3 big advantages of promoting pages on your site rather than simply a ClickBank link.
1. People are much more likely to click on a 'real' page URL rather than a hoplink.
2. People are very inclined to change your hoplink to theirs if they get to see it - you can disguise your hoplink using a click tracker but that doesn't help you with 3:
3. If you can use your own page, you can add a pop-under.
Obviously I am going to take advantage of these benefits since I am in desperate straits, which is why I’ve decided it’s worth purchasing a domain and a web site despite the extra cost.
I also want to point out that although I have not worked these other possibilities, there are other tools provided by 1st Promotion that can be used to generate additional revenue. In a 30 day scenario I would also upload their brandible ClickBank desktop search tool and any other suitable tools they offer, and put them up for free download by my visitors using a pop-up from some of my other product pages.
I am now going to need to work out how best to promote the storefront and the other pages. You actually get some built-in traffic with your 1st Promotion storefront, but I am going to need more than that, to ensure I make a substantial number of sales from my storefront.
Day 2
For a new domain name, it can sometimes take a couple of days for the site you have set up to actually appear under the new domain name. Should this be the case I will not worry, as I can put these couple of days to good use researching the best ways of promoting my storefront and sort out which various other ClickBank products I am also going to promote, get my ads ready, etc.
What I am going to be promoting is:
i) the storefront - getting visitors there who will browse and buy, and also while they are there they will be exposed to the pop-under product and the idea of getting a similar storefront for themselves.
ii) my choice of individual products, and while the visitors are on those pages, they will also be exposed to my ClickBank storefront and again the possibility of getting a similar storefront for themselves.
I will be promoting these pages in 3 ways:
1. Via two of my favourite safelists.
I used to use safelists and get good results from them, but this has got less and less effective, I have found. These two I still get results from:
Herculist
Business World List
I am actually a member of both these lists for the rest of the year but since I have to start from scratch, membership costs $14.95 per month for Herculist (Gold membership) and $12 monthly for Business World List (Pro Membership). Once I have paid for my membership I can mail out every day and every second day respectively, so incur no further costs until the second month. At which point if I can afford it, I will purchase the yearly membership and thus make a long-term saving.
2. PPC search engines
I did not use these when I tested out the storefront as I already had a certain amount of traffic to my site, but since I am now starting from the beginning, I will need to get some traffic as quickly as I can. Minimum deposit will be $25, and I will find a suitable PPC search engine by doing a Google search. Like the domain name, it may take a couple of days to get this up and running, so I will get going as soon as possible.
3. Ezines
In my 2 week test period for this system I only mailed to my own ezine list but having no list in this scenario, I will have to purchase solo mailings from several ezines to get my ads out and about. Some ezines get booked up so I will get these underway immediately to get them sent out as soon as possible.
If I can afford it I will purchase an ad from Killer Ad whose solos I have found effective in the past - they cost $44.95. But if I cannot stretch to this I will have to find some cheaper options. I'll look at a directory such as http://www.ezinelocater.com/ to compare prices.
Day 3 and on...
As soon as my site is up on my domain, I will start sending ads to the safelists every day, and I will rotate ads for the storefront with ads for the various products I have chosen to promote directly.
Ads for the storefront are provided by 1st Promotion and I will give my URL as the reference URL - meaning people will actually visit the storefront as well as getting information about purchasing a storefront for themselves.
I will also be using my URL with the storefront itself for the PPC.
Ezine ads will go out as scheduled during the 30 days according to what I can stretch to. In the ezines I will probably advertise only the storefront (as provided by 1st Promotion) as when people click on my site's URL they will get taken to the storefront AND get info about getting their own storefront (as well as being exposed to the product on the pop-under).
Conclusion
As I found through my own experiment, following this strategy WILL generate me a nice affiliate cheque at the end of my crucial thirty days, and another one every two weeks after that, if I keep up my promotion strategy, which of course I plan to do.
Month 2 and beyond
Now that I have bought myself some time I will turn to my long-term strategy.
One of the beauties of Internet business is the multiplication principle, and although using the ClickBank storefront as described HAS got me out of my black hole, it does not exploit the real possibilities of internet business.
So now I am out of my financial hole with a roof over my head and food in the cupboards, I will look at what kind of product I can create for myself, and set up an affiliate programme for, so that dozens of people can promote my product, just as I have been doing for other people's products.
Personally speaking, as this is my own plan I have been asked to outline, I will create a series of ebooks to follow on from The Totally Virtual Entrepreneur. But other people may well look at creating software, or some other product that can be sold over and over again.
Of course an ebook CAN be created in a shorter amount of time than 30 days, but knowing from experience that it can take longer than one plans - once one has written the book, formatted it, set up the sales page, test-driven the affiliate programme, etc, etc, - since in this scenario I am absolutely relying on having cash IN the bank in 30 days' time, I would prefer to defer this to the second month when I have more time to reflect and create a really good product.
In any case, if I was going to use ClickBank to sell the ebook, I would in effect only have two weeks to prepare my ebook if I were going to receive the payment before the end of the 30 days, since they take 2 weeks after the end of each two week period to send out their cheques. This is just too close for comfort if I am about to lose my home!
The second strategy I would set to work on in my second month, once I had got myself out of my financial hole, would be to begin accruing myself an income through HYIP pools like 5th Element. This is something that after quite a bit of trial and error I have now achieved. Like many, I have had my fingers burned, and at first lost more than I made.
However I have found that by adhering to a strict set of self-imposed rules, only reinvesting my profits once I had had my principle back, never putting all my eggs in one basket, and not getting greedy - rather than trying to get great results immediately, taking, say, a year to build my income - this has been a very fruitful path to go down. Never one to embark on in a state of emergency, however, it is just too risky.
Barbara Ling – AuctionSearchProfits.com
As a seasoned trainer, I specialize in demystifying the many different facets of Internet marketing. An author of over 15 books or ebooks, I have been highlighted in the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, Family Money, the Sally Jesse Raphael show and many more media outlets.
Right now, the most popular training techniques I teach include the following. Enjoy!
Doesn’t matter what the topic is…what your level of expertise is…I will show you how you can craft a compelling, valued ebook or digital product within 24 hours that you can sell on eBay or your own website to keep 100% of the profits. Not only that, but I prove my bold claim as well!
http://www.auctionsearchprofits.com/24-hour-ebook.shtml
7 years ago, I developed upon a virtually foolproof method of achieving massive amounts of targeted customer traffic to my various products and services. And as time changed and the Internet evolved, I've updated it to ensure it always works. Today, the results it produces is incredibly gratifying!
Imagine tripling or even more the number of excited customers bidding on your auction listings...for free. No expensive pay-per-click expenses, no hefty advertising costs...free!
http://www.auctionSearchProfits.com
The amount of over-priced Internet marketing how-tos that are flooding the market is staggering. Confusing. Dream-building until stark reality smashes you in the face. How many times have you been compelled to order products that only result in money being vacuumed from your pocket instead of being deposited in your bank account?
Finally your search for the real deal STOPS. Right here. Because when you invest in Beyond A Doubt, you'll be privy to the precise techniques and methods I myself have used since 1997 to turn on torrents of targeted traffic whenever my clients or I need.
And I'm going to prove it to you beyond a shadow of a doubt.
http://www.virtual-coach.com/online-search-profits.shtml
Answer: By Barbara Ling
Day 1 – Monday
The sun is shining, the birdies are mooing, the cows are tweeting and I’m up the proverbial paddle without a creek. Sure, it’s easy enough to tell myself that I will NOT panic. I will be bold! I will be daring!
To heck with that. I’ll first get a cup or 27 of coffee and take stock of my situation. Then I will determine if I’ll panic or not.
Check #1 – Am I breathing? Check!
Check #2 – Are my loved ones breathing? Check!
Check #3 – Do I still have my health? Can I walk without pain? Check!
I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. If I’ve lost my business it’s because my guardian angels mean to teach me something with the subtleties of a Mack truck.
The past is done, it’s over, it’s etched in stone – I cannot change it! BUT! And this is a big but – I can improve on not only the present but the future as well.
If I have my health and my family, I’m not in a panic-worthy situation. A stressful one, yes, a painful one, yes….but it’s up to me to choose my own perspective. And I choose to look at this as a new direction in my life.
The first thing I will do is give myself permission to grieve. It's human, it's natural, it's normal to cry for what has been lost. Grieving simply gives one an outlet for all that suppressed emotional fury and despair.
Once I stop feeling lousy, I'll deliberately think of other depressing "what ifs" and force out even more negative emotion. I'll do this for an hour or so until I'm simply wrung out....and in a state that lets me put my unhappiness by the curbside like an old suitcase and simply walk away.
Next, I will celebrate by going to Pizza Hut with my kids! Remember, I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason - even though I'm completely clueless now as to why I'm in my current situation, I'm certain I'm meant to learn something from it. So a celebration is in order - this is the first day of my new online marketing success.
The rest of the day I will spend outside with my kids and my husband. I plan on focusing my attentions solely upon them….they will be one of the most important focal points for when I’m developing my new business.
Day 2
It's time to take stock in my financial responsibilies. Do I owe anyone any money? If so, can I arrange for payment after 30 days? What about schooling for my kids? Can I decrease that expense by bartering services? Would the owner of a preschool be interested in a reduced fee if I gave their family a career marketing seminar (one of my current skills)? I'll go check!
No money yet is coming in, so I have to reconsider my expenditures with great caution. I'll visit Frugal sites like
http://frugalliving.about.com
http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/
http://www.frugaltimes.com/
and see how I can decrease the expenses my family incurs.
Eeeek, what about my marriage. Losing a job is a great way to enjoy increased stress and angst at no extra cost! So I'll proactively ask my spouse to forgive me if I become anxious about my work situation and inadvertantly take it out on him or her, and express that the best possible support (for me) is empathy and time.
http://stress.about.com/cs/maritalstress/ has other resources for stress as well.
Do I owe anyone any money? If so, I am now feeling far more balanced than I did yesterday, and can possibly alert my creditors without generating enough tears to fill an ocean. If I have a debt, I shall pay it. My problems shouldn’t translate into difficulties for others.
By the end of the day, I should have taken care of my marriage, uncovered ways for reducing family expense, and ensured my kids still get the kind of education they deserve. I’ll go to sleep happy and determined…because tomorrow will be when I choose to focus my abilities on my new direction.
Day 3
The sun is shining again, the birdies are mooing and those lovely cows are still tweeting….and I am now open to moving forward. My last two days that I spent grieving, taking stock and ensuring my family’s financial/emotional health have given me an unexpected bonus – I can now focus upon me! Only me! Me Me ME!!!!!!
In other words, I don’t have to go over the same ground of despair again! I’ve been there, done that and bought the t-shirt – I’ve given myself permission to take charge of the thing that only I can control. My online business.
The first thing I will do is make another 14 cups of coffee. Then I’ll sit down and take stock of my skills. What do I do best? Not only, what do I do best, but what do I do best that will bring in money the quickest?
Let’s see. I’m a dynamite seminar speaker and trainer – I single-handedly built up my Internet recruiting seminar company at http://www.riseway.com to being one of the top two businesses in that industry (you can read an interview about me at the top job board at http://hr.monster.com/qanda/ling ).
I started that company from scratch as well…but it took three months from conception to presentation to present the first seminar. Seminars also require handouts, workbooks, CDROMs and the like….and I just don’t have the time for that.
Yet. But I’ll keep it in mind.
What else do I do wonderfully? I can build killer websites very easily in a short period of time…sites that, when indexed by search engines, achieve high visibility as well. Can I build a quickie template to market such a service to businesses that are local to me?
If that appealed to me, I’d simply go to Infospace at http://www.infospace.com and generate a list of local businesses within a niche about which I knew something. Restaurants, preschooling, and medical are three that come to mind. I’d then whip up a free website that extolled my skills and make sure to include a “special offer” for my local merchants. That by itself could be a 30 day project….but it’s not one that personally grabs me and fills me with excitement.
But wait! I know the secret for achieving high search engine visibility and attracting floods of targeted traffic….the fact I can build extremely effective websites is something I should definitely take advantage of! I should use it for my products and my business.
Still haven’t decided my business yet though.
Taking a long hard look at my business skills, I know my best strength lies in researching online information, compiling it into an enticing user interface, and presenting it in a neat electronic package that takes advantage of many free marketing resources. I think I’ll focus on that (especially as it’s something I greatly enjoy doing).
But how can I make a sellable product from that?
Easy! I’ll just take a topic that has wide appeal and see what I can offer that nobody else does.
To do that, I’ll first visit the everpopular auction site eBay. That place has millions of visitors….if I can find an item or category that has a high sell-thru rate, I’ll have a better chance at selling my own product tarageted to that niche.
First I’ll fire up Deep Analysis, a superb auction analysis tool available at http://www.hammertap.com/deepanalysis/.
It will let me input a category or keyword and see how many such items sold over the period of a month (as well as what got the highest bids, what didn’t sell, etc.).
I’m pretty familiar with weight loss, so I’ll first look there. Yep, in some categories the sell-thru rate is pretty high….but within electronic products (remember, my final business will center up on a digital product), the price is already at 99 cents for recipes and such. Ick.
Next I’ll look at a topic myself enjoy – model horses. From my research, I see that there appears to be a rather high interest in that topic from the seller’s point of view! And because I grew up with model horses, I think I’ll see what I can do with that.
But that’s only 1 topic…and it’s a foolish person who puts all of their toddlers in one antique glassware store with only one adult guarding their actions!
So I’ll choose 4 additional topics as well.
That’s day 3.
Day 4
First things first – I need to get a website to start promoting my product. I’ll review the free hostings available at
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Hosting/Free/Directories/?il=1
and then choose a site on which to put my free pages. Once my product is developed and is up and running (and money has come in) I’ll wisely invest in my own domain.
Now I need to build my site!
There are lots of free html builders out there – you only have to look at
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Freeware/Editors/HTML/
to see the range of choices available. I’ll pick the best one for my skills.
What do I want to showcase? Since I’ll be building 5 different products at the same time, I should have 5 different sections on my site. So I’ll ensure my main page of my site contains jump-offs to the 5 product sections.
The main thing I’ll want to ensure is my new website achieves high visibility within search engines. So I’ll make certain to optimize any page built! The best way to do that is to make sure each page is either a resource unto itself or has blatant links to my soon-to-be-created resources.
Beyond a Doubt – Online Search Profits at http://www.virtual-coach.com/online-search-profits.shtml goes over that in exacting detail.
Additionally, I’ll want to network with the professionals in the Search Engine Optimization world, and lurk on forums like:
http://www.webmasterworld.com
http://www.searchengineforums.com
Another great resource to brush up on cool traffic-building techniques is found at
http://www.jimworld.com
http://www.gethighforums.com
I’ll go over these sites and take down notes on a postit pad if I come across anything sterling. Why? Because I can stick the postit notes to my computer screen so they’re always staring me in the face! It’s a foolproof way of ensuring I do not forget something critical in the future.
And that’s day 4.
Day 5
I have the website tools, I have the webspace, and I have an idea. The next step is to define my final products, finish the webpages, add a prelaunch, network at forums and create my products. A piece of cake!
Actually, it really is….if you have a set template and procedure to follow!
So. First I’ll build a webpage about model horses. I’ll make certain to include the resources model horse fanciers find valuable – that will contribute towards them viewing me as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and help build trust.
I’ll go to Google at http://www.google.com and first search for model horse forums. It’s a fair bet to guess that people who post there would be interested in my final products. I’ll read the archives and uncover 5-6 different topics that seem to be of high interest.
Once I have my topics in hand, I’ll quickly craft some resource pages about them. If necessary, I’ll use a free site template that is available at http://www.freesitetemplates.com .
When completed, I’ll upload these pages to my site and index them in Google at http://www.google.com/addurl.html
Oh yes, one more thing! I’ll also make certain that each page has a direct link for people to sign up for my free ezine. What free ezine? Whatever one I decide to create for the future! As I’m building 5 different products, I’ll set up autoresponders for 5 different ezines.
I’m a firm believer in paying for my autoresponders – I do NOT want any other advertising other than my own cluttering it. So in the future, when my first income starts generating, I’ll invest in Proautoresponder at http://proautoresponder.com .
If I had to use a free AR, I’d choose aWeber at http://www.aweber.com/ . I quickly decide on the ezine names (Model Horse Hobbyist perhaps?).
Next, I’ll start my interaction with the forum. I’ll look to see if anyone has posted questions about eBay or Internet marketing as it applies to model horses. If so, I’ll answer it and make certain to include within my signature a direct link to my new model horse resource page. That way, anyone who views my answer has a direct one-click method to learn more about me.
Finally, I’ll grab a free Clickbank ID at http://www.clickbank.com/ and look thru their marketplace at http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace . I’ll see if any other vendor has already created something that might be complementary to my future products…if so, I’ll add a “resources” page to my website and embed my new affiliate ID in all the links. Then I’ll finish 1 or two more product resources pages and uncover other targeted forums today as well. And that’s day 5.
Day 6
Today I’ve awakened at 4am! Why? Because my fingers are itching to start defining and building and selling my future 5 targeted niche products!
Things I’ll do in parallel today include:
Uncovering targeted forums in my remaining ideas/niches
Building and uploading resource pages about them
Doing a quick affiliate link search to see if I can offer any currently-available product and grab some quick commissions
Because I have a set format that provides quick research results, I patiently and meticulously begin my online search to find content for my products. As I continue to lurk on my targeted forums, I fine-tune the ideas for my new 5 products.
What might have seen like a great seller at the beginning of this exercise might not prove to be as valuable as future insights.
To help me focus, I quickly whip up and upload a brief 7 second survey that I post to specific, choice forums. In this survey, I ask for the readers help to let me know what they’re dying to learn. I decide to offer a 20% discount for any future products to anyone who takes the time to fill out the survey.
After reading the rules to the forums, I decide if it’s okay for me to notify forum participants about my survey. From my 15 years of being on the Internet, I know exactly how to approach this without being perceived as a spammer – I simply ask for help and add a few other techniques as well.
I then post the notice and watch the results steadily stream in. From this exercise, I now have a firm grasp of exactly what my future buyers want to learn/know/master/etc. This technique has never failed me in the past! Not only that, but I also make it virtually impossible for participants to miss the benefits they’ll receive from signing up for my free ezine. The technique I use here has resulted in over a 90% conversion rate.
I spend the rest of the day researching online and reading the responses as they come in. I’m pleased to notice that just about every survey response is followed by a signup to my free ezine. This is good! I’m now building a mailing list that I can use for the future to market my products when they’re available.
And that’s day 6.
Day 7 – Sunday
Today is Sunday and today I park my work under my desk and throw out the key. I spend the majority of the day playing with my kids and my husband and refresh my soul and inner self by their love and warmth.
Day 8 – Monday
It’s time to take stock of where I am! I check Google to see if by chance a miracle has happened and my sites have been newly indexed…no such luck. Wah! I check out the Google Dance alerts at http://www.google-dance.com and realize, I had forgotten to sign up for dance alerts. I submit my email address there for the future notifications.
Then I go over the 198 email responses from my 5 different potential product surveys, knowing that more will roll in as the day progresses. After analyzing the data, I’m able to pinpoint exactly where interest lies. And because I know how to research quickly, I’m now able to craft a 10 chapter ebook for each targeted niche.
But I’m not yet ready to do that. I still have to set up one other key component to my online business – my eBay account! After all, once I create my 5 products, I’ll want to notify the biggest number of potential customers as quickly as possible. EBay has a huge audience…chances are, I’ll find several people who would want to bid on my offerings.
Not only that, however. I can play eBay and my website against one another – depending upon my inclinations, I can set my auction price to be ½ of my website product price and highlight that fact (you’re bidding on the same product that sells for 50% more on my retail site!).
Thus, I sign up for eBay. I’m done! Ooops, no I’m not – many people like paying for auctions via Paypal. I need a paypal account! Luckily, that’s free too. So I go to http://www.paypal.com and sign up there as well.
And that’s day 8.
Day 9
Yesterday I mocked up a rough idea of what I want each of my 5 products to contain. Now that I have a concrete idea, it’s time to start generating some cash even before the product is available!
For each of the 5 products, I quickly craft a sales page that includes all of the points my future customers had told me they want to see (via my survey). I then close my sales letter with a special Pre Launch notice – people can reserve their copy at 50% of the future retail price! I’ve found that prelaunch prices ranging from $27 to $47 do quite well.
How can I compel someone to give me $47 though? I’ve just realized…I really should have a basic and a deluxe version of the product available.
I set up a mechanism for people to pay me via Paypal and create a folder in my email software. After all, once someone buys a prelaunch, I had darned well better make certain I deliver the product once it’s completed! The new folder is for each email that Paypal sends to me, telling me that someone has bought my prelaunch.
For even better service, I can opt to use autoresponders as my email ID for paypal. That ensures that my prelaunch customers will receive an automatic “thank you” message (not to mention an opportunity to sign up for my free ezine as well).
Next, I upload all 5 pages and make certain to point all of my resource pages to their corresponding product page.
And that’s day 9.
Day 10
Now’s it is more important than ever to be careful and meticulous. I look at my watch and determine what hours I will spend marketing what product. Since there’s 5 products I’ll be building, I decide to allocate 1 hour for each and set up a timer on my computer to notify me.
I write an update notice for each of my product surveys that I post to the relevant forums! In it, I thank the people who participated and let them know that a prelaunch is now available for those who want to take advantage of it and save money. Because I’ve been proactively answering questions during the past few days, I’ve already established myself as a solid Subject Matter Expert. And of course, I make certain to include my prelaunch link (which is different for each product) in my email signature.
One hour goes by and my computer beeps. An hour has gone by! I stop as soon as I can marketing the first product, and move smoothly onto the next. And then the next. By the 4th hour, I receive email from Paypal – someone has bought my prelaunch! Life is joyous! Not only that, but 2 minutes later, I get the wonderful news that that person has also signed up for my free ezine. This is great! My mailing list is now growing and growing.
I continue through the hours, marketing each new future product for 1 hour. And I’m gratified to receive notice from paypal of more and more prelaunch sales. I now have income coming in…I can now feel that the interest is THERE and my future direction is proving to be a success.
And that’s day 10.
Day 11
Now is the time to start building my 5 new products.
I already know what is going to be in the content – the survey respondents proactively told me! All I have to do is hunt down the information and present it in a user-friendly fashion.
Wait a sec.
That’s wrong.
Certainly, I’ll be thrilled when customers buy my products. But…I also want those products to work for me too! Every time someone reads something I’ve written, I want to ensure they start to wonder what else I have to offer. Someone who has bought from me once will probably buy from me again.
Therefore, when I start to build my 5 products, I will ensure that learning more about me and my products always (with no exception!) are subtly in my customer’s vision. No matter what page they’re on…no matter where they’re looking…they’ll always see that “About the author” and “More information” tag that compels them to learn more.
So. My next step is to pick the product that has produced the most survey results (as that indicates the highest interest) and craft the contents. That’s an easy step – I’ll simply go back to my dozens of responses and see what is the most commonly asked or desired component.
Then I’ll go to the best search engine for this task and begin my research. I’ll make sure to have each chapter flow to the next in a seamless fashion by asking myself, okay, what makes sense to cover first? And then second? And then….
Assuming I’ve prepared myself with 7 cups of coffee, this step should take me no more than 8 hours. Of course, that’s 8 hours for each digital product! Thus today, I will finish the first digital product I have planned.
It’s not yet time to go to sleep, however. Before downing the last cup of coffee, I’ll dash off an ezine article that has a 4 line advertisement at the top – “Prelaunch ending this week!” And perhaps I’ll write a paragraph or two about how I’m burning the midnight oil to bring to my audience the answers to whatever topic the ebook is about. Then I’ll add 4-5 paragraphs of a real ezine by picking one of the survey responses and answering it in detail. By that step, I’ve proven to my audience that I’m not only after them buying my goods…I’m also interested in providing valuable
information for free as well.
And that’s my day 11.
Day 12
Today is a 2-step day! The morning I shall dedicate to eBay, and the afternoon I shall use to build the 2nd product.
First, eBay. No, not first. First, I have to create a sales page on my website that has the full copy of my product (and because I just wrote it, I know exactly what killer points should be highlighted). Then I have to determine the price point (normally if I wasn’t in a rush, I’d send out a second survey to ask for assistance in fixing this). Let’s say if it’s a typical infoproduct or ebook, I’ll set the basic price to be $27.
Everyone loves a bargain, however. Therefore, I’ll add a script to my main page that pops up after 10 seconds, and offers a $10 discount. Here’s the script I use:
http://www.yourSite.com/special.shtml , of course, is where you’d put your special offer and discount.
Next I’d check my Paypal account. Because now more than a dozen people have signed up for the prelaunch, I have enough money to become a vendor via Clickbank. Clickbank lets anyone have their own affiliate program! I decide to set up my payout rate at 50% - that way, any of my affiliates will have an added monetary incentive to tell their friends and customers about my new products.
After I do that, I then set up mechanisms for customers to automatically receive my products once they buy.
Then I have to stop and take stock where I am. I’ve:
Become known as a subject matter expert
Gotten bunches of prelaunch sales
Built my first product
Sent out my first issue of an ezine
Designed my sales page and discount page
Signed up at Clickbank and turned that on
Now I have to put up an auction on eBay. I’ll take the exact copy I wrote for my website and modify it just a weee bit…enough to include “This is the product that sells for 50% on my website!”.
By now, it’s 1pm in the afternoon. Depending upon my energy, I’ll start on the 2 product…or I’ll take stock of the interest in the first. If I’m hit by a wave of sales, I’ll probably take an extra day or so to proactively market the first product to potential JV partners, respected industry leaders and the like.
And that’s my day 12.
Day 13
The first thing I do upon waking up is run to my computer. Okay, not run, because I’d trip on the various desks and toys that are strewn about the room. Possibly sedately stroll instead!
Anywhos, I now check my email. No more paypal prelaunches came, because I updated my sales page yesterday. Eek! I updated my pages…but forgot to send out the product to all who bought via the prelaunch!
So the first thing I will do is rectify that mistake and email the product to all my customers.
Then I write a postit note to ensure I don’t forget something so crucial in the future.
All of a sudden, I’d sit up and realize….all the pieces are in place to build up my multiple streams of income!
I have a product that is now selling.
I know of 4 more products I have to develop. They each take 1 day to research and build.
I already have my clickbank method of buying set up…so all I have to do is add the others once they’re completed.
I also have my eBay account active…so everytime I build a new product, I can add it to my auctions.
Depending upon the status of my first product, I’d either continue marketing it…or I’d leave that to run on autopilot and start building my 2nd.
That takes care of day 13.
Day 14
It’s the last day of the weekend again! I will spend the time with my husband and kids and regale them with tales of The Brilliant Princess Who Defeated The Evil Infomercial Truth-smoosher. J
The Next Two Weeks
True, the above shows only 14 days of my business plan. The next two weeks would see me simply replicating what I’ve done above. Whatever generates the most interest gets the top priority mark from me! Keep in mind that I also dedicate a bunch of time participating at my relevant forums – I always want to keep my name out in front of all my future customers.
I’ll also be checking my weblogs to see from where people find my webpages. The day an entry comes in from Google notifies me that I’m now highly visible to my targeted audiences! I can expect an increase in sales from that as well.
The 2nd Month
By the time the second month rolls around, I will see enough of an income to feel confident about taking care of my family as time goes on. I am aware that if I choose to stop, I choose to lose future money. I’m also aware that what exists today could be gone tomorrow in a flash – the word ‘complacent’ simply doesn’t exist in my vocabulary.
Remember, when it comes right down to it, there is only one person upon whom you can depend in business. You! You you YOU! You are in the drivers’ seat, you are in control. You might not be able to change what happens to you…but you can certainly choose how you react to anything and everything.
You. Nobody else. So go make it happen….yesterday.
Enjoy!
Barbara Ling
http://www.auctionsearchprofits.com
http://www.virtual-coach.com
Bogdan Ravaru – TheMarketingWizards.com
Bogdan Ravaru is the owner of several well known sites like: HtmlSecurityReport.com & HtmlCodeGuard.com which quickly made him known as an expert in security and the newer ClickBankAutomator.com, great automation software for ClickBank.
Being a security expert in his country, he was given the opportunity to work with many of the well known internet marketing gurus today.
An ardent student of human behavior, Bogdan own TheMarketingWizards.com and The Missing Link newsletters.
He specializes in creative marketing strategies, viral marketing and power-packed copywriting (although English is not his first or even his second language!)
Bogdan is secretly working on a couple of ‘smoking hot’ projects right now that will take the net by storm, so sign up for his list to make sure you’ll be the first to know…
http://www.themarketingwizards.com
Answer: By Bogdan Ravaru
The Plan – true story
(note – please disregard the me-you shift in my story… I’m not trying to confuse, just to give you an idea of what I’ve done, what I would’ve done and what you should do)
Day 1: I’m not going to tell you that you have to prepare for the long journey ahead, grab a couple of inspiring books and read them, take a stroll etc
I’d recommend not changing anything you’re not already doing… If you haven’t worked-out until now, don’t start now… If you don’t like coffee, don’t start drinking now… etc
Of course, 3 things might be helpful:
1. Be grateful for what you already have, say a prayer and trust God to bring you what you desire or something better
2. Write this question on a big sheet of paper or put it on your desktop: “How would I act if I thought like God?” This question was made up by Joe Vitale and it’s so powerful it’s able to completely change your paradigm and give you very powerful insights.
Joe Vitale is a great marketer and a great person. If you’re interested in more stuff by him do a search on Amazon.com and also visit his http://www.mrfire.com
3. Get into your “Do or die” mind-set... Allow me to explain
This quote has 2 verbs: one is “do”, other is “die”
Do: means “do your best”. Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it. (George Halas)
Die: well… not exactly “die” but most people usually work better under pressure.
Day 2: I woke up in the morning and decided to be a man (you can also be a woman J) and create my own product! Yep, if you want to make it big online that’s usually the way to go: your own product…
I’m not sure what at the moment, but I guess my niche will be internet marketing people.
Some people say that this is not a good niche (too much competition etc) BUT I like it because:
internet marketers actually read sales-copy (it’s part of their marketing education)
the target-market is very easy to reach
I understand these people better, being a marketer myself
I know how to go for a ‘quick hunt’ in this niche that will bring me some fast money.
For the moment we don’t know what we will be developing but I do have an idea who my niche is going to be…
So now, I’ll start doing the first thing that I need to do in order to be successful: SCHMOOZE!
I spend this day on the most popular internet marketing forums and get everybody’s messenger information. I add to my ICQ, AOL, MSN and Yahoo messenger list every little contact that I can find in these forums… The bigger the name the better!
I would also try to write ONE POST on each forum – this way I become an active contributor. I would write more, but I don’t have the time.
Day 3-6: Start talking to the people you added on your messenger lists. Try to help them out if you can… Just be a good neighbor, tell them what you like about their sites etc but make sure you don’t piss them off… This is the last thing you want to do!
You can also get a lot of ideas from these conversations
Day 7: Almost one week has passed. This is the seventh day and we still haven’t made any move towards launching that product BUT we are building our distribution web… When the product will be ready we will already have joint-venture partners and everything.
In this scenario, we are nobodies – no selling power; the guys on our MSN lists will be our JV partners. We provide the product; they provide the list / traffic / etc
So, today we are going to do some fun brain-storming for about 2-3 hours to start building the ball that we will be rolling afterwards J
So I’m putting on my money goggles and I’m asking myself. “What’s the fastest way to make money? Okay, solve a problem…” All I have to do is solve a problem for internet marketers.
“What problem can I solve a problem for internet marketers?”
Well… what problems do internet marketers have?
they want more traffic: lots of products about this already
they want to create hot products: lots of products about creating products already (funny, right?)
they want higher conversion ratios: again, lots of products already on the market about this
But hey… what do all these point have in common : “Internet marketers want more money!” right? (Well, actually it’s “people want more money” but I’m targeting internet marketers here)
So, what can I do about this? What can I offer them? ...because it seems to me that money is out of question with the creditors at my door J
Well… thinking about other modern human needs (I’m not interested in the old food, shelter, love etc because I cannot solve a problem here) I find: time, security (I mean business security because I’m targeting marketers), multiple streams of income, etc
Hmm… ‘more time’ can be accomplished through business automation… Can business automation come with an increased security? Probably so…
Can this come with multiple streams of income? Not necessarily but MSOI will come from the increased amount of time one will have available after automating his/her business…
So now I’m wondering… What can be automated on the internet but it’s not?
Let’s see… something powerful, that everybody uses - I know EMAIL… What can be automated about it…. Yes, RECEIPTS! Tada, this is the software that I’m going to develop…
A “RECEIPT AUOMATOR”… It will scan your inbox for all the receipts you receive, get the information from them and add it to your auto-responders, databases etc… Genius or what?
Oh Yeah!…. I’m dancing with joy: I can use this idea with Clickbank, Paypal, Amazon… etc.. The possibilities ARE ENDLESS…
This will easily automate any online business and lessen the amount of work on the end user. Also, it will give more security because you can send the download information only to the people that you have receipts from… Seems like a great idea…
Enough for today, we will test our idea tomorrow
Day 8: I launch MSN messenger and I start schmoozing with people again… I talk to Alicia, Stephen Pierce’s wife – she thinks I have a good idea so she sets me up a phone call with Stephen to talk about it.
I call the man and he absolutely loves everything about it BUT up to a point: “What happens if you are an affiliate?” he asks.
I tell him: if the program sends you a receipt, then it’s perfectly alright… you can use the software. The he says: “What if I’m using ClickBank?”
Me: “Well then, let me look at the Clickbank.com thanks-for-the-affiliate-sale email”
Tough luck! No receipt information in the email….
So I tell him: No issues, I could make a tool that would log-in your Clickbank account if you’re an affiliate and do the same!
He says: “Do that!
Me: “And add it as a bonus, right?”
He: No, different product. Create that, you already have a good market, a good niche – Clickbank affiliates and merchants! Sell it. People will see the power it has and then they will wonder if the same could be done with Paypal, Amazon or whatever… You can then follow-up with your Receipt Automator.
I wasn’t very convinced at the beginning but hey… if Stephen Pierce told me so, then I had to at least think about it. (note: I also created the Receipt Automator software in the mean-time, just didn’t launch it yet!)
I spent about an hour thinking about this idea, and the more I thought about it… the more I liked it and the more things I added to it. God, this Stephen Pierce is a genius J So I started creating my final blue print for the software.
Then I called my friend, Cristian. We’ve been friends for 7 years and Cristian is one hell of a software engineer. He can create almost anything from desktop applications to giant internet apps.
Fact is, I’m also a software engineer my self… But Cristian is better than me… by far… So if something is created by him, I’m sure that piece of software will be bullet-proof!
If you’ve ever considered having a piece of software professionally built email me at webmaster@themarketingwizards.com and I’ll hook you up.
So, I call Cristian and tell him: “Can you come at my place tomorrow? I want to show you something.”
Day 9: Spent most of the day schmoozing & reading quality internet marketing information. Then Cristian came to me and I explained to him what I wanted to create.
It took about one hour to explain to him the nuts and bolts of the software because he was completely unfamiliar with Clickbank.
Finally he understood what I wanted and told me to get back to him the following day. Luckily, he was free at the time and not working on other projects J
Day 10-11: Again, schmooze & read quality stuff… Only this time I was also writing code with Cristian, giving him pointers and tweaking everything.
Day 12: Started working on the copy… Wrote copy for about 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at night.
If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m not working more than several hours each day. I still have time to sleep, eat cooked food, meet with my girlfriend, drink a beer with my friends etc.
Day 13: Working on the copy… In the background, Cristian is still working on the software… I’m also working on the software with him… I’m also writing the documentation for the software.
In the evening, I’m having my sales page reviewed by Michel Fortin, David Cavanagh and other top internet copywriters in my MSN list.
Day 14: Created the graphics & layout for the site…. More schmoozing, reading, eating and the general stuff. Taking a break away from the copy to let my ideas crystallize.
Day 15: Finishing work on the graphics & copy. Also, finished the beta version of the software.
Developing the marketing rollout – my strategy for the big launch.
Day 16 - morning: I meet with Alicia on MSN… She’s really nice… Very helpful.
Okay, and she tells me that I should join the Smart Marketing Coaching Club, which is ran by Stephen Pierce and Jonathan Mizel.
See it at http://www.smartmarketingcoachingclub.com
I join as a gold member and start networking with the other members, giving them a copy of the product to test, etc etc etc
I get about 15 beta-testers.
Not to mention that Stephen is also interested in promoting it because it was basically his idea… and he also got Jon Mizel interested in it…. I’m as happy as I could ever be.
Day 16 - evening: I head to godaddy.com and register the name clickbankautomator.com
Now, it’s time to host the domain… I’m looking for a webhost that hosts other internet marketing sites & gives me at least 10 Gig/month traffic. I’m also looking for a good ad-tracker and autoresponder.
So, I join my friend’s (Kaviraj Kodai) Ultimate Marketing Center.
This is how I get 5-domain-names-hosting, unlimited autoresponders, unlimited ad-trackers and a huge collection of master resale rights for only 19.95$ / month.
Not to mention that I also get some very powerful automation tools as a bonus (like ClickBank Manager, which handles my affiliate program)
If you’re looking for a cheap, one-stop solution then Ultimate Marketing Center is the place to join.
Day 17-20: Bug report & code updates…
Talking to the beta-testers I also develop the 2 bonus packages “ClickBank Top Customers” script and “ClickBank Top Affiliates”.
I also create a video version of the help-file with Techsmith’s Camtasia - great tool to create a desktop video and show customers how to use programs & stuff
Day 21: Bug report & code updates is finished. As a result, I’ve also created a Basic version of the Clickbank Automator, that is 99% as powerful as the first one but it’s very easy to set-up.
I’m making the finishing touches on the copy… Uploading everything to my site and testing it. Adding pop-ups to make sure I get email addresses from people who leave without purchasing.
Day 22-23: Getting testimonials from beta-testers. Offering free copies for review to big name marketers; If they like the product they will be able to promote it to their lists and earn a very generous 75% of the profits.
Day 24: Adding audio-testimonials to my site from big name marketers and beta-testers… I’m using Armand Morin’s Audio Generator… This is a great, great, great tool to bring your site to life and increase your conversion ratio: click here to put voice on your site
Also, I’m setting-up the “ClickBank Automator” software on my site. It only takes 2 minutes. I’m going to email my list tomorrow and I want everything to be automated so I don’t have to work like a slave…
Day 25: Emailing my list! Yahoo…. My JV partners also email their lists… Great! Huge batch of emails from null@clickbank.com, exactly what I wanted to see J
Day 26: Beta-testers and other people involved in the development email their lists (they have second exclusive rights)… Another nice batch of orders, not to mention that the extra orders from yesterday’s mailing J
Day 27-31: All new affiliates that joined in the last few days email their lists / start advertising. They already have prewritten ads and everything because I have spent more than 3 days working on the copy, remember?
During days 25-31: I answer all support requests and develop a FAQ and automated answers for customers questions.
Since this business is built and automated I will focus on my projects for the future.
This means launching the “Receipt Automator” and a generator that will generate software very similar to my “The Missing Link” software.
Of course at the end of day 31, I will calculate my conversion-ratio and allowed-cost-per-visitor and buy targeted advertising below that price mostly from PPC search engines.
I will also develop smart pages for Google.com (and the rest of free search engines) and place an advertisement link on the
http://www.clickbank.com/login.html
page for all ClickBank affiliates & merchants to see this software that will “make their ClickBank business work had, so they don’t have to” (this is my USP J)
Thanks for reading my plan and have a fantastic day!
PS: You’ve probably noticed that I didn’t give any $ amount. I’m doing so because you might do more or less… Success in any business is a direct result of the time, knowledge and effort you put in it. I don’t want to mislead you in any way!
Brian Terry - EbookWow.com
Brian Terry is the creator and designer responsible for setting up and operating EbookWow.com, an online graphic design service to help people create the right online image for their product or service.
Whilst he's only been running this service since March 2002 he's been working professionally in the design field for over 10 years and online as a marketer since August 2000.
The depth of design and marketing experience he brings to EbookWow.com enables him to provide a first rate design service specializing in creating the graphics for direct response web pages across the globe.
Whilst it's true that the command of the written word is vital to your success online it can only be enhanced by partnering this with high quality graphics that help to create the right first and lasting impression.
Brian's websites are:
EbookWow.com
Create sales boosting professional looking graphics the easy way
PDFWow.com
Instantly create and brand PDF Ebooks online
Info-Facts.com
Learn everything from list building to affiliate marketing with these free and easy 7 part e-courses.
Answer – By Brian Terry
Day 1: This is it, no software, no contacts, no nothing, I'm starting from scratch armed only with my design experience a PC and an Internet Connection.
So where shall I start? I haven't got a single penny to work with so it'll be a challenge that's for sure!
As I know design already (like the back of my hand) I'm going to set up an online graphic design service just like I did with EbookWow.com.
The best way to go about this for me is to simply write a list of all the things I'm going to need to get off the ground then work out a way of getting this all set up for no cost on my part.
Unlike a marketer who can do there "thing" armed very little software which by and large can be picked up for free, I need one powerful program that can cost an arm and a leg.
This one application is what's going to make it really happen for me online, so what am I referring to here? in one word "Photoshop".
Before I get into how I can get this program for free for 30 days I need to start thinking about what I need to be doing here over this 30 day period.
Here we go...
The applications I will need are:
1.. Photoshop (To create the graphics)
2.. Dreamweaver (To create web pages)
3.. eCoverStudio (To create a wide variety of virtual covers)
The services I need are:
1.. Web hosting (To host my sales site)
2.. Sequential autoreponders (To generate leads and build relationships)
3.. Free Hotmail account (To enable me to communicate, until I have a domain name)
Is there anything else I'll need?
1.. Domain name (This will help me to position myself within the market place)
2.. PayPal account (This will help me to take payment online)
3.. Visitor tracking software (This will help me to know how many people are seeing my site)
4.. Royalty free images (This will help me to create the designs)
The most important thing I'm going to need to get me started has got to be an email account, this makes everything I'm about to do possible. I like Hotmail accounts because they have a good spam filter on them. As it's a free account I'll have to check it regularly so it doesn't fill up because the email space is limited. This is just a temporary measure until I have the funds to buy a domain name along with some web hosting.
http://www.passport.net/
What's going to take the longest to time (around 3-6 days) is to set up is a PayPal business account to use for accepting payment online. I think it's best to get the ball rolling on this first of all.
https://www.paypal.com/
Once I'd set this up I need to look at getting Photoshop installed on my PC.
Now I know that at Adobe they offer a 30 day free trial on a full working copy of Photoshop which is going to be perfect for what I need.
This is the link that'll take you to the page you need...
http://www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe/main.jhtml#product=39
So now I've got a PayPal account being set up and a full working copy of Photoshop to use, the next most important thing to do is to start looking for some paying customers just to get enough money in to pay for a few of the other things I need like a domain name and hosting. I think one small project for someone should easily be able to cover this cost.
Once I've got a website and a domain name I can create a direct response web page with a few samples of work on it. With this I'll be able to start looking for a couple of joint venture deals to really get things moving along to a good start.
The main stumbling block I can see right now is being able to build up a portfolio of samples people to persuade people of my design skills.
I've got a great idea here that I might be able to use to kill 2 birds with one stone...
This simple idea will enable me to build a small portfolio of work and possibly make a little money in the process.
With these things in mind I'm going to do a search online for some direct response style sites that have some pretty "shabby" looking headers and 3D covers. Then once I've found about 15 of them I'll contact the owners and ask if I could re-design their headers for them with no commitment on them to even use what or pay for whatever I create.
In all that I've done so far I'm just a couple of hours into my first day so what I'll do is just spend the rest of the day surfing the net looking for some direct response style sites that need an overhaul.
Day 2: Yesterday I got off to a good start and actually found 30 sites all in dire need of some more effective direct response graphics. The potential for this service I know is huge so I'm confident that once I get going I'm going to be very busy!
Armed with the url's and the owners email addresses I'm now putting together a brief email just to ask the site owner if I could re-design their web sites graphics for them for no cost or commitment from them to use whatever I create.
Here's how the letter is looking so far:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear [site owner's first name],
How are you doing?
I visited your site yesterday at www.[websiteaddress.com] and looked carefully at the graphics you were using. I really like the ideas you had used in your design but I was wondering if perhaps I could offer you a slightly different approach to the way in which the design looks which might be more effective for you?
The main reason for me sending you this message is to ask if you wouldn't mind if I could redesign your header panel and 3D cover for you for with no commitment on your part to pay or even use whatever I create for you.
Does this interest you?
The only thing I would ask in return would be that I can use whatever I create in my own portfolio of design work which would be placed prominently on my own website. If you think what I've created is good enough and you'd like to try out whatever I create on your site I would be happy to offer you this design at a heavily discounted price.
Are you still interested?
If you are then please let me know, then as soon as the design is finished I'll let you take a look to see what you think. Remember it'll cost you nothing and who knows... the design I create could potentially increase your sales, if you decide to use it.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
At your service,
Brian Terry
brianterryonline@hotmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Once I've sent these out I only need about 6 replies to give me a good start to my online portfolio of work. I'll give it 3 days for the replies to come in to give everyone a chance to read my message.
So this gives me 3 days to kill, what's next?
In one word marketing "forums".
What I'll do is take what I've written above adapt it a bit and go to one of the busiest forums that I know of and post it there to see what happens.
http://www.ablake.net/forum/
I know this place is full of budding entrepreneurs who'd be open to a good deal like this ;-)
I'll need to be very careful in how I word the message so it doesn't look like an ad or anything similar to this. If I see anyone with any graphics questions I'll also answer these and weave my offer into whatever my reply will be.
I've still got the best part of the day left so I'll spend my time at this forum and any others I can find just helping people out with their graphics questions.
The strategy I'm going to adopt over the next 30 days is to spend 20-30 minutes a day in a forum answering other people's questions. This way I'm making my service as visible as possible within the shortest amount of time.
So that's it for day 2.
Day 3: I'm still waiting to hear back from PayPal on an account so I'll have to hang in there a bit longer.
I've had 4 replies to the email I sent out yesterday with my design offer and it's looking promising.
Yesterday I posted my message on the main forum I use and also had a few replies of people taking me up on my offer.
The best thing for me to do now is to take a look at some of those sites who've given me permission to re-design their graphics. I've got Photoshop all loaded up and ready to roll so all I need are some decent royalty free images.
Now here in lies the problem... the site I need to go to and get my images from requires payment up front to release their full library without a huge watermark stamped right the way through it.
The best site to use for Royalty free image is called Photos.com and their website offers 50,000 photo's and photo objects: http://Photos.com
As soon as I'm ready I'll subscribe for 1 month for $99.95 which will give me full access to all 50,000 of their royalty free images. It's a superb deal if you ask me!
So what's the solution until then?
Typography! yes, just use type and anything else I can create myself within Photoshop using it's special filters.
Of course photographs do help but they're not always necessary and the final design can look just as good.
Today I'll come up with a domain name for my service then register it as soon as I have the funds to do so.
To register the domain name I'll use GoDaddy.com, they provide a superb service and a $8.95 price tag is pretty good.
There's not much of the day left so what I'll do is get into doing some of the free re-design projects I've had the go-ahead on.
Day 4: Great news I've just heard back from PayPal and my business account is now live at last! This is going to make working online so much easier!
I'm spending today creating more designs for the people who've contacted me from the forum and from the emails I sent out.
Today I also found an interesting web site that'll help me to locate the posts about specific topics.
So now all I do is type in "web graphics" and a whole load of different posts come up from several marketing forums all mentioning "web graphics", this is just what I need:
http://www.forum-tracker.com
I'm going to try and keep up this 30 minutes a day helping people for as long as I'm able to.
Day 5: Well so far things are going well and as planned. I've already created 4 designs and I've got 6 more to work on.
What I'll do today is send over the designs I've created so far to the people who's sites they were inspired by. When I do this I'll place a watermark through the design just to protect myself from being taken advantage of.
It's going to be interesting to hear what these people think about what I've done for them. I think they're positive improvements and should help them to convert more visitors into sales if they decide to use them.
My main priority right now is to get some money in to pay for a domain name and some basic web hosting. This will then enable me to set up a direct response sales letter showing samples of my work and start setting up joint ventures.
As soon as I've sent those 4 designs off I'll crank a few more out, the more samples I can create the better. Also the more I do the more chances there are that I'll get some money in from anyone wishing to use what I've created.
Day 6: Out of the 4 designs I sent out I got 4 replies back, that's great! and you know what?... one of the people I did the work for loved it so much they're prepared to pay me to use it! This is the best news I've had all week!
What I'd done for them was a header, a matching 3D box and a 3D order button.
Before I sent them over the design I agreed a price of $67 to be paid via my PayPal account, great!
As soon as the money comes in I'll zip up all their graphics and send over the web optimised JPGS they'll need.
Again, just like yesterday I'll spend the rest of the day completing some more projects for people then send off a few more for approval.
Day 7: The $67 came through and the graphics went off, then to my surprise a testimonial came back! perfect, I'll use this at the front of my sales letter, testimonials are such a powerful way of convincing people to use my service.
Even now I'm still getting people sending me emails giving me the go ahead to create their graphics for them. I've just totalled up all the re-design jobs I have and there are 27 so far! this is good news as I've got a bit more leverage to help me get paid work.
What I'll do is start asking for a testimonial from people who I've done the design work for. These testimonials are going to make my final sales letter pull even more sales once I'm properly launched!
I think the best thing to do today is just spend a bit more time cranking out more of these designs. Tomorrow I'm taking the day off, this creative work can really wipe you out if you don't keep your mind fresh.
I think I should have taken today off as well but I know I've just gotta get this done, determination to succeed is vital.
Day 8: Today is spent just re-charging my batteries doing something completely different and getting some fresh air at the same time if possible. I'll keep an eye on my email account just to make sure I don't miss anything.
Day 9: So far I've sent out 10 designs for people to approve, today I had 5 people all wanting to use the designs I created for them. Again I've agreed the figure of $67 with them so they can use them on their sites.
So in 9 days that's $402 in my paypal account, so far so good. Now it's time to turn up the volume a bit more on all that I'm doing here.
After asking about web hosting at the forums I've been visiting, the best deal I've found is with Host4Profit, who are easily one of the most highly respected and reliable web hosts I've heard about.
Here's their site: http://www.host4profit.com/
The way I look at hosting is you get what you pay for and your website is the "hub" of your business so why cut corners on cheap low-cost hosting.
So now I'm going to set up a hosting account with Host4Profit, then as soon as this is complete I'm going to set up an autoresponder account.
In the past I've used the free autoresponders from GetResponse.com successfully, so I'll try them again.
http://www.getresponse.com/
What I'll be able to do with GetResponse is set up a lead generation system whereby I offer a series of email messages giving people design tips and techniques to help their websites sell more effectively. If I do 7 messages I know my chances of making a sale will be dramatically increased, plus it gives me the perfect opportunity to make money as an affiliate recommending other people's products.
The thing to remember is that as soon as I have enough money to upgrade to the GetResponse "Pro" account I'll be able to to manage a larger list and send out individual messages to my entire list whenever I have a product to recommend.
Today I've got a lot of writing to do so I'd better get started!
Day 10: I've had a couple more people get back to me saying they'd like to buy what I've created for them. Great!... I'll get this done and sent over to them ASAP. (I'll also ask for a testimonial, the more of these I can get the better!)
Today I'm still working on my sales letter making sure I've got the structure and the approach right. I've decided to avoid as much hyped up sales speak as I can and instead write my sales letter as a report offering valuable advice with my offer woven into the solutions I suggest.
The problem with a lot of sales letters online today is that people are starting to tune out sales messages so they're no longer as effective as they used to be. A more effective approach to take is by writing a sales letter that's like a report or an article simply because it lowers people's barriers to being openly sold to. When the barriers are down that's when you give them the ultimate solution.... your service or product.
Today I discovered an excellent free ebook all about "Frame-of-Mind Marketing" by Maria Veloso which has helped me to get inside the minds of my customers more easily and master the idea of "non-sales pitch" style marketing. I visited Maria's site then scrolled to the bottom for the link to get the free ebook:
http://www.webcopywritinguniversity.com/
I'm going to spend today writing my web copy.
I almost forgot... I need a domain name, so I'll be working on developing this too.
Day 11: That's perfect! the sales letter's done (with plenty of testimonials), the hosting is set up and I've registered my final domain name with http://www.godaddy.com
Getting your domain name right is paramount, it helps to get you not only a good position in the search engines but also establishes your name as a brand.
As I'm dealing with direct response graphics I've created a perfect name that communicates what I do in a memorable way. Once I've registered it it's going to take about 72 hours to connect with my website so I've got about 3 days on my hands to finish off writing my sales letter and all 7 of those autoresponder messages.
Day 12: Today is spent writing, writing and writing some more. I've got to get these 7 messages just right. As I write them I'm thinking about what related products I can recommend that'll help me to make a residual monthly income. Hosting is a perfect one to work in to my e-course. Everyone needs hosting and it's paid for each month, so the thing to do is find an affiliate program offered by a hosting company that'll pay me a commission each month.
At this stage it's important to keep in mind that what I'm doing within my design service is selling my time, time I'll never see again! So this is why it's so important to promote other related products that'll give me a monthly residual income.
Day 13: Again I'm spending today writing and tidying everything up so it reads as well as it can.
Later on today I'll check to see if my domain name is working ad pointing to my web space, sometimes it starts working in around 24 hours. If the domain name is working I'll also start to use my new email account which contains my new domain name, this should create a much more professional impression in the different forums I visit.
Day 14: We've been into this for 2 weeks now so here's quick recap over all I've achieved so far.
1.. I've got 10 designs in my portfolio to show on my sales site
2.. I've got 8 superb testimonials which I've already included in my sales letter
3.. 8 people have paid for the designs I've created which gives me a balance in my PayPal account of $536 less the $20 for hosting and $8.95 for the domain name giving me a new total of $507.05.
4.. I've got a full working copy of PhotoShop on my PC with 16 more days left until it runs out and stops working until I register it.
5.. All 7 autoresponder messages have been written with residual income streams built into each one.
6.. I've also opened up an account with GetResponse and loaded up all my 7 messages
Today my domain name is working my hosting is ready, all I need to do is design the graphics for my own site and set the whole thing up so I can start taking orders.
So today and tomorrow will be spent getting myself live and online. Once this is done it's time to get some joint ventures under my belt which will make life a lot easier and more profitable.
Day 15: Sometimes designing for yourself is one of the hardest things to do, don't ask me why, I think it's because you become "super" critical because it's work that reflects you and your ability.
Today I'll totally immerse myself in design by looking around the web for inspiration and ideas before getting into creating the design itself.
Day 16: Today I'm taking a well deserved day off to relax and spend some time with my wife who's beginning to go crazy with me being glued to this computer screen setting everything up. I think we'll go for a boat trip down the river Thames, just down the road from Windsor castle, it's a sunny day so it should be a good day out.
Day 17: Whilst I spent day 15 creating my own graphics, today I need to get my hands on a copy of the best and most powerful HTML editor around to put the designs together.
I've been using Dreamweaver for the past 2 years so I'll get myself a 30 free trial copy which is full functioning. This will enable me to get my site built in a very short space of time and for zero cost, great!
This is the site I visited to get my free trial copy of Dreamweaver:
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=dreamweaver
Day 18: Now that my site it up, the sales letter is in place and built into the page is a subscription box to start building my list of potential customers. Now it's time to start searching for some joint venture partners.
By doing this I won't need to spend a single penny on advertising, and I'll also be able to build my list to recommend related products with residual income streams.
So where do I start?
Ezine publishers is the best people to go to for virtually immediate results once the JV's are in place and operating.
So I need to find out what ezines my target audience are subscribing to then contact the publishers with an offer they can't refuse ;-)
The best place to start here is again going to be the Anthony Blake forum but I'll also try a few others like:
http://www.gethighforums.com
and
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/184615
This is a really simple thing to do, just ask people what the best ezines are and where I can subscribe to them.
Armed with this information I'll be able to contact the list owners and see if they'll be interested in what I have to offer.
I'll take it a bit easy today and just focus on getting this information together.
Day 19: That's great I've got a list of 10 of the best ezines that Internet Marketers subscribe to, today I'll craft an offer and send it to them and see what they say.
I think the best way of setting this up is to offer all my potential Joint Venture partners the following:
1.. I'll design the graphics for their next (or existing) 2 direct response website for free (otherwise worth $334).
2.. I'll give their subscribers a 40% discount on any orders placed by them within the next 7 days, after this the price goes up to the normal rate.
3.. I'll give each JV partner a personalised direct response page that tells their subscribers this offer is made to them only because they're a valued subscriber.
In return for giving each JV partner this I'll ask for a recommendation from them to sent out to their entire list as a solo mailing. As it's a recommendation I'm looking for I'll have to actually create something for them first, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Today I'll get my letter written offering all the things in my list above then send it out.
By the way... I've decided to charge $167 for my service once the Joint Venture offers have ended. For this people are getting a header panel, matching 3D cover for their digital product, a 3D order button and a basic web page template.
If I can get 2 orders every working day I'll be happy as this will give me a maximum monthly income of $6,680. I've limited myself to 2 a day because designing this much work can be very mentally tiring. If I do any more than this the quality of the work could potentially suffer.
With the residual income streams I'm setting up within my 7 part e-course this should top up my earnings quite considerably.
Day 20: An important part of running an online design service like this is automation, this important because it frees up time. When you're running a service based on you selling your time I know I need to make the most of it.
The solution to this is to use CGI scripts to automate things, there is one script I have in mind after a bit of research. What this automated script will do for me is to take customers projects details online as soon as they've paid. Then once they've completed their project briefing form everyone gets a copy of it.
This way my customers will know I've got all their details and their project is booked in.
I almost forgot to mention... I'm integrating this special form with another GetResponse autoresponder which asks customers for a testimonial 23 days after the order has been placed. I can then add these extra testimonials to my sales letter making it even more powerful!
This is one of the best CGI script sites I found:
http://www.willmaster.com/
The script I need is called "Master Form v3" and has the ability to process multi-page online forms, this is just what I need.
I'll buy a copy of this script today, it'll cost $49 but if you ask me it's money well spent.
http://willmaster.com/master/formV3/
I'm still waiting to hear back from the possible joint venture partners I contacted on day 19. What I'll do is use this time to set up my order forms and automate this part of my site.
Today I'm also going to buy a copy of an excellent virtual cover building program called
"eCoverStudio" which I can get from here:
http://ecoverstudio.com/
This is going to make creating 3D covers a real walk in the park as all the 3D work is done for me, so combine this with Photoshop and you've got some really powerful tools at your disposal.
Day 21: I've had some great news today! I've just this minute had an positive email from a list owner with a responsive list of 10,678 people.
To be honest with you I think I'll only need this partner to get me started, for all the others that reply I'll see if I can hold them off until after this JV deal has gone through. At the end of the day I don't want to be working all the hours God sends, which could happen with too much exposure this early on.
Today I'll finished off setting up the form processing script and complete the design of the forms themselves. I can see this is easily going to take all day to do.
Before I do anything I'll reply back to my first Joint Venture partner to let them know we can move things forward just as soon as they have a design they would like me to do for them.
Day 22: A day's rest is needed so all I'll be doing today is just checking emails and visiting a few forums to see who I can help.
Day 23: The briefing form for my site is ready so I'll hook it all up into the purchase process.
There is one thing I simply must do and that is tighten up the security behind my PayPal order link. At the moment if anyone visits my site and checks the source code they'll be able to see the thankyou page I've set up with all my bonuses!
I've found it! this has got to be the perfect solution to protecting my PayPal link and to protecting my downloadable bonuses.
Here's the product I'm about to buy for $97...
http://www.onlineprotectionsuite.com/
The JV partner has got back to me with what they'd like me to do for them. Their personalised sales page is ready, the project briefing forms are ready. All I need to do is complete the protection using the product I've just purchased.
Day 24: Yesterday I sent off the link to the briefing form to my JV partner and I've got the details on their design project, I'll start it straight away.
Before I get started I need to visit www.Photos.com to gain 1 months access to all their royalty free images. This will give me far greater scope in any design I create as part of my JV venture, it's important that I make the best impression possible.
Day 25: That's it! I'm all set up now, my PayPal order link is protected and I've completed the first design project for my JV partner and he's really pleased with what I've done. In fact he's promised to send out the solo message today to his entire list recommending that they use me to design their graphics! wow! I couldn't be happier because now I'm going to be busy and into profit almost immediately.
So far everything is in place:
1.. Sales letter and website (in the style of an article about web design)
2.. Autoresponder containing a 7 part e-course about creating graphics online. Also here I get the chance to recommend other related products that will give me a residual income as an affiliate.
3.. Customer briefing forms to collect all the details of each project automatically
4.. Security features to protect my "thankyou" page that contains all the bonuses I'm offering.
I'm ready to take orders from people responding to my JV partners recommendation.
Sure enough all 10,678 people were contacted as part of the recommendation announcement.
Today I had 3,450 people visit my new site, 657 people were added to my 7 part autoresponder e-course and 15 orders came in! Remember each order was for $100, so that's $1,500 taken in orders today. Boy am I going to be busy over the next 2 weeks or so!
Day 26: More orders continue to arrive each day, I've checked the number of subscribers I have in my list and it's gone from zero to 723 in just a couple of days! wow! Today I checked the clickthroughs on my affiliate links and everything is working out well. All I can do today is get cracking on completing all the orders I've got, so there's not much to do now.
As soon as these orders are complete I'll contact some of the other people who contacted me wishing to take me up on my joint venture proposal.
Day 27: Today is spent working on completing some more of the orders I have, I need to get 2 or more (if I can) completed a day. My customers are fine with the possibility of having to wait a couple of weeks for their design so I've just got to pace myself to get everything done.
Day 28: Again today is spent completing more orders.
Day 29: Again today is spent completing more orders.
I'm still getting 1-2 orders coming in a day and my list is growing by about 12-15 people a day but this is slowing down now.
What I need to think about is spending a couple of hours a day (if I can) turning some of the 7 part e-course I've written into a series of articles to get published. What I'll do is send them over to my first JV partner to see if he'll be interested in publishing any of them.
Wherever possible I try to re-cycle any web copy I've written and use it for different purposes. This is a great time saver and stops you from re-inventing the wheel.
To keep orders flowing in I also need to spend some time in forums helping people, this has always been a way of bringing in fresh traffic and subscribers.
Day 30: Again today is spent completing more orders, this will be the pattern for the next 2-3 weeks as I complete all the orders that have been placed with me.
The thing I need to have in mind is keeping these orders coming in and also tomorrow I need to change the price on my main sales letter to the $167 now the first JV promotion is over.
Have I saved myself through all I've done in 30 days?
You bet!
Final words
Month 2 and beyond...
1.. Purchase a fully licensed working copy of Photoshop.
2.. Purchase a fully licensed copy of Dreamweaver.
3.. Purchase a powerful link tracking solution like NotroStats http://www.nitrostats.com/ (This will enable me to scientifically track the success of all my web links).
4.. Renew my subscription to www.photos.com for another 3 months.
Once all the orders have been completed from the first JV partnership I'll begin setting up an affiliate programme for my design service. This is going to be one of the biggest keys to my success. An affiliate programme will provide me with a more steady stream of customers and subscribers so it's essential.
The best affiliate script I know about that works well with PayPal is one called Ultimate Affiliate from a website called "http://www.groundbreak.com/". This script will run on my own server keeping me in full control and this control "very" important!
Once this Ultimate Affiliate is in place I'll be able to offer any future joint venture partnerships a deal in which they get a share of the profits instead of free design.
Another essential aspect to my online business is purchasing the GetResponse "Pro" autoresponder account, this will enable me to handle a bigger list of subscribers and also give me the ability to send out solo mailings to my list.
What the solo mailings will enable me to do is quite literally make money on demand, so I'm sure by now you can see why you need a responsive list.
In my opinion building this opt-in list has been the most important thing I did. Over the course of just a few days I've already started to see an increase in profits made as an affiliate recommending other people's products. As crazy as it might sound I see this profit ultimately overtaking the money made providing the online design service!
Looking 12 months into the future I'll be turning my design service into a digitally deliverable product. You see online the more people you can help the more money you make, remember that money is just a side effect of helping others. So a digitally deliverable product is the way to go.
So what will this product be?
It could be a software application that helps people to make the graphics themselves based on templates I create. It could even be an ebook containing all the design formula's and templates I've created over the past 12 months.
Why not have a look at my site now to see where I'm up to!
Charlie Page - CharliePage.com
Charlie Page has been self-employed for over 17 years and has over 25 years of sales experience. During his sales career he was the #1 National sales rep for two International companies.
Charlie owned two offline businesses, the last being a direct mail marketing company, which he owned and operated for six years. He has sold and written copy for radio, newspaper and direct mail marketing companies.
Charlie took the plunge and went completely online three years ago working as a ghostwriter (copywriter). His clients have included well-known Internet marketers, people wanting to increase their sales conversion rate, as well as people just starting their online careers.
After a considerable time of working with Ruth Townsend as a consultant and copywriter, Charlie purchased the Directory of Ezines from Ruth in 2002, enabling her to achieve her long-term goal of retirement.
He currently owns several profitable web sites including CharliePage.com (copywriting) Directory of Ezines (the web's first ezine directory) and Nine Buck Newsletters, where he provides ready-made ezines for an affordable price.
Charlie writes his own weekly ezine, the DOE Insider, and lives in Texas with his wife and two daughters.
Copywriting That Gets Results! – http://www.charliepage.com/
Ezine Advertising Works! – www.directoryofezines.com
Your Own Ezine At An Affordable Rate! – www.ninebucknewsletters.com
What Works In The Real World? – www.realworldtactics.com
Answer: By Charlie Page
Day 1: ...............
My 30-day goal is to make immediate cash and build a system that will create a powerful, passive income stream so that losing everything cannot happen again.
I’m also going to create a product that I can sell and use as a vehicle for joint ventures. Since my knowledge is my chief asset, I’ll sell my knowledge by creating several information products.
The first step in this process is to choose what niche market I’m going to approach and learn something about what their needs are. By meeting their needs I will meet my own.
I’ll make a list of everything I know that other people might find interesting enough that it causes them to click to get more information or buy a product relating to that area. Everyone is knowledgeable about a specific topic. Some can cook better than others, some know more about actors and Hollywood because they love movies, some play a better round of golf, are exceptional parents and so on. For me it is sales and marketing.
The topic matters less than your passion does. You must be passionate about what you do for a living to succeed to your fullest.
One tip is to try to meet a need as you search for your niche. Ask, what would people like me, who love golf (or whatever your topic is), need most?
Once you identify your passion it will become the theme for your site, your ezine and the other marketing in which you engage.
A little over three years ago I had a very serious health situation, which left me unable to work but a few hours a day. When I was in this situation the book that helped me most was “Finding your perfect work”.
Days 2 and 3: ...............
I will research the niche market I identified on day 1. This includes making a list of the ezines, websites and more that are dedicated to my theme. I make lists like these in a spreadsheet but book-marking websites or using a legal pad works as well. If there are too many ezines, sites, discussion forums, etc, I will list only the top twenty.
The tool I use for this is Google www.google.com
Another power tool, often overlooked, are discussion groups (formerly known as newsgroups). I can research what the experts in my field are talking about at http://www.google.com/grphp
What I want to accomplish here is to know the market like ‘the back of my hand.’ On these days I’m going to finish my research. What I will accomplish is to identify the major players in my chosen niche market, what they are currently saying, the products they are producing, and what products are hot vs. the products that are less popular.
I will also starting listening to conversations that take place in the forums that relate to my topic. I won’t post or even introduce myself at this time, just get a feel for the rhythm of the forum and determine who are the experts in the forum. I’ll also pay very close attention to the questions asked to see if they uncover a need for a new product or service.
I will spend at least one hour in the forums every day from this point forward. Great forums include Anthony Blake’s forum http://www.ablake.net/forum/ and the Warriors of Internet Marketing by Allen Says. http://www.thewarriorgroup.com/
Days 4 and 5 .........................
I will establish a ClickBank account to sell products as an affiliate. Since I have no money it’s a good thing that this is free. www.clickbank.com
I’m going to focus on ClickBank because it’s simply the fastest and easiest way to make money on the Net. I can become an affiliate of any product they offer free and they list over 11,000 products.
Now I’ll search the Clickbank marketplace for hot products. By searching the categories that interest me I’ll be able to quickly see what is selling well. I’ll note down the top five products in each category I chose. This will become my inventory until my products are created.
I will also visit the websites of the top people in my niche market and join their affiliate programs. And I’ll subscribe to their ezines. Between these two things I will hear what they are saying and see what they are selling all in my email inbox.
When I join any affiliate program I’m going to look for what free information they provide to help me sell their products. If they offer a free eBook or eCourse I’ll grab a copy to use as a give-away on my site. Why reinvent the wheel when they have done the work for me?
Now I’m going to look in the Clickbank marketplace for products that look good but are not selling as well as they should. I’ll note these down on a separate list. In a few weeks I’ll check them again. If they are still not selling well I can approach the owner of the product for a special JV since I will have demonstrated that I can move products.
Days 6 and 7 .........................
Next, I need an autoresponder to use for making sales. Since I have no money I’ll need a free one, which, for me, means either Get Response or Send Free. www.getresponse.com http://www.sendfree.com/
I’ll load this autoresponder with a free eCourse I found on one of my affiliate sites. Marlon Sanders offers an excellent course at http://www.amazingformula.com/
Next I need a free website that I can use for a sales page and to capture visitor information. I’ll create my site using a template at first. Better yet, I can use one of the websites I get with many affiliate programs.
I’ll use a free service like Subscription Rocket to get people to sign up for my free ezine, which I will create from the articles I’ll be writing in the next couple of days. I will use a free eCourse from one of my affiliate programs as a bonus for joining my list.
I also need a free eBook complier since I’m going to write and sell my own eBook.
Day 8 .........................
Now I need to find sources for free advertising and get some promotion going. I’m going to write three articles today that are specific to my niche market.
First, I will submit my web page to the various search engines. This can still be done for free. My focus will be the Open Directory and Google at first. Then I will submit to the other major search engines.
I’ll find all the free ezine directories I can (I would join the Directory of Ezines and save lots of time if I had any money) and subscribe to every ezine that offers a free ad in exchange for my subscription. There will be several hundred of these so it will take a full day.
Days 9 and 10 .........................
On these days I will begin an activity I will do every day from this point forward. I will approach ezine publishers in my niche and offer to write a custom article for them in exchange for a top-sponsor ad. I know publishers are busy and would prefer their own articles but don’t have the time. I’ll ghostwrite the article and take the ad as a fee.
I will also distribute the articles I write to the ezines that say they will take article submissions.
Now that I’ve been on the forums for a week or so I’ll start to post answers to the questions asked and make my name known. As I develop relationships I’ll look for ways to JV with the people there.
Days 10 to 30 .........................
Every day from day 11 to day 30 I’ll write one ezine article, place ezine ads, contact publishers for ad to article swaps, and work on product development.
I’ll also compile my ad results so that I can show potential JV partners that I can perform and make any potential JV profitable.
In the next five days I will compile my eBook from my articles and offer it as a Joint Venture to publishers who I have previously contacted.
Conclusion (Month 2 and beyond): ..........
Continue daily activity of measuring ad results, finding great products to sell, cultivating relationships with publishers and others I ‘meet’. I will pay close attention to special opportunities for creating products that meet needs in the forums and among the contacts I make.
I will also write an eBook about my rags to riches experience and how to rebuild after you have lost it all. Fill the book with backend products for things I wish I could have afforded, like paid hosting and autoresponders, but had to use free.
Chris Bloor – QualityBusinessInstitute.com
Chris Bloor is known as the Australian Direct Response Marketing Industries ‘Walking Idea Machine’. A sought-after copywriter he has written simple two and three page sales letters that have generated literally millions of dollars in extra sales. Relatively new to the Internet Chris has gained a solid reputation as the ‘Crocodile Hunter’ of Ezine Marketing.
Three of his main websites are
http://www.buy-reprint-rights.com
http://www.qualitybusinessinstitute.com
http://www.howtostartanezine.com
In his own words; “I made just about every mistake in the book when I first ventured online and before I finally figured out what really worked I had wasted $50,000 of my hard-earned dollars on useless ‘expensive’ web designers and so-called search engine ‘experts’ who in reality, ‘couldn’t market themselves out of a paper bag’ if their very lives had been hanging in the balance…”
Answer: By Chris Bloor
DAY # 1 Today I would remind myself of the 3 P’s
Purpose
Perspective
Perseverance
I would remind myself that I have a strong purpose in life. I have specific goals and targets and 5 strong reasons to succeed – My 5 children.
So many people live life with all of its great potential with little or no purpose.
It’s amazing! They seem content to work a job, come home and sit down like a stuffed potato in front of the old ‘one eyed devil’ – the ‘idiot box’ and yell at their kid’s who actually are alive!
FACT: Without purpose you cannot see things in perspective.
Purpose gives birth to perspective…
FACT: Without perspective you will have a hard time persevering
Perspective (the way you look at the big picture in life) inspires perseverance…
I would rejoice that I know how marketing really works and rest in that security. I often look at people with a job and wonder how they ever manage with the insecurity (their boss could go broke, they could get the sack and no matter how hard they work – they will seldom get what they are worth)
Day # 2
Today I would call my creditors and ask for 30 days grace. I would ask if I could meet with them one on one and explain my plans to pay them back in full with interest.
NOTE: I know from personal experience of dealing with literally hundreds of different business people that most business owners will give people a ‘fair go’ IF people are completely honest and upfront with them.
What I (and my fellow business owner’s hate with a passion) is when people make empty promises (the check is in the mail etc) or ‘stretch the facts whilst asking for more time to pay their debts.
I am assuming that I have enough food for a month.
Day # 3 Today I would ‘Become a Marketing Expert in 30 Seconds’
How? I would visit various online forums such as:
Anthony Blake Online - Entrepreneurial Success Forum
http://www.ablake.net/forum/
Bryan Hall's Success Network Forums
http://www.bryanhall.net/members/forum/index.php
Neil Shearing's Internet Success Forum (member's only)
http://www.scamfreezone.com/privatesite
Jim Daniel's BizWeb 2000 BB
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/184615
Klaus Dahl's Forum
http://www.klausdahl.com/forum/index.php
Mary Goulet's Vision Possible! Forum
http://marygoulet.net/forum/
Lesley Fountain's Friends In Business BB
http://www.friendsinbusiness.com/board1/
Home Business Websites Forum
http://www.homebusiness-websites.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
Michael Green's How To Corp Forum
http://www.howtocorp.com/forum/
Jan Tallent-Dandridge's Newbies911 Forum
http://newbies911.com/index.php
Diane Hughes' ProBizTips Forum
http://www.probiztips.com/forum/index.php
Merle's MC Promotions Forum
http://www.mcpromotions.com/webbbs/config.pl
Seeds Of Wisdom Forum
http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl
Allen Says' Warrior Forum (member's only)
http://www.thewarriorgroup.com/
Willie Crawford's Marketing Forum
http://www.williecrawford.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi
Timothy L. Drobnick Sr.'s Internet Marketing Forum
http://www.internet-marketing-forum.com/forum/index.php
Phil Whiley's Affiliate-Talk Forum
http://www.ozemedia.com/cgi-bin/webbbs/webbbs_config.pl
Lynn Terry's Self-Starters Weekly Tips Forum
http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/forum/
Terry Dean's Netbreakthroughs Forum (members only)
http://www.netbreakthroughs.com/
Becky Hagel's Marketing Auction Discussion Forum
http://www.marketingauction.com/forum/wwwboard.html
And ask the people what they most WANTED in relation to their online business.
Trust me so many people miss this….
They ‘come up with a great idea’ that they are convinced the marketplace needs and then try to sell it to the marketplace. In reality, if you are only willing to ASK and LISTEN the marketplace will TELL you what it WANTS.
IMPORTANT: People seldom buy what they NEED no matter how good the idea But - - they will walk over broken glass to get what they WANT.
A Quick illustration:
Marketing Legend Dan Kennedy tells the story of how when he was on the telephone to a client one day when someone started banging on his front door as if their life depended on it.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Knock! Knock! Knock!
Thinking that only a door-to-door salesperson could be out on such a stinking hot day (Arizona in the height of summer) Dan decided to ignore the interruption.
The knocking continued for several minutes and then stopped. Thinking that the ‘pest’ had gone away Dan continued to focus on the call.
A few minutes later he was amazed to see the ‘Salesperson’ scaling his eight foot high back wall (a wall imbedded with shards of broken glass to keep intruders out) convinced that ‘here was the salesman from Hell’ Dan turned his back on the man, determined to ignore him at all costs… Bang! Bang! Bang! Knock! Knock! Knock!
He stood it for as long as he could and then exasperated, went to open the glass doors that led to the back of his house…
Before Dan could get a word out his ‘persistent pest’ of a visitor blurted out; “man what’s wrong with you? I’ve been banging on your door like crazy to tell you your entire back yard is going up in flames!”
The moral of this story?
Dan said that in that very moment (as the man started to help with the hose whilst Dan called the fire department) his entire perception of the man changed. He went from being an ‘Uninvited Pest’ to a ‘Very Welcome Guest!’
You and I need that same perception from our target market – we need to be seen as ‘The person with the immediate answers to their most pressing need’
The first step towards achieving this is ASKING the marketplace what it wants…
DAY # 4 -10
For the next 7 days I would focus on creating some killer copy for a ‘lead generating report’ auto responder messages and audio tape that would focus on three things:
Convincing my ‘target market’ that I held at least seven specific solutions to their most pressing wish lists (as indicated by them from my asking them what they want)
Up-selling the readers/listeners to a high ticket item (at least $997) (the rest of the information on several tapes and Action Guide plus several bonus incentives)
To get THOUSANDS of Dollars in FREE advertising… and JV Promotions.
DAY #11 Having written my ‘lead generating Report’ and recorded my first audiotape, I would now begin contacting ezine publishers (I would get their name and email addresses by searching on www.google.com for ‘Ezine directories’
I would focus on those ezines that matched my target market and approach them with the following offer:
Dear (NAME)
My name is Chris Bloor and I live in Perth, Western Australia.
I have read about your (NAME OF EZINE) at (NAME OF DIRECTORY) and the reason I am contacting you is because I have just had an idea that I think you will really love…
Here is what I have in mind:
I have just created a brilliant new audiotape called ‘Twenty Nine Sales Letter Secrets That Can Grow Your Business - Virtually Overnight!’
The tape is like a ‘mini-university’ of direct response copywriting and will show any business owner – online or off how to:
Increase sales
Boost response
Generate more targeted leads
And increase profits
My Idea?
I would like to give you the full Reprint Rights to this audiotape (valued at $497)
With your permission, I can pop a copy in the post to you tonight.
Once you have this audiotape you will be able to:
…Sell it and keep 100% of the proceeds (suggested retail is $47 per tape)
…Offer it as a fantastic bonus along with your existing products or services
As well as using the little-known information I reveal to create killer copy that will make your prospects Stop! Pay Attention and Take Action Now!
By the way, the audiotape comes with a brilliant pre-written sales letter to do the job of promoting it for you - all you will need to do is replace my contact details with yours and you’re away!
I can almost hear your mind asking “Okay, what do you want in return?”
Simple…
If you like the audiotape, even 10% as much as I believe you will, all I ask is for some solo or top sponsor advertising in (NAME OF EZINE) in return.
Now how cool is that?
Remember that you will receive Full Reprint Rights in return and just ten sales a month will make add a whopping $5,640 a year to your income…
So, do I have your permission to post you your new audiotape tonight?
Looking forwards to hearing from you…
Warm Regards
Chris Bloor
Perth Western Australia
PS Can you please include your telephone number in case we need to speak?
PPS My number is 61 0500 534 555
PPPS This offer is strictly limited to the first 100 people that respond so you must act today or you could miss out and feel like the cat that let the mouse get away!
Can you see how virtually anyone receiving this letter would want to respond?
Can you also see how easy it would be to gather some testimonials fast using this method?
DAY # 12 – 16 for the next 5 days I would send this offer out from 7.00 am till 12 pm straight.
I would set up a special folder to handle all the replies and call as many of those that responded to speak personally with them about a potential JV
DAY 14 I would create three killer sales letters to go with the report and Audiotape (You have to make things ‘brain-dead easy’ for people or they won’t respond
Day 15 I would mail out a bunch of audiotapes to each of the ezine owners that replied and said yes along with a copy of my top sponsor and solo advertisements.
I would expect at least 100 different solo mailings to have gone out.
I would use a free auto responder like http://www.freeautobot.com/ to offer a free course on the benefits of owning the new product and action guide I had created.
IMPORTANT: By now money would be coming in at least 7 sales ($6,979) and I would still have weeks of free advertising to go.
I would then Post a personal letter to each ezine publisher including:
a warm, handwritten card to express my sincere thanks
A letter offering them the opportunity to be just one of 50 people in the entire world to own the Reprint Rights to my new audiotape series for just $1,997 or one of just 25 people worldwide to own Master Rights for $5,000
The following virtually-impossible-to-resist offer…
I would expect this would bring in at least $30,000 over the next two weeks This would go a long way toward fixing my cash flow problems and paying something to each of my creditors.
DAY 16: I would take today off and just spend time doing nothing…
Day 20 -25 I would start calling the people I sent the master reprint rights offer to ask them which offer they liked the most?
I would ask them point blank which rights most appealed to them and the offer several options to get them started.
If they were not interested in buying any rights I would offer them a generous JV to promote them to their existing list.
NOTE: You would be amazed at how calling people will make your response rates go through the roof!
There are 5 reasons for this:
When people speak to you the ‘trust’ factor increases
You have the opportunity to answer their questions and overcome any areas of concern they might have
You can ‘Ask For the Order’ This is something 95% of business owners don’t do anywhere near as much as they should
You can reassure people that you will ‘be there’ to answer any questions they might have once they own your products.
You can ask about them – people feel way more comfortable doing business with someone that expresses a genuine interest in them and their specific circumstances in life
Day 26 - 30 I would buy a sitebuildit website http://buildit.sitesell.com build a new site, join several affiliate programs (I have a list of those that pay monthly) launch a new ezine and wait till the first of the month to start the process all over again…
Is this really possible?
In January of this year I sent a sales letter outlining a new product I was about to create with my business partner, Conny Yvonne Torney to just 24 people. None of them had ever spent more than $97 with us in the past. We offered them Master Reprint Rights to a new product at $7000 a time. Four people responded and a fifth bought $2,000 worth of products from us.
You can see that product at http://www.qualitybusinessinstitute.com/website-promotion-company.html
NOTE: Whilst it now has great testimonials we had none of these at the time people gave us the money to create the product.
I created an impossible to resist offer and saw $30,000 come in within 4 days. This was BEFORE we had even created the product.
IMPORTANT: some of my fellow copywriters will want to burn me in effigy for this but it’s the truth anyway…
I have heard so many people say that you cannot sell anything without great testimonials (and believe me I believe in the power of testimonials) but my experience back in January proved to me once and for all that if you can convince people that your product or service can answer the # 1 question that everybody asks BEFORE they do just about anything – they will beat a path to your door and throw money at you sight unseen.
What is that Question?
WIIFM? Or What’s In It For Me?
You answer this question by telling people about the benefits they will experience when they own your products
Remember that the key to all this is to make your lead generating report and audiotape a product of such exceptional ‘content quality’ that it could stand alone and make decent money all by itself… In fact if it doesn’t – you are ripping people off and deserve to go broke!
The reasoning behind this is pure logic:
People think “wow if this (the audiotape you send them in return for free advertising) is so good, imagine what the entire set will be like!”
You see, although virtually every man and his dog are creating reports online 99% of them are junk.
Trash…
About as exciting as chloroform in print…
Make yours different and you will stand out in your marketplace like a sore thumb and attract all the prospects you need.
Okay in conclusion here is a formula for creating your audiotape (or any other money making information product)
Problem
Agitate
Solve
Prove (here is where testimonials come in)
Offer bonus
Guarantee
Call to action
BTW If any ezine owners reading this (2,000 subscribers and above) want the Reprint Rights to ‘Twenty Nine Sales letter Secrets That Can Grow Your Business – Virtually Overnight’ Just email me at mailto:29j@buy-reprint-rights.com
You can do this.
It isn’t ‘empty theory’ in fact after Conny and I proved that it was possible we even created a new ezine called Zero Theory!
Subscribe for free by sending a blank email to mailto:zero-theory@aweber.com
We also have a 13 page report called ‘Words that LOSE Money – Words That Make Money’ we have swapped the reprint rights ($197) with numerous ezine publishers in return for thousands of dollars in free advertising!
Diane Hughes – ProBizTips.com
My name is Diane Hughes. I am 27 yrs. old and at the age of 20, I started searching for home jobs. Well, I bought into many programs and memberships that of course, I couldn't understand much less get them working! I spent countless dollars (by the way, that I DID NOT have due to being newly married and a college drop-out) on programs, guides, etc. that I would look through and put aside because I just simply couldn't understand them!
After much searching and many headaches, I decided that working for myself was the best way to go .... I researched, and researched, and RESEARCHED and eventually started up my own site.
I didn't have much money, NO HTML experience (heck, I didn't know what HTML WAS), but somehow -- I got it up and going. My first site was at Freeyellow.com.....and THAT was where I also got my first HTML lesson.
If you've heard of me, you know that I've come a long way since that first site. :o)
I'm most known for my "home-grown" newsletter, ProBizTips at http://www.probiztips.com/. It's a widely known and popular newsletter that I started from scratch 4 years ago. It has been my pride and joy and I love what I do. It has become pretty successful -- and no matter how many times I've been asked, I don't really know how it happened -- I had no real strategy. I just never gave up and never "lost myself" in the hype.
Answer: By Diane Hughes
Day 1: ...............
First thing I would do is take a break. Turn the computer off,
unhook the phone, turn off the TV ... just take quiet time to
myself.
I would definitely do the first thing I always do when I'm in
trouble, PRAY. :o)
Day 2: ...............
I would turn everything back on and regain my focus. I'm a
very determined and persevering person by nature ... so that wouldn't be too hard for me. For those of you who need a push to get started, take a look at your bill pile, take a look at your family and house and home -- understand that you HAVE to make this work and quickly!
I would make sure I'm in the right frame of mind ... you will
fail at everything if you think you are a failure. The mind is
a very powerful thing -- remind yourself everyday that you
WILL succeed and you WILL persevere.
I would start surfing the net for any free information I could
find. I would look for free marketing forums and lurk for awhile digesting the information.
http://www.ablake.net/forum/
http://www.probiztips.com/forum/
I would print out anything that can be useful in my quest and begin to organize a plan.
Day 3-10: ...............
I would devote a whole week to devising a plan and strategy. I would read all the free information I could find and start to make "friendships" with well-known internet entrepreneurs by making a few posts on the forums.
I would join a few online business ezines to get my juices
flowing.
I would sign up for a free hosting account.
And don't forget a mailing list! You need to capture as many
visitor's email addresses that you can to start building.
You can find tons of free useful scripts at:
http://www.hotscripts.com/
Most are easy to install and the directions are clear to
understand. Most newbies can install a basic mailing script
without a hitch.
Now that I have my mailing script installed ... time to get
a basic website up. We'll rest for now ... ZZZZZZ ---
Day 11: ...............
I need to get a site up and I need to start getting some
traffic. But wait -- I don't even have a product yet!
Affiliate Showcase (http://affiliateshowcase.com/)
comes in handy here ...
Or even my own affiliate program. There are tons of products to choose from: http://www.homeprofits4u.com/reseller.html
Try to find a hot, new product or service that's getting some
buzz -- but not TOO much that everyone has already heard of it. That can be tough, but CAN be done. If you subscribed to some hot ezines -- the publishers are usually the first to know about the newest products, programs, and services. They usually know BEFORE launch! I know this from experience ... :o)
Catch those ads and join the affiliate program if offered.
I will make sure I'll get a good cut (40% or more) and that
the cut will be worth my effort. Since I need to make as
much money as I can in little time, low-priced products,
MLM programs, and small commission programs won't do ...
I would research and start studying the marketing materials.
Most affiliate programs have marketing materials available
for you.
Although the ads provided could work well, it is ALWAYS best to be original and come up with a creative revision. This is the most important part of the plan. If your ad doesn't work, you're dead in the water.
I would even go as far as to ask the affiliate program manager for a revised ad for my marketing efforts. Many will comply if they know you will be using it to bring visitors and make sales.
I would get a basic doorway page at my site for my ad. Why do I need to do this? Your mailing list script, remember? Get a form up and collect those contacts as they respond to your ad.
This is for the future of your business. Although money and
profit is needed quickly, all the work shouldn't go to waste.
You don't want to quit what you worked so hard to get started!
Day 12-19: ...............
Download Ezine Ad Profits:
http://www.hnbresources.com/ezineprofits.zip
There are great tips on copywriting and free ezine advertising.
Time to start marketing ... we need to get this started and
make it work! I would start submitting my free ads to the
ezines -- most should publish within a week.
I would also use the little money I have and invest in some
low cost solos. Plenty are listed in the Ezine Ad Profits eBook.
Paid solos will always perform better than the free ads.
Day 20: ...............
Many of the smaller ezines would have already published my ad -- I will rest now and wait for results. Remember, I'm still
in my positive frame of mind! No room for pessimism.
Day 21-28: ...............
Ahhh -- more of the ezines are publishing my ads and I'm
beginning to see results. Looks like my mortgage is paid ...
the rest will go to my pile of bills.
No doubt I will have some customer concerns to attend to.
I will remain patient and helpful.
Now I need to ask the affiliate program managers for a big
favor. I will give them a short explanation of my situation
and ask for an expedited commission payment. I can expect
some rejection, but I bet I could find a few that would be
empathetic to my situation and make an exception to help out.
I will sign up for a free PayPal account (http://www.paypal.com/) to receive my commission payments (most programs will pay you by PayPal) and transfer my earnings to my bank account.
Day 28-30: ...............
Time to pay the bills! Yay! It worked -- my bills are paid and
I can breath a sigh of relief and celebrate with my family and relax.
I will thank God for his hand in my success.
Conclusion (Month 2 and beyond): ..........
Continue to market various products and start building
marketing revenue and your list.
Invest in some products with resale rights and get started
with your own product site and payment processing. Many
products with resale rights come with a ready-made website.
http://www.highprofitsoftware.com/
Sign-up for a Clickbank account
(http://www.clickbank.com/) to process credit cards and use your PayPal account for those who want to pay via PayPal.
Keep advertising to build your revenue and list.
Continue to frequent the forums and keep up with the trends
and new products and services. DO NOT lose your focus!
Although all the programs and services are tempting,
stay on track and do not let yourself get overwhelmed.
Keep learning, keep an open mind, and keep forming
relationships. Making friends with other online entrepreneurs
will not only be good for your business -- there's something
to be said about being able to converse and relate to someone on the same level in online business. This will also be great for future joint ventures ... but we won't go too deep into that. I'm sure someone else will and this is getting a bit long ... :oP
As you begin to be more experienced in online business and
learn the "ins and outs", you can start planning your own
first product or service and start tending to your list.
You will branch out in many ways -- if you keep your focus
and stay smart, you will grow very quickly.
Remember: Keep your focus, Never give up, Make friends ...
And STAY POSITIVE! You WILL fail and you will make mistakes, but keep moving -- learn from them and you will be on your way to success.
Eva Browne-Paterson - EvieB.com
Eva Browne-Paterson is the Editor and Publisher of EvieB's New-Z - Your One Stop Advertising Resource, a free ezine offering business owners insights into marketing their business and themselves for free or little cost.
All subscribers receive $590 worth of free advertising to get them started.
Eva lives in Australia and has been conducting business online for over ten years. Until 2002, she worked full-time and has experience as a Photographic Lab Manager, Graphic Designer, Web Developer, Computer Trainer, Executive Assistant, Quality Systems Checker, Technical Document Writer and Business Systems Administrator.
Eva now concentrates on her online business full-time and with the help of her husband, is now developing new software packages and several new online businesses. She is also a partner in Oz E-Ads.com, an Aussie-based advertising medium for the budget-minded promoter to the serious marketer.
Answer – By Eva Browne-Patterson
Day 1:
Get rid of the hasslers: Contact the creditors and make arrangements to pay the debts in four to six weeks time.
Day 2:
Come up with the 'idea': I sit down with my husband and use him as a 'sounding board' to bounce my ideas off. He is an internet newbie so there's no advantage there except that he is a computer user (and it's better than talking to myself!) The first part of the plan is to come up with an idea of a service or product that is needed on the internet.
I come up with an idea for some software that would be attractive to a wide ranging audience. My head is always full of ideas anyway... I've never had problems having the light bulb go off. It's always been a time restrictive thing, but now that I'm an 'unknown' with no contacts, I have plenty of time on my hands. :-)
Day 3:
Come up with the 'plan':
1. Write the specifications for the software.
2. Source the software development (Quote price? How long will it take to develop? Payment method?).
3. Come up with new domain name and register it for free with http://www.cjb.net.
4. Use local ISP web hosting and organise redirect pages and forwarding emails from the new domain to the local ISP.
5. Open a PayPal, ClickBank and StormPay accounts.
6. Create a four page web site. (Sales page, order page, thank you page and support page).
7. Create graphics and banners for web site and for promotion.
8. Test the software and make sure it is working properly.
9. Organise ClickBank affiliate program and create associated affiliate web pages (join page, members page).
10. Organise mass-marketing campaign and write ad copy.
11. Subscribe to many ezines that fall into the categories that the software would appeal to.
12. Write an endorsement ad that can be used by new JV partners.
13. Organise JV proposal letter to send to the ezine owners (as a subscriber to their ezine).
14. Signup to free autoresponder to send JV proposal through.
15. Send JV proposal to publishers.
16. Instigate mass-marketing campaign.
17. Launch and promote, promote, promote!
Day 4:
Now that the plan has been developed, I would employ the tactics used in Stuart A Lichtman's e-book, that I purchased before I got into all this trouble, called How to Get Lots of Money for Anything Fast.
By using past successes to build future success, I envision the process of my plan coming to completion within 30 days time with total success. I spend the whole day using Stuart's Cybernetic Transposition method and I utilise his methods continuously throughout the whole month, remaining focused on success. I do this because they have worked for me in the past and will work for me again in the future.
Day 5:
Write the specifications for the new program. Cross off item 1 from the plan. Go to eBay and enter some collectibles I'm going to sell to pay $50 for ClickBank Merchant account fee.
Day 6:
Ring an offline software developer and request a quote to have the new software developed. See if instead of paying up front for the development, whether we can swap services such as web design or offer a royalty % of the sales once the software is developed.
(Backup plan: Ring my last full-time place of employment and see if they can give me some contract work for them as I have in the past.) Let the developer know that this is a high priority job and that the release date is within two weeks time if possible. The developer will get back to me within 24 hrs.
Woke up this morning with the new domain name on the tip of my tongue so I go to www.cjb.net and register the domain name for free. Set up the URL cloaking and email forwarding. Test the new domain and find that it works immediately. Cross items 3 and 4 off the list on the plan which is now on my whiteboard where I can see it from my computer.
Open a new PayPal account and enter my credit card details for verification. Open a new ClickBank account. Check eBay to see if the collectibles have sold... Not yet. Can't go any further on ClickBank merchant account registration until I get that $50. It will happen. Open StormPay account and enter credit card details. Cross item 5 off the plan.
Start working on the new web pages.
Day 7:
Still working on the web page design, tweaking and making sure it looks good, is concise with plenty of keywords included in the sales letter, quick loading and has the benefits at the top and throughout the page where the site visitor can clearly see them. I remember some of the web sites that I have purchased from in the past and use a similar layout. I work out the price to sell the software for taking into consideration the 5% royalty fee for the developer and the affiliate commission I will be offering of 25%. The selling price will be $49.00.
I will be utilising PayPal Companion to encrypt my PayPal link so the download page is protected from hackers. I will negotiate a one year subscription for one product at $14.95 which is well worth it for the peace of mind. I approach the owner of PayPal Companion and see if I can do a joint venture with him for his subscription in return for a free copy of my software plus the inclusion of his banner on my web site. I await his reply.
The developer calls me back and informs me that they are willing to accept the % royalty on the sales of the software. We agree on 5% and I let the developer know that I will send them a contract agreement that we both need to sign. This covers payment and most importantly confidentiality. The developer also tells me that the software is simple and straightforward to create and will be ready within one week's time. They will also provide FAQ data. I'm very happy with this turn of events. Everything is on track and I cross item 2 off the plan.
Day 8:
Start creating graphics and banners for the web site and promotion. On completion, I cross off item 7 on the plan.
Look up my credit card details online and see if the PayPal verification transaction has gone through. It has. I copy the verification code and login to my PayPal account and update the credit card details. I cross off item 5 from the plan.
I receive a reply from the owner of PayPal Companion. He finds the offer acceptable and sends me his banner to include on my web page. He also sends me login details to my free subscription for one year. I login and create my encrypted sales link. I add the encrypted link to the sales page.
Upload the new web pages to my local ISP's server and test them out to make sure the sales link works. When I am satisfied with the web pages, I cross off item 6 from the plan. (I make a note to complete the FAQ support pages. This information will be provided by the developer when I receive the software.)
Day 9:
First thing this morning I received notification from eBay that my collectibles had sold! I'm thrilled and login straight away to ClickBank to pay for my merchant account. I will encrypt the clickbank sales link by using the ClickBank Toolkit. I email the owner and offer free publicity on my web site and an ad in the thank you for your purchase email in return for a free version of the encryption software.
Start writing ad copy for different sized ads and create a list of headlines that can also be utilised. Write plenty of ads to be used for variety. Also write and rewrite the press release.
Day 10:
Start organising a mass advertising campaign that I can utilise for free. This is totally separate to the ezines I will be advertising through joint ventures later this month.
I will utilise the following free mediums:
- Search engines
- Classified ad boards
- FFA's
- PPC search engines
- Traffic exchanges
- Banner exchanges
- Exit page exchanges
- Safelists
- Anonymous lists
- Free submission software
- Press release blasts
- Ezine classified ads
I open a free account at WorldWide Promoter and enter five different profiles for my new web site. I start joining free PPC search engines that offer a bonus for signing up. I join MPAM and follow the lesson instructions to join free traffic and banner exchanges.
Day 11:
Still following the lessons in MPAM.
I hear back from ClickBank ToolKit and they have accepted my offer. They send me a download link for the software and I install it and encrypt the ClickBank sales link. I add it to the sales web page. I upload the sales page and test the new sales link. It works fine. Good!
I create a free autoresponder account with freeautobot for the new affiliates that will be joining. (While I'm there, I also create an account for customers that purchase the software). I complete the affiliate pages and cross off item 9 one the plan. When the affiliate joins, they will receive an autoresponse that gives them all the information that they need to promote the software and earn commissions. I don't need to worry about letting them know their ID as they will be using their own ClickBank ID. I also include an email address for testimonial submissions and support.
Day 12:
Still following the lessons in MPAM until completed. The days are long and tedious but I know all this hard work will pay off!
Day 13:
Continue to join banner exchanges, safelists, mass subscriptions to ezines etc. I cross off item 11 on the plan. Once I join each program, I make sure to create folders in my inbox to cope with the incoming emails and I also create filters to automatically file the emails. I place all the folders into one folder called profiles for later use.
I phone the software developer and see how the software is coming along. They inform me that they are in the final stages of testing and that the software will be ready tomorrow! Yippee! This is exciting!
Day 14:
I receive the software via email and I start testing straight away. This software has profiles that need to be filled out so I start filling out new profiles for some of the free programs I have joined. Luckily I can find all the information I need in my inbox in the profile folder. After I add a few profiles, I move the particular folder to the proper place in my inbox where it will now stay permanently, depending on the category of the program. I don't add all the programs as this would take more time than I can spare right now and I'm keen to start using the software properly. I spend most of the morning creating folders and the rest of the day using the software to test it. There are a couple of bugs and I contact the developer to sort them out. The bugs are relatively easy to fix and will be done overnight.
Day 15:
I start writing the endorsement ad for the ezine publisher's JV proposal. I cross off item 12 from the plan. I also write the JV proposal email, appealing to the publisher as an existing subscriber to their newsletter (because publishers are really nice people). I offer a free copy of the software and affiliate status to make 25% commission on any sales the publisher makes by sending an endorsement ad to their lists. I also offer a bonus to any publisher that publishes the ad within the next week. What is that bonus? I'll have to figure that one out quickly... I create another autoresponder account and add the JV proposal and endorsement ad to the instant autoresponse.
I go through my emails and get the ezine owner's names and email addresses from the confirmation emails that I have received. I compile these details into a text document in the required format to import into the autoresponder. I remind myself to include the owners of ezine ad coops as they have access to many publishers! I will do a search engine search and go to the web sites to get the owner's name and contact details.
I decide to include a banner rotation on my web site for the publisher's bonus. I will use a blurred popunder. I get the required code for this from The JavaScript Source. I add this offer to the JV proposal email.
I hear back from the developer and the software is bug free and they also include the FAQ's. I will test the software more tomorrow.
Day 16:
I test the software some more until I am satisfied that it is working. I upload the software to my web host and cross off item 8 from the plan. Next I import the FAQ details into the support web pages and test them out to make sure they make sense and are easy to understand as well. It's almost ready to launch! I'm having the rest of the day off! Crikey, it's night time already!
Day 17:
I finish compiling the JV partners into a text document and import them into the autoresponder. I cross off item 13 from the plan. I complete the affiliate web pages and upload them to my web host. I look up the details for ezine ad coop owners and import them to the autoresponder.
I send out the JV proposal to the publishers and cross off item 14 from the plan. I also ask the publishers for testimonials to add to my web site once they've tried out the software. I ask the publishers if they can let me know the date they will publish the endorsement.
I create and upload the autoresponder follow-ups for the new customers. I need to find some bonuses to give away after they purchase. That won't be hard to find. I've always been a download addict of goodies! I look for free software and ebooks related to marketing and promotions to add to the sales autoresponder follow-up series. I upload the software to my web host's server.
Day 18:
I start receiving replies from publishers that are interested in promoting my software. They advise me of the intended date of publication and I keep a note of these dates in a new document. Not a bad response for one day! I knew this software would be something everyone could use! I start sending replies with the download link and the URL for the affiliate joining web page.
I start sending out press-releases. I make sure I send press-releases to local community radio stations as well.
Day 19:
I keep subscribing to more ezines and adding the publishers to the autoresponder to send out more JV proposals.
I'm using WorldWide Promoter every day as well. Five minutes work - it's not hard. The tedious part is logging into my dump email accounts and deleting the emails. I have to do this every day, sometimes several times a day with the amount of emails I am sending...
Day 20:
I login to my free program accounts and add my web site details and ads or banner details into the members area for promotion. I create a start page rotator page for the traffic exchanges I have joined. I download Crazy Browser from www.crazybrowser.com and create a group containing all the traffic exchanges I've joined. I will be surfing in this window for 30 minutes/day.
Day 21:
Continue to enter web site details into the programs that I have joined. Start submitting ad campaigns to safelists and free ezine classifieds etc. Surf for half an hour with crazy browser.
Day 22:
I'm starting to get notifications of new affiliates joining - good! I keep submitting the ad campaigns and cross off item 16 from the plan.
Day 23:
Well I logged into my email account this morning to a heap of email. More new affiliates signing up and most importantly SALES! 15 in total! That's $735! What a terrific feeling!
I keep promoting and going through the ezine directories extracting more ezine details to add to the autoresponder. I also add the new customer's details to the sales autoresponder account. Answer customer support-related emails that I've received and make necessary changes to the web site to make some aspects clearer.
Day 24:
Wow! A lot of publishers must have published their endorsement ads today as I had a heap of affiliate signups! More sales too, (45 => $2205!!) but more affiliate signups than sales.
I would have liked to create this program with a free trial to attract more sales but I didn't have the time unfortunately... I received two testimonials this morning from happy users so I edit the followup letters in the affiliates area to include the testimonials. I also add them to the web site. I send an email personally thanking the users for their testimonial.
I continue to add the new customers to the sales autoresponder account. More promoting too!
Day 25:
More sales and affiliate signups. More adding of new customers to the autoresponder account and more promoting. I'm still continuing with finding more publishers to promote and join the affiliate program as well.
I create a follow up series that can be used in an autoresponder for the affiliates and I create a splash page.
Day 26:
Finish testing the autoresponder and splash page. I add it to the affiliate member's web page and add the information to the autoresponder series for affiliates. I'm so glad I used PayPal as a payment link as well! That gives me ready cash on hand when I have to wait six weeks for ClickBank payments to come through.
I make a withdrawal of $1500 to my account in Australia. I have to keep a note of the sales that are made through PayPal as well so I can pay those affiliate sales through StormPay at the end of the month. Today there were 62 sales! ($3038!)
Day 27:
Many more sales made overnight (53 => $2597) and more affiliates joining. I make another withdrawal from PayPal - this time $800.
Day 28:
Received the cash in my account from the 1st PayPal withdrawal. I have several weeks yet to pay the PayPal commissions so I immediately spend the lot paying creditors. I'm a happy girl! :-) On that note, I check the PayPal account again and make another withdrawal.
I could get used to this! I withdraw $1200. There seems to be a fairly even split of use between PayPal and ClickBank. Today's sales came to 35 - $1715. I keep promoting and start thinking about an article that I can write to submit to article directories and for affiliates to use in their promotions.
Day 29:
Received more cash from the second PayPal withdrawal. Paid the creditors again. More sales and affiliate signups. 47 sales today making $2303. Withdraw $750 from PayPal. I start making plans for the next month which include, web hosting, proper domain registration, asking for feedback from users to put towards the next version. (Already? lol! Just thinking ahead.)
An affiliate sales contest to boost sales even further... Perhaps raising the % payout for one month while the contest is on, giving affiliates more reason to promote. I also add paid marketing campaign to the plan and will set some money aside to market my new business more effectively.
Day 30:
Last day of the month and the best sales day so far! 86 sales => $4214! I received the PayPal payment in my account today and paid the creditors again. One more payment and I'm free and clear, in some cases before the date/time I made arrangements to pay.
I make sure I make withdrawals from PayPal every day and I check on the ClickBank account to see how many sales have been made. At least with ClickBank, I don't need to worry about paying the affiliates for their sales. ClickBank do it for you so that's a bonus.
I keep promoting through free programs and sending the JV proposal email to many more publishers. Next month is going to be even better! I just know it!
Conclusion:
On reflection, this concept is something that I have wanted to do for a long time and this exercise gave me the means to do so. I will in fact put this exercise into practise and see how it goes. I know it will work. Having the pressure of creditors hassling you for money really makes a difference to your perspective so that you HAVE to come up with a solution.
I would recommend this process to anyone to brainstorm, come up with an idea, get the plan, follow the plan through to the end, pay your bills then reap the profits. Pretend it is all REALLY happening and then play it out in real-time and see it come to fruition. I wish you all the very best in your online endeavours. :-)
Gary Baker: Jempublishing.com
My Story…
Hello there. 10 years ago I was 24 yrs old working in a factory for $9.00 per hour.
I had a Wife and two Daughters to support and was working 50-60 hours, 6 days a week.
You can check out a pic of my family and I here http://www.jempublishing.com
I knew there had to be a better way to earn a living so I stumbled onto a book on “mailorder”.
After spending a couple of months studying, I put together my first product.
It was a 23 page tiny booklet titled “The Home Employment Handbook” and I sold each one for $29.00 a piece.
I took $20 dollars out of our grocery money and place a ad in the local paper.
Within 1 month of that ad running I was making more from my booklet sales than I was working at the factory…so I QUIT!
The rest is a successful piece of history. I am now 34yrs old own my own home and live the kind of life I always dreamed about.
You can do the very same thing as I did and for this reason I put together one of my most successful E-Books ever “Home Based Wealth”
http://www.jempublishing.com
My “Home Based Wealth System” teaches you step-by-step how to use the Internet, Newspapers, Magazines to literally SUCK piles of cash orders to mailbox by creating and selling simple homemade info booklets.
To get to know me even better you can also subscribe to my newsletter titled: “The Home Workers’ E-Gazette” at http://www.jempublishing.com/hweg
It is the only “no fluff and bull” newsletter on the ‘Net that keeps you informed through my ten plus years of home business success.
Answer – By Gary Baker
Now lets move on to the good stuff…
Okay, I have suddenly lost everything!
My entire 10 year business is now ZILTCH!
Whoa, okay I am left with Internet access, my marketing know-how and a ton of bills that need to be paid ASAP!
Well lets see here…
Day #1- I call as many of my creditors as possible and try to work out some sort of arrangement with them in advance to let them know my situation.
Hopefully they will be willing to give a little extension so I can have time to get caught up.
After making my calls, I take some time to catch my breath and calm down.
Day #2- I sit down with pen and paper and write down every thing I know about marketing and earning a living working from home.
Hey that can be a product!
I will put together a complete package that will show anyone how they can start and run a profitable home based business in 90 days or less.
Okay. Now I will need a name for my product…
I choose “Home Based Wealth” as this is a catchy title and will “peak” interest for my offer.
I dig right in and start formatting the way I want “Home Based Wealth” to be laid out.
After a good days work, I decide to take some time and spend with the family and assure them everything is okay.
Day #3- After getting some rest I am ready to grind this baby out so I can start marketing it ASAP!
I put a truck load of great cutting edge marketing know how into my “Home Based Wealth System”.
I use Microsoft Word to type all of my info into.
I really cough up some of the best info on marketing, motivation, product creation, budgeting, etc…
I will spend the whole day finishing the “rough copy” and then rest up for Day #4.
Day #4- WOW! I look over what I put together on the previous day and find that I have compiled a comprehensive “how-to” booklet on how you can start and run a very successful home based business and do it in 90 days or less.
I decide to test the price at $47.00 since this is highly specialized information.
Now I must decide how I want people to be able to “read” my book.
Since I have been marketing Online for over 5 years I know the vast majority of ‘net surfers view text files in PDF so I go to http://adobe.com and sign up for a FREE account that will allow me to create 5 PDF for zero!
I then take my “word file” and upload it to the adobe site and BAM...I have a 60 Page E-Book stuffed full of home business info that is ready to make me some much needed cash
Once my E-Book has been created I now need a way to promote my new product.
The best way to do this is to build a one page “mini site” that is mainly a sales letter that explains the very best benefits of your product and excites your readers to order.
Again, having been Online for over 5 years I decide to use “Netscape Composer” to build my “mini site”. This is very easy to use as it is a WYSIWYG(what you see is what you get) and you can find it here…http://www.netscape.com/
It takes me about 3 hours to write and create my site. So I take a break, get some rest and start again on Day #5.
Day #5- Okay, my site is looking good. Since I cannot afford a Logo or E-Book cover I make sure that I have a really strong headline for my “mini site” and make it look as professional as possible.
Once I get the extra cash I will have the design stuff done for me.
Today, I will need to find a domain name for my website and also find a hosting a company so I can upload my sales letter(mini site”).
After a search from http://ww.google.com I find to very inexpensive places for me to get set up with everything I need.
It will cost me a out of pocket expense of only $25.00 to get my site up and register a domain.
I go ahead and get it all set up. It will take 24hrs for my domain (jempublishing.com) to become active so I will move onto to other projects for my E-Book.
Day #6- Okay, knowing through my experience of my last business, the ONLY way I will be able to make real money on the ‘net will be to start my own opt-in list of people who want to learn about starting and running a home business.
In order to this, I have put a script into my html of my “mini site” that will cause a “pop-up” on exit every time some leaves my site without ordering “Home Based Wealth”.
You can find the script here http://www.isp-guide.com/article.asp?ID=26
I will also need a autoresponder to collect the email addresses for me.
Doing a quick search on google I find a autoresponder I like…ITS FREE http://www.freeautobot.com
Yes, I want my site to sell my product, but it MUST also have a way of capturing the email addresses of most of the visitors so I can follow up with them.
This way I build trust and eventually a percentage of these “subscribers” will become customers.
Now the very best way to attract subscribers is to offer a FREE E-Course and weekly newsletter.
In my “pop-up” on exit there will be a short ad offering a “Free Home Business Starter Kit”.
In this “kit” I will provide a 5 day e-course that will give some great how-to info on starting and running a home business.
The e-course will also steer the readers back to my “mini site” and entice them to order my package.
Then through my weekly newsletter, I will build even more credibility by offering great content and personal observations.
My newsletter will ALWAYS contain ads for my new E-Book by placing one at the Top and one in the middle.
Day #7- My domain name is working and I uploaded my “mini site” at http://www.jempublishing.com. I am now ready to start making some money with this bad boy.
Now in order to make any money with my “mini site” and E-Book I will need a way to accept payments.
I checkout many different payment options and find http://www.clickbank.com seems to be just what I am looking for.
They have a complete “automated” order taking process for only $49.95 so I take my credit card and charge this nominal fee knowing I will make it back with only 2 sales.
Now I need to find a way to bring in some highly qualified traffic to my site so I can start attracting subscribers and turn atleast 1%-3% of the visitors into immediate sales.
By the way, since I am very limited on funds, I need to find these customers for FREE so here is what I will do…
First I want to go to http://www.alexa.com
Here I am going to search for potential partners to help get the word out about my new product.
This is called “Joint Venture Marketing” and simply means I will give anyone who gives my product an “endorsement” a HUGE percentage of the profits on each sale made.
I decide to give each potential J.V.(joint venture) 60% of each $47.00 and the great part about this is… clickbank will track and pay all of my joint venture partners for me J
I do some searches on alexa under “home business”, “work at home”, etc…
I take the rest of day compiling the info I find on the many sites that have to deal with home business and have a reasonable sized opt-in list and traffic base.
Now I take some rest and get ready for Day #8.
Day #8- Today I am really excited! Through my searching on alexa I have found 40 possible J.V. partners.
I then write a short email letter that explains why I am contacting and what I have to offer to them If they will consider “endorsing” my E-Book to their opt-in list.
I offer them a FREE copy of the E-Book for review and ask them to get back to me within 72 hours if possible.
I spend 1 hour sending out 40 emails. I personalize each one with the persons name so it feels more personal.
Why I wait for the responses, I decide I need to gain some “quick” subscribers to my list and I DO NOT want to pay for them.
Here is what I do…
I take a “sample page” from my E-Book and turn it into an article.
I then go to http://www.ezinelocator.com and look for all the ezines I can find that have to do with “marketing”, “home business,” etc…
Then I simply compile a list of potential publishers that I can send my free article to. At the end of my article I am going to have a 4-6 line “ad” that will direct the readers to my “mini site”.
So I send out 25 emails that contain a small message to the publisher and offer them my FREE article to be published to their list.
Enough for today. Rest up for tomorrow.
Day #9- WOW! I got back 6 publishers that agreed to a Joint Venture and I have also gotten 9 other publishers that are going to publish my free article in the next couple of days.
I email back the 6 J.V. partners and give them the download link to their free review package.
This email will also contain valuable info on how to get set up with their affiliate link and any sample ads they may need.
I also email back the other 9 publishers and thank them for using my article and ask if they are interested in receiving future articles for me.
Okay, now I want to get the word out about my newsletter so I decide to search for some FREE Ezine databases so I can “submit” my ezine info.
Through google I find a nice listing like this…
http://www.directoryofezines.com/
http://www.bestezines.com/
http://www.ezineadvertising.com/
http://www.memail.com/
http://www.ezinelocater.com/
http://www.ezinesearch.com/
http://www.ezinestoday.com/
http://www.ezine-universe.com/
I take the rest of the day and submit my newsletter info to these listings.
As you can see in the past couple of days I have been doing two main techniques…
#1-Building my opt-in list
#2- Creating a qualified flow of traffic to my “mini site”.
On to day #10.
Day #10. Holy cow! I had a newsletter run my article over night and I got 125 new subscribers to my opt-in list.
Great start!
I also receive 2 emails from my J.V. partners telling me they will be mailing their “endorsement” tomorrow.
SUPER!
Now I take some more time today and search for more newsletters to submit my FREE article to.
I find another 12 ezines and send them the article.
In the meantime, I get a couple of emails from other publishers saying they are using my article in todays edition of their newsletter.
Things seem to be getting brighter.
I check my autoresponder and find I have added 30 more subscribers to my list and when I go Back to check my email…BAM! A order for my E-Book.
$47.00 in the bank and I have only just begun J
In my excitement I decide to spend some more time with my family and we do a little bit of celebrating. Just a little…LOL
Day #11- I start the morning off with some awesome happenings…
Not only did I add 40 more subscribers to my list but I got 2 more orders for my E-Book and one of the J.V. partners sent out the ad and we made 7 sales!!
Sure I only make $16.99 per sale(40%) on joint ventures but that just put $118.93 into my pocket PLUS the 2 sales that came from my list(which I haven’t sent a issue of my ezine to yet hint. hint) Made me a profit of $42.48 so I just made a total $203.89 and I just woke up!
I take a little break and get back to it after lunch to find another 20 subscribers to my list a 2 more orders from my J.V. partner.
Okay, I now have over 200 subscribers.
I want to boost my subscriber list so I find through the above ezine directory a few smaller newsletters.
I send them a short email telling them about my new ezine and offer them a FREE ad in my newsletter for a FREE ad in theirs.
Since I have way less subscribers I offer to run their ad a couple of extra times to make up the difference.
Day #12- YES! I receive 2 more J.V. partners today who want to “endorse” my E-Book.
I also have added 60 more subscribers to my list.
Oh by the way, I received 3 more J.V. orders and 1 regular order today!
Now I decide is the time for my first issue of my newsletter.
I write a article for my newsletter that introduces me to my list and I give them some pics to look at (this creates immediate trust) of me at work. I then follow this up with another FREE article I have taken from my E-Book.
I send out my issue to my subscriber base of around 300 and call it a day.
Time for some fun in the sun J
Day #12- I am NOT surprised at all to find 3 more J.V. orders and 2 regular orders for my E-Book due to the fact that I sent out my first newsletter.
I also add another HUGE bunch of subscribers to my list.
Today I also decide to work on another article and submit it to my list of publishers that took my last submission.
Again, I will place a 4-6 line “ad” at the bottom of my article that directs readers to my “mini site”.
I also go back to alexa.com and do some for searching for more J.V. partners. Ad Swap partners, Article submission partners, etc…
I am going to STOP on day #12.
Why?
Well, to be honest it will be a repeat of the pat few days.
See this is how you become successful.
By being persistent, consistent, and patient!
Also I want you to take note of the “underlying” strategy of this plan…
Everything thing I did after I had my product, website, payment processor, had to do with BUILDING A OPT-IN LIST of subscribers!!
The only REAL way you will ever make any real money on the ‘Net is to have your own list of potential customers.
Notice how I built my list and at the same time marketed my product for profits…Joint Ventures!
J.V.’s are the cornerstone of any good Internet Success story.
Here is a 7 step plan used by ALL successful Online Marketers:
#1- Create and write your own info booklet
#2- Set up a “mini site” with a pop up on exit to capture email addresses
#3- Start a newsletter by offering a FREE E-Course
#4- Search out potential J.V. partners for your product
#5- Write and submit articles to other publishers
#6- Continue to build your opt-in list
#7- Repeat steps 1-5
Wishing You The Very Best Of Success,
Gary Baker
http://www.jempublishing.com
http://www.jempublishing.com/hweg
Gary Harvey – eProfitNews.com
PROFILE: Age 55. Sydney, Australia. Married, with 2 adult children. More.
CAREERS: Statistics clerk, accounts clerk, church pastor, college administrator, Internet marketer.
STUDIES: BA (Theology, Communications) 1973, Dip.
Freelance Journalism 2001, Bachelor of Internet Science & Technology (Internet Commerce) 2003.
ONLINE ASSETS: Include these domains...
eProfitNews: Internet marketing 'secrets' and an online warehouse full of... free website development tools, traffic tips, how to build a successful mini-web, case studies, rebrandable ebooks, discounted ebooks, and much more.
Full site index. Swap links with a TOP 1% website. Subscribers have access to the HOTTEST eProfit Strategies email course, free. Click here to join us.
eProfitBLOG: Internet marketing research results, and archives for eProfitNews ezine.
eProfitResources: Wealth creation through personal growth and powerful technology.
Niche Marketing Explained: A directory of resources and articles to help you make more money by selling less.
SmoothJazz-Club: Free music downloads for members.
System Driven Income: Build multiple streams of residual income.
Answer – By Gary Harvey
The Science of Developing Profitable Niches
Hi there. Gary here...
The Science of...? Yes, the word "science" does apply here because we're using readily available software tools to methodically analyze several of the key drivers of our success. You'll see.
In principle, we've got to do two things so we can be reasonably assured of financial success.
1. WE SET UP OUR INFRASTRUCTURE. Your business infrastructure here includes your website, mailing list, autoresponders, etc. And we've got to be using them to offer genuine VALUE to a targeted audience. No junk. Because junk won't work for long, if it works at all. We must use our business systems to deliver value and substance.
2. WE SET UP OUR LEVERAGE. "What's this?" you wonder. To get from "Joe who?" to "Who's Who" in the shortest possible time, you're going to need to put your business in front of a lot of people. The bigger the crowd of targeted prospects, the better. And since we've got no mailing list and no traffic ourselves (yet!), we're going to need to leverage other people's traffic and other people's mailing lists. In 30 days or less.
And we're going to do this with minimum expense. In my case, I already have most of the software installed on my computers -- that sure keeps costs down. And like I wrote to Joe…
Joe,
I'm going to take the liberty of defining "lose all your money" to mean there's enough to both eat AND do a little PPC advertising, so long as we quickly become profitable. I've still got a credit card which can bear a few hits till the commission checks come in. I also (cleverly!) have my websites pre-paid for one year.
Gary
Talking about LEVERAGE, there are two other "forces" you can leverage.
(1) One is MARKET TRENDS.
If you can position yourself at the front end of a major new trend in the marketplace, you're in the right place to profit from the boom. And right now, online golf is gaining a strong groundswell... at the cutting edge of the new advergames industry.
Catch this, from Paul Schneider's email dated 30 June 2003:
"Almost a quarter of a million people played the Golden Fairway game in the last 8 days. This is real growth. When the game was turned on last summer, 2002, it took 3 months to get 30,000 people to visit the game.
New game sales are 25% higher than last week. Game ticket and token sales are 1,000% higher than last month.
Don't miss out on the money."
Click here to learn how you can leverage the advergames boom -- and also play a free game of online golf. On me!
(2) The other "force" you can leverage is... other people's BUSINESS CREATIVITY.
In November 2002, while continuing to scan the e-profit horizon for my 7000+ readers, I ran across a Canadian businessman who was once again the top recruiter for a particular online business. When I wrote to Bob Dignard-Fung to arrange an interview, I learned that he'd retired at age 42... because his 13 e-commerce websites were generating more in sales each year than the US President is paid in salary... and he simply didn't need any more money.
But let me tell you, you can't keep entrepreneurial creativity bottled up for long. Especially once you've identified not only a very real problem with the Internet marketing model... but also the SOLUTION. So Bob has come back out of retirement and is now assembling a team of growth partners to share his vision and values. Intriguingly, "Beyond virtual" is both the motto and the business model.
Let’s get on with the show…
Day 1 .. Planning
Yes, if I was starting out again (without this book), I'd first of all sit down for several long sessions of focussed thinking. With pen and paper. I'd brainstorm. I'd ask...
What are my strengths?
What ideas do I have that I've just never got around to, maybe because of being too busy in "maintenance mode"? You know, it's so easy to get caught up doing "stuff"... the daily routines... skimming through the email mountain, then finding you've spent 2 whole hours on it... and what have you achieved, really? Maybe very little. With only 30 days to deliver results, we don't have time to waste on non-productive "busywork". So it's time to take inventory and ask... What are my best ideas?
In my case, I've had a jolly good think. And written it down. So there's a piece of green A4 paper next to me on the desk as I write this to you. It has one major heading:
NICHE MARKETING ... 30 DAYS PLAN
Reality check: You're not going to be able to knock off any of the online giants in 30 days. Or 30 weeks, for that matter. So we're going to be sensible... we're going to set out to find a profitable niche and then we'll set out to become a significant player in that niche. After that's set up right, we'll do it again in another niche.
How, exactly?
To be financially successful, you'll need...
1. A way to find a profitable market. Either a product or a service, that's your choice. But it must have plenty of credit-card-owning customers and comparatively few suppliers.
2. A way to reach that market, effectively and cost effectively.
3. A way to engage with the folks in that market so you can build a mailing list of targeted prospects that you can convert into paying customers.
And here' s how we're going to accomplish this. We'll be working on several different projects in parallel. They are...
FIND A HIGH-DEMAND, LOW-SUPPLY NICHE (HOPEFULLY ONE THAT YOU ENJOY)
DEVELOP AN EZINE WITH UNIQUE VALUABLE CONTENT FOR THAT NICHE
BUILD A MAILING LIST OF TARGETED PROSPECTS
FIND THE KEYWORDS THAT BRING YOU COST-EFFECTIVE PAY-PER-CLICK TRAFFIC
FIND PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS
So Day 1 is for planning. If you like what you read here, and feel it could work for you, then you've finished Day 1. If not, off you go and do your homework.
Day 2 .. What will you sell?
We can't go forward until we've sorted out...
What are you going to sell -- goods or services? -- your own or someone else's?
Most of us don't have our own products or services to sell, so let's talk about selling stuff for others.
In our 30 day make-money plan, we don't have either the time or the resources to go the route of traditional business. We don't want to get involved in manufacturing products. Neither do we want to handle product inventory, warehousing, packaging, distribution, payments, insurance, etc. ... all the details of a traditional business.
So we're going straight for affiliate marketing. Others make the products. Others deliver them. Others handle the payments. And they send you commission payments for the sales you generate.
So it is decided. Home-based affiliate marketing, it is ... just like Michael Campbell, James Martell and a group of other big earners. These folks make superb money "simply" by sending targeted traffic to the corporate website... after they've done a bit of pre-selling at their own site.
By the way, when you're selecting companies to affiliate with, these 15 questions will help you.
Now, what specifically will we market?
Either you already have an idea. Or you don't.
If you don't, here are two groups of resources that can help you find one.
Group 1:
These sites will tell you what's in demand on the Internet Actual search engine enquiries last month... last week... and even what people are searching for right now. Spend a little time at these sites and you'll see what people want when they go online. This should generate a few ideas!
MetaSpy, where the listings are updated every 15 seconds.
Wordspot has a free weekly report of the top 200 search terms.
WordTracker streams a screen-top ticker that shows today's top 50 search terms.
For a detailed discussion of how to find out what the market wants right NOW, as well as ways to identify hot market TRENDS for the future, please refer to my ebook Niche Marketing Explained. It also includes a much longer listing of resources like the above three.
Group 2:
A different approach to idea-generating is to visit the affiliate directories to examine their listings. Especially their new listings. Here is a list of some of the best affiliate directories.
Once you've taken the time you need to do this, you should (hopefully!) have a business idea or two. BUT you can't be sure yet if it's going to turn into a sky rocket or a bomb-out. So the next question has to be...
How to assess the odds of market success before you put in the effort to build and launch your site?
Good question, my friend... because what we want is a HIGH DEMAND, LOW SUPPLY product.
If you target too broadly, you're lost among a ton of competitors and thousands of search engine rivals. Result: An unprofitable website.
If you target too narrowly, no-one will ever enter your search term in the search engine... so even if you were #1 for those keywords, nobody would ever find you. Result: Another profit-free zone... aaaagh!!
If you target correctly, you'll receive a very nice flow of TARGETED traffic, coming to your website because they know exactly what you're promoting... and they want it. Result: "Jumping Jack Flash!! We have a real live business happening here!!"
So HOW do we put the success odds on our side?
Some time ago, I was fortunate to meet up with Val Danilchuk and Helen Salamakha who have created a remarkable piece of software that does EXACTLY what you need to do at this stage (and here's their success story). What they did was to AUTOMATE the exact process you'd go through if you were to thoroughly assess the demand versus supply for your proposed new business. And their software tool, called NicheFinder, is the centerpiece of this part of our 30-day plan.
Here's how to calculate supply versus demand...
Once you've selected a product or service to investigate, you need to do some quite detailed niche marketing research work. And there are two ways to do that.
By hand, if you have the time and the patience and the mind for details.
OR
You can AUTOMATE it by using NicheFinder. Since I already own NicheFinder, there's no way I'm doing it by hand.
All I do is enter a few words into the software to kick-start the process (I used "tv dish satellite" for this case study) and it goes to work for you. Doing what? Here's the sequence...
1. NicheFinder searches the Internet for related pages. In this case, it selected 13 pages for processing and analysis.
2. From those 13 webpages, it extracts 50 keyphrases which it then lists on the next 50 lines.
3. It also prints out its analysis of each keyphrase. It tells us how many websites are using the phrase... that's the SUPPLY report (actually there is more detail as well, but I'm just giving you the overview).
4. NicheFinder also reports the DEMAND for EACH keyphrase, plus the POTENTIAL.
5. Then, to cap it all off and make the results instantly usable, it prints out a DEMAND-TO-SUPPLY RATIO.
6. Then it writes the results to a file for us to review later.
By now, you might be thinking it's finished. But no, NicheFinder also gives us detailed results of all our keyphrases sorted in a variety of ways...
7. SORTED BY RELEVANCE of the various keyphrases it found.
8. SORTED BY POTENTIAL, which is one way of viewing the supply .v. demand comparison.
9. SORTED BY DEMAND-TO-SUPPLY. And this is where the software absolutely shines!! The keyphrase with the best chance of success in the marketplace is listed first... all the way down to number 50.
10. SORTED BY SUPPLY.
11. SORTED BY DEMAND.
Here's the actual report that the software generated, giving you all its findings.
Incidentally, NicheFinder can also help you discover the most profitable keywords to attract targeted traffic to your website, no matter what your site is about.
Day 3 .. Using NicheFinder
You'll probably want to feed several ideas into the software so you can find the one with the highest score. So let's set aside a whole day for you to continue using NicheFinder to assess the market viability of your various business ideas.
If you hit the jackpot first time round, congrats. Have the rest of the day off or surge ahead into Day 4.
Day 4, 5, 6 .. Creating your new site
Since we've already decided that our venture will be an affiliate marketing site that promotes other people's products, we can get some of the content for our new site from their corporate website but if we just use what the corporates supply, we risk looking like all their other copy-and-paste affiliates. And that simply won't produce the income results we want. So we'll take their some of their text and their graphics (if allowed to) and we'll create our own pages.
There's a lot of information available about website design, gateway pages, doorway pages, navigability, keyword density, etc., so I won't repeat that. What I will do, however, is list a few of the factors that I consider whenever I create a new site.
Domain name. I didn't always do it, but I now try to include keywords in my domain name. You'll see what I mean in my bio.
Domain registration. You can register your domain name with Godaddy for $8.95, so why pay more? Then it can take 48 hours for your newly purchased domain name to propagate throughout the Internet (so that when people click on your URL, they actually connect to your new site). So we'll allow several days here.
Hosting. You'll also need somewhere for your website to live. My favourite webhost.
Templates. Unless you're a die-hard individualist and you just have to create your own unique look each time (well, even if you are!), templates will save you a heap of time. Here's my short list of where you can get website templates, both free ones and affordably-priced professional templates.
How many pages? The choice for a fast-to-build web presence is either a one-page microsite, a minisite or a miniweb with a few minisites all inter-linked. Which is best for you? The answer will partly be determined by how much decent content you can find, so let's talk about that next.
(But first...
If you want to create your new websites really FAST, you might be more than a little interested in Keyword Site Builder. It generates multi-page, keyword-optimized, internally-linked websites in minutes. What used to take days now takes just minutes. But more importantly, early testing has produced impressive results in the search engine listings.)
Content. You can get good content from the article directories. While the material may be copyrighted, the authors have posted it there because they want it reproduced around the Internet, so you should be fine if you include the resource box at the end. Whether they will have content that is relevant for your particular niche will depend on what you're promoting. A Google search for "keyword + articles" should turn up something, too.
Page names. When you're naming your pages, remember that the search engines are organized around keywords and keyphrases. So it's better, from what I understand (as a non SEO expert), to include your keywords in your page names... as well as in your body text. For example, holidays-in-spain.html or pet-insurance.htm is going to perform better than holspain.html or petins.htm.
Page titles. Rather than wasting space in your tag by writing your domain name, start with your keywords and make a short sentence or two with as many of them as you can. But it has to read sensibly to human eyes. For example, "Holidays in Spain. Go Spanish for your next holiday. We know Spain, so we can help you!" (though that might be a trifle long).<br />
<br />
Day 7 .. Day off<br />
I'm planning for one day a week "off duty", though I must admit I'm not quite up to speed yet when it comes to following through on this particular goal. <br />
<br />
It's a good idea to spend time with family or friends, and for personal growth. Attend to your inner spiritual needs. Reach out to help others. Read something worthwhile. Relax. You'll come back recharged. <br />
<br />
Okay, if you're like me, you'll find yourself checking your emails, and taking care of urgent stuff. But for the long haul, we certainly don't want to be working 7 days a week. We didn't choose to be Internet Marketers so we can work all day every day, did we?<br />
Day 8 .. Thinking about your new ezine <br />
Today's an easy day... just shaping up your new ezine. And there is a list of issues worth thinking about.<br />
Purpose. What role does your ezine have in your business plan? Is it primarily a blatant sales vehicle? -- or designed to build a relationship with your readers by sharing valuable information? (Can you guess which one looks best to me? Okay, I admit it... I'm none too subtle, am I?)<br />
Differentiator. What will uniquely differentiate your ezine from all the rest? If you have a solid reputation or expertise, such as Michael Campbell does in the fields of Internet and affiliate marketing, you can simply share your knowledge with your readers and they'll value it highly... as I do (thanks, Michael). <br />
Template. Create a template for your ezine. What goes where. What you'll include. What you won't. The header. The footer. The legal disclaimers. Maybe a Q&A. Whatever. How many ads? -- maybe none at all? <br />
Tone. What attitude will your newsletter adopt? A chatty personable tone like Frank Garon, Boogie Jack and Phil Wiley? Or a straight informational orientation such as you get from Jason Anderson, Shelley Lowery and Allan Gardyne. Or a sensational "salesy" approach where words like AWESOME!! and FANTASTIC get used incredibly frequently (along with lots of !!!!! marks). <br />
Apologies to all the *other* folks who produce worthwhile ezines which I also enjoy. I mean no slight against you or your newsletters at all, but I thought I'd just list three examples each time.<br />
Value. This one is dead obvious, but let's say it anyway. We must give our readers solid value or they'll hit the unsubscribe button sometime soon. What I do with eProfitNews ezine, for example, is... I share the results of my ongoing research into Internet marketing and affiliate marketing. I spend many hours online (too many, yes, but I enjoy it), scanning the e-profit horizon for my readers. <br />
By sharing what I'm finding each week, they save their TIME. Though I occasionally get carried away with excitement, I try to steer clear of hype. And I'm not running any subscriber ads now. May I scan the eprofit horizon for you too? Sure hope so. Here's the form...<br />
<br />
Day 9 .. Start generating original ezine content <br />
Now is a good time to start to build your newsletter. So let's ask:<br />
Is yours going to be another "me too" ezine that follows the standard format? You know what that is. You grab an article or two from one of the article distribution services, toss in a few ads at the end and a bit of editorial comment at the beginning, and that's it. <br />
OR<br />
Is your ezine going to have ORIGINAL content? My favourite ezines all have original content. And I suspect I'm not alone in that. <br />
<br />
Most us us wonder how WE could ever generate ORIGINAL content. Thankfully one of my favourite ezine publishers, Len McGrane of New Zealand, has released the method he uses to create a brand new original success story each week... on a part-time basis. I bought his ebook last year, and sent Len my excited testimonial. I just checked, and it's still there on his front page. I meant every word. <br />
<br />
Here's an explanation about the marketing power of story-telling, which also shows you how to get a copy of Len's oh-so-simple system. The system includes (1) how to find successful people online to write about, and (2) how to get them to agree to tell you their story. But you also get (3) his email template with the questions for them to answer, and (4) several tutorials in how to write so your story f-l-o-w-s and it's interesting. And it's nowhere near as hard as you might think. <br />
<br />
As soon as you have Len's ebook and see just how easy he makes it all, you can start the process of preparing for your first story. It really doesn't take long, but let's allow a whole day to get the ebook, read it and send out your first 2-3 emails.<br />
<br />
Day 10 .. Setting up your mailing list manager<br />
Since we're aiming to keep expenses to a rock-bottom minimum in this 30 days, I'm recommending two list management services to host your mailing list. Both top quality. Both free. And yes, I use them both. You can upgrade to their pay-for plans later if you wish. <br />
YourMailingListProvider No ads are included in your mailouts -- and their only self-promotion is a one line link at the very bottom of your message. It's a good deal. You can't import your existing list unless you can prove it's fully opt-in. But should you ever wish to move your list elsewhere, you can download the full dataset. The free service allows you only one mailout per day. The only other downside is that message personalization ("Dear Gary") is not currently available.<br />
Zinester is another free mailing list manager that I recommend and use. Andrew will let you import an existing opt-in list to his service and export your list, so long as you're not moving it because you've been caught out spamming. Again, personalization is available in the pay-for version. If they include an ad, my experience is that it's just 3 lines at the bottom of the email. That's all. <br />
When you're set up, test drive your whole system, tweak your welcome letter, etc. Then call it quits for the day. Well done!<br />
Day 11, 12, 13 .. Setting up your autoresponders<br />
A lot has been said and written about autoresponders. All I will add is three things.<br />
TheOptinStrategy tells the remarkable story of how Ian Herculson lost his entire opt-in list of over 18,000 subscribers and then got back on his feet again in ONE MONTH. Yes, he rebuilt to over 2,200 subscribers... with an astonishing 40% response rate, consistently... and in that first month of growth he profited over $1,500 from his mailing list. Now you can download Ian's story and learn his techniques, free of charge. Thanks, Ian.<br />
LimitlessFollowup.com provides a swag of great features (for FREE, mind you) ... unlimited everything, import your prospects, export the list anytime, full personalization, etc. and it runs on your server. Installation is simple enough, though it does require a tiny bit of techie aptitude. Try it and see how you go. <br />
FreeAutobot.com offers a free commercial service on their server that is just about ad-free.<br />
Content. What are you going to SAY in your autoresponder messages? One great approach is to look carefully at the ton of autoresponder messages that you've received... if you haven't deleted them all. I tend to save most of the email I get as potential resource material (though spam is making that game plan a lot more difficult these days). You can quite easily model your message series on the best of what you've received lately. This writing task it vital but it may take you a few days, so I'll get our of your hair while you do your homework. See ya.<br />
<br />
Day 14 .. Day off<br />
<br />
Day 15 .. Setting up to distribute your articles<br />
By now, we're nearly HALF WAY through our 30 days and you've now set up your INFRASTRUCTURE. Congratulations! <br />
Remember that we also talked about LEVERAGE? Now let's do some work on setting up that leverage.<br />
This time we're going to leverage other people's mailing lists. Again, there are (surprise!) two ways of... getting your articles published.<br />
You can join the various article announcement lists. Then set up a group email address, with each list as a member of the group. Now you have an efficient way to distribute your articles to other publishers (but don't bother sending thinly disguised ads -- most of the time they won't get passed on). <br />
OR <br />
You can AUTOMATE the process and broadcast your content to almost every major ezine publisher with just a few keystrokes. <br />
So today's task is to get set up to bulk-distribute your first article -- which you'll be writing tomorrow. (Hopefully by now, you've had some responses to your earlier emails. Remember Day 9?)<br />
<br />
Day 16 .. Mailout day for your ezine<br />
Your main task today is to write up a new original article, using the Newsletter Storypower approach. <br />
Once it's written, double check it. Then read it out loud to see that it flows smoothly. <br />
<br />
Also, feed whatever other content you've been saving throughout the week into your ezine template. Including, of course, your own ads. <br />
<br />
Proofread every word to eliminate any spelling and grammar errors... and typos. As a professional proofreader, I find this sort of thing easy to do, but I readily acknowledge that many find it hard. If so, perhaps you have an online or offline friend who will check it over for you. Even advertise in your ezine for a proofreader -- maybe you can barter an ad in each issue for their proofreading services. Certainly use the spell-checker that's built into your word processor but remember that it won't be able to show you where you've used a correctly-spelled word but in the wrong place.<br />
One way to get a fresh look at your content is to email it to yourself and then check the whole thing over one more time. When it's the way you want it to be, send it out. And try to relax. <br />
<br />
Day 17, 18, 19, 20 .. Pay per click marketing<br />
The principle here is simple. We will LEVERAGE the massive targeted traffic of the search engines and we'll do it cost effectively. In fact, we'll do some of our learning for FREE... because the pay per click (PPC) search engines actually give away free use of their service. Why? To show you how effective it is. We can use their freebies while we test out which of our keywords give us the best returns. <br />
Are you already fairly clued-up about PPC marketing? I know I wasn't until recently when I had the pleasure of proofreading an important new work by James Munro called "How The Pay Per Click Money Machine Works". <br />
<br />
At that page, you'll also be able to get immediate access to $3000 worth of free PPC advertising which James has compiled and is distributing at no cost. This is perfect for us because (1) we want speedy results, and (2) we're trying to keep our expenses down to a bare minimum. So with $3000 of free PPC advertising, you can learn what your best keywords and keyphrases really are, so that when you start spending your money on PPC marketing, you'll already know what works. <br />
<br />
Remember... Pay per click can give you INSTANT global exposure (is that fast enough for you? <grin>) and TARGETED prospects. <br />
<br />
But we are going to allow ourselves a few days to keep an eye on what's happening with our PPC advertising while we're still "learning the ropes". In his ebook, James not only explains how to get the best out of pay per click marketing -- he also covers the monitoring process and what to look out for so as to maximize your profitability.<br />
<br />
Day 21 .. Day off<br />
<br />
Day 22 .. Finding power partners<br />
We've talked about LEVERAGING the PPC search engines. We can also leverage the fact that some sites in any industry sector are much more heavily trafficked than others. <br />
But HOW to identify those high-profile domains? And then HOW do you approach them so as to put the odds of success as high as you can? Aha. I'm glad you asked. <br />
<br />
To be candid, there's a lot of work involved. Here are the steps: (1) use the search engines to identify the leading sites for your keywords and keyphrases -- then list them, (2) check which sites are linked in to these industry leaders, (3) extract all their email addresses, (4) jot down the name and phone number of the registered domain owners... so you can personalize your emails or even pick up the phone for a particularly important-looking partner, (6) record the Alexa ranking and link popularity for all your possible partners, (7) organize your findings into a coherent format so you can list them in priority order... then (8) generate compelling emails to those webmasters.<br />
<br />
Quite the full day's work, eh? <br />
But once again, there are two ways to get it done... <br />
MANUALLY, if you had the time and the patience and the detail-mindedness.<br />
OR<br />
You can AUTOMATE the task. <br />
Computer programs are good at doing boring, detailed work like this. So when I received one of Roy Oron's emails (from step 8, above -- though I would never have known), it started a chain of events that led to an interview with Roy... and an article, called "So amazed" at his success. The article page includes a link to his FREE ebook which explains more about generating these super affiliates. <br />
<br />
Software like this is definitely one of those work-smarter-not-harder tools because it enables you to leverage off the success and traffic volumes of others. Incidentally, Roy's "heat-seeking" programming was designed especially for Internet marketers.<br />
<br />
So today's task is to begin to seek out partners so you can leverage their success in a way that helps you while it also helps them.<br />
<br />
(This, of course, works best if you have your own products but if you don't, let's be a bit creative here. If you've chosen to promote a 2-tier affiliate program, check to see whether the high-traffic sites in that keyword group promote that particular program. If one of them does not, approach the website owner about it. Many thousands of dollars have been made simply by introducing super affiliates to 2-tier affiliate programs.) <br />
<br />
Day 23 .. Mailout day for your ezine<br />
Same as Day 16. Same routine again every 7 days, right? <br />
<br />
Day 24, 25, 26, 27 .. Juggling all the balls<br />
From now on, there are only really TWO main tasks -- (1) systems maintenance, and (2) business development.<br />
(1) KEEP ALL THE SYSTEMS RUNNING SMOOTHLY.<br />
-- Manage your ongoing PAY PER CLICK campaigns. This will require regular attention, for sure. The ebook I recommended earlier will help you develop a system to keep a handle on this. <br />
-- Each week, you plan to publish a new original story so that means keeping your eyes open for INTERVIEW CANDIDATES. Email them whenever you spot one. Len covers all the details in his ebook.<br />
-- Gather EZINE CONTENT throughout the week. I put all my finds into a text file, and I've placed a shortcut to that file on my desktop. It's amazing how frequently it gets clicked.<br />
-- You might like the idea of an ARTICLE GARDEN. Funny name but here's the concept. Just as you plant a handful of seeds in your outdoors garden and some of them grow and some don't, so it is with article ideas. Plant a handful of ideas in a file or folder somewhere handy, and some of them will keep on growing as you jot down new ideas or facts. Toss out the weeds from time to time and harvest the good stuff for your readers. <br />
-- From time to time, you'll want to run the SUPER AFFILIATE GENERATOR again, to seek out more JV partners.<br />
(2) ADD NEW NICHE DOMAINS.<br />
Multiple streams of income is the name of the game, isn't it? For income security, we don't want all our eggs in any one basket -- no matter how lucrative it is today. (Remember when Atari was the king of the games machines?) So when you're ready, start the whole process again... back at Day 2. <br />
One new minisite each month? Or every other month? Set a goal that's right for you. By using a tool like Keyword Site Builder, some savvy marketers are now targeting the creation of two new minisites every week.<br />
<br />
Day 28 .. Day off<br />
<br />
Day 29 .. More juggling<br />
Or perhaps we should call it what it is... MANAGING. You're in business. You're the manager, the CEO. Nothing happens unless you make it happen. I'll leave the thought with you but it's Day 24 again. There'll be lots of days like Day 24.<br />
<br />
Day 30 .. Mailout day for your weekly ezine<br />
<br />
Conclusion (Month 2 and beyond)<br />
It's good that Joe has included this "post script" for what we'd do beyond this first 30 days because there are still more issues we can look at, like search engine cloaking and viral ebooks, for starters. Tell you what I'll do! I'll create a special page... just for the future postscript-type issues that come up. Talk to you there...<br />
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Holly Cotter — HollyCotter.com<br />
<br />
Holly Cotter specializes in teaching others how to easily and affordably build multiple streams of income on the internet.<br />
Fondly referred to as "The Ultimate Mentor" in recognition of her step-by-step training and coaching system (UltimateMentor.com), Holly has helped numerous people turn their dream of building a profitable home business into reality.<br />
Holly is a strong advocate of finding ways to help the "average" person achieve success. She does this by developing innovative strategies. For example...realizing one of the largest expenses for home business owners is advertising, Holly formed the DiscountLeadsCoop.com which allows members to pool their money together to obtain high-quality leads at a very reasonable price.<br />
Recently, Holly decided to spice up the seminar circuit by organizing an event that mixes fun with high-powered success training aboard the AffiliateMastersCruise.com.<br />
Holly Cotter is also editor of the AbundantLivingOnline.com ezine, publishes a syndicated "Expert Advice" column, and has authored an audio-Ebook titled UndercoverInterviews.com.<br />
Answer – By Holly Cotter<br />
<br />
I strongly believe in building MULTIPLE income streams. However, the best way to get started is to focus on building one income stream and then using some of the profits to generate additional income streams.<br />
With that in mind, if I were starting a home business from scratch today — with no reputation, no JV partners, and no investment money to fall back on — here's what I'd do to ensure I was earning a solid profit within the first 30 days...<br />
Day One:<br />
Go through my house with a fine-toothed comb, and write down an inventory of all the items I no longer need or use (a minimum of 10 items). <br />
Open a free seller's account at eBay. <br />
Write a detailed description of one of the items I plan to sell on eBay, and place it on auction. <br />
Day Two:<br />
Write a detailed description of the 2nd item I plan to sell on eBay, and place it on auction. <br />
Research...find a direct sales or affiliate product I can sell which pays a large commission ($500-$1000 per sale). <br />
Day Three:<br />
Write a detailed description of the 3rd item I plan to sell on eBay, and place it on auction. <br />
Write the first 3 messages of an autoresponder series that provides info for potential customers about the product or service I have chosen to promote. <br />
Write 3 short classified ads for my high-ticket product/service and 2 long editorial-type ad for my high-ticket product/service. <br />
Day Four:<br />
Write a detailed description of the 4th item I plan to sell on eBay, and place it on auction. <br />
Research...make a list of the contact information for all ezine owners whose publications target a market which might be interested in my high-ticket product/service. <br />
Write the next 3 messages for the autoresponder series that provides info for potential customers about the product or service I have chosen to promote. <br />
Load message series into an autoresponder. <br />
NOTE: I'd use an autoresponder system such as QuickTell that allows unlimited autoresponders, unlimited messages in each autoresponder, and unlimited leads loaded per month for one small monthly fee.<br />
Day Five:<br />
Write a detailed description of the 5th item I plan to sell on eBay, and place it on auction. <br />
More Research...continue making a list of the contact information for all ezine owners whose publications target a market which might be interested in my high-ticket product/service. <br />
Start calling ezine list owners (TALK to minimum 3 owners per day). This is what I'd tell them: <br />
I'm promoting a product/service that pays $X per sale. <br />
We know it takes more personal one-on-one time with prospects to sell high-ticket items. <br />
In exchange for ezine owner running free ads for the product/service, I will do all the follow-up with prospects. <br />
The ezine owner will receive 50% of the commission for each sale made by one of their referrals. <br />
IMPORTANT: The ads run by each ezine owner would refer prospects to a UNIQUE autoresponder (each with the same message series). This way, I could track which ezine owner receives commissions for which referrals. AND, I also automatically start building a list of potential customers I can promote other products to in the future.<br />
Day Six:<br />
Write a detailed description of the 6th item I plan to sell on eBay, and place it on auction. <br />
TALK to a minimum of 3 more ezine owners about my JV offer. <br />
Write the next message of the autoresponder series that provides info for potential customers about the product or service I have chosen to promote. <br />
Design a flyer that promotes my high-ticket product/service. <br />
IMPORTANT: As prospects start responding to ads about my product/service, I follow-up with them immediately by phone. I DO NOT rely solely on email to make the sale!<br />
Day Seven:<br />
Write a detailed description of the 7th item I plan to sell on eBay, and place it on auction. <br />
TALK to a minimum of 3 more ezine owners about my JV offer. <br />
Write the next message of the autoresponder series that provides info for potential customers about the product or service I have chosen to promote. <br />
Post a minimum of 5 flyers in local area. <br />
NOTE: Remember...I get to keep 100% of the commission from all sales generated by my flyers! <br />
Day Eight through Day Ten:<br />
Write a detailed description of the next item I plan to sell on eBay, and place it on auction. <br />
TALK to a minimum of 3 more ezine owners about my JV offer (research to find more ezine owners if necessary). <br />
Write the next message of the autoresponder series that provides info for potential customers about the product or service I have chosen to promote. <br />
Post a minimum of 5 flyers in local area. <br />
IMPORTANT: Continue to contact and follow-up — by phone— with prospects who have responded to ads/flyers.<br />
Day Eleven:<br />
TALK to a minimum of 3 more ezine owners about my JV offer (research to find more ezine owners if necessary). <br />
Research other products/services my prospects might be interested in. <br />
Post a minimum of 5 flyers in local area. <br />
Day Twelve:<br />
TALK to a minimum of 3 more ezine owners about my JV offer (research to find more ezine owners if necessary). <br />
Continue researching other products/services my prospects might be interested in. <br />
Post a minimum of 5 flyers in local area. <br />
Day Thirteen through Day Thirty:<br />
TALK to a minimum of 2 more ezine owners about my JV offer (research to find more ezine owners if necessary). <br />
Write the next message of the autoresponder series...alternate between promoting the high-ticket item originally advertised, some of the OTHER products/services I found that would interest my prospects, and purely informational messages. <br />
Post a minimum of 5 flyers in local area. <br />
IMPORTANT: Continue to contact and follow-up — by phone— with prospects who have responded to ads/flyers.<br />
Beyond Day Thirty...<br />
<br />
By the end of the first 30 days, I should have earned a minimum of $3000 (probably more) pure profit. I have also developed a nice-sized list of potential customers/prospects to whom I can promote other products/services.<br />
I would continue building upon this foundation by:<br />
Starting my own ezine to build my reputation, increase the size of my list, and easily promote commissionable products. <br />
Finding opportunities/products I could back-end existing customers into purchasing. <br />
Creating my own product and starting my own affiliate program. <br />
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Jack Humphrey – WebmasterTrafficTools.com<br />
Introduction<br />
Well, here I am thinking of that day not too long ago that I was posting on the Internet Marketing Warriors forum when an interesting question from a member came up. It was a cool question about what "Gurus" would do if they were in a pinch. I responded, not with what I would do in the scenario provided, but with a harder, more precise question along with conditions the experts would be under during a 30 day do-or-die situation.<br />
I came up with THE question practically every newbie on the net who wants to make a living online wanted the answer to. And they wanted to hear the answer from the from the experts themselves. Obviously, Joe Kumar took a real shine to this discussion in the forum and his idea for his book was born. Such is the quality and reward for being a Warrior - there are thousands of other success stories that have been incubated and born on that forum.<br />
Who am I to tell you what to do with your 30 days?<br />
I have experienced success on the net for a few years now with Webmaster Traffic Tools and my website promotion book "Power Linking Your Way to 1 Million Hits". I have several other business ventures online, like a Print on Demand/Drop Shipping service for ebook authors at Ebook-Printing.com. I also own Tale Chaser Publishing, through which I consult with ebook authors on selling their information more successfully on the net, and off.<br />
Plus I am a joint venture junkie! Much of the success I have had to date is attributed directly to my seeking out and partnering with key people that could get me where I wanted to be 1000 times faster than if I was working alone. <br />
Joint ventures have helped me grow my lists to a combined 90,000 subscribers, and helped me sell hundreds more copies of Power Linking than I would have alone. And through them all, helped me understand more about internet marketing and promotion, sales, psychology of the sale, money management, direct sales tactics and powerful marketing campaign design than I thought I would ever know (or needed to know for that matter!)<br />
But, according to Joe, now I am hurting, and have lost everything!<br />
For this 30 project I have nothing but a tiny amount of money and that "knowledge" that brings me to you today. I can't just pick up the phone and call my big partners and solve my dilemma in one day - they don't know who I am anymore because I am a relative nobody on the net again.<br />
I can't just plug in a powerful affiliate product pitch to my list and blast it out for a quick $1000-$2000, because I have no list anymore.<br />
What to do? Well, as a disclaimer of sorts, the following is what I DID do with Power Linking within a 30 day period from product research and creation to launch. <br />
You will see my approach mirrors my background with internet marketing. It is not meant to give you an exact plan for you to follow to the letter, but rather another insight into the vast possibilities there are for you in making a living on the net with a great idea for a product or a novel affiliate sales process.<br />
Whatever your focus becomes, remember this: You must dedicate yourself. Throw yourself 100% into achieving your goal for the first 30 days. Burn bridges, as Napolean Hill said, and don't look back. Successful people are a diverse group, with different backgrounds, races, cultures, and belief systems. <br />
But they all have one thing in common: Risk. No one who is truly successful today got where they out without some measure of risk involved. You must say to yourself "This is it! This is what I want more than anything else right now and I am not going to stop until my goals are met. And I will do whatever it takes to achieve them, no matter how hard I have to work."<br />
Best of luck, and I will see you on the Web!<br />
<br />
Answer – By Jack Humphrey<br />
Day 1<br />
Wow, I have lost everything and the creditors and landlord are after me! My girl friend is upset that I am not looking for a 9-5 job to get us out of this immediate and dire situation. But I haven't lost everything really, have I? I still know, from experience, how I took an idea for a book and in 30 days wrote it, got joint venture partners and launched the first week with over $1000 in profit from sales generated!<br />
Hey, that's powerful stuff. And I know I could do it all over again. Now I must, and it will pay off much more than going back to the dog food factory and hoisting 50 pound bags of chow all day long for a measly $9.00 per hour!<br />
So today is the day I start it all over. No looking back. No time wasted trying to figure out why I woke up this morning and none of my friends online know me anymore, all my sites are gone, and my contact database is wiped out. I watched enough episodes of the Twilight Zone to know you don't spend time tripping out on things like that, you just get to work and try to figure it all out before the last commercial. Luckily I have a bit more time than one episode of Twilight Zone! Whew - things are already looking brighter!<br />
By now you are probably pretty well aware that you MUST start looking around for a new product idea of your own, or a strong affiliate program in a niche that has as little competition as possible, combined with a lot of interest according to the search engines.<br />
In fact, this pattern has emerged in this series time and again. Enough to know that this is the core of what you must do in the early stages of the month.<br />
Passion or Profit - Or both?<br />
My true passion is the outdoors, wildlife, my dogs, hiking, conservation issues, and the like. Problem was, working in the environmental movement was incredibly rewarding in every way but financially. I started internet marketing because I had 12 years of fulfillment with my passion, but o money, no insurance, and no security for my future. It was time for a change.<br />
So I started looking around for what I might be good at, and really got into website promotion issues. I started researching everything everyone on the net was teaching. Search engine optimization, linking, articles, forums, traffic exchanges, everything!<br />
This turned into my passion. Especially when I found a niche in website promotion that was vastly under-served, but highly sought after by webmasters of all kinds, all over the world.<br />
The topic was simply reciprocal linking and it's value to websites looking to increase their traffic through links and search engines. I looked and looked and found only two slightly competing resources at the time, but I knew I could do a better service to webmasters by providing a "Linking on Steroids" type product, which eventually evolved into Power Linking.<br />
This is how I found my product - not all one "Day 1," but after I saw the potential and the research was done, the next 29 days were as follows:<br />
Day 2<br />
Began collecting all the research from Day 1 into files for easy reference. <br />
Outlined what Power Linking would cover, in chapters.<br />
Continued research on the web of sites that dealt wholly or partially in linking and linking education for webmasters.<br />
Began writing.<br />
Days 3-10<br />
I put in some serious hours here. Writing and checking in at the Warrior Forum looking specifically for people who could help me with my product, either with joint ventures to help me promote the book, or even a hot marketing partner who could help me with the marketing/sales aspect.<br />
I DID meet someone, and I offered my mostly finished book at the end of day 10 to him for review. He loved the idea, said I was on to something (which was a charge for me!) and we kept talking until we came to an agreement of 50% split in profits for book sales if he would help me get off the ground.<br />
It worked, and I began to finish up the book, adding new features as I went along.<br />
Also started on sales copy for the book, along with website graphics I ordered from a designer in South Africa for a VERY low price.<br />
So far I have invested $24.95 in hosting, and $74.00 for graphics. Design was my job, so no costs there. The rest of my costs to this point were simply my time, and I was putting in 18 hour days.<br />
Days 10-15<br />
Began a marketing plan outline which included the following:<br />
A big list of possible joint venture partners who we would offer 60% commission for selling Power Linking to their customer lists. (All told, we were looking at around 200,000 prospects being mailed from our first week's promotion.) <br />
I designed the site, and my partner got to work on updated and improving my sales copy.<br />
<br />
Initial contacts went out to my partner's associates on the JV list. (This was a big boost for me as I had no contacts at all, other than my new found partner from just days before.)<br />
Interest was peaking and people were seriously ready to send out emails on the book. The money was right and the topic unique, with little competition, so they loved it immediately!<br />
<br />
I finished the book (at least for the time being, many improvements were made along the way for the first 6 months after release) and got a review copy to all the people we had gotten excited about the book so far.<br />
Started Power Linking the Power-Linking-Profits.com site.<br />
Got a Clickbank account to sell the book through, and to have an affiliate program without having to cut checks, etc.<br />
Set up the Clickbank account, set the price of the book initially at $47.00 from research on prices of similar website promotion style book prices on the net at the time.<br />
<br />
Days 15-25<br />
The book was done, the sales page was being tweaked, initial JV partners were fired up and sending back testimonials we had requested with the review copy, and we were ready for the next step: Launch!<br />
Here is what I had so far:<br />
A good, well-known partner with connection I found on The Warrior Forum <br />
Joint venture agreements with three heavy-hitters I got through my partner's connections <br />
Several smaller joint ventures with people whose lists of customers and contacts were around 5000-10000 <br />
The book was done <br />
The sales letter was done <br />
Clickbank account ready to take orders <br />
Thank-you page for downloading ebook and bonuses was created and tested <br />
Everything was ready to go. At this point we were still tweaking the sales letter when new testimonials arrived, and I was still messing with the book to make it as good as possible before sales started rolling in.<br />
<br />
On the 24th-25th day, all the joint venture partners mailed the "big announcement" of a new book on traffic generation that was just released.<br />
<br />
Days 25-30<br />
This is the most exciting part of anything any business on the net experiences: First day of sales after launching!<br />
It is never quite as sweet as the first time you open your mail to see several orders for your product piling up, and more coming in by the MINUTE!<br />
<br />
Things were going smoothly, sales were coming in, and I was helping people with customer support, download issues, and other questions customers had.<br />
<br />
I was on cloud 9!<br />
Here is how I did in the first 5 days:<br />
Sales at $47.00: 46<br />
Profit for me after splitting with partners, hosting, and other expenses: $464.00<br />
<br />
Not bad for after expenses and for the first 5 days.<br />
BUT - the very next day carried on with the average of 9 sales a day, with higher and lower days to follow, many more joint ventures, full sales to our lists (where we didn't have to pay 60% to JVs) and the search engine traffic started coming in the month after, which resulted in more and more full-price sales for me and my partner to split 50/50.<br />
<br />
Conclusion:<br />
There is A LOT to do in a month like the one above. But it got done, and the hard work paid off. I could see that with a successful long-term marketing campaign, my bills were going to be paid and then some.<br />
<br />
My name was getting out there, my list was growing, both with customers and tire-kickers who I was actively following up with, and more and more traffic poured into Power-Linking-Profits.com day after day.<br />
<br />
This is my story, with one project, which defined me as a legitimate author with something valuable to offer webmasters.<br />
<br />
With proper research after you have taken stock of your passions, interests, and expertise, you could very well follow the exact same timeline and activities to launch a product that would be 10x more successful and profitable than mine was!<br />
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You have been schooled extensively in this 30 Days to Success series on how to take inventory of what you are interested/accomplished in and turning that into product research and creation. <br />
<br />
The only caution I will offer is this: Research niches looking for highly popular search topics that currently do not have as many pages listed in Google as they do searches. If you do a search on "internet marketing" or "website promotion" you will see that I failed on this point! Based on the hundreds of thousands of pages of content sharing a relatively few searches per day, I screwed up getting into internet marketing!<br />
<br />
The only thing that saved me was joint ventures. JVs got me to where I actually COULD compete in an extremely competitive niche. But I would recommend you run fast and far away from niches that were as competitive as the one that I chose. It's just not worth it, especially if you are in a tight situation financially.<br />
<br />
Do your homework and find a hole to fill. There are THOUSANDS of them yet to be filled and you will find many that YOU can get into and be seen as the expert, if you have put in the time to find them.<br />
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Jim Cockrum – SilentSalesMachine.com<br />
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Jim Cockrum has been selling on Bay since 1997 and has been helping others start successful eBay businesses since 2000. He has written multiple articles and done many interviews about how to run a successful business on eBay. As of the writing of this article he had over 36,000 newsletter subscribers that read his free newsletter "Creative eBay Selling". <br />
<br />
He is best know for his top selling eBook titled "The<br />
Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay" that has been a top<br />
seller on the top ebooks sales website clickbank.com for<br />
many months. The book and free newsletter are only<br />
available at Jim's site: <br />
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http://www.silentsalesmachine.com/<br />
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Answer – By Jim Cockrum<br />
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For this experiment I assumed that not only had I lost my database of names and contacts, but I also lost knowledge about Internet Marketing. I tried to put myself in the shoes of a true newbie. I tried to truly start from scratch and give the same advice I would give (and have given) my friends and family.<br />
<br />
My solution starts on eBay because that where it all started for me. eBay get's millions of visitors monthly and as a result it is a great place to lay the foundation for ANY Internet business. Even the most inexperienced of Internet entrepreneurs can be up an running very quickly on eBay with REAL results.<br />
<br />
Also, a business on eBay is one of the few ways that ANYONE can gain credibility as a legitimate business on the web. The reason for this is the feedback system that eBay uses.<br />
<br />
Here's an article I wrote several months ago about the eBay feedback system:<br />
<br />
====================<br />
<br />
"The feedback factor"<br />
<br />
Every time two people do business on eBay they get to leave feedback for each other.<br />
<br />
This is a very cool thing.<br />
<br />
One of my favorite features on eBay is the feedback system. Are you as amazed as I am by those hardy few eBay sellers that have achieved multiple thousands of eBay transactions with an impressive record of 99.9% positive feedback?<br />
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In the eyes of someone who is new on eBay, a small handful of positive feedback on your account makes you look very impressive as well.<br />
<br />
That's called 'credibility'. It's rare on the internet.<br />
<br />
Have you noticed the sites scattered all over the web desperately pleading with their would be customers to believe their lofty claims about how great their product is? They offer up testimonials from people we don't know and can't contact. Are these testimonials from real people? We will never know...<br />
<br />
These web sites need an eBay account!<br />
<br />
They need to sell their 'amazing' product on eBay and face the fire called 'eBay feedback'!<br />
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Those that truly have a good product will come through the trial better than ever. They will have REAL feedback from REAL people. We will listen when they talk!<br />
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Those that fail the test...well, we know what they are selling don't we?<br />
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I'm proud of my eBay feedback - be proud of yours and PROTECT it.<br />
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As your reputation on eBay grows you gain credibility and you grow your customer base. <br />
<br />
I don't advocate relying on eBay 100% for your online success, but if you ignore eBay you are ignoring a great source of leads, newsletter subscribers, and easy profits. The reason I believe you shouldn't rely solely on eBay is quite simple. Those that do so spend A LOT of time earning the money they make. It's too much like having a J-O-B.<br />
<br />
How do you get to the point where you can enjoy the Internet lifestyle we are all searching for?<br />
<br />
Here's my answer to Joe's question:<br />
<br />
Day 1 - 4:<br />
Don't quit your job if you have one. There are very few if any legitimate 30 day success stories on the Internet. It takes time, a good reputation, creativity, and the right niche. I dare anyone to prove me wrong. I had a full-time job the first 3 years I ran my Internet business. I had no idea that my eBay business would turn into the HUGE opportunity it has brought me today. All I did was listen to my customers and give them what they wanted. From there I built an empire.<br />
<br />
Having a 'real job' that is less than perfect will motivate you to keep your Internet business growing!<br />
<br />
Step one: register on eBay as a seller.<br />
<br />
Here's a link to register:<br />
<br />
http://pages.ebay.com/education/howtoregister/index.html<br />
<br />
Get comfortable searching for products that interest you and place a few bids. Contact a few sellers and ask questions.<br />
<br />
Read the help menu - learn how to sell on eBay. <br />
<br />
Here's a great "how to" page regarding eBay:<br />
<br />
http://pages.ebay.com/community/answercenter/index.html<br />
<br />
You'll find the help menus on eBay really do provide a lot of very helpful free information about the basics.<br />
<br />
Day 5-30:<br />
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Put items up for sale on eBay. If you don't know what to sell here are several ideas:<br />
<br />
Check out:<br />
<br />
http://www.auctionkeyword.com/ to find out what is being searched for on eBay by customers<br />
<br />
www.7dayebook.com to get ideas on an eBook you might sell on ebay<br />
<br />
http://www.ebsdiscounts.com/ - find out what sells best on eBay<br />
<br />
My soon to be released book "50 Free ways" will also help you get started on eBay. It will give you many great ideas that have been sent to me by other eBay experts as well as those that read my newsletter. The book release will be announced in my free eBay success newsletter called "Creative eBay Selling". To subscribe to the newselleter visit SilentSalesMachine.com.<br />
<br />
Day 10 and on:<br />
<br />
Some Creative eBay strategies:<br />
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<br />
1. Find a partner on eBay that you can introduce to the power of tapping into the 'back end' of eBay for leads. There are many serious sellers on eBay (called Power Sellers) that are totally ignoring the back end profits that come from building a mailing list of all customers, starting a newsletter, or having a website to capitalize on eBay leads etc. To find a powerseller that lives near you so you can take them to lunch use this search tool:<br />
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http://pages.ebay.com/tradingassistants.html<br />
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Clues that you've found a good Power Seller partner:<br />
<br />
-Has no about me page<br />
-Doesn't use HTML in their auction<br />
-Isn't promoting anything in their signature line of their email correspondence with you<br />
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2. Get your own high profit product. A "how-to" video, an eBook, or a "Business kit" with everything a budding entrepreneur needs to succeed are all great ideas for high profit products that will sell very well on eBay. Do your homework first, but the potential for these kinds of products is huge.<br />
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3. Capture leads from ebay - there are legal and illegal ways to do this. Stay legal.<br />
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4. Use your "About Me" page on eBay to promote an eBook store. Full details here:<br />
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http://www.silentsalesmachine.com/newsletter/041003.html<br />
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Look for article number two in that newsletter.<br />
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5. Read my book "The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay". It's a top seller on ClickBank.com and it's all about harnessing the power of eBay to build a serious online business. If you do buy that book you'll get the "50 free ways" book I mentioned above free as well when it's released.<br />
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Jim Cockrum<br />
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Author-"The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay"<br />
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http://www.silentsalesmachine.com/<br />
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John Delavera – JohnDelavera.com<br />
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I started from point Zero, as an anonymous Mr. Nobody, on July 11, 2002. <br />
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In 12 months and 9 days:<br />
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I worked very hard for creating TurboReferer, Special Offer Manager, TurboZiner, the Best Free Ebook, Dynamic Pricing Generator, Ian Peripet, Autoresponders.org, Software4Profit.com, JohnDelavera.com, my free and brandable PillSeries ebooks etc., not mentioning all mini-sites I created for promoting my affiliate links to other products & services.<br />
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My “TurboReferer Newsletter” grew from Ø to 6,800 subscribers and many people from all over the world thank me daily for the ORIGINAL information I deliver though my newsletter (http://turbozine.com)<br />
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Many good marketers now know me; Allen Says, the father of all Internet Marketing Warriors, Terry Dean and BenJamin Prater are some of them. <br />
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I did it and you can make it too. <br />
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Just find who you are and what you can do, have a vision, work hard and be patient. Use your knowledge, experiences and intuition to create an info-product and then brand yourself. Use viral marketing techniques to spread the word about your expertise to a specific niche, give away bonuses and prizes to your subscribers, grow your list big and then …do not be afraid to Sell. <br />
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12 months and 9 days ago I was Mr. Nobody…<br />
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My name is John Delavera.<br />
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A note: please excuse any typos or even my language mistakes (English is my 7th language) J<br />
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Answer – By John Delavera<br />
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Since you’re reading these lines you either have read Joe Kumar’s 30 Days to Internet Marketing Success, Volume I and now continue with Volume II or vice versa. In both cases, you have in your hands MANY “battle plans” to use for rescuing your life and making a success in 30 days. If you compile in your mind everything you have read I am sure you’ll find your way to Internet Marketing Success.<br />
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However, my contribution will be a different one.<br />
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I don’t want to repeat things you’ve presumably already read like, where to find what people want to buy, how to create an info-product, how to create your mini-sites, how to be able to receive credit card orders and how to promote your product. You can read all other entries and you have everything you need to know about.<br />
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In this contribution I’d like to underline the most difficult part every -willing to be- marketer has when embarking to this “Internet Marketing Game”. And this is:<br />
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“Finding Your Own USP.”<br />
USP stands for Unique Selling Preposition.<br />
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In order to find your USP, you must search deeply in your heart. Actually, you must try to find the role you’ve been called to play in this life. Once you’ll find what’s your role in this life you’ll be able to know what to do and best of all: Universe will make a conspiracy in favor of you helping you to succeed. BELIEVE IT - it’s true. That will be the time “magic” will come in your life; believe me: it happens to all people that know who they are and what they can do; the so-called successful people…<br />
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Here is my “battle plan”…<br />
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First 10 days<br />
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I’d spend the first 10 days to research MYSELF.<br />
I’d try to become “the psychologist of me” and also should try to evaluate “my power”. My power consists of my strong capabilities BUT ALSO of my weaknesses too. Even my disabilities could become a starting point for finding what I want to do in life - when I really become aware of them and decide to live WITH them.<br />
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So, during the first 10 days, I’d ask my people to help me towards my end. I’d explain my situation to them and should be serious enough to make them understand that I have to DO something that will bring me money in less than 30 days. I’d also ask my wife - or girlfriend - to help me by taking care of my daily needs: food, water and assuring that peace exists in the place where I am going to work.<br />
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And then I’d dive to the large sea of my soul.<br />
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I’d play a game with myself. I’d ask questions and should try to give the answers at the same time. I have to find “What” I can do and then also give an answer to the question: “Why” people could buy from me; in general how I’d make the difference.<br />
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That’s not an easy task to do.<br />
That’s why I’d spend all these 10 days doing nothing but this.<br />
Since everyone is unique I’d try to find my uniqueness… In general I’d try to find out my very best unique capability or weakness and then create an info-product for it. Towards this end, I’d have to evaluate myself and also my people and the place where I leave. <br />
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For example if I lived in Alaska I could create an ebook with photos and use it as the incentive for people to subscribe to my newsletter. If I lived in Africa, I could do the same. <br />
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I’d try to add my unique points to and deal with a subject that has been proved people love and buy. <br />
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Days 11-15<br />
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Suppose I am a New Yorker and decide to write about my daily activities in New York. I am sure some 1000s of people online would like to know how a daily life is in NY, so I’d try to be SPECIFIC. <br />
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You see, while there are many travel guides about New York, only I could describe the places I’ve visited in my unique “from the inside” way.<br />
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Since people will never stop eating and enjoying themselves, I could create an ebook with the best 50 restaurants in New York City. <br />
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That would be my unique selling preposition.<br />
Travel industry is a huge market because people love to travel. Many people would find my guide about New York unique because I’d add MANY unique points to it.<br />
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So, from the day 11 to the day 15 I’d visit the most “international” restaurants in New York City with cheap and good food and ask their permission to include some photos and their menu to my ebook.<br />
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I’d visit 10 restaurants per day and in 5 days I’d have 50 menus and many photos to include in my ebook.<br />
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If I didn’t have a digital camera I’d visit first all the Photo-Shops until I found one that would agree to sponsor my ebook by allowing me to use a digital camera for getting my pictures. I’d add their logo my ebook and assure them that many 1000s of people would see their logo - that would be an additional resource of income, I’ll tell you how in some minutes.<br />
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Days 15-18<br />
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I’d create my info-product using a free compiler. I’d use all the menus and the photos and I’d name it:<br />
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“50 Restaurants In New York With Cheap & Good Food”<br />
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Then I’d get a free autoresponder account from GetResponse.com and a free domain name and free hosting using www.freeservers.com<br />
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I’d visit www.tucows.com in order to get all the tools I need for creating and uploading my website and would be ready to welcome my first subscribers.<br />
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My aim would be to increase the number of my subscribers as soon as possible.<br />
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Days 19-24<br />
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I’d visit www.alexa.com and install their counter to my browser. Then I’d search for sites with high rankings (less than 50,000 in Alexa’s counter) and see which of them offer a newsletter. Then I’d contact with the owners of the newsletters and offer them this deal:<br />
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I’d create a special personalized version of my ebook with their information. They would distribute my personalized ebook to their subscribers and in the 1st and that last page of my ebook I’d include this phrase:<br />
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Did you like this ebook? <br />
Subscribe to “Daily News For New York’s Gastronomy” newsletter and be informed about special deals and free launches!”<br />
Click here!<br />
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I’d include a link to my website and my autoresponder would distribute my ebook automatically. <br />
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I’d try to approach as many newsletter owners I could and would use these 6 days to create their personalized versions. I’d also stress them that because I have no time they should send an announcement for my personalized ebook in less than 6 days, otherwise there will be no deal. (I’d ask this AFTER I sent them their personalized version.)<br />
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This way - and by other ways you can think of - I’d try to get as many subscribers as I could.<br />
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Days 25 to 30<br />
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Since my target group is people that love the cheap and good food in NY then I could assume that they either live in NY or will visit the city soon. <br />
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So, guess what I’d do…<br />
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I’d visit again all 50-restaurant owners for telling them the good news.<br />
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I’d tell them that my newsletter started receiving subscribers. I should persuade them that I could add some fame to their restaurants and even send them new customers because X% percent of my subscribers are New Yorkers and they should have already read the menu and the photos from their restaurant.<br />
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(Here money comes…)<br />
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I’d then tell them that I could create a special version of my ebook with 10 featured restaurants illustrated to it along with my personal recommendation for my subscribers to visit these restaurants. I’d then ask from the 50 owners to BID for an advertisement to my ebook and I’d accept the higher bids, but pay attention: ALL 10 winners would also have to give me 1 coupon each - or more - for a free lunch so I’d use these 10 free lunches as an incentive to my subscribers to visit THEIR store! Clever, eh?<br />
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What do you think?<br />
Shouldn’t I be able to get $50.00 dollars from each restaurant owner for adding a thorough presentation of his restaurant to my new ebook and for attracting new customers to his store using the free lunch as an incentive?<br />
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I bet I could do it.<br />
That’s how I could earn the first $500.00 easily.<br />
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I’d then create this special version and offer my new ebook with the free lunches to my subscribers under 1 condition: They should register as my affiliates and suggest my newsletter to 5 of their friends. They could download my new ebook upon the completion of their referrals. <br />
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That’s how I’d increase the number of my subscribers. Who could resist referring 5 friends for a FREE lunch?<br />
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This is what I’d do in 30 days for earning some money fast.<br />
I’d then repeat the whole procedure using the same niche but offering different ebooks with special offers to my subscribers.<br />
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Growing my mailing list, getting paid from the owners of the stores to promote their stores to my subscribers and inside my ebooks and sending customers to their stores would be my unique selling preposition and I’d repeat that process, again and again.<br />
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When I would get more money I could get a reliable hosting account from Host4Profit.com, a good and cheap domain name and started branding myself as the expert on providing free food-goodies to New Yorkers (residents and visitors).<br />
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I’d then spend some money for getting TurboReferer for automating my referral program. Guess what… I could create 10 templates for my affiliates-referrers 1 for each restaurant, so my referrers could choose the restaurant they wanted to promote! Then I’d configure TurboReferer in such a way so for every 10 new subscriptions to my newsletter the successful referrer would get 10 points and would also define a list of bonuses and prizes for the winners.<br />
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I’d also buy the Special Offer Manager for automating my special offers and would start making deals with restaurant owners and accordingly offering these deals to my subscribers. What offers? Well, it could be a free lunch or dinner, or anything related to my niche. <br />
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Okay…<br />
You need more than 30 days to create a living from the Net. <br />
I described this “battle-plan” here just to show you 2 things:<br />
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First you must know who you are and what YOU can do in a unique way on the Internet Era. If you find what you can do and why people could give their money to you then it’s easy to succeed.<br />
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Secondly I wanted to prove you that if you know “how to think” and how to deal with Internet Marketing then you can sell nearly anything and you could create ANY product or service you want! <br />
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I could describe a “battle-plan” with instructions for making you an expert on “How to install cgi scripts” and believe me I should use the same instructions!<br />
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I want to prove you that if you know how Internet Market works and how YOU can offer what SPECIFIC people want to buy in specific then you can have a full time job that will be paying you good money for the rest of your life.<br />
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Follow this simple plan:<br />
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Find your USP.<br />
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Create an info-product for what people need and you can offer.<br />
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Create a list and grow your list by offering new & free products to your subscribers and also to other newsletter owners.<br />
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Then start selling products and services to your subscribers or accept paid ads from people interested to be advertised to your customers.<br />
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Then create a more expensive product or even a membership site and sell it to your customers. <br />
Then repeat this procedure with another product and another niche.<br />
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Epilogue<br />
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If you know who I am I bet you’re expecting from me to describe ways on how to make money on the Net by creating your own software, since this is what I do - and I am not a programmer. <br />
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My unique selling preposition is to create turbo-scripts, turbo-software and turbo-ebooks, all about Internet -Viral- Marketing and AUTOMATION in particular.<br />
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Kevin Bidwell – All-In-One-Business.com<br />
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A. Kevin Bidwell has been called an “Internet Phenomenon.” <br />
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After spending more than a dozen years as a business consultant, trainer and speaker, he started his site All-In-One-Business.com two years ago and quickly became one of the top sites on the net for low-cost, high-profit small business strategies all in no-nonsense, easy to digest language.<br />
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Over 50,000 people read his weekly newsletter I-Marketer [You can subscribe here: http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/s] and he has helped hundreds of people start their own profitable Internet business. His articles are syndicated to more than 1,000,000 people each week.<br />
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He works with Internet beginners through his Success Secrets course which can be viewed at his main site (All-In-One-Business.com) and works individually with clients on a fee basis. In May, 2003 Kevin released a wildly popular report on developing a Passive Income online which can be see here: All-In-One-Business.com/passive<br />
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From 1985 to 2001 Kevin spoke before audiences totaling over 200,000. In 2001 Kevin gave up most public speaking to be home more and to concentrate on his one-on-one clients and students. <br />
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You are likely to find Kevin working from his small office in Williamsburg, Kentucky or spending time with his family on their farm.<br />
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Kevin enjoys working closely with his clients and students, and is well known for giving each his personal attention. He lives by the motto: <br />
I Don’t Succeed Until You Succeed!<br />
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If you would like information on becoming one of Kevin’s personal clients, give his office a call at (606)539-0091. Please understand that since he gives personal attention to each of his clients, his time is often booked up a few months in advance.<br />
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Answer: By Kevin Bidwell<br />
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Assumptions<br />
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Before I begin to answer “what I would do,” I wanted to make the challenge just a little harder. After all, I live in Kentucky and we have never been known for making things easy. I also wanted to make this challenge a little more realistic from my perspective.<br />
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My goal is to be paid—not just earn—$5,000 in thirty days. After all, if my income, business and bank accounts were all instantly gone, I have to do more than “earn” the money. All that stands between me and not feeding my family, losing my farm and being out on the street is 30 days.<br />
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$5,000 will take care of the urgent bills while I rebuild my business.<br />
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I am going to use the following assumptions (because these will make it approachable for almost anyone on the net, not just those who have special skills or contacts):<br />
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I have no knowledge of HTML or any other programming or web construction techniques—I am a total “newbie.”<br />
I have somehow lost all my friends in the process of losing my income, so I can’t depend on them for a loan or for help in marketing my business.<br />
I am flat broke—not one dollar to spend on starting my business.<br />
My credit cards are all maxed out!<br />
I am starting on a Monday morning.<br />
I will work only six days per week, 12 hours per day.<br />
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Day One, Monday – Creating My Strategy<br />
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I would begin by taking time to reflect on where my life is, has been and is going. I know that I have been in tight spots before and have always overcome and I would take time to remind myself that I have what it takes to deal with and overcome this obstacle as well.<br />
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Then I would talk with my family. I would reassure them that this is a temporary situation, remind them we have been in tough places in the past and always overcome and inform them I would need concentrated work time from 6 am (I’m an early riser) to 6pm every day, six days a week for the next 30 days.<br />
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Here is the goal: $5,000 profit in my pocket in 30 days.<br />
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This is a huge goal. Despite what sales pages may often claim (you don’t really believe all that do you?), making $5,000 in profit in any 30 day period takes most people at least a year to achieve—if they get there at all. This will take a solid plan with perfect execution (and maybe a little luck!) to accomplish in just 30 days.<br />
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Here are some things I already know about accomplishing this (you may not know these things yet if you don’t have experience online):<br />
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Affiliate programs are out unless they pay immediately since most will not pay for sales made on days 15 or later until the middle or end of the following month, and I can’t wait that long for my money.<br />
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The same would be true of most payment systems like ClickBank: a sale made on day 25, for instance, would not be paid until 15 days past the end of the month, more than two weeks late for my purposes.<br />
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If I get my own merchant account, it will take only two business days for sales to be credited to my checking account.<br />
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I will have to come up with some “operating capital” fast—there really isn’t any way to avoid some expense, and I am FLAT BROKE.<br />
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I need a product I can earn a net profit of around $25 or more on and make at least 200 sales in order to meet my goal.<br />
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200 sales result from 20,000 targeted visits to a sales page with good follow-up (this assumes a 1% conversion rate).<br />
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20,000 targeted visits come from 40,000 people reading a recommendation by a trusted newsletter editor—if they received the recommendation on a Friday.<br />
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About 25% of the subscribers to a newsletter actually open and read a given recommendation. This number decreases sharply as a subscriber’s time on the list ages (i.e.: 50% or more for subscribers in their first month, 5% or less after six months.) <br />
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Digitally delivered products are the easiest to sell and have the lowest “per sale” costs, allowing for more profit per sale for me. This means I will focus on a software application or eBook that can be sold for around $50 and easily downloaded by the customer.<br />
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I can get hosting for free as well as my merchant account, but I will have a number of expenses to deal with. I need to have about $250 just to make sure I have money for everything I need. I will do a yard sale to get this money.<br />
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Many more sales result from 3-4 mailers rather than a single one.<br />
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So, I take all these things into account as I make my plan. I plan backwards, starting with the end goal, taking into account the time each of these will take. <br />
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I will also endeavor to build my own list in the target market as large as possible so I can offer them my product at a reduced “before it goes public” rate. This will offer them the chance to purchase one week before the general public. If I can build a good-sized list I with some credibility, I can get as many as half to visit my site and many of those will buy from me. <br />
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Here is a timeline of how everything will break down:<br />
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Target Date Activity Completed<br />
Day 30, Tues $5,000 total cash profit placed into my account. Big Party!<br />
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Day 28, Sun 200 Sales must be completed (See 3 above).<br />
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Day 28, Sun Follow-Up mailer is made to people who were <br />
mailed on Friday (see 11 above).<br />
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Day 26, Fri My product is recommended to a total of 250,000<br />
subscribers by a number of respected newsletter<br />
editors (See 7 and 8).<br />
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Day 25, Thu A “last chance” email is sent to my subscribers (See 11 above).<br />
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Day 24, Wed A total of 250,000 subscribers receive a “pre” mailer telling them about the coming mail on Friday (See 11 above).<br />
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Day 22, Mon A follow-up mailer is sent to my list (See 11 above).<br />
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Day 19, Fri A sales mailer is sent to my list (numbering about 2,000) , 50% of those visit the site over the weekend resulting in 10 sales (See 11 above).<br />
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Day 18, Thu Everything is completed and tested, ready to go.<br />
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Day 17, Wed I write follow-up emails.<br />
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Day 16, Tue I write the sales letter text.<br />
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Day 15, Mon I begin sending the eBook or software to editors for their review.<br />
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Day 15, Mon I complete the product (either software or eBook).<br />
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Day 7, Sun Yard sale complete with $250 profit.<br />
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Day 4, Thu While I continue to work on my product and contact joint venture partners, I also put together some free advertising for a yard sale to be held over the weekend.<br />
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Day 3, Wed Begin contacting possible joint venture partners.<br />
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Day 2, Tue I research market and product choice and begin creation of the product.<br />
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I now copy all this down into a check list for me, this time starting with day two and ending with day 30. (Not everything we do in Kentucky is backward.)<br />
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This timeline leaves very little room for error and will require a ton of concentrated work. I need to make sure I walk every day and keep up my spiritual routines as well so I don’t get discouraged.<br />
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Day 2, Tuesday – Research and Product Choice<br />
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I begin today by putting on my Yankees hat backwards. For some reason wearing my Yankees hat backwards (fitted cap, size 7 5/8” with a black and white motif) just makes me think better. While those of you following this plan can skip this step, you are much more likely to succeed wearing anything with a Yankees logo.<br />
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Mets fans will never succeed. Sorry. You might as well quit now.<br />
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I then visit a few ezine (online email newsletter) directories. I am looking for a group of ezines all based around the same topic that have a combined readership of at least 500,000—and over 1,000,000 would be better. In addition, that group needs to be in an area that I am either interested in or know something about. I don’t want to just visit individual ezines, I need a list of many ezines all in one place.<br />
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I use the list of ezine directories compiled here:<br />
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http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/directories/data.html <br />
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I look through the directories and make lists of possible topic areas. This takes me 3-4 hours.<br />
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Then I brainstorm. I search the web using my favorite search engine, seeing what types of products and services are out there already for my target group. I look especially hard at software and ebook offerings. <br />
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I also visit (but do not post) to forums and newsgroups related to my topic. I am looking for the questions being asked, the specifics discussed. I spend an hour or two doing this.<br />
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Since I am a complete newbie, I don’t know how to find or use forums or newsgroups. I use the tutorial here to find out how they work:<br />
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http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/newsforums/data.html <br />
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While all that is still fresh in my mind, I begin to brainstorm ideas that might meet a felt need in one or more of these target groups. Here are some examples:<br />
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Target Group Idea <br />
Arthritis Sufferers How to Reduce Arthritis Pain by 58% Without Taking Dangerous Drugs<br />
Weight Loss How to Effortlessly Lose 1 Dress Size in 30 Days – and Look 10 Years Younger<br />
Athletes How to Increase Your Bench Press by 30 Lbs in 30 Days<br />
Athletes Software to Automatically Produce a 40-30-30 diet plan and recipes in seconds<br />
Marketing How to Sell More of Your Product in the Next 30 Days than you Did All Last Year—and with Half the Effort<br />
Marriage How to Save and Divorce Proof Your Marriage now—Even if Your Spouse has ALREADY Filed<br />
Family How to Raise Obedient, Confident Children with less effort<br />
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I write down as many ideas as I can—the goal here is quantity, not quality. I don’t judge each idea yet—I just get as many ideas as possible.<br />
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One tool I use for brainstorming is a headline generator. I can download one free here:<br />
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http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/headline/data.html <br />
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The goal here is to come up with a BIG IDEA—an idea that has high appeal to my target audience. Once I have created 20-50 ideas, I weed out the ones I know are impossible or impractical to provide, and focus on the best 4 or 5.<br />
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Here comes the hard part: Choosing the one idea I will use.<br />
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I know I can get a small piece of software written for $150-500. Obviously, the more complex the software, the higher the price. One way to reduce the cost is to see if I can do some or all of the work myself. While I am not be able to write the program to create a menu plan, I can create the data base my programmer will pull the information from.<br />
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There are also several online sources of scripts that someone who has minimal skills can modify to create a unique product. I take a look at the list here:<br />
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http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/software/data.html <br />
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If I choose to sell an eBook, I can do that myself. If I wasn’t confident in writing on my own, I would need to hire someone to do it. If I wanted an eBook in the 150 page range, I might be able to get it “ghost written” for an upfront amount as little as $1,000. Since I’m broke, this isn’t an option. If I couldn’t write I would consider offering a “per copy” royalty to the writer. This would allow me to pay only for books sold, and might just get me a great ebook at a very reasonable price. Here is a list of places to find writers:<br />
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http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/writers/data.html <br />
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The best course of action for this project—since we are assuming poverty—is to either barter the programming/writing or do it myself.<br />
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By the end of Day 2 I have settled on a BIG IDEA ebook or software utility.<br />
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If you are following this plan, use my special Joe Kumar Reader Hotline to tell me what big idea you have chosen. I’d really like to hear from you:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/hotline/data.html <br />
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The hotline is like the commissioner’s phone to the bat cave—it gives you a direct line to me!<br />
<br />
One word of caution here: If you are following this plan, don’t fall into the trap of being too broad with your idea. “How to Live the Rest of Your Life in Perfect Health” is waaaaaayyyyy too broad. “How to Lower Your Cholesterol by 40 points THIS MONTH” is not.<br />
<br />
Another word of caution: Never tell your wife or girlfriend you think she is too broad. Trust me on this one.<br />
<br />
Day 3, Wednesday – Work on Product, Contact eZine Editors<br />
<br />
Create a Newsletter<br />
<br />
I begin by creating an ezine to complement my product. What I mean by this is NOT an ezine that says “Hey product, you really look good in that dress…” Instead I am saying that my ezine should appeal to the same target group and lead them naturally toward my product.<br />
<br />
I choose a name for my ezine—I want it to be descriptive of the type of content I will have and related to the topic of my product.<br />
<br />
For example, if my product is the “How to Save Your Marriage Now” eBook, then I want to call my ezine “Marriage Builders.”<br />
<br />
I then sign up for a free autoresponder account. I use FreeAutoBot.com because it doesn’t begin with an advertisement. I try to use MarriageBuilders@freeautobot.com so my responder name relates to my newsletter choice. <br />
<br />
Next I outline a series of 7-14 articles about the topic of my BIG IDEA. It is important that my series have a catchy title: “Seven Steps to a Great Marriage” would be a good series (for a marriage related product, if you are selling an ebook on fine tuning your Harley V-Twin, it probably isn’t….)<br />
<br />
I then create a short welcome message for my new subscribers. I also mention that as a free bonus they are receiving my valuable series “Seven Steps to a Great Marriage” over the next seven days. I write the welcome message in my favorite word processor, save it, then copy it to notepad, inserting a carriage return every 60 characters so that it shows up properly in everyone’s email.<br />
<br />
This welcome message will be loaded into my autoresponder as message one.<br />
<br />
Next I write the first of my seven “Seven Steps” course this morning. I create it with my favorite word processor, save it, then paste it into Notepad, placing a hard carriage return every 60 characters. Once I have done that I load it into my autoresponder as message two. It should be about 250 words.<br />
<br />
Why am I doing this? I need to start getting targeted prospects to my own newsletter. This is the first step. I am also going to let ezine editors I contact offer this to their own lists to also increase my subscriber base. In this way I not only build my list from original contacts, I am also building my list by “borrowing” subscribers from them. <br />
<br />
Start Getting Free Subscribers<br />
<br />
There are a group of companies that will send me subscribers free every day in return for running ads for the new subscribers in my ezine. I register with each of these and they begin sending me subscribers every day. I use the list of them here:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/coops/data.html <br />
<br />
One thing I notice about these subscribers is they are almost all in the Internet marketing arena. Unless I have chosen a product that is as well, many of them will unsubscribe pretty quickly. I will still keep a few, and they are free. Here in the mountains we like to day, “Free is a good price—even on Sunday.” (I’m not really sure what that means.)<br />
<br />
Contact Editors<br />
<br />
Now that I have my ezine started, I need to go back to the directories I looked at yesterday and begin making a list of editors to contact. This is a three step process:<br />
<br />
Identifying the target ezine in the directory.<br />
Visiting the ezine’s home site and signing up for the ezine along with collecting any contact information about the editor (name, address, phone number and email).<br />
Completing the double opt-in process if they have one.<br />
<br />
While I am re-visiting each directory, I make sure to register my new ezine under the appropriate topic(s)!<br />
<br />
Then I begin contacting editors and telling them about my ezine and the book (or software) I will be releasing later this month. I explain I not only wanted to give them a free copy of my product, but also wanted to “meet” them (online) because we share a common theme.<br />
<br />
If I was nervous about contacting possible joint venture partners, I would refer to the tutorial here:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/jvtutorial/data.html <br />
<br />
If you are a little nervous about this step, it’s really OK. I think one of the things no one seems to realize when they first get online is that people online are just people. Contacting a webmaster is just like contacting anyone else. Some of us are jerks, some of us a really great people, most of us can be both at times.<br />
<br />
I do have a rule: Life is too short to work with jerks. If I contact someone—whether it is by phone or email or in person—and they act like a jerk, I just choose not to do business with them. Life is too short to churn up my life dealing with jerks. And Mets fans.<br />
<br />
I don’t spend more than half my day doing the above activities—I want to make sure I put in a good deal of effort on product creation!<br />
<br />
I spend the rest of the day working on my new product. WOO WHOO! As we say here in Kentucky, “I’m happier than a pig in slop.”<br />
<br />
<br />
Day 4, Thursday – Product Creation, Contact Editors, Prep Sale<br />
<br />
Today I write another article for your autoresponder series and load it into my autoresponder as message three.<br />
<br />
I continue to contact ezine editors and create your product.<br />
<br />
I also create posters and other free advertising for this weekend’s yard sale to raise some working capital. We have a local radio station that I can call in and announce my sale for free, so I do that. <br />
<br />
I recruit my boys (14 and 17) to put up posters all over town. It embarrasses them terribly that we are selling all our “junk” to strangers. I call it a “character building experience.” They’ll someday need therapy.<br />
<br />
Day 5, Friday – Product Creation, Contact Editors, Prep Sale<br />
<br />
I write messages four and five of my series and load them into my autoresponder (I do two today since you will miss a day over the weekend.)<br />
<br />
I continue to contact ezine editors and create my product.<br />
<br />
I continue to prepare for my yard sale. (How much is a broken lamp worth these days? How about an “only used once in 1988” waffle iron?)<br />
<br />
Days 6 and 7, Weekend – Yard Sale<br />
<br />
I hold a yard sale! What fun! Make $250 total. I burn the top of my head in the hot sun so I spend the next week looking like a cross between a bowling ball with leprosy and a snake shedding its skin—head first. Note to self: Buy hat!<br />
<br />
I write message six and load it into my autoresponder.<br />
<br />
Day 8, Monday – Product Creation, Contact Editors<br />
<br />
I write message seven and load it into my autoresponder.<br />
<br />
I call my bank and find out the requirements with them for opening a business account. They tell me I need a “DBA” account. Being from Kentucky I immediately assume DBA stands for “Dollars Bubba Aquires” but they tell me, to my surprise, DBA stands for “Doing Business As.” In other words, I need to open an account as Kevin Bidwell “doing business as” Marriage Savers. <br />
<br />
They send me to city hall to get a business license.<br />
<br />
You have to appreciate what city government is like here in Williamsburg. If you are the right age and you watched American TV (or reruns) you will remember “The Dukes of Hazard.” If you can visualize Boss Hogg and his crew, you’ve got the picture.<br />
<br />
I go to City Hall looking for the “Business License” department. I finally hit pay dirt in the office that takes city water and sewer payments. $60 later I am now official.<br />
<br />
I take the rest of the money earned from our wonderful sale—all $190—and use it to open a bank account. I then take $150 and apply that to my credit card balance. <br />
<br />
If you are following this plan and don’t have a card—or even credit—you see some options here: <br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/creditcard/data.html <br />
<br />
I then continue product creation and contacting editors.<br />
<br />
Day 9, Tuesday – Product Creation, Contact Editors, Website<br />
<br />
Now that I have some money, you can begin the process of setting up a web site! <br />
<br />
I will need several things with my site:<br />
<br />
Domain name.<br />
Merchant Account.<br />
Hosting (a parking place for your website.)<br />
<br />
While fees for these normally range from $150 to $500, I go here and get them all, the only current fee being my $8.95 for registering my domain:<br />
<br />
http://www.all-in-one-business.com/hosting/ <br />
<br />
I choose a domain name that is memorable and that is descriptive of my product. Since I am creating a “single product site,” I will want to have a domain name relating to your specific product.<br />
<br />
I finish out the day by continuing to work on my product and contact editors. OK, this part is getting boring, but I have a deadline. I push through the boredom and keep working.<br />
<br />
Note on the exciting world of Internet Marketing: <br />
<br />
I love working for myself and I enjoy about 90% of the things I do each week. <br />
<br />
But I do work. <br />
<br />
In fact, almost everyone I know with a website works at it. And it’s not always glamorous. Sometimes the work you need to do is tedious. Sometimes it is mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting. <br />
<br />
But it’s worth it—every time! <br />
<br />
I now earn more in a bad week than I would make at any job. I have more personal and family freedom. My family has security that grows each and every week and is not dependent upon the whims of some corporate executive.<br />
<br />
Day 10, Wednesday – Product Creation, Contact Editors<br />
<br />
I open a paid autoresponder account so I can begin sending out a weekly newsletter. I will want to make sure the account has unlimited responders for one fee—I will want more than just one and services charging per responder can get very expensive. I look here for a list of recommended companies:<br />
<br />
http://www.quicktell.com/ <br />
<br />
I need to put up a place holder page on your site. Since I don’t have any HTML skills, I create an “instant” one here:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/placeholder/data.html <br />
<br />
But I still have to get it up on my site. I go to:<br />
<br />
http://www.CuteFTP.com <br />
<br />
download and install their “windows like” file transfer protocol program. I call ValueWeb at (800)522-1093 and have them walk me through the process of uploading my page. They are very helpful—though the wait was longer than I would have liked.<br />
<br />
Once I have completed those tasks, I continue to work on my product and contact editors.<br />
<br />
Day 11, Thursday – Product Creation, Contact Editors<br />
<br />
I load the email addresses from my free autoresponder account—as well as the messages—into my new autoresponder. I will need to wait another 7 days before deleting the free autoresponder to make sure everyone that was “mid-sequence” is completed.<br />
<br />
I then re-direct all of my ad coops and other promotions to the new autoresponder address.<br />
<br />
Once I have completed those tasks, I continue to work on my product and contact editors.<br />
<br />
Day 12, Friday – Product Creation, Contact Editors, Newsletter<br />
<br />
I begin the day by writing my newsletter. It should have a brief personal introduction followed by a short, 250-400 word article written by me on the topic for my site. <br />
<br />
I send it out to my subscribers.<br />
<br />
I load the contact information for my editors (the ones I have had some agreement or positive response from) into another autoresponder. I go ahead and get this done since I will be sending out an email to all of them soon!<br />
<br />
Once I have completed those tasks, I continue to work on my product and contact more editors.<br />
<br />
Days 13-14, Weekend – Product Creation, Contact Editors<br />
<br />
I complete my product and begin “de-bugging” or “editing” depending on whether I am doing a piece of software or an eBook. I have a mini-party to celebrate the things being done! <br />
<br />
I contact more editors about joint venturing with me.<br />
<br />
Day 15, Monday – Final Version completed and Sent<br />
<br />
I take the article I wrote for Friday’s newsletter and submit it to article exchange groups. I get a list of groups and how to format my article here:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/exchange/data.html <br />
<br />
I complete my product. If I am making an eBook, I will need to covert it from a Word file into a PDF file. I can do that free online:<br />
<br />
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html<br />
<br />
If I have time, I begin writing my sales copy. (See tomorrow…)<br />
<br />
Day 16, Tuesday – Create Website Template and Sales Text<br />
<br />
We are using the assumption that I know nothing about building web pages. Here is where the rubber meets the road. Somehow I’ve got to get a web page built—cheap!<br />
<br />
I have to hire someone to do it for me. It will cost me about $50 - $150 for a basic, five page site. We have a list of cheap web designers here:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/webdesign/data.html <br />
<br />
If I wasn’t on a strict timeline (30 days) I would learn how to make basic web pages myself. For this project I won’t need anything fancy, just a basic site. I will need the following pages:<br />
<br />
Main sales page<br />
Order page (this integrates with your payment system)<br />
Contact Page<br />
Frequent Questions Page<br />
Legal Disclaimers Page (optional but recommended)<br />
<br />
These pages are simply text pasted into a template (except for the order page.) My web designer will need some basic information from me and the content for each of the pages.<br />
<br />
I go to the page and pick the $50 sales page option. I may be $50 poorer, but I am about to gain a website! They tell me it will be 1 business day from the time I give them my information for it to be complete.<br />
<br />
To set up tracking for my joint venture partners—I can’t afford the software—I use the free method outlined here:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/cookietrack/data.html <br />
<br />
I pick up a free customized logo for my website here:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/graphics/data.html <br />
<br />
Now comes time to write my sales copy. I use this sales copy tutorial to create the copy for my page:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/copytutorial/data.html <br />
<br />
I also get this great free eBook from Joe Sugar and read it to give me even more ideas:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/sugar/data.html <br />
<br />
I spend the rest of the day “tweaking” my sales copy and then I send it to my web designer to put into my page.<br />
<br />
Day 17, Wednesday – Write Follow-Up Emails<br />
<br />
Today I send a “pre-mailer” to my own list, now numbering about 2,000, telling them I am going to send them a special email on Friday and to be looking for it. It’s brief and personal. Here’s what it says:<br />
<br />
|firstname|<br />
<br />
Just wanted to let you know I will be sending out an important special announcement Friday. I wanted to make sure you caught it.<br />
<br />
I think it is exactly the type of thing you have been looking for |firstname|<br />
<br />
Be looking for it and let me know what you think.<br />
<br />
Have a good one |firstname|<br />
<br />
Kevin<br />
<br />
PS: Be sure to let me know what you think—and if there is any other way I can be of service to you!<br />
<br />
<br />
Here I set up my order page as well. I want to (originally) offer my eBook to my own list at 50% off, so I call Card Service International and they walk me through the steps of putting all the right codes on the page to get that done. Despite my ignorance, they are incredibly patient.<br />
<br />
I will change it back when the sale is over.<br />
<br />
Having a series of autoresponder follow-up emails will greatly increase the number of sales I make. I spend the day creating follow-ups and loading them into a new autoresponder. I set up one on a one day delay, and one each at 3, 5, 7, 14, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days. I download this sample series of messages and adjust them to my product:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/followup/data.html <br />
<br />
Day 18, Thursday – Tie up All The Loose Ends!<br />
<br />
I take this day to make sure everything is done and ready to go! Tomorrow I start making sales!<br />
<br />
Day 19, Friday – Send Out Your Sales Mailer<br />
<br />
I begin the day by sending out a sales letter to my own list. It goes something like this:<br />
<br />
|firstname|<br />
<br />
Kevin Bidwell from Marriage Builders here…<br />
<br />
I just completed a great ebook that will help build any marriage, and I wanted you to have a “pre-release” look. It will be available to the public next Friday, the 26th.<br />
<br />
Writing this was an amazing experience. For instance, I was able to uncover a cutting-edge technique that restores joy and fulfillment to marriages on the brink of divorce—and it works even when one spouse has become totally disinterested. <br />
<br />
[One now-happy couple I told about this technique credits this single piece of information with restoring their marriage—even after they had already filed for divorce!] <br />
<br />
I want you to take a look at it and tell me what you think |firstname|<br />
<br />
Thanks<br />
<br />
Kevin<br />
<br />
PS: I am only going to leave this page up until Monday, so be sure to visit today and give me your feedback |firstname|<br />
<br />
The special sales page I created for them offers them the book (or software) for 50% less than I will be offering it to everyone else--$25 instead of $50. Because these people are all my own subscribers, I still end up making the same $25 per sale.<br />
<br />
Days 20-21, Weekend – Make Sales, Answer Emails<br />
<br />
I should make my first 10 to 20 sales this weekend.<br />
<br />
Day 22, Monday – Send a Follow Up Mailer to your List<br />
<br />
I send a follow-up mailer to my list to tell them I will extend the “sale” through Friday.<br />
<br />
I send out personal confirmation emails to all the editors I have lined up along with their individual tracking codes. I modify the sales letters I wrote for myself and send the letters for them to send to their lists on Wednesday, Friday and Monday.<br />
<br />
Day 23, Tuesday – Answer Emails and Process Sales<br />
<br />
I answer emails and process sales!<br />
<br />
Day 24, Wednesday – First Mailer by Joint Venture Partners<br />
<br />
This is where the JV partners send out the “pre-mailer” to their subscribers. Total number of subscribers sent out to: 250,000 or more.<br />
<br />
Day 25, Thursday – Answer emails and Process Sales<br />
<br />
I answer emails and process sales!<br />
<br />
Day 26, Friday – Major Mailers Go Out!<br />
<br />
JV Partners send out the sales letter to all 250,000+ subscribers, resulting in about 20,000 or more visits and 200 sales over the weekend! I am busy keeping up with the sales as well as tracking who sold what (because I don’t have automatic tracking in place, I have to keep track of who sells what by looking at the receipt.)<br />
<br />
Day 28, Sunday – Follow-up Mailer Goes Out<br />
<br />
My joint venture partners send out a reminder email.<br />
<br />
This “reminder” email will boost sales for Sunday and Monday.<br />
<br />
Day 29, Monday – Calculate Total Sales<br />
<br />
In addition to answering my emails and processing the continuing sales, I will also want to figure out if I made my $5,000 yet. Over $10,000 in gross receipts should hit my account tomorrow.<br />
<br />
Day 30, Tuesday – Get $5,000, Have a Party<br />
<br />
I will get together with my family to have a little party over our success. A cookout with some huge steaks might be nice! (OK, now that I’m 40 maybe some boneless chicken breasts…nah, I think this calls for steak!)<br />
<br />
Months 2 through 12, Ongoing Sales and Growing the Business<br />
<br />
Creating a flood of traffic and sales would mean that I would have enough momentum to receive another 100 sales or so in month 2, netting me about $2,500. Here is what I would do to increase that amount each month as well as build up my business in terms of traffic, sales and profits:<br />
<br />
Ongoing<br />
<br />
I will create clever ways each month to recruit more and more targeted subscribers to my list. Building my list would be my number one priority. If I was in an average niche market, I will develop a list to 25,000 within six months. In a larger market, I will get it to 50,000 in six months and 100,000 in the first year.<br />
<br />
I will also recruit one or two new affiliates each month to sell my product, doing enough to maintain a level of sales above 75 per month of my initial product.<br />
<br />
Every three months I will create a new product and offer it through my affiliates.<br />
<br />
I will also create or secure some higher-end products and offer them to my customers. Since my original product is fairly inexpensive, I will want to give them opportunities to spend more money with my company.<br />
<br />
I will use every opportunity to “brand” myself and my company. Free advertising, press releases, participating in forums and newsgroups will be a regular routine.<br />
<br />
Monthly<br />
<br />
At the beginning of each month I would choose a product being offered through an affiliate program which is highly targeted to my subscribers. All of the articles I run that month will be tied to the topic of the product. <br />
<br />
In week three, instead of a newsletter, I will run a promotion for the product.<br />
<br />
If I have chosen my product wisely, this will result in a return of between 5 cents and 20 cents per subscriber on my list. Of course this adds to the money I make from sales of my personal products.<br />
<br />
Following this routine I should be able to dominate my chosen market.<br />
<br />
Conclusion<br />
<br />
I think if I had read this chapter before I was on the web, I wouldn’t have believed it would work…<br />
<br />
After all, the idea of making $5,000 with no investment in 30 days time seems not only improbable, it’s a little ridiculous. I can prove to you it is possible—though not easy. How do I know? These are the exact methods—with very small modifications—I used to successfully launch my Passive Income Report in May, 2003.<br />
<br />
The results speak for themselves: Over 200 sales in the first two weeks, with over 300 sales in the first 30 days. This was from a 60 page report I carefully wrote and positioned. My gross profit was over $7,500 in the first 30 days.<br />
<br />
Now, I will admit I have some distinct advantages over someone who is just starting out, but look at it this way: What if someone just starting out makes half or even 10% that much in his first month? That is still a huge first month profit compared to almost any other type of business you can start.<br />
<br />
When it comes to business: Now is the time and the Internet is the place to begin.<br />
<br />
If you want to follow this plan, here are the sticking points I see coming up for most people:<br />
<br />
Choosing a product with little or no potential. You need to have something you can position as unique to its market, not the “same old thing.”<br />
<br />
Getting bogged down by technical things. If you have to hire something done, just do it. Don’t let the technical things keep you from getting sales made. If it is going to cost you $100 to pay someone to do something, figure out a way to come up with the $100 rather than put your dreams and goals on hold.<br />
<br />
Not taking the time to contact possible JV partners properly—or being intimidated by the task. Joint Venture partners are your key to success period. Take time to get to know them and listen to them. They will make or break you.<br />
<br />
Most important: Giving up when things don’t go as planned. The people who succeed online are the people who see themselves succeeding. They aren’t focused on past failures or future threats. Those who fail give up because they stop believing they can succeed. You will make some mistakes, you will likely get ripped off from time to time, but if you learn as you go you will succeed.<br />
<br />
If you have any questions you feel I or my staff can help you with, contact me on the Joe Kumar Reader Hotline I’d love to hear from you:<br />
<br />
http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/hotline/data.html <br />
<br />
Remember: I don’t succeed until YOU succeed.<br />
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Klaus Dahl – KlausDahl.com<br />
<br />
Klaus is first of all a Christian who believes in Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord.<br />
<br />
For several years Klaus has been engaged in sales and marketing - both online and offline. <br />
<br />
When he studied Christian theology, he worked as a successful telemarketing salesman. Later on he went from door-to-door as a salesman and as a business-to-business salesman. The experiences learned through the hard business of selling, learned him much about what selling is, what motivates people to buy, and the importance of being intergrative in one's business. <br />
<br />
Klaus has studied successful practical Direct Marketing in details.<br />
Klaus soon got interested in the Internet, and immediately saw the fantastic possibilities on the net. Today the World Wide Web is an integral part of his everyday life. Consequently he began working with websites and webmarketing. <br />
<br />
Working background <br />
<br />
Among other things, Klaus has worked as a salesman and journalist. <br />
<br />
Later on he became a webmaster for a large website. <br />
<br />
Education <br />
<br />
Klaus Dahl is educated as a theologian on the University of Aarhus, Denmark. <br />
<br />
Besides, he has studied marketing - both offline and online Marketing - extensively for years. <br />
<br />
Interests <br />
<br />
Klaus loves reading, talking with his friends, fishing, sport, jogging, music, good food, travelling and a lot of other things that makes life wonderful. <br />
<br />
The books he reads are about all kinds of subjects - but mostly about theology, marketing, selling, fishing, health, how-to, self-help and many other subjects. <br />
<br />
Family <br />
<br />
Klaus is married with Anette and they have three children: Majbritt, eight years, and Joachim, eleven years and Cecilia, two years old. <br />
http://www.klausdahl.com <br />
Answer – By Klaus Dahl<br />
<br />
Day 1:<br />
<br />
I'd do absolutely nothing. At least not anything directly related to my business, product development, marketing or sales.<br />
<br />
Instead, I'd find a quiet place where I would not be disturbed or interrupted by anyone. Personally, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, and I'd take the time to share all my problems with God. I'd simply pour out my heart for him and<br />
tell him about all the problems I had. <br />
<br />
Then I'd quietly and slowly read through some chapters in my Bible. I'd then meditate on a few promises in the Bible. For instance, I'd meditate on Psalm 23 in the Old Testament. I'd slowly repeat the verses in this Psalm again and again, while I would inwardly pray to God through Jesus Christ to reveal the true meaning of these verses. <br />
<br />
I'd really think hard about the words in the Psalm, and try to<br />
receive them as God's promise to anyone who believes in him and his Son. I'd also ask God to reveal any hidden sin that may have caused my bad situation, and I'd confess that sin to him and on the basis of his promise in the Bible I'd thank him for his forgiveness.<br />
<br />
The rest of the day I'd spend praying and thinking about how God wants me to solve my severe problems. That is, I'd begin to plan on what to do to begin earning enough money to solve my money problems.<br />
<br />
But again, first of all, I'd stand before the face of God, until I'd gotten his perspective on my problems. I'd first have to cast the burden of my problems on him, before I'd be ready for the next step. Only then I would be ready to begin planning the details of how I could solve my money problems through an Internet business.<br />
<br />
If I didn't already do it, from now on I would then spend some time each morning and evening praying and meditating on God's Word.<br />
<br />
Some people may wonder why on earth I would do this. "Don't you understand that you need to act, and that you need to act NOW?" they'd say.<br />
<br />
But that's one major mistake that a lot of new entrepreneurs make, is that they panick and jump ahead into some business project. If you've tried this, you know exactly what I'm talking about here. You can worry yourself to death, all while doing nothing really effective to solve your problems.<br />
<br />
However, if you don't first find real peace in your spirit, and if you don't first plan what you're going to do, you'll most likely run around in circles. You'll get nowhere, and you'll just end up frustrated and probably broke.<br />
<br />
But when I do what I've just shared with you, you'll often get an inner peace you can't describe with words. Sometimes it'll take longer than other times before you'll experience that peace. But it doesn't matter that much.<br />
<br />
That isn't the primary reason you're doing it. The inner peace you'll often experience is actually only a pleasant side-effect. What's really important is that I go beyond my own, limited point of view. I get another view on my whole situation.<br />
<br />
Yes, and by the way, talking about prayer and meditation on the Word, I'd also something else, closely related to is: While sitting there, I'd try to get to the point where I could honestly say to God: "Even if I'm not gonna make it, even if I'm going to fail miserable, I know that you're still there. I know that you'll not forsake or leave me. I know that you still still love me. I cast and throw all my worries on you. I'll leave it there with you. Show me what to do, and I'll do it."<br />
<br />
<br />
Day 2:<br />
<br />
First of all I would take a piece of paper and quickly write down all my interests. I'd not be too critical here, but just quickly write down all everything that really interested me.<br />
<br />
I'd now open my computer, load up to the Internet and go to http://www.clickbank.com and http://www.cj.com.<br />
<br />
There I would look for the affiliate programs that are most popular. I'd also read through the different conditions for joining each affiliate program. And of course I'd also check the payment terms, and ask myself if I would be satisfied with these terms.<br />
<br />
Next, I would ask myself if any of these programs overlapped any of my personal interests which I listed on the piece of paper mentioned above.<br />
<br />
Then I would choose one or two of these affiliate programs, based on whether they 1) were popular, 2) I had a personal interest in the niche they belonged to, and 3) whether I could accept the terms for joining these affiliate programs.<br />
<br />
After having choose one or two programs, I would then join them.<br />
<br />
Finally, I'd go to http://www.google.com and make a search for some of the keywords describing the niches to which the affiliate programs I had just joined, belonged to. In particular I would look out for active discussion boards targeting the same niches as the affiliate products. <br />
<br />
I'd also make a quick visit to each of the discussion boards I had found.<br />
<br />
Then I would go to sleep. Why do I mention that? Yes, you see, one of the worst mistakes I've made is to stay up and work late in the night. If I do so, my energy and motivation the next day is almost always much less than optimal. A lot of people may laugh of this, but believe me, this is much more important than most people ever imagine. If you doubt it, I strongly recommend you to read more about the importance of this, in the following books:<br />
<br />
James Loehr: "The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal"<br />
<br />
Stanley Coren: "Sleep Thieves : An Eye-Opening Exploration into the Science and Mysteries of Sleep"<br />
<br />
Dr. James B. Maas: "Power Sleep: The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for Peak Performance"<br />
<br />
Follow the advice in these books, and you'll see a huge difference. I promise.<br />
<br />
<br />
Day 3:<br />
<br />
Today I would go to one of the following web site and find one or two web templates that seemed suitable for the affiliate programs I had choosen the day before:<br />
<br />
http://www.atemplate.com<br />
http://www.basictemplates.com<br />
http://www.boxedart.com<br />
http://www.templatemonster.com<br />
http://www.templatesmaker.com<br />
http://www.thetemplatestore.com<br />
http://www.webtemplateworld.com<br />
<br />
I would then either buy those web templates, or buy a membership to one of the membership sites offering web templates.<br />
<br />
BTW, please understand that I can't guarantee wheter you'll be personally satisfied with the service you'll get through the web sites behind these links, or not. I just want to suggest a few links that I know others have found helpful.<br />
<br />
Your next move is to visit the following web site:<br />
<br />
http://www.keyworddensity.com<br />
<br />
The reason is that you now need to develop a list of keywords related to the affiliate programs that you've choosen.<br />
<br />
They have several options for you to choose. Take a look at them, choose the one that suits you the most, and follow the instructions for finding the right keywords.<br />
<br />
Copy and paste the keywords you find into your text editor. I use the following text-editors:<br />
<br />
http://www.notetab.com<br />
http://www.textpad.com<br />
http://www.ultraedit.com<br />
<br />
Each have it's own strength, but they're all super.<br />
<br />
I would then go to one of the following pages to buy a domain name:<br />
<br />
http://123cheapdomains.com <br />
http://williecrawford.com/domains <br />
http://www.123reg.co.uk<br />
http://www.godaddy.com<br />
<br />
It's important that you choose your domain name on the basis of the most important keywords that you just found through http://www.keyworddensity.com. Choose 2-3 of these keywords and incorporate them into your new domain name.<br />
<br />
Next, I'd go to one of the following web hosts to buy some server space:<br />
<br />
http://www.host4profit.com<br />
http://www.newwebsite.com<br />
http://www.onlinebusinesspower.com<br />
http://www.stoco.net<br />
http://www.omnis.com<br />
http://www.thirdspherehosting.com<br />
http://www.fivedollarhosting.com<br />
<br />
<br />
That's probably it for this day, don't you think? So, remember to relax and don't burn your light in both ends. I know you need the money, and you need it fast. But don't destroy your health or your relationship with your family. It simply isn't worth it. Money isn't THAT important, don't you<br />
agree? There'll be a lot to do in the following days, so it's important to keep your energy level high.<br />
<br />
<br />
Day 4:<br />
<br />
If you don't already have a web editor, get one. There are so many fine web editors on the market today, that you'll easily find one that suits your needs and wishes. You'll even be able to find several free ones. If you have the Notetab text-editor - http://www.notetab.com - which I mentioned above,<br />
you can use that one for editing your web pages. But then you need to know something about html. If you don't know anything about html, I suggest one of the following web editors:<br />
<br />
DreamWeaver - http://www.macromedia.com<br />
MS FrontPage - http://www.frontpage.com<br />
Namo - http://www.namo.com<br />
<br />
As I said, there are many others, but these editors are really good. I've used all of them, so I know from personal experience.<br />
<br />
Now, use the following free resource to find your major competitors:<br />
<br />
http://www.alexa.com<br />
<br />
Just read more about the program on their web site. There you'll find more information about how you can use Alexa. You know, a lot of Internet marketers use that program. It's one of the most popular programs on the Internet.<br />
<br />
You can also use the following resources:<br />
<br />
http://www.google.com<br />
http://www.overture.com<br />
<br />
<br />
Finally, don't forget to visit the discussion boards you hopefully found. Read some of the posts there and look for links to popular and helpful web site targeting your new market.<br />
<br />
When you've found other web sites that also sell products to the same market as you're now going to target, take a close look on these web sites.<br />
<br />
For each web site, ask yourself the following questions:<br />
<br />
- Does this web site make it attractive for their visitors to buy their product?<br />
<br />
- Would I personally buy their product?<br />
<br />
- What is good on this web site?<br />
<br />
- What could be better?<br />
<br />
Try to get an idea about how these web sites sell their products to their visitors. Find out what they do well, and ask yourself how you could use the same tactics to sell products to your visitors.<br />
<br />
Next, open up your web template in your web editor and see how you can incorporate some of the same elements on your web site, that made the other web sites successful.<br />
<br />
Don't over-complicate anything. Don't add a lot of graphics. Don't change too much in the template. It's often better to have a simple and plain looking web site than a fancy web site that takes away the attention of your visitors from your offer.<br />
<br />
Remember, it's extremely important that your new web site have a very clear focus. The space is too limited to tell you how to do that. But if you want to know more about it, I strongly suggest that you read some of the products by the following authors:<br />
<br />
Jimmy Brown - http://www.123webmarketing.com<br />
Terry Dean - http://www.bizpromo.com<br />
<br />
So, go ahead and begin to play with your future web site. Enter the links to your new affiliate program. And remember to keep everything simple.<br />
<br />
<br />
Day 5:<br />
<br />
Now it's time to begin marketing my new web site with the affiliate links.<br />
<br />
I would to begin to write articles on subjects that relate to the affiliate products that I sell. In particular it's important that each article focus on one or two of the keywords that I found earlier through http://www.keyworddensity.com.<br />
<br />
The articles I'm going to use in several ways:<br />
<br />
1) I will publish the articles on my web site, and each article will have a link that points to the page with the affiliate product. Besides, each page with an article will invite the reader to sign up for my contact list. I could either use a pop up script (try http://www.popupgenerator.com) or a<br />
pop over script (try http://www.popovergenerator.com), or I could just place a form prominently on each page. I could also choose to either send out a regular electronic newsletter to all subscribers, or I could offer them email courses that are send out automatically through an autoresponder (like<br />
http://www.autoresponseplus.com, http://www.aweber.com or http://www.getresponse.com).<br />
<br />
2) I will also offer my articles to other web sites and newsletters on the Internet. I'll just send a personal letter to each potential publisher of my articles. If it's a very popular web site or newsletter I would consider offering them the exclusive rights to publish one or more articles.<br />
<br />
3) I would use the articles to create ebooks and electronic reports that I would either sell or distribute for free. I would probably write an ebook with complete resale rights.<br />
<br />
Do you find it hard to write articles?<br />
<br />
Here is an excellent way to make it much easier for you to write articles.<br />
<br />
Besides, if you do it this way, it's much easier to motivate yourself to write those articles.<br />
<br />
Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to write something if you write it to a concrete person? If you get an email from a good friend who asks you about something, you'll probably find it much easier to write than if you just try to sit down and write to an abstract audience. Right? At least, that's the way I personally feel.<br />
<br />
So, here is the way to make it much easier to write an article: Just go to the discussion boards that you found earlier. Look for questions that people ask on the discussion boards. Then go and look for the answers. <br />
<br />
You can search for the answers through the search engines (http://www.google.com, http://www.altavista.com etc.), you could find the answer on your local library or through books you buy in your local bookshop (or http://www.amazon.com), one of the many online dictionaries, or you could even find the answer on one of the discussion boards you've located. <br />
<br />
Most discussion boards have a search function, and very often most of the old messages aren't actually deleted from the boards. Instead these old messages are just archived. And if you use the search function, you'll often be able to find old messages that contain the answer to the questions. <br />
<br />
You could also repeat the same question on some of the other discussion boards, combine the answers you get with your own personal findings, experiences or opinions, and thus write an answer to the question with your own, unique<br />
twist. When you write the answer, use short paragraphs and sentences.<br />
<br />
Besides, you can use numbered sections ( 1), 2) 3) etc.) or headlines. This makes it much easier for you to write the answer and for others to read them. Finally, remember to place a short signature below your answer, with a compelling link to the web site which promote the affiliate product you're selling.<br />
<br />
If you take the time to write a really helpful and well-researched answer, you'll soon notice that people really appreciate your help and knowledge. Many of them will click on your link, read about the affiliate product, sign up for your electronic newsletter or email course, and some will buy the affiliate product that you resell.<br />
<br />
But do you see something else? Because you've written the answer on the discussion board as an answer to a concrete question, you know that it's a problem that some people belonging to the niche you target, are interested in finding an answer to. So, you'll soon get a very accurate picture of<br />
which problems (and potential products) that the people belonging to your nice are interested in.<br />
<br />
But you'll get even more than that! You'll also have something that you can turn into an article. An article that you know is hot. You probably have to edit the answer you wrote, a bit before you will publish it as an article. But usually it's very easy and doesn't require much work of you.<br />
<br />
Believe me, this is a very easy and exciting way to write articles about hot subjects!<br />
<br />
The first day I would probably write 2-3 articles and publish them on my web site. And you'll have fun doing it, all the while you're receiving emails and orders from people who've read your answers on the discussion boards and clicked your links pointing to your web site with the affiliate product offer.<br />
<br />
When you've done this for just a few weeks, you'll have a lot of articles that you can publish on your own web site, distribute all over the Internet, and turn into your own, unique products.<br />
<br />
Just remember to always give anything you write, your own unique twist. It isn't as difficult as it may sound. For instance, if you tell about something experienced, if you tell a story you've heard or read somewhere else, if you tell about some recent, interesting statistics, quote another<br />
(!) expert on the subject, or if you share your own personal opinions yes then you've given your articles a unique twist. <br />
<br />
Whatever you do, don't just publish the same answer on several discussion boards. Adjust each answer. Try to give each article and each product you create a unique twist. Again, you don't need to be a creative genius to do this. Just change a few things here and there, as I suggested above.<br />
<br />
<br />
Day 6:<br />
<br />
Today I would buy yet another domain name and a webhotel. But this new web site would only have one goal: To let the visitors sign up to my contact list. Again, would either offer them an electronic newsletter or an email<br />
course. The content that I would publish in the electronic newsletter or the email course could later on be used as one of the articles I mentioned above.<br />
<br />
This task will probably fill most of the day.<br />
<br />
Day 7:<br />
<br />
From now on your daily task is this:<br />
<br />
Promote your web sites, your offers, your subscription lists each and every day.<br />
<br />
Some people get bored doing this day out and day in. But that's where the money is.<br />
<br />
There are so many ways to do this that I can't cover them all here.<br />
<br />
However, I want to mention one superior way of marketing: Joint Ventures.<br />
<br />
I actually suggest that you spend most of your marketing energy arranging Joint Ventures. Write personal letters to other marketers who target your market too. Offer them Joint Venture deals that they can't say no to. Make it easier for them to say yes than no. Prepare everything so that they just need to click a few keys on their keyboard to earn money from your Joint Venture. Why not spend most of your time arranging Joint Ventures, instead of spending most of your time selling your products one by one? It really makes sense doesn't it?<br />
<br />
Joint Ventures are also excellent for getting your own unique products. You know, even if you're totally unknown in a new market, you'll soon become a household name if people in that market begin to connect your name with the most famous experts and the leading names in that niche.<br />
<br />
For example, if you're totally unknown, and if you find it hard to get established in your new niche market, you can create an ebook based on the article you've written above. But then, instead of just jumping ahead and publishing your ebook, why don't you contact one of the leading business men or women in your new niche? Pick out one of the top business men or women out. Send him (or her) a personal email and tell him about your new book, and offer him to get a copy of it if he like. And now comes the point: <br />
<br />
If that businessman seems to like your new book (or report), ask that person if he'll be intersted in being listed as the author of that book - besides you! That is, you wrote the book, but you offer the other person to be listed as a co-author. Maybe your new co-author would like to add something of value to your new book. Maybe it's one or more additional chapters, or maybe a bonus. <br />
<br />
Whatever, if your new business partner likes the book, it's an extremely easy way for that person to get a new, unique product to sell. He (or she) and you are the only ones selling the product - and of course all the affiliates that resell your book, just like you did a few days (or weeks) ago.<br />
<br />
You can also offer other web site owners to use some of your articles or reports as bonuses to their own products. The result is the same: Your name will be connected with people who already have an established reputation in your field.<br />
<br />
There are of course many other ways for you to market your web sites, your offers, your subscription lists. Here are a few (including the ones I've already mentioned):<br />
<br />
- Joint Ventures<br />
- Discussion boards<br />
Ezine articles (in other ezines)<br />
- Ebooks (free or with resale rights)<br />
- The search engines<br />
- The pay-per-click search engines<br />
- Ads in other newsletters<br />
- Off-line marketing (postcards etc.)<br />
- Press releases<br />
- Seminars (as a speaker)<br />
- Mouth to mouth (referrals)<br />
<br />
Just to mention a few.<br />
<br />
So, this is what I would do. And if you want to become a success on the Internet, I suggest you do the same. Begin with small steps. But take them often :-)<br />
<br />
Market and promote your offers each and every day. Create and sell new products. Resell even more affiliate and Joint Venture products.<br />
<br />
BTW, I forgot what's probably the most important thing in successful marketing?<br />
<br />
Do you know what I'm talking about?<br />
<br />
TESTING - of course!<br />
<br />
Remember to test each and every step you take. One way to do that is to use one of the tracking scripts you can find on the Internet:<br />
<br />
http://www.adtrackz.com<br />
http://www.lightningtrack.com<br />
http://www.prolinkz.com<br />
<br />
There are also several fee-based serviced you can use. But personally I like to use one of the scripts I just listed.<br />
<br />
Each an every day I suggest that you set aside a few minutes an plug in the numbers from your tracking program into a spread sheet program (for example Excel or the spread sheet in the free Open Office package:<br />
http://www.openoffice.org).<br />
<br />
I wish you much success in your venture!<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Klaus Dahl<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Len Thurmond – TheAffiliateReview.com<br />
<br />
<br />
Len Thurmond Is the Editor of Popular Newsletter, <br />
"The Affiliate Review" and author of many successful <br />
book on How To Succeed On The Internet, such as...<br />
The Book of Steve<br />
http://BookOfSteve.TheAffiliateReview.com <br />
Success...What Is It And Where Can I Get Some?<br />
http://Success.TheAffiliateReview.com<br />
The Best of The Best<br />
http:/BestOf.TheAffiliateReview.com<br />
And The Golden List<br />
http://GoldenList.TheAffiliateReview.com/Intro.html<br />
And Co-Author of the Very Successful...<br />
AutoWebLaw Pro<br />
http://www.AutoWebLaw.com <br />
<br />
Len has been publishing 'The Affiliate Review' for almost 4 Years now, and has literally helped Thousands of people get started in the right direction towards being a success at Internet Marketing. <br />
As you'll see in this interview, his reputation as a straight forward, no 'Bull' type of teacher, is well deserved, and is greatly appreciated by his Sixty Thousand plus Subscribers, as well as the countless numbers of people who have read and learned from his books. He helps people build businesses that last!<br />
If you're interested in being Personally Coached by Len, Send a blank email to... 7238@QuickPayPro.com for details.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Answer – By Len Thurmond<br />
Hi Joe,<br />
I want to thank you for inviting me to be a part of this great effort ;o)<br />
I'll do the best I can within the parameters you gave. But...<br />
<br />
That's a tough "Row to Hoe"!<br />
<br />
I built my reputation and my list over a much longer period of time than 30 days, and don't believe that the "Fast track" methods are the best. It takes time to build any business to last, and unfortunately, what most people get from a "Quickie" campaign, is just a flash in the pan career.<br />
<br />
That said, if I HAD to do it in a month, and still had the knowledge I've gained over the years...<br />
<br />
The first thing I'd do, would be to do a hard and heavy soul searching of what niche I really wanted to get into. I'd ask myself, what subject, hobby, business, craft, or whatever, was I so passionate about, that I'd do it anyway, just because I love it so much!<br />
<br />
Then I'd start looking for people who felt the same about that subject as I do, and start the process of gathering them to me.<br />
<br />
I'd go to Google/Groups, and do searches on keywords pertaining to that subject, to find forums and chatrooms, etc, where those people gather. You'd be amazed at what you'll find. You'll find groups of people gathered together on just about ANY and EVERY subject imaginable. So finding your target group, is not really that hard. But next...you have to win them over!<br />
<br />
First you have to have something to give them that they'll be interested in, so that when you attract them, you can start building your credibility as an expert, and someone they should trust to always tell them the truth and give them useful information about the subject at hand.<br />
<br />
You could write an free report on the subject, or a series of free reports, that they'll get from your autoresponder.<br />
<br />
But the absolute best way to gain their respect and trust, is to publish a regular newsletter on the topic they're interested in.<br />
<br />
Then I'd start participating in the dialogues that are going on in those gathering places, always trying to be helpful and giving useful advice. <br />
<br />
At the end of each comment, I'd place a short 1 or 2 line sig file, directing them to my publication or free Report for more information. This is where they'll sign up for YOUR list. Then you start the process of building a relationship with those that click on your link and signup for whatever you're offering them.<br />
<br />
You can not expect these people to buy anything from you, until they believe in you as an expert. They must respect your opinion before they'll give you their hard earned money. But if you offer them useful, usable information, you WILL rapidly gain their trust.<br />
I'd also write a number of articles and submit them to other publications in my area of expertise (you can find those publications at "Ezine Directory" or any number of other online publication directories. Just do a search for ezine directories on Google)<br />
Most publishers are HUNGRY for outside articles to give their readers, and if you write well, you'll find they will be more than happy to publish your articles. And, through the Resource Box at the end f your article, your new readers will find their way to your subscription form and sign up for your publication. This is a powerful way to get new prospects on your list, as they came to you because they liked what you wrote, and are therefore already sold on you as an expert in your field. These are the easiest prospects to convert that you can get!<br />
<br />
Once I had a small list of a couple hundred people, I'd start asking them what they wanted. I'd ask them what problems they had and what I could do to help them within my area of expertise, and I'd ask them what they would be willing to pay for the solutions the problems they had in that area.<br />
<br />
Once I had a clear idea of their wants and needs, I'd find the solution to their problems, either through a creation of my own product, or by finding something that was already available, that I can resell or affiliate myself with.<br />
<br />
It doesn't get any easier than to sell someone products they just told you they were willing to buy ;o)<br />
<br />
I'd be writing articles and reports all the while, from day one, to compile into a free (or fee based) viral ebook, that I could circulate to build my name and credibility amongst the people interested in my field of expertise.<br />
<br />
And I'd put links in the ebook that lead to my subscription forms, and also to the products that my subscribers told me they needed.<br />
<br />
You'll find that it's human nature for people of like minds, to gather together, both online and off. So if you make it clear that readers can and should pass on your viral ebook and articles, or resell your fee based ones, you'll find the your list will start to grow very quickly. Slow at first, but building momentum as it goes along, like a virus. Hence the name "Viral Marketing".<br />
<br />
Anyway you look at it, success in business, whether online or off, is all about the list. The Majority of your time and effort should ALWAYS be spent building your list, and then building your relationship with that list.<br />
<br />
It doesn't take a BIG list to make money, it just takes a GOOD one. And it's up to you to build a relationship with your list, to make it a good one!<br />
<br />
Frankly Joe, I don't really believe it's feasible to expect most people to be able to do this in a month. It is possible, I've seen it done. But it's not probable!<br />
<br />
It CAN easily be done in two or three months. My students do it on a regular basis. However, 30 days is a bit unrealistic for most people.<br />
<br />
Most people take a month or so to figure out their niche, and perfect their writing skills, before they can even begin the business building process. So, I don't want to give any of your readers false hope. It takes time to build a profitable, long lasting business.<br />
<br />
But...<br />
<br />
Assuming someone already has a clear idea of their niche, and already has the writing skills and a good understanding of the psychological techniques and triggers that make up a good marketing campaign. It is possible to start a business that would at the very least be self sustaining in less than 30 days.<br />
<br />
The other "Monkey Wrench" you threw into the works however, is that you implied that I had no money to work with. <br />
You can start a business on the internet for very little money. But to build it successfully, you MUST eventually have some capital to work with. You need an autoresponder acct, and a hosting acct, at the very least on top of the internet access acct you allowed us in your example.<br />
<br />
You can start a business for very little or no money, and then put what you make back into it, to build it. But the less you have to start with, the longer it will take you to build it. Which again brings into question the validity of your 30 day limit again.<br />
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There are no Magic Bullets or Get Rich Quick schemes that work on or off the Internet. It does take time! That time can be drastically cut down by doing all the right things up front and not wasting time on the mistakes that most Newbies make. But it STILL takes a certain amount of time. The amount will depend on the expertise each individual brings to the table from the beginning.<br />
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So to be quite honest with you, given the scenario you gave me to work with...<br />
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My best advice to someone in that situation would be to "GET A JOB", so they can extend the amount of time they have to build a successful business, into a more reasonable amount of time. And, in their spare time, use a little of their income to build their business as I suggested. And, take their time to do it right!<br />
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Len Thurmond<br />
Len@TheAffiliateReview.com <br />
http://www.TheAffiliateReview.com <br />
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Louis Allport - ReprintRightsEveryMonth.com<br />
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Mr. Louis Allport specializes in providing the coaching and tools to help people make at least a full time income selling information over the internet while spending little money in the process.<br />
Louis initially started in direct marketing several years ago running a mail order business selling exclusive information products. Now his information business is 100% online, and runs it full time using exactly the tactics and strategies he shares with customers and subscribers.<br />
Visit his web sites at:<br />
www.ReprintRightsEveryMonth.com<br />
(exclusive reprint rights)<br />
www.InfoProfitsTalk.com<br />
(forum for info-publishers ... launches August 2003)<br />
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Answer – By Louis Allport<br />
Day 1 - What's The Plan?<br />
So I have no money, no business contacts, and only my marketing know how ... here's what I would do:<br />
I would do what I know works...<br />
I would create a membership site and I would JV with influential people to get it going quickly.<br />
So for that I'll need hosting, a billing processor and affiliate software.<br />
Well, since these are tough times I'm going to have to go with a third party processor which is free to sign up with, and which also includes affiliate tracking. In this case, I'll go with Verotel.<br />
So now I need hosting. Usually, this would cost. However...<br />
I don't need money in this case. Why? Because I know I can get a free month with Third Sphere. So I'm going to sign up for a free month of hosting with Third Sphere and I've then literally got 30 days to make enough money to pay my hosting bill (as well as all my other bills of course).<br />
<br />
Day Two - What's The Site About? (And Why?)<br />
Now I start to actually decide what to create a site about...<br />
I've got to create it about something I have a track record in. If I don't have credibility in a subject, the product's not going to be sold successfully because it would be deceptive (and people are of course naturally skeptical when parting with money).<br />
<br />
Side Note: If you don't have credibility in a subject, you can interview people successful in that subject to get started.<br />
<br />
In this case, I have credibility from a 'past life' (so to speak - before all the bill problems), and I'll create a site from that experience...<br />
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In my case - I've successfully built up a full time internet publishing business spending very little money in the process.<br />
<br />
So I'm going to create a membership site about that and helping people to achieve the same.<br />
But why a membership site as opposed to simply a product?<br />
Here's why:<br />
A membership site is different than just another info-product and this helps it stand out from the crowd<br />
It's often updated which people like - this keeps the information current<br />
It's a lower up front fee so more people are likely to try it out<br />
You can in fact make more money (and fairly predictable income) if people stay month after month<br />
Affiliates like recurring income where they promote once, and then keep getting paid <br />
So those are just some of the benefits of a membership site.<br />
Okay, so I've decided on the subject for the site: "How to make at least a full time income selling information over the internet - spending very little money in the process".<br />
So I've now got to get everything in place by the middle of the month. The site's got to be live by the middle of the month for things to stay on course.<br />
So I'm going to begin creating content...<br />
<br />
Day 3 to 10 - Creating Content For The Site ...<br />
<br />
Here's how I go about creating the content...<br />
Firstly, I create audio that people can download and listen to.<br />
<br />
How do I create audio for free?<br />
Well, I can record it using the default multimedia tools that come with Windows (or even Mac).<br />
Plus I can use the free demo of a program like CoolEdit or a free program like Audacity.<br />
<br />
So I record at least a few hours of audio and it's initially in WAV format. This is not a good way to publish audio. I need to turn it into MP3. How do I do that? Very simple...<br />
I do a search in Google. Click here to see that search.<br />
So what would I talk about in this audio to make it really useful?<br />
I would talk about exactly how I built up a full time online info-business ... initially starting it on eBay dirt cheap.<br />
How to write copy proven to sell info-products and then talking through lots of real life case studies.<br />
How to create info-products and how to judge (as much as is possible) what will sell successfully<br />
How to quickly and easily create multimedia products<br />
And so on... <br />
All these audios will cover info-product creation in depth and how to successfully sell them including getting traffic through Overture, affiliate programs, joint ventures, and other sources.<br />
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Okay, so now that I've got all this audio recorded I also want to include transcripts. However, I wouldn't have time to type them myself, and don't have the money to hire a transcriber, so I'll initially include articles which are overviews of the audio, and then I'll add the transcriptions when the money's come in for me to get them done.<br />
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Side Note: Later on in the life of the site I can include upsells to also have the audio's and transcripts delivered in physical format: tape/CD/printout for a small fee. But that's further down the line once the site grows.<br />
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And I'll also create videos that can be viewed on the computer...<br />
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I'm choosing a lot of multimedia content since it's actually quicker to create than simply text, plus it often has a higher perceived value, and many people like to learn in different ways, as opposed to simply reading. It's good to offer choice.<br />
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So, how can I record videos for free too?<br />
I'll use a program called CamStudio.<br />
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Side Note: Of course one of the best sites to find freeware or shareware software is download.com.<br />
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For recording the audio and video, I'll need a microphone hooked up into the PC. I'm assuming I've already got one, but I could always borrow one from a friend, or scrounge the $10 needed to buy one somehow. ;-)<br />
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Okay ... so now I have a load of content. I'll also throw in some decent eBooks that I find for free by searching Google and perhaps signing up to a few people's ezines. The same goes for any software I'm free to distribute too and wish to include. <br />
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Plus I'll also add a resources page with links to good free software and forums and suchlike.<br />
And I'll add a forum to the site too. I'm going to choose to use the free forum script from wwwboard.com.<br />
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Side Note: You can find literally thousands of useful scripts at hotscripts.com.<br />
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So finally -- I build the site around all that content, including an introduction page, and divide it up into easy to navigate sections.<br />
I'll put this site together for free with Netscape Composer.<br />
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Side Note: Netscape Composer is a free WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor that comes free with the Netscape web browser.<br />
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And that's the membership area of the site all done.<br />
To protect it from non-members, Verotel include membership management as part of the service.<br />
<br />
Day 10 to 15 - Creating The Sales Tools<br />
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I now need to create a sales page for the site, and a bunch of affiliate tools to help others promote it.<br />
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So how would I write the sales page? Typically I'll do this:<br />
I'll write down every single feature of the site, and then try to turn each one into a benefit to the visitor.<br />
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How do I turn a feature into a benefit? I look at the feature and ask "What's in it for the reader?" - in other words how would that feature benefit the visitor?<br />
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I'll also have a strong headline, an enticing introduction, some small screen captures of the videos that when clicked open the picture to full size, so the visitor can see what the video's all about.<br />
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To do this I use the free demo of Paint Shop Pro - on a PC I press the Print Screen button at an interesting point while I'm playing the video, and save the screen capture as a GIF graphic. I then create a small version of it at 15% that is used in the sales letter.<br />
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And here's a very important point...<br />
I get lots of testimonials off people.<br />
I would contact people asking:<br />
"I'd love to give you free access to my web site for life ... all I ask in return is a testimonial - IF - you like the site"<br />
If they don't like the site and tell me, no problem at all. Such feedback is very valuable. I would still let that person have free lifetime access. However, if I don't hear back after a week or so I would forget about that person since they're obviously too busy.<br />
What's also very beneficial about contacting people for testimonials, is since this is the first contact with people I may want to JV with later in the month ... rather than approaching them cold with a JV offer I've made that very important initial contact.<br />
<br />
Okay, finally I've got to make a very strong offer...<br />
Obviously, my site should have a ton of valuable and exclusive content so that's a strong offer it itself. However, it will also have a no-quibbles refund of the previous month (if asked for). The member can cancel at any time at all of course.<br />
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And very importantly - the member gets full access to the site for 10 full days for only $1. This strong offer will get many sign ups, and if the site is good (I'll make sure it is) a lot of those will become full members.<br />
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In this case I'm going to choose $29.95 as the full monthly rate, and make sure that each member gets a lot more value than that every month.<br />
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Okay, now onto sales tools for the affiliates...<br />
I'll write some articles that affiliates can use on their web site or in an ezine. I'll also create simple banners with enticing text using Paint Shop Pro.<br />
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I'll also write ezine ads - both solo and classified ... some headline tools, and also include pre-written email signatures that people can simply add to all their outgoing emails if they wish (an easy way to get affiliate traffic).<br />
One final thing I'll do is put together a free eBook which features good content from the site. This eBook will be completely free to distribute and will be branded with the ID of the affiliate.<br />
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The problem with free eBooks is that because there's so many of them, often they're not paid attention too. So quality is very important here.<br />
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I obviously can't give away everything in the site, but I'll be sure to include very good information from the site, in the free eBook. I'll also have eCover graphics that can be used with it ... I'll create those by following the tutorial at CoverArtGuide.com.<br />
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Side Note: Another way to get quality graphics done for free is to contact a designer and offer them lifetime access to your site in return for some graphics. If they're interested in the subject matter and not too busy, that may work for you. Think of it as business bartering (it's very common).<br />
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So how can I create eBooks for free?<br />
I'll create my HTML using Netscape Composer initially, and then I'll use either www.pdf995.com or createpdf.adobe.com to turn it into PDF for free.<br />
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And for branding this free-to-distribute eBook with the ID's of affiliates so that they can distribute it and profit, I'll have to initially do that manually since that's pretty much the only free way. That should all change though once the money starts coming in and I can afford some branding software.<br />
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Day 16 to 30 - The Big Promotion<br />
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So I'm at the middle of the month, and it's time to do some promotion...<br />
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First of all I must decide how much I am going to pay affiliates.<br />
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Well, there's standard affiliates and there's JV affiliates. JV affiliates get a very special rate, since I *really* want them to work with me.<br />
<br />
So for now with standard affiliates, I'm going to choose to offer 50%. This means $15 recurring on the first level (after the $1 10 day trial of course).<br />
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For JV partners I want it to be a really strong offer. I'll make it irresistible so I'll say something like:<br />
<br />
"I would like to offer you $25 on the first level, for life"<br />
If Verotel doesn't support that level of commissions, I'll manually add $10 a month for every single member my JV partners refer, and send the extra payment to them via PayPal.<br />
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Side Note: Alternative processors that support recurring transactions, membership management, and affiliate tracking - AND - perhaps support high payout percentages are iBill.com, Globill.com and CCbill.com. However, I recommend managing everything through your own affiliate/management scripts since it gives you much more flexibility.<br />
This really is a subject for another day - but as a quick example I run my site ReprintRightsEveryMonth.com with PayPal and Worldpay for accepting payments, AffiliateTracking.com for tracking the recurring affiliate commissions on two levels, and the script from LockedArea.com for managing membership access.<br />
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Obviously paying out $25 per member leaves hardly any money at all for me, but the point is to really grow the site and get the momentum building quickly. And this offer I'm making to a few influential JV partners is pretty strong, wouldn't you agree?<br />
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Especially since this special commission has no time limit (in other words it won't expire after two or three months). However, they will need to take it up quickly, otherwise I'll offer it to the next person with a total of five JV partners to keep the offer pretty exclusive.<br />
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So I'll make the JV offer very strong and I'll explain why I'm making it so strong. I can't make a crazy offer and then not justify it - I'll be honest and say:<br />
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"I'd love for you to promote this site to help it grow quickly ... and that's why I've chosen to offer this very special deal to a very select few potential JV partners..."<br />
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So once I've got my five influential JV partners, if they all promote it over a very short period of time, then a buzz about the site comes into effect where more and more people want to mention the site.<br />
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And what's very important: I would contact all my prospective JV partners in a personal way. I would make the email to each person unique, and approach them from the point of being an ezine subscriber of theirs, and even a customer (only if it's true of course).<br />
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I would make the email friendly but to the point. There's no point rambling on. Three or four paragraphs maximum I would say. These people are busy, they've got to understand the offer quickly or they'll put it in a folder to read later and then of course they'll never get around to it.<br />
So I've approached these 5 people and given them lifetime access to the site of course, and if they like it they'll do an endorsement and then (speaking from experience of past promotions) that will probably get me at least 500 $1 signups very quickly.<br />
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A percentage of those signups won't become full members of course and I'm obviously making very little money even on those that do, but all this also means that I get a lot of affiliates since I've got an affiliate signup link on the front page. Plus I'll be reminding members who join the site to join the affiliate program too.<br />
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So when non-JV affiliates promote the site, I make 50%. Actually, after Verotel fees it's 35% which comes to about $10. So in effect -- I make $10 a month per member.<br />
And let's assume that at the end of the month I've got 500 members in total. 300 of those from JV partners on which I don't make any profit (perhaps a Dollar or two), and the other 200 members on which I make $10 a month. So that's $2,000 in profits initially, and if the site keeps being promoted, that can keep on growing.<br />
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Now, that $2,000 obviously isn't a fortune, but I certainly feel it's realistic ... and is a very positive start to getting all those bills paid off...<br />
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I can then use some of that money to cover my hosting costs, purchase software for more affiliate tools to create a fully brandable eBook for example, and I could even submit the site to Affiliate Announce to grow the affiliate program faster.<br />
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So once I start getting members and affiliates, the most important thing is to fully support them, and to keep adding exclusive content to the site. Every week if possible ... at the very least every couple of weeks.<br />
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Side Note: The more exclusive content a membership site has, the more it will retain members, and the more it retains members the more affiliates will want to promote the site.<br />
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So this all begins with a single site - making sure it has lots of very high quality and exclusive content (at least a month or two's worth of content for launch with lots of updates due), then getting influential JV partners on board by making them a very strong and unique offer...<br />
And as the site grows and gets lots of attention (because of the JV's) it starts to get known which leads to lots more affiliates, which means more traffic ... and so it continues.<br />
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Day 31 Onwards - The Future<br />
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Future plans to continue growing the site can include:<br />
Exclusive reprint rights products that I create and make part of the site, allowing members to brand them with their affiliate links and sell. Of course all these products link back to the site.<br />
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And it's important to remember that a lot of people won't join the first time they see my site. So even though I've given them a very strong reason to try it out (10 days for $1), I've got to make sure it's often in front of their eyes ... I'll do this with a lot of continuing promotion and by building and supporting my affiliate base.<br />
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Plus, to give the site a genuine limited offer I'll choose either:<br />
To put the price up when I reach 500 or perhaps 1,000 members. I don't need to mention the exact membership quota I have in mind, but I need to decide on a figure and follow through on this.<br />
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I could also/instead perhaps stop new signups for a six to twelve month period when I hit my membership quota (this is what I'm doing with Reprint Rights Every Month).<br />
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This makes membership pretty exclusive and helps stop people from just dipping in and out of the site and abusing the offer.<br />
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I could also implement the following to help boost retention:<br />
Loyalty bonuses to members at three months, six months, nine months and twelve months of membership -- at those points the member gets a very valuable bonus free of charge.<br />
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And obviously the more retention my affiliates see, the more they're going to promote the site. So it's all self-compounding.<br />
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And I can then create new products (outside of the site) and offer this to my affiliate base as a new product to promote and earn commissions on. And so it grows...<br />
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So that is how you can go from zero to a full time income within 30 days.<br />
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Don't believe it can be done?<br />
Well, that's pretty much how I did it in 'real life' with my site ReprintRightsEveryMonth.com starting around September of 2002.<br />
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It actually took me about 60 days from launching my site to go full time and I did have a (small) ezine list which was beneficial, but that really isn't necessary, and I'm living proof that the system I've described works, and how YOU really can reach internet success in 30 days. :-)<br />
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Mani Sivasubramanian – EzineMarketingCenter.com<br />
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Heart Surgeon… Ezine Expert… Web Marketer… Bestselling Author…<br />
There’s no question about it. Dr.Mani is different. That’s the reason he is one of the “99 Purple Cows” chosen for outstandingly remarkable marketing by Seth Godin, of “Permission Marketing” fame. See http://www.b--different.com <br />
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An Assistant Professor at one of Asia's largest hospitals for children, Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian is a specialist heart surgeon, who has been involved in treating over 2000 kids with heart birth defects over the past 8 years. On the Net, he works to raise funds to help poor children receive expensive medical care. See his efforts to raise awareness about Congenital Heart Defects at http://www.CHDinfo.com/chdaware/<br />
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Author of a widely praised ebook on managing emotions, Dr.Mani has touched the hearts and lives of many thousands all around the world. "The Emotion Prism" at http://www.EmotionPrism.com and Dr.Mani's three weekly email newsletters - 'Motivating Mondays', 'Wishful Wednesdays' and 'Frugal Fridays' at http://www.EmotionPrism.com/almanac.htm - will help you find direction and focus in a fast-paced, confusing and rapidly changing world.<br />
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Publisher of 9 different email newsletters reaching over 15,000 subscribers in total, Dr.Mani is an expert at using ezines for marketing with explosive impact. His contrarian views on email newsletter strategy are best revealed in his brand new power-eClass, "Ezine ANTI Marketing"<br />
<br />
Dr.Mani is founder of the Ezine Marketing Center at http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com <br />
<br />
With 7 rich years of experience building a popular ezine marketing website that Alexa ranks among the top 30,000 on the Net, dozens of instructive articles published on reputed websites and several thousand dollars worth of web-based sales each year, Dr.Mani is just as skilled at Web Marketing as all the other stuff he does - and as you've seen, those are quite a mix! <br />
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His latest project aims to raise funds by December 2003 to sponsor heart surgery for 50 poor children needing a life saving operation. To achieve this goal, Dr.Mani plans to sell 7500 copies of his $29.97 ebook, “The Emotion Prism”. See how you can help him at http://www.EmotionPrism.com/helpus.htm <br />
Answer – By Dr. Mani Sivasubramaniam<br />
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Day 1<br />
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The scientists at NASA said it. The families of my little patients, kids with heart birth defects, PROVED it.<br />
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"Failure is NOT an option"<br />
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So if I suddenly lose all my money and find myself deep in debt with just 30 days to repay, the first thing I'll do is reaffirm this truth. And tell myself:<br />
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"Only a loser thinks of failure. A winner looks on it as a temporary setback"<br />
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I will decide to succeed. Experience has taught me that this, over all else, is what will determine the outcome of my next 30 days of intense activity, all the hard work and networking. <br />
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I will decide to not just succeed, but do it wildly. Make enough money NOT just to repay my bills but to become financially secure, comfortable, with some left over to do good, to help others who need helping, to make a real difference to people I come into contact with. <br />
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Because I know that…<br />
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“It takes just as much effort to think BIG as it does to think small!”<br />
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I will also decide to work hard. Very hard. Instant success is attractive, worth dreaming about. But that’s all it’s good for – dreaming about!<br />
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Success that means something, that lasts long, that is permanent and sustained, demands effort to back it up. It’s not just what you get at the end of it that matters, it’s what you become in the process. As someone famous said: “Life is a grindstone. Whether it wears you down or polishes you up depends upon the stuff you’re made of.”<br />
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And a core secret to achieving my goals lies in an inner belief that I can do it. Once I get to this frame of mind, I have already won. All that remains to do is execute my plan.<br />
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The first step to doing this is to take stock of my assets. What do I have that can be used to earn money fast, before this month runs out? What knowledge can I use? What resources can I tap? Which people can I approach for help?<br />
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I will take a sheet of paper and make a list – that’ll be my ‘scorecard’. Completing this first step will give me confidence. With all of these things on my side, I’m sure to succeed.<br />
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The next step is to decide upon my action plan and chalk out a time-table. <br />
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Since I need the money fast, and have little else than my vast marketing knowledge, I must choose something I can find or create quickly and then sell to people at high profit margins. The best choice for me would be to package a bit of my knowledge into an information product and sell it. The reasons are easy to understand:<br />
<br />
I can create the product myself<br />
Info-products have very high profit margins (usually 75% to 90%)<br />
I can keep all (or most) of the profits<br />
I am in control of pricing and distribution<br />
I can sell it over the Internet at a low marketing and delivery cost<br />
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Having made that decision, I now need a broad outline and a more detailed day-by-day plan.<br />
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Here is the blue-print I created for myself:<br />
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Research and create an information product – estimated time 7 days<br />
Identify and sign up a group of potential customers – on-going<br />
Locate the best tools and services to get started – 1 day<br />
Build a process to advertise, sell and deliver to customers – 3 days<br />
Find partners to spread the word far and wide – on-going<br />
Devise multiple streams of income – 1 day<br />
Choose back-end offers to multiply profits – 2 days<br />
Think of ways to help others in the process – 3 days<br />
Have a higher purpose that drives all efforts<br />
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Whew! That took a bit of thinking.<br />
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Now that the broad outline is ready, I need to break down each step into component parts, and then decide how I’m going to schedule each task.<br />
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I’ll also make a list of all the tools and resources needed to execute this project. Some parts of it will require special and sophisticated software and services. Earlier, I would have worried about finding the money to pay for them. <br />
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Not any more!<br />
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Because I know, from experience, that many of the top people doing business on the Internet are not just innovative and hard working. They are very, very generous.<br />
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I’ll tell them about my problem, explain how I’m going to get over this crisis, and ask them to offer me their product or service to help me get back on my feet. I’m convinced almost everyone of them will give it to me free – just as I’m sure I’ll pay them back when I earn the money from my info-product sales.<br />
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This is just one area where my experience as an Internet marketer counts. Earlier in my career, I’d have hesitated to ask. But after reading Jack Canfield’s wonderful book, “The Aladdin Factor”, my view has changed. Asking really is powerful. I’ve received some FANTASTIC gifts from some truly remarkable people – simply because I asked. <br />
<br />
James Martell gave me his “Affiliate Marketing Handbook” to review. It costs $149 to buy. I paid nothing! On request by another famous marketer (who seeks to remain anonymous), marketing legend Mark Joyner gave me his “Farewell Package” worth $997 – for free! <br />
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Yes, asking has truly awesome power behind it. It all depends upon my purpose and drive. <br />
<br />
I spend some time thinking over my higher purpose in life. What will I do AFTER this crisis passes? How will I implement my Grand Plan to give back in return for what I have received? <br />
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An hour passes in quiet reflection.<br />
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At the end, I reach a conclusion. I’ll tell you all about it at the end of this story – because it is what I’ll continue doing for a long time to come…<br />
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Then I go to bed, all excited about working my plan.<br />
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Day 2<br />
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I wake up early, fired up and ready to go.<br />
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Today, I will<br />
<br />
Choose a topic to create an info-product<br />
Prepare an outline, including points to cover and questions to answer<br />
Start building a list of potential customers<br />
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It is possible to create an info-product about anything.<br />
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But for the greatest impact, I need to make one that will have many eager and willing buyers. People who have a problem, are keen to find the solution – and happy to pay to receive it.<br />
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Since the easiest product to sell is one that solves other peoples’ problems, the first issue is to find what problem they want solved! In the words of Zig Ziglar: “You can have all that you want if you give enough other people all that they want.”<br />
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One of the best ways to get started is to visit discussion forums and email lists related to my topic. As a specialist in email newsletter marketing and founder of The Ezine Marketing Center at http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com , I’ve chosen to create an info-product in my area of expertise – Ezine Marketing. <br />
<br />
So I’ll head over to the busiest, most active forums in this area, starting with the Warrior Forum, Tony Blake’s Entrepreneurial boards and Willie Crawford’s discussion forum.<br />
<br />
A word of caution. Online marketing is a very competitive area. If you lack experience in this field, you’ll be much better off trying to solve problems in a non-marketing field, one where you have some experience and knowledge.<br />
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Back to my plan. <br />
<br />
I’ll spend the rest of the day browsing through the posts in the forums, searching through the archives of previous posts. I’ll have a text editor program like MS Word or Notepad open on my computer desktop. Each time I notice a question being asked about a problem faced by one of the forum members, I’ll note it down in the text editor. I will save this file into a folder named “Problems”.<br />
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When I find many responses to the post, or see that it has evoked a lot of interest on the forum, I’ll make note of it in my file. These ‘hot’ topics will hold the key to my fortune!<br />
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I’ll also scan the replies posted by other forum members and discussion list participants. Whenever I find something helpful to the problem being discussed, or a link to another website offering a solution, I’ll copy it into another file. This will be stored in a folder named “Solutions”. <br />
<br />
The amount of helpful and incredibly valuable information offered for free on online forums is unbelievable. One could make a fortune simply packaging other people’s experience into a book! <br />
<br />
In fact, that’s what I’m about to do J<br />
<br />
In a third file, I will also note down the names and email addresses (where available) of the most active forum participants. They will be potential partners when I launch my product.<br />
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And in a fourth file, I will record the name and email address of every participant who has posted a response to the problem being discussed. These will be likely prospects to buy my product when it is ready to sell.<br />
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By the end of the day, I will have with me:<br />
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A list of problems needing answers<br />
A collection of helpful resources and ideas about solving the problems<br />
A group of forum and discussion list ‘opinion leaders’<br />
A set of prospects likely to be interested in my info-product<br />
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The last thing I will do today is select a topic to base my info-product on. After some debate, I hit on the one real hot topic I notice several people asking about – and very few answering! I’m convinced that I’ve found a winner concept.<br />
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But has someone else, too?!<br />
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I’ll soon find out. By carrying out a search for any other products or services currently available that solve this very problem. It is much easier to create a product to dominate an under-served niche than to compete with an existing one. <br />
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A quick search on the major search engines and online marketplaces like ClickBank confirm that no one else is selling a similar product. If there is one, I’ll briefly research it to see if it <br />
<br />
Offers a complete solution<br />
Is attractively priced<br />
Has a powerful sales process<br />
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In case it fails in any of these areas, I still may consider competing head on.<br />
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Now I’ll take some time off to relax and refresh myself.<br />
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Day 3:<br />
<br />
My progress can’t be logical. It has to be a bit haphazard. Remember, I only have 30 days to succeed at this project.<br />
<br />
So the next step I’m taking is to start building my list - by collecting email addresses of interested prospects.<br />
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How can I do that?<br />
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First, I’ll buy a domain name (I can get one for just $8.88 at NameCheap.com) and host my website on a low-cost or free web server. There are many available. Later, when some cash comes in, I’ll move to a better system like Host4Profits. <br />
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Then I’ll put up a basic web page. All it will have is:<br />
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a brief description of my product<br />
a list of its BENEFITS to anyone who buys it<br />
the launch date (10 days from now)<br />
a form to collect names and email addresses from prospects<br />
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I’ll ask them to leave their name and contact email address so that I can let them know as soon as the info-product is ready. As an added incentive to get people to sign up to my email list, I’ll offer either<br />
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A special discount on the price when the product is ready<br />
A free sample preview<br />
A related info-product as a free gift<br />
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After this, I’ll construct a powerful short ad that I’ll use as my signature in all outgoing email messages and on all posts I make on the various discussion groups and online forums. Here’s an example:<br />
<br />
Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian<br />
See How One Joint Venture Generated More Than <br />
500 NEW Customers In LESS Than 2 Weeks!<br />
Free report reveals all...<br />
jvreport@ezinemarketingcenter.com <br />
<br />
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The next step is to begin to generate curiosity and interest in my soon-to-be-released product.<br />
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I’ll go back to the forums I visited yesterday and answer a few of the questions related to my info-product’s topic. By limiting myself to 3 or 4 posts on each board, I’ll avoid being seen as a spammer, yet get visibility to my target audience. <br />
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Each time, my approach will vary. In turn, I will:<br />
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Answer simple questions asked by other members<br />
Offer a free giveaway<br />
Announce a contest to win a free copy of my product<br />
Ask questions about my topic<br />
Seek suggestions and ideas for the completed product<br />
<br />
I’ll continue to do this for the next week, building a relationship with other forum regulars and gaining exposure for my product via my signature file. <br />
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And as members click on my subscribe link, I’ll also slowly build my list – a highly targeted list of perfect target customers!<br />
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Day 4<br />
<br />
Today I’ll try and locate potential joint venture partners and sound them out about a deal. I am slightly restricted by the fact that my info-product isn’t yet ready – but not much. After all, I can still:<br />
<br />
Inform them about the product<br />
Highlight its benefits<br />
Tell them the price<br />
Offer them a share of the profits<br />
Ask for suggestions and feedback<br />
<br />
I’ll start with the list of forum and discussion list leaders I collected in the last 2 days. My initial contact will be with a short email message asking if they’ll be interested in a joint venture partnership to sell an info-product that solves a specific problem. I’ll offer them a copy to review soon, and invite them to reply if interested.<br />
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Then I’ll work on setting up an Affiliate Program. To keep the work minimal and manage the program hands-off, I’ll go with ClickBank. The one time sign-up cost of $49 is well worth the features, and is one expense I’ll indulge myself. <br />
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This online service offers a built-in affiliate management system that handles all aspects including processing payments by credit card and online checks, redirecting customers to your website for delivering the product digitally, tracking and paying affiliates a referral commission – all done automatically.<br />
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Next, I’ll go to the various Affiliate Program directories and search for the best categories to list my program. <br />
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In case you’re wondering why I’m doing this BEFORE even creating the product, the reason is simple. All the listing and registering services take some lead time to generate results. So by doing this before-hand while I’m creating my product, I’ll be building a sales force which will be ready and raring to go as soon as I announce my product release!<br />
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Day 5 to 10:<br />
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I will spend the next 6 days actually creating the info-product. <br />
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The steps to doing this are flexible. I prefer to research for information online, draft an outline listing points to be covered and questions to be answered. Then I’ll write a few sentences about each point, fleshing out the draft. Finally, I’ll polish up the content, add some graphics and resources, format it attractively and package it. <br />
<br />
One way I will focus on creating multiple streams of income is by offering the information in multiple forms. Different folks learn in different ways. You may prefer to learn by reading. Another may like to listen to the lessons. Some may like downloadable files with instant access. Others opt for a shipped product they can touch and feel. <br />
<br />
I’d like to give them all an option to buy my product – even sell them TWO or more forms of it for more money!<br />
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For my info-product, I will offer the following versions:<br />
<br />
ebook<br />
audio tapes<br />
audio CD<br />
downloadable audio files<br />
tele-seminar<br />
eClass<br />
<br />
Each version will require minor tweaks to the way the information is presented, but can be done rather quickly after the core product itself is created. <br />
<br />
For the ebook, I prefer the Adobe PDF (portable document format) for the main reason that it’ll be accessible to people using either a Windows PC or Apple Mac computer. Earlier, a disadvantage of PDF ebooks was that they couldn’t be re-branded with affiliate links. Now PDF rebranding software is available – one of the best is ViralPDF.<br />
<br />
The audio products will require some extra effort, but services are available that will handle most aspects of product creation and delivery for you. Cafepress.com offers a CD creating and drop shipping service on demand, at a fraction of the cost of the product. Downloadable audio files may need special software. Maybe I’ll work these into the backend products, after some sales are made and cash trickles in.<br />
<br />
Day 11<br />
<br />
Today, I’ll do some work that’ll ensure backend profits will explode the effectiveness of my marketing for a long time to come. You see, I’ve not just limited my target to getting out of debt – I’m in this for the long haul. I’m going to get up, and get running again. <br />
<br />
And help others too.<br />
<br />
I refresh my memory by looking at the list of backend income streams I planned on the first day…<br />
<br />
Sell affiliate products from within my info-product<br />
Sell re-branding rights to my info-product<br />
Sell reprint and master reprint rights <br />
Offer a paid-subscription ezine on a related topic<br />
Sell other related products by follow up email marketing<br />
Get customers to join my affiliate program and sell to their lists<br />
<br />
I’ll spend a greater part of today looking for related products and services I can offer my customers. They’ll have to offer affiliate programs with a decent commission – less than 50% for digital products is probably not worth taking the trouble for. <br />
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If the ones I find are relevant, I can mention or recommend them in context, as a part of the content of my info-product itself. This is far more effective in attracting interest from the reader than an obvious advertisement or stand-alone review. <br />
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By using rebranding software to create my PDF ebook, I can offer to modify the ebook for partners by replacing all these affiliate product links with their links – for a one time fee.<br />
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I can even sell reprint rights to my info-product – normally these are priced at between 5 and 20 times the price of the ebook version of the product.<br />
<br />
And there are some products that aren’t very closely related to the content of my info-product, yet are likely to be of interest to my customers. Chances are good that they’ll order these through my affiliate link.<br />
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For this, I will create an automated sequence of follow up email messages using an autoresponder service like Aweber or GetResponse that will be sent out at regular intervals after they buy my ebook. <br />
<br />
In this sequence, I will also include an invitation for customers to sign up to my affiliate program and then promote it to their own customers and friends. This way, I will multiply my efforts to market my info-product and reach a wider audience than I could on my own.<br />
<br />
Day 12 to 14<br />
<br />
Now that I know what my product actually looks like, I can build my sales material. This will include:<br />
<br />
A direct selling website, with killer sales copy and listing of benefits to the buyer and a strong call to action<br />
A collection of powerful ads, short articles, interviews and reviews that pack a punch, for use in my own campaign and by my affiliates and partners<br />
Graphic banners and buttons to use as advertising tools<br />
<br />
I will spend the most time on my website sales letter, making sure it is powerful enough to get a response rate of at least 2.5% to 3% from visitors - if it is much lower than this, joint venture partners may not be keen on helping me promote it.<br />
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In the midst of this sales material creation, I will also keep dropping into the forums and discussion lists to respond to a few messages. But now my focus will change slightly. In my signature file, I will drop more overt hints about my info-product. I’ll build curiosity by using cryptic messages. I’ll create anticipation by mentioning a launch date.<br />
<br />
And on just one occasion on each forum, I’ll post an offer to give away a limited number of free copies to the first few responders – in return for their feedback about my product, and a testimonial that I can use in my sales copy. When it comes in, I’ll weave these testimonials into the website and other promotional material.<br />
<br />
Day 15<br />
<br />
Before starting work for today, I’ll take stock of my progress. I have managed to:<br />
<br />
Create an info-product<br />
Find related products and services to offer as back-ends<br />
Identify and contact Joint Venture partners<br />
Set up payment processing and order delivery systems<br />
Create a sales website and ads for my product<br />
Put an affiliate program in place<br />
<br />
Now all that’s left to do is announce the info-product to my newly built list, affiliates, joint venture partners and online forums.<br />
<br />
I’ll spend the rest of today doing this – and then relax a while.<br />
<br />
Before getting on to the task of finding new joint venture partners, contacting them with an offer, following up on getting my offer in front of their list, making sales, marketing backend products to my new customers… and then repeating the process over and over again!<br />
<br />
I did tell you it was hard work J<br />
<br />
<br />
And finally, a word about my higher purpose – and how it is relevant to any plan to success.<br />
<br />
Maybe you, like many others, measure success by the number of dollars that’ll be in your bank account. But that alone isn’t enough. Equally important to the overall experience of success is the way you accumulate that balance, and what you intend to do with it.<br />
<br />
I created the momentum for a 30 day plan to Internet Success, and stayed with it, because of the overwhelming motivation provided by my higher purpose. And that is to help raise funds to sponsor the cost of surgical treatment for 50 children with heart birth defects over the next 6 months.<br />
<br />
What I’ve detailed here is a real life story, with a little creative imagination. The info-product is real. It’s called “The Emotion Prism – How to be Happy, When you’d rather be Sad” – http://www.EmotionPrism.com It sells for $29.97, has an affiliate program, I have a target to raise $7500 for charity before December 2003 using sales from this ebook. Details at http://www.CHDinfo.com/chdaware/ <br />
<br />
That is my higher purpose. What is yours?<br />
<br />
Find it – and online success will taste so much sweeter!<br />
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Michael Green – HowToCorp.com<br />
<br />
Michael Green is a 34 year old Brit who lives in London, England. <br />
When he was just 21, he set up his own printing business. Today that same business has developed into offering Design, Print and Website development services and has a turnover measured in the millions. <br />
Nowadays Michael works on a part-time basis as Chairman of his printing company and in his spare time he's developed http://www.howtocorp.com <br />
Michael discovered that his offline, real-world, business experience helped make him an overnight online success. And the facts speak for themselves because he established his online How To Corp enterprise as recently as the Spring of 2002, yet today he has created over 10 toolkit products and these are marketed and sold worldwide via the internet. <br />
Michael Green has achieved a #5 position in the much coveted ClickBank MarketPlace, which lists literally tens-of-thousands of other online products, so the chances are that by the time you've finished reading his biography, he will have made yet more internet-based sales! <br />
Michael explains: <br />
"Doing business both on and offline is much more similar than some people would have you think. You still need to provide good products and a great service. In addition it's important to be courteous, polite and responsive when prospective customers contact you by phone or email. These same rules all apply no matter which environment your business operates in." <br />
Michael says that there are however some very big differences to doing business online. He confesses that he still struggles to believe how it has been possible to build such a profitable company, without the need to employ staff, hold physical stock or deal with so many of the other regulatory issues that surround traditional 'real-world' businesses. <br />
As a student Michael studied business and finance in Manchester, England, but he says that formal education was never of that much interest to him. <br />
"I was always anxious to get out into the real world of business", acknowledges Michael, "and formal education never really fitted in with my plans". <br />
You can reach Michael Green personally by emailing michael@howtocorp.com or by calling US number 206-984-1365 (please leave a message).<br />
<br />
The information in the article is based on Michael Green’s Create and SELL Products ONLINE toolkit. Get the complete A-Z roadmap manual to creating your own online empire at http://www.CreateAndSELLproductsONLINE.com <br />
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Answer – By Michael Green<br />
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Good copywriting is as valuable as gold bullion!<br />
<br />
If you are serious about making sales then your copy must be top notch and it will need to take your reader through the following phases:<br />
<br />
An opening that creates interest and bridges the credibility gap<br />
A middle section that builds on that interest<br />
An end section that creates desire and the “must have” attitude.<br />
<br />
Now let’s take each of these in turn.<br />
<br />
<br />
An opening that creates interest and bridges the credibility gap<br />
There’s probably nothing more crucial than the wording you use right at the top of your page. This text is so critical that I usually experiment with a dozen or so headings until I stop fiddling and let the site sell.<br />
<br />
<br />
Scientific Split-Testing<br />
I always carry out some scientific split-testing on my sales websites and the heading is one of the elements that I test to death. Here’s the actual tool I use for my split-testing http://profitinfo.com/catalog/v4/ <br />
<br />
You’ll find much more about split-testing in my http://www.CreateAndSELLproductsONLINE.com toolkit.<br />
<br />
<br />
Right underneath my main heading or even as part of the heading itself, I generally use a third-party testimonial.<br />
<br />
Testimonials right up top<br />
Testimonials are a great way of creating credibility that would otherwise be missing. A good testimonial will be believed far more than even your best crafted own words. Think about it. If someone else is saying something good about your product, then it must be good. And of course the strength of that testimonial will be multiplied even further if the person providing the testimonial is themselves known and trusted.<br />
<br />
So I like to place my testimonials right up front. In fact I usually like to combine a one line testimonial quote about my product right in the main heading. Failing that I will always place a great testimonial immediately under the main heading.<br />
A later chapter tells you all about how to gather knock-out testimonials once your product is up and running, but initially you will simply complete your product and ask friends and colleagues to review it in return for an emailed testimonial.<br />
<br />
In fact if you are in anyway struggling to find reviewers, then simply turn to your market-research group who already downloaded your free mini-series and ask them to review the product for you. You should find plenty of takers.<br />
<br />
<br />
Your website is a long sales letter<br />
Other than your heading, your sales webpage will largely consist of one long letter, this will actually be signed at the end by you and will even contain a P.S. (PostScript) just like any other marketing letter you might write.<br />
<br />
<br />
Time and date it right now<br />
When you receive a letter through the post, it’s hard not to glance at the date on the top or sometimes even the postmark on the envelope.<br />
<br />
The same effect is apparent with a website. People instantly want to know: “Is this current information that I’m reading or has it been sitting on the web for years?”<br />
<br />
Don’t leave them wondering.<br />
<br />
You can clear up this point instantly by including today’s date at the start of your letter. Now you might think that because you are in one time zone and your potential customer lives elsewhere that the date won’t be correct for them.<br />
<br />
No problem – just use the bonus script that you’ll receive with this toolkit and you can display the accurate date wherever your customer is in the world. It reads it right off their computer and displays it at the top of your sales letter.<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear salutation<br />
Now you need to jump right into the letter itself and you must address it to someone. <br />
<br />
Ideally you’ll use the salutation to narrow down the focus. So, for example, if I were creating my fictional product called: “Learn How To Fly Today”, then I would write something like:<br />
<br />
Dear Future Aviator<br />
<br />
Or<br />
<br />
Dear Fellow Aviator<br />
<br />
Or<br />
<br />
Dear Future Pilot<br />
<br />
You get the idea. My point is that everyone who arrives at your website will have one primary question in mind. Does this website apply to me and the problem that I’m trying to solve?<br />
<br />
Providing them with the answer is your challenge, but clearly if someone has no interest in learning to fly, you don’t need them to read any further.<br />
<br />
<br />
Open with a passion inducing statement or a question<br />
The first line of your actual letter is one of the most important items on your page (I split-test this too of course).<br />
<br />
It must create the interest and there are a few well worn techniques to achieve just this. <br />
<br />
My favorite method (I’ve ended up using for many of my toolkit sales letters) is the technique where you open the letter by asking a question.<br />
<br />
<br />
A middle section that builds on that interest<br />
Now comes the meat of your sales letter. This middle section is designed to pick up on the interest you’ve just created with your killer opening.<br />
The middle section must paint a picture of how life could be if only your prospect owned a copy of your product. You must present an image of a new world, where your product answers the pressing problems that exist today.<br />
The key here is to put yourself in the shoes of your prospect and imagine that you just surfed the internet looking for a solution to their problem and up popped your site (not by co-incidence but because you’ve done a lot of work and probably paid for the search engines to get it there in front of them – more on this in a later chapter of http://www.CreateAndSELLproductsONLINE.com course).<br />
<br />
Put yourself in your prospective customers shoes<br />
So let’s return to my fictional product: “How to Learn to Fly” and provide some examples of the message I would want to be getting across during this stage.<br />
I’ve put myself in the shoes of someone searching for answers to their search query and I figure that they have three main considerations:<br />
Is it going to take me long to learn?<br />
Will it cost me an arm and a leg?<br />
Will it be safe (and is it really for me anyway)?<br />
Again this is fictional and you may come up with a whole host of other pressing problems that need answering.<br />
<br />
<br />
Create the desire and present a vision!<br />
The key point about this middle section is that you must build desire by presenting a vision of how life could be, if only the reader owned their own copy of your product.<br />
<br />
If I was writing the middle section for the Learning to Fly product I would focus on that dream:<br />
<br />
“Imagine the freedom of being able to climb high above the rush hour traffic and look down on the crowded freeways, secure in the knowledge that you’ll make your meeting on time and in a relaxed frame of mind.<br />
<br />
“…And you’ll be able to take your whole family away for that short, relaxing, break without those many hours of torturous driving with screaming kids in the back.”<br />
<br />
You get the idea.<br />
<br />
Create the desire, present a vision!<br />
<br />
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Use bullet points to rack up benefits<br />
You’ve probably already noticed that virtually every sales based website uses bullet points.<br />
<br />
That’s because bullets provide the most excellent way of presenting your message. People are lazy, they want to cut to the chase and your bullet points allow them to do just that.<br />
<br />
Here’s where you get the chance to present the *killer benefits* of your product in little bite size chunks. Choose your words carefully, because this is probably the difference between a sale or not.<br />
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Bullets build interest, they generate enthusiasm, the attempt to provide specific benefits to the reader and so on…<br />
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Make the price seem cheap<br />
Okay, you’re providing a great deal with your product and now you need to let people know what it will cost.<br />
<br />
You’ve put a lot of work into producing the content and you’re building a compelling sales letter, so how best to present the sales price?<br />
<br />
The answer is to try to make the purchase a “no brainer”.<br />
<br />
This means building a convincing case why for only $50.00 (more about working out precisely what your price should be later), this has got to be the best deal since sliced bread.<br />
<br />
The best approach is to contrast your price with the many exciting benefits that they’ve just been reading about.<br />
<br />
This technique works very well as it stands to reason that if your product does what it says it does, the purchase will work out well for your customer.<br />
<br />
The real crux of the argument is the final sentence. <br />
<br />
This is important because people fundamentally prefer to delay a decision than make it on the spot. Ask any salesman about how much training they’ve had on “closing”? It’s vital to remove the opportunity for your prospective client to procrastinate, so set a timescale (more on this under below).<br />
<br />
Here’s another justification of price that works very well. It’s part of my How To Find Happiness Toolkit, written by Jennifer Summers and published by me.<br />
<br />
In this example Jennifer describes how much she might be paid to consult or lecture on the subject of the toolkit. Since professional fees are high, it is then an easy step to present any price of less than say $100 or so.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, there’s a useful technique, which I attribute to another great online marketer, Yanik Silver (see http://www.instantinternetprofits.com/). You’ve just justified the price so brilliantly that some might start to wonder just why it is such incredibly good value. I provide the answer in everything that I sell and you can catch the drift in that final paragraph.<br />
<br />
No as if that low price wasn’t enough…<br />
Okay, chances are your customer is hooked, but why stop there?<br />
<br />
You can go further in ensuring that you win the sale by pouring on some bonuses.<br />
<br />
Now bonuses help to turn desire into greed. But it’s a good kind of greed that will help the prospective customer cross the line and buy.<br />
<br />
<br />
An end section that creates desire and the “must have” attitude<br />
<br />
Bring on the bonuses<br />
Your prospect is *hot* and they like what they’ve been reading. They’re already primed on the price and now it’s your job to close that sale.<br />
<br />
Here’s where bonuses can make all the difference. They turn a rational possibility of a purchase taking place into a “must have it right now” attitude.<br />
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Here’s another real life example, taken from my “How To Create And Make A Speech or Presentation” Toolkit. Remember the reader is already keen on the product and knows the price. <br />
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In this particular case, there are a further two bonuses and you can take a look at how the whole thing works here http://www.howtopresent.com<br />
<br />
So the purchaser will also get an hour long audio on the subject of making a presentation, special reports, plus much else. Wow! What a deal.<br />
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Notice at the top of that screen they must act by a specific time to receive everything listed. I might change the price or withdraw some elements after that time!<br />
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Re-assure just prior to purchase<br />
Not everyone is happy about purchasing on the internet. Let’s face it they don’t know you and you don’t know them. So you need to build some confidence.<br />
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Hopefully you’ve already achieved that with everything you’ve written in your sales letter. Occasionally (though surprisingly infrequently in my experience) someone may have even contacted you by email or phone to check a detail about their potential purchase. The speed in which you reply will also tend to contribute towards confidence building.<br />
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But the thing that everyone is really looking for on the internet is a cast iron guarantee and that’s precisely what you need to offer next.<br />
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Your guarantee must be better than great!<br />
I make all my guarantees absolutely crystal clear, in fact I place them right up front and make a sales feature of them. This is all about creating the confidence for someone to buy online.<br />
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Now naturally I absolutely hate being asked for refunds and my refund percent is very small indeed (about 1.5% and some of that will be because someone bought a product and needs to swap for something else – I have two products that appeal to a similar market of newsletter producers).<br />
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But no matter how much I dislike refunds, I’m bound to honor them and I do.<br />
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Providing a guarantee has become accepted practice for internet based eProducts and I think that this is a good thing. In fact I make a play of it on my websites.<br />
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I’ve used the approach of providing a simple black and white approach. I ask that people give the product a proper try before asking for a refund and when people do follow the advice, they simply don’t come back and ask for a refund because it works.<br />
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Generating quality sales copy is vital<br />
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Don’t stint on the sales copy. It’s the most important element of your website. In fact you could argue it is more important than your content, because no one will ever even discover your content without a great sales letter.<br />
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So you must choose your words carefully and spend some time working on perfecting your approach.<br />
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You might conclude that you need to pay an experienced copywriter and if you are not comfortable with generating the sales letter yourself then this is a possible solution. If you do go down this route, make sure you’ve seen some of their work and importantly some of their web based copy.<br />
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Writing copy for the web is slightly different to print based sales copy. Mainly because the formatting on screen can make long paragraphs very difficult to read.<br />
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Another very viable alternative is to use a new piece of software by marketing expert Armand Morin. He’s generated software that quite literally produces your sales letter for you. That sounds crazy, but it takes your information and combines it with the very best sales techniques to create a potent mix – your winning sales letter.<br />
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Click here http://www.saleslettergenerator.com/ and check out his product. You can even listen to what other online marketers have to say about his product. <br />
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Judging by his other products, Armand is also the guy behind the software I use to generate all my Toolkit box covers (see http://www.ecovergenerator.com/), this sales letter generator software will be a big hit in the marketplace.<br />
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If you still don’t feel confident or you just want to take yourself above the crowd when it comes to writing a killer sales letter (and that’s quite a string to have in your bow, because great copy means great sales), then be sure to get hold of Yanik Silver’s Web Copy Secrets at http://www.webcopysecrets.com/ This is quite simply the best of this type of resource that I’ve come across and as they say:<br />
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“The right words have the almost magical power to make your visitors whip out their credit cards and...BUY!”<br />
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So it is the “Words” that REALLY sell.<br />
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To your online success!<br />
Michael Green<br />
Mike Lamb – Moneyroom.com<br />
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Mike Lamb is the creator and host of the syndicated radio program, The Moneyroom. Mike has talked with and interviewed most of the masters of Internet Marketing and Home Business. His program also features ordinary people who have experienced significant success on the web.<br />
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Since 1996 tens of thousands of people have heard the Moneyroom Show either on the radio or on the web. Moneyroom was the first Internet radio show of its kind and continues to bring its listeners real people making real money on the Internet.<br />
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Mike is currently pioneering a web business model combining web audio, exclusive content and Internet syndication. Mike operates 22 different web sites for various markets. He is also a writer at work on his second novel.<br />
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His web sites include:<br />
www.moneyroom.com<br />
www.themoneyroomshow.com<br />
www.listenlink.com<br />
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A personal note from Mike:<br />
Before the Internet I spent most of my time on the radio. I got in the business at age 15 and my music radio career spanned about 20 years. I worked at stations in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Reno, Wichita and some other smaller markets. As a radio personality, I was known as Shotgun Mark Rivers. I had fun, made some money, but I got bit early on by the entrepreneurial bug. <br />
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My epitaph will read: I am so thankful to be alive during this time in technology. Once I got on the Internet never looked back. Come follow me.<br />
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I personally believe the Internet is the single most conscious-raising tool so far in our lifetime. If you have a smidgen of imagination, a willingness to learn the process and the confidence to take massive action on your thoughts you can make a monster income using the Internet.<br />
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Answer - By Mike Lamb<br />
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I am an idea person. I never lack for ideas. If I lost it all and wanted it back, I would simply pull out one of the notepads and review some of the past ideas for products or companies I have been thinking about and cataloging for future reference.<br />
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Most likely I would be interested in creating a certain amount of money to get out of debt or fulfill the needs of a project. So my plan would revolve around a simple, yet practical information service that can be marketed easily and simply. I would begin by creating and marketing an information product or products to a specific group of customers.<br />
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My immediate goal would be to identify several markets where I could apply my interviewing and web audio skills and provide fresh audio content for other web sites.<br />
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Day 1<br />
Okay, I must have blown, because here I am. I did some things wrong or I wouldn’t be in this situation. That’s now water over the dam and there is no reason to sit and sulk about it. It’s time to get back on the horse.<br />
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The first day I would stop and take a breath. Most likely I have been feeling the stress of my situation, fielding calls from creditors and worrying about my family. So day one I need to stop and take a break. I might go see a movie or visit friends and brainstorm with them. Sounds weird, but to me that’s relaxation.<br />
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Day 2<br />
It’s time to contact every person or company I have a financial obligation with. I would tell each one that I’ve hit a rough patch, but assure them it is only a temporary situation. I would then follow up with a letter explaining my plan and ask each one for the 30 days I need to carry it out. (I’ve done this before. It’s not fun, but something that is necessary if nothing else for your peace of mind.)<br />
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Day 3<br />
The real fun begins. It’s a new beginning. First, I would write out a value and purpose statement. I will use this statement as a guideline to remind me of my personal mission with this project. I will read it every day when I wake up and every evening before I got to bed to give my subconscious positive reinforcement during this process.<br />
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Next, I would do a search on the Internet and identify a few markets that have a need for fresh content on their web site. I would look for topics of continued or growing interest within that group of customers who want continuing and updated information. I would also look at markets I have a personal interest in. I might find a gem of a market ready for fresh audio content. I would look for joint venture possibilities with companies within that market, and how audio could be used to promote topics to this market.<br />
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I would identify a spokesperson within that market and initially piggyback on their relationships and contacts. This would most likely be the first joint venture relationship for me in this new market.<br />
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Day 3<br />
Today I decide on the first information product. It will most likely be in an interview format. That is the easiest to initiate and sell. It’s marketable because it’s familiar, relatable and understandable. It is also something I am very good at doing. I found out a long time ago you should do what you know how to do when you’re in a crunch. The last thing you need when you’re in an emotionally tight situation is to feel no confidence in what you’re doing.<br />
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Next, it’s time to begin writing the sales letter for the product.<br />
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Day 4 thru 10<br />
Contact the people to be recorded, set up and begin recording a week of interviews and comments to be used later as testimonials. Continue writing sales letter. Identify and write down key words for the web site and pay per click search engine advertising.<br />
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Day 11 thru 15<br />
I would create and purchase the domain names for the web site. <br />
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I would have the sales letter reviewed by the spokesperson or other prominent people within the target market. <br />
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Create web site. Set up payment processing. Set up autoresponders and web automation with http://webautomationtools.com/.<br />
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Discuss value added bonuses for product with the spokesperson. <br />
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Edit and produce audio files of interviews and complete the audio product. <br />
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Begin transcribing interviews for additional information products. <br />
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Set up, launch and review the pay-per-click advertising campaign. <br />
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Day 16 <br />
Launch web site. Roll out offer to test group. Create affiliate program and sales letter to affiliates.<br />
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Day 17 <br />
Make offer to additional joint venture partners. Roll out affiliate program.<br />
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Day 18 thru 20 <br />
Review results. Tweak and make changes to the offer and the web copy.<br />
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Day 21 <br />
Roll the offer out to the list of customers of our joint venture partners.<br />
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Day 22 thru 25<br />
Respond to emails and offers, deliver the product and review my success.<br />
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During these days I will also concentrate on additional ways to build my list from factions within the chosen market.<br />
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Day 25 thru 30<br />
During this time I will write four separate articles to create awareness of my audio product for the target market. This series of articles will be offered to trade ezines and publications aimed at my chosen market.<br />
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In the days ahead…<br />
I will watch for additional opportunities to market and promote my product, build new relationships and discover what else my customers want.<br />
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I will stay focused, positive and deliver more than I promised.<br />
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Conclusion: <br />
Any one of us could find ourselves in a situation like this at any time. The city where I live has seen over 15,000 jobs lost in the aerospace industry alone in just the past nine months.<br />
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If it happens to you don’t have a knee-jerk reaction. Access your predicament. Evaluate your assets and what you can bring to the table. Then search for a table to sit. Every person or company needs something. All you have to do is be the person with what they need. You can’t do it for everyone. You can’t have everything someone will need. <br />
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But you have talents and hidden assets that others need. Some you may not have used for a long time. Get them out, polish them up and get ‘em sold. You can do this. We all need other people and that has tremendous value.<br />
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If it happened to me I would welcome the challenge. Every evening I would review my progress. I might read something inspirational to help stay upbeat and motivated. I would also reward myself for the completing the important steps during this process. <br />
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You have to make sure you keep yourself on track during times of crisis, because if you don’t nobody else will. Having a support system is great, but no one else can know exactly what you’re feeling or what kind of thoughts are going through your head. You have a goal that must be carried to fruition. <br />
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The ultimate reward for your efforts is feeling back on top and in control, having income again, and being responsible enough to take care of your obligations. But the most important reward is knowing you can do it all again, because you have learned the process. I believe if you learn the process well, the process will take care of you every single time. That’s a great feeling and the money ain’t bad either. My wish for you is incredible success with your web business endeavors.<br />
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One more thing. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If you don’t make some mistakes you’ll never learn what to do right. Learn from others the mistakes you don’t have to make. Many of us have already made them for you. Learn from us. Just remember the more mistakes you make, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more money you’ll make.<br />
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Mike Merz – IM4Newbies.com<br />
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I've been Marketing Offline for over 20 years, Online for 5, and specialize in campaign start up advice. <br />
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My associations include being the #1 ranked Internet Marketing expert (retired) at AskMe.com (now defunct ... read about it here http://www.associateprograms.com/search/newsletter211.shtml), with a 5 star rating, out of a field of over 470. <br />
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I'm a featured writer for DEMC (215,000 subscribers) http://www.demc.com/, the resident "newbie expert" of Neil Shearing's Internet Success Private Member Site http://www.scamfreezone.com/privatesite, a moderator for Bryan Hall's Success Network forum http://www.bryanhall.net/, and have enjoyed personal interaction, and /or joint ventures, with the following accomplished Internet marketers: <br />
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Allan Gardyne, Neil Shearing, Jim Daniels, Mark Joyner, Andy Brocklehurst, Steve Humphrey, Brian Garvin, Jerome Chapmen, Laurie Rogers, Jan Tallant-Dandridge, Diane Hughes, Willie Crawford, Frank Garon, Ray McNally, Michael Green, Jason Potash, Merle, Terri Seymour, Kim Skinner, Adi Gaskell, Bogdan Fiedor, Chris Killian, Bo Ekvall, Eva Almeida, Shelley Lowery, Jimmy D. Brown, Michael Southon, John Stone, Adrian Ling, and ... the list goes on. <br />
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I currently split my time between working Online from my home in Fords, NJ USA, and Marketing Offline. <br />
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I'm also working on a project with the legendary Jimmy D. Brown as we speak, and will be doing an Internet audio interview with Peter Twist. <br />
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Not to mention being part of Mark Joyner's brainstorming group, regarding "phase 2" promotion of his "Farewell" package, and a moderator of the support forum .. <br />
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I'd also like to take this time to thank John Stone, of Stoco.net http://www.stoco.net/ for making this forum possible, not to mention everything else he's done for me as a sitehost, programmer, and friend. <br />
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At the risk of boring you with more of my life story ... let's get back to yours! <br />
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Catch you in the forums .. <br />
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Regards, <br />
Mike <br />
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P.S. <br />
<br />
Visitors, you must register (the link is on the top, right hand side of the page ...) to view the rest of the categories.<br />
_________________<br />
Infoproducts2Sell! <br />
Brand new, exclusive infoproducts <br />
complete with reprint/resell rights <br />
... you make 100% of the profits! <br />
http://infoproducts2sell.im4newbies.com/<br />
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Answer – By Mike Merz<br />
My main focus for the majority of the time that I've been online has been working with those new to the field, which also happens to be the target market of this course (I imagine ..;) so rather than show the complicated, advanced techniques I would most likely apply to such a venture, I'm going to simplify it a bit ...<br />
Don't get discouraged! ;)<br />
The process I'm going to show you will be just as effective ... as long as it's applied 100%!<br />
Day 1<br />
Don't pressure yourself on day one ...<br />
Take a walk in the park, go down to the local library and pick out a good book, etc. ...<br />
It's very important that you are relaxed, keep a clear head, and have confidence.<br />
Side note - If you need hope in the self motivation area, it would do you good to check out "One Question To Success", by Bryan Hall and Josh Hinds.<br />
During this preparation period, keep an index card and pen in your pocket ...<br />
Do this not only on day 1, but always.<br />
If I had a dollar for every great idea that popped into my head out of the blue, and DIDN'T take the time to write it down, I'd be a VERY rich man! LOL<br />
Ideas often come to you at the most unusual times ... don't ignore them! Write them down immediately.<br />
Days 2 and 3<br />
Now it's time to think of what you're going to sell.<br />
Side note: If you don't have any experience Marketing on the Internet, or need a refresher to fill in the cracks, I recommend going down to the local bookstore, or library, at this point, and picking out one of the more popular titles to give yourself reasonable knowledge of the basics, at least. <br />
I also highly recommend Neil Shearing's "Internet Success Blueprint", which is more or less entry level Internet Marketing 101, in my opinion. ;)<br />
I'm going to give you 2 possible avenues to pursue ...<br />
1) Is there something you do in your free time, or wish to do, that you are absolutely passionate about?<br />
A hobby? A side trade? Anything that you use as an outlet, that brings you great satisfaction?<br />
If so, there are probably a lot of other people out there that have the same interests ...<br />
People that would be willing to pay you to acquire that knowledge.<br />
That is one idea ...<br />
2) Find out what a great majority of Internet users find interesting.<br />
The easiest way to do this is via the major search engines and directories.<br />
My favorites are Google, Yahoo, and Alexa (incorporates Google search/Alexa info ...).<br />
You'll want to find out the top keyword searches (the words that Online users use to search when trying to find what interests them) ...<br />
For general top search info, visit Google Zeitgeist and The Yahoo Buzz Index.<br />
Before going any further, I recommend downloading the Google, Alexa toolbars, and/or Web Ferret.<br />
The above tools are free, and great for doing detailed searches.<br />
Once you choose a niche to target, I'd find out a little more about what's going on within it, via ...<br />
- Top sites<br />
Check out the high ranking sites within the market you are pursuing.<br />
Look at the content ... and the source code (if possible), to figure out what makes these sites so popular ... and find out what they're offering.<br />
Remember ... modeling (no, not the "catwalk" associated variety! ;) is a great way to get from point A to Z, very quickly.<br />
Modeling, that is ... not COPYING! Take ideas from your successful peers, not word for word content!<br />
- Niche related forums<br />
Do a search for these forums, find a few that are active, and lurk for a while.<br />
Once you've got a feel for the way the threads are going, start to participate.<br />
Forums are a great way to find out what's popular within a niche, and for getting exposure, building a rep, etc.<br />
BUT ... be careful not to come off as a spammer, or you'll toss yourself, and your reputation, right into the circular file.<br />
Most forums allow a sig. file as the only form of promotion ... some do not allow it at all.<br />
In any case, the idea at this point is to feel things out and gather information.<br />
We'll be coming back to the forums a little later on ..;)<br />
- Niche related newsletters<br />
Do the search thing again, and this time focus on popular, niche related newsletters.<br />
As with forums, newsletters are a great way to get in touch with your market.<br />
Subscribe to a few of them, and start gathering information ... cause we'll be coming back to them later, as well! ;)<br />
The aforementioned 3 sources of information should be accessed as part of your daily routine.<br />
By day 3 you should have a pretty good idea regarding the interests, and concerns, of your newly targeted niche ...<br />
Days 4 and 5<br />
As an Online Marketer, understanding at least simple HTML and general website building is almost a necessity ...<br />
Side note - If you'd like to get a top notch, crash course in site design, I recommend checking out Shelley Lowery's "Web Design Mastery".<br />
HTML Goodies is a great place to start.<br />
Once you've grasped the basics, you'll need a site authoring tool ...<br />
Don't have the bucks to pick up DreamWeaver or FrontPage?<br />
Arachnophilia is a top notch, freebie.<br />
No one knows better than I that learning Webmastery is a continual process ..;)<br />
But you should be able to figure out how to a site authored, and how to FTP (file transfer protocol) it up to a server for viewing ...<br />
Now you need access to a server so it can be viewed by others, by way of a site host.<br />
For this, I recommend John Stone's "Stoco.Net".<br />
Contact John, tell him I sent you, and he'll work out the perfect plan to suit the level of your promotions, at a very affordable price.<br />
Not to mention programming help, and unparalleled customer support.<br />
Through John, you'll want to set up a way to ...<br />
- Choose a domain name (make sure it contains keywords that relate to your site's focus and function).<br />
- Configure the head content for your authored pages.<br />
To learn how to do this, I recommend you visit SelfPromotion.com, and completely devour the content of the site.<br />
If you're still having trouble making your site look as professional as you'd like, then you didn't pick up Shelley's course! LOL!<br />
You can pick up a nice looking pre made page, or template, at FreeSiteTemplates.com<br />
- Trade links with quality, related interest sites (look for candidates with a Google rank of 4, 5, or more, and equal to greater traffic than your own, when possible.).<br />
Author a separate page for links, and sign up with a link trading service like LinkPartners.<br />
- Setup a forum on your site, and place links for it in your list signup welcome messages.<br />
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Side note - To learn more about forums, and how to make money with them, download this free ebook.<br />
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- Set up a mailing list, and put a sign up box or link on every page of your site.<br />
Collecting email addresses for follow up is absolutely imperative!<br />
I recommend the mailing list be in the form of a newsletter.<br />
To learn how to put one together, visit EzineUniversity.Com<br />
Side note - If you'd rather use an all in one website hosting and promotion solution, click here.<br />
Days 6 - 10<br />
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Now that you have selected a niche, an idea, built a site, and established a newsletter, it's time to get the word out.<br />
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- Promote the site<br />
SelfPromotion.com again ... follow the advice to the letter, and submit your site to the major search engines and directories.<br />
- Promote the newsletter<br />
Submit to every newsletter/ezine directory you can find, via search, or pick up Jason Potash's "Ezineannouncer" to automate the task.<br />
- Write topic related articles ...<br />
... and submit them to every article database you can find ... EzineAnnouncer automates this task, as well.<br />
- Keep cruising the forums ...<br />
... and don't forget to link to your site/newsletter if sig. files are allowed.<br />
The more you post, the greater your exposure ... and the better your level of credibility.<br />
- Associate yourself with high level platforms.<br />
Consider signing up as an expert in the category that best suits you, and your promotions. This is a great way to build a reputation as an expert in your field.<br />
Here are a few places you can do this ...<br />
http://www.allexperts.com/ <br />
http://www.abuzz.com/<br />
http://www.expertcentral.com/<br />
http://www.keen.com/<br />
Day 11 - 15<br />
Now that you've got everything up and running, it's time to assemble your pre sale, free ebook, or report (which you will make available via autoresponder)<br />
It doesn't have to be long ... 10 pages should be just fine.<br />
The idea is to have something to offer your newsletter subscribers and site visitors that is resourceful, yet free.<br />
But the actual function of this mini ebook, or report, is to serve as a pre sell tool for the full version ebook that you will be authoring afterwards.<br />
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Side note - Shelley Lowery's "eBookStarter" course contains everything you'll need, aside from a compiler, to produce professional looking ebooks, including cover graphics.<br />
You may also derive an income from the free ebook, by offering to rebrand the ebook with the prospect's own affiliate links, or site reference, for a small fee.<br />
Put links to an autoresponder* throughout the ebook promoting the upcoming paid version, and start building a database of prospects to sell it to.<br />
* You can pick up a free, sequential autoresponder here.<br />
In addition to giving the freebie away on your own, you should submit it to every freebie download site you can find.<br />
You'll find tons of places to submit both your free and paid versions, here ... <br />
http://www.ebooksubmit.com/ <br />
Days 16 - 20<br />
You've got your site up, and starting to appear in the search engines and directories, your newsletter is starting to take on new subscribers, your free ebook is helping you build a targeted list of prospects for your paid version, and now it's time to put together your salable infoproduct.<br />
Make it at least 20 pages or more, include affiliate links to related products/services, and could also offer ...<br />
- resell rights<br />
- free updates (to stay in contact with customers for future promotions)<br />
- free bonuses (show monetary value)<br />
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Now set up a subdomain, or a completely different site, to promote the paid version, using a subdomain/domain name that mirrors the name of the infoproduct.<br />
(Get a free course that explains how to do this in detail, here).<br />
Set up an account with ClickBank, allowing you to accept credit cards and Online checks, AND build an affiliate network of your own, and PayPal, to reach a wider audience, and gain the ability to receive instant payment.<br />
Offer the affiliate program (at 50% commission) to visitors and subscribers that you've set up through ClickBank, by linking to a separate sign up page, and set up a form for them to fill out for confirmation, and further info (building your affiliate database for follow up).<br />
Submit the affiliate program to all the directories you can find<br />
(... or automate the task by going here.)<br />
Promote the infoproduct page using SelfPromotion.com ... promote the ebook using http://www.ebooksubmit.com/ .<br />
Set up a Google Adwords pay per click account for the infoproduct sales page, set at a daily price limit that you can afford<br />
This will not only drive targeted visitors to the site, it will raise the site's rank via increased popularity, due to the traffic it receives.<br />
Days 21 - 25<br />
Both your main site and ebook site are up and receiving traffic, your lists are picking up subs, you'll start to receive sales from direct promotion and affiliates, and now it's time to inquire about joint ventures ...<br />
I recommend visiting EzineLocater.com, searching the database for niche related newsletters with 10,000 subs or more, and contacting the owner in regards to a joint venture. Offer them a free copy of the paid version, as well as a higher commission - between 60 and 75%, for running your promotion as an affiliate in their newsletters.<br />
Days 26 - 30<br />
Thanks to the wonders of automation, the majority of your work (till the next product launch) is now done, aside from putting some of your now regular JV, affiliate, and direct sales income back into further newsletter advertising, continuing to interact in the forums, building relationships with your JV partners for later promotions, customer support and follow up, etc.<br />
Also ... don't forget to promote your sites, newsletter, and products Offline ... <br />
(business cards and fliers are cheap ... and word of mouth is FREE!;)<br />
Days 31 and Beyond<br />
Repeat the process ... over and over again. ;)<br />
Yours in success,<br />
Mike Merz<br />
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Paul Colligan – Colligan.com<br />
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Paul Colligan is CEO of Colligan.com Inc. (http://www.colligan.com), an online provider of consulting, technologies, and Web properties for Internet marketing. He is the Webmaster of several successful Internet Marketing sites that include FrontPage World and You Can Sell Online (http://www.frontpageworld.com and http://www.youcansellonline.com).<br />
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Paul is also is a popular presenter on Internet technology topics and frequently speaks online, on the air, and before audiences about his passions. He has presented at events around the country that include Internet World, Linux World, Commission Junction University, and Microsoft Tech-Ed. Microsoft recently awarded Paul MVP status for his efforts with their product.<br />
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Colligan.com will sell more than a half million dollars in information products in 2003 and will pay out more than half of that to his affiliates and content partners. Some other sites in the network include:<br />
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http://associates.colligan.com<br />
http://www.colliganhosting.com<br />
http://www.dreamweavertemplatesonline.com<br />
http://www.frontpagepoweredit.com<br />
http://www.frontpagesecrets.com<br />
http://www.frontpagetalk.com<br />
http://www.frontpagetools.com<br />
http://www.frontpageworldhosting.com<br />
http://www.htmlwebtemplates.com<br />
http://www.internetbuttkicking.com<br />
http://www.smallbusinessdiscountcenter.com<br />
<br />
You can sign up for a number of Paul’s very popular (and free) Internet Marketing Email Newsletters at http://www.colligan.com/writing.htm.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Answer – By Paul Colligan<br />
<br />
Note<br />
<br />
I’m not going to try to re-create any wheel here. I’m not going to regurgitate someone else’s ebook. There are number of great references many times better than what I’d ever be able to produce and I will mention them here in place of copying them. We take intellectual property pretty highly.<br />
<br />
Yes, some of them are going to cost you a few bucks. I won’t recommend a thing I haven’t purchased myself and don’t consider to be worth many times the cost. You can’t make money without spending some money – the key is to spend less than you make!<br />
<br />
I hope to bring to this exercise a certain degree of calmness. I’m not going to promise you a million dollars in 30 days. I promise you a path that I’m sure work and an ‘angle’ on this whole thing that I don’t think anyone else would offer.<br />
<br />
Even if you don’t take my path, deconstruct it – there are a number of great truths in this plan that I can’t believe I’m giving away for free. I won’t have anything left when I finally get around to writing that book ;-)<br />
<br />
Anyway, with that said and done – good luck!<br />
<br />
And yes, I’d love to get a copy of the note I recommend on day 3.<br />
<br />
Paul Colligan<br />
paul@colligan.com<br />
<br />
Day 1<br />
<br />
According to Joe, I’ve got 30 days to rebuild my life and my place on the Internet. This ain’t going to be easy. Spent some time today trying to figure out how I can rise to the challenge and came up with the following:<br />
<br />
1. The money is in the list. I can't build a list in 30 days. I’ve got to fast track this one. <br />
<br />
2. I can build a product in less than 30 days. There are dozen of products out there that teach me how to do that. I’ve done it before – will do it again. I wish I had the time to follow Marlon all the way but I don’t (for this round). He’s still King of the infoproduct creation though and I’m gonna pick up his package for my model. (http://gimmesecrets.com/). <br />
<br />
3. The careful combination of the right product and the right list can make things happen quickly. Combining the two is the path I can take if I expect results in 30 days. <br />
<br />
So, here is what I’m going to do:<br />
<br />
1. Find an existing guru with an existing client base and make him an offer he can't refuse.<br />
<br />
2. Leverage some bonus in my product to build my list.<br />
<br />
3. Within 30 days, start selling resale rights and explore other additional revenue streams.<br />
<br />
Having been in the Internet “guru” space myself, I know that there isn't an Internet guru or successful Web site out there that doesn't have a long list of products they'd like to get completed and out to their audience. I know I had 20 of them myself – back before I “lost it all” in this twisted experiment.<br />
<br />
I will, as quickly as possible, identify a guru who needs a product and is willing to jv, develop the product for the guru, give him a jv deal he/she can't refuse and then sell the thing myself once the guru has made a ton on the product.<br />
<br />
In 30 days, I'd only be able to get so much of a list (despite what the spam tells you) and I'd rather have a small piece of a bigger pie than an entire pie that is only bite size. Which would you rather have, a thousand quarters or a hundred dollars? Do the math, if you don't know the answer to that one. <br />
<br />
In the first 30 days I'd collect money quickly and a get a mailing list in the process. I wouldn't do much for my own name but that simply doesn't matter in the first 30 days. Yes, someone else will get most of the cash but it simply doesn't matter (and they do deserve it - it is their list).<br />
<br />
The average guru gets 10 or so JV requests a week so I need something to simply rise above the noise. I'll put together a hot looking Web site and establish myself as a real player BEFORE I contact anyone. That is so easy to do on the net and I can do that part today! Once I start contacting the gurus, I'm going to give them something very nice to look at.<br />
<br />
O.k., time to get to work:<br />
<br />
I grabbed a Hotmail Account with my full name as the email address. This looks as classy as it can look and still be a Hotmail address. (http://hotmail.com/)<br />
<br />
Now that I have an email address, I grabbed a PayPal account. I’m going to need to do some electronic financial transactions on the net very quickly and this is the fastest way to do it. They are annoying and tedious but I jumped through all the hoops and am on my way to a PayPal Preffered account. It is the only way to go with these guys. I’ll need to keep on any email from these people – that can be a bit anal (especially with the new eBay acquisition). (http://paypal.com/)<br />
<br />
One of the best ways to “establish” myself as a player online (in any industry) is to get a Blog running. I signed up for a BlogSpot account through Blogger with myfullname.blogspot.com. This is going to help me in a number of ways (more on that later). I also wrote my first Blog commenting on the top news article at www.news.com. Look at me, I’ve got a Blog – I will be using that to my advantage very quickly. (http://blogger.com/).<br />
<br />
And, finally Ryze. I need an account at Ryze. It will help me in a number of ways. I set up as impressive as a home page as I could and I, obviously, linked to my new Blog. Heck, I went into my Blog and sent a link back to Ryze. Hmm, cross-linking between to sites with a high Google Pagerank. I wonder what that will do for me? (http://ryze.com/).<br />
<br />
Why don’t I submit my Ryze page and my Blog to Google? (http://google.com/addurl.html). <br />
<br />
Now, I’ve got to pay for some things and I need some cash. It always amazes me how some people seem to think that they deserve to make millions on the Internet but don’t have to spend a dime doing so. I’m going to have to spend some money. I don’t mind – there is plenty of money out there.<br />
<br />
I put up $500 worth of my own stuff on eBay on a 7 day auction. I’m taking payment by PayPal only. I’ll need the cash asap.<br />
<br />
I visited ColliganHosting.com. For $42.90 I grabbed a domain name (used my full name for the domain name - ideally it would be just my last name but made it my first and last name because the last name was taken) and a month of hosting. The bronze plan is fine for what I need. (http://colliganhosting.com/).<br />
<br />
I obviously borrowed the money for this from a friend. It’s ok, I’m going to be able to pay him back on day 8. <br />
<br />
I grabbed the 30 day download of Dreamweaver. I won’t put the link here because they are always changing it but you can go to Macromedia and find it pretty easily. <br />
<br />
I visited DreamweaverTemplatesOnline.com and purchased the template that I though matched my style the best. (http://www.dreamweavertemplatesonline.com/)<br />
<br />
Again, borrowed money paid back in 8 days.<br />
<br />
Notes:<br />
<br />
I would be in grave error not to recommend the use of FrontPage in developing your Web site. You can also use a FrontPage Template and a trial of FrontPage – FrontPage just seems to take longer to get a free trial of (but the templates are much easier to use). (http://www.frontpagetools.com). I wanted to remain as true to this experiment as possible but don’t waste your time learning how to code – that’s not what you’re here for – use FrontPage.<br />
<br />
If you are scared to death of using a Web development package, ColliganHosting does offer a Web based Web builder that “works” but won't produce a site as nice as DreamWeaverTemplatesOnline.com or FrontPageTools.com will.<br />
<br />
What a day. Tomorrow is going to be HUGE.<br />
<br />
Day 2<br />
<br />
Posted some more intelligent thoughts to my Blog. Check me out, I’m quite the pundit. I even critiqued the latest from Dvorak. People just might take me seriously.<br />
<br />
I also participated, intelligently, in the conversation always going at Ablake. Linked to my Blog in the link option. (http://ablake.net/forum).<br />
<br />
I’m beginning to look like a real player. Excellent.<br />
<br />
I grabbed my 30 day trial of Dreamweaver and put together a Web site about me. I linked to my Blog and my Ryze page. I also linked back from those to my site. <br />
<br />
Now there are three pages on the Internet that talk about me and they all link to each other. I’m also getting some decent traffic from participating in the conversations at ABlake.<br />
<br />
It is now time to make my move.<br />
<br />
I’ve got to find a guru. The good ones are easy to find – if they aren’t easy to find – they aren’t any good.<br />
<br />
But first, lunch – more Ramen.<br />
<br />
I installed the Google toolbar on my version of Internet Explorer. I don’t want to deal with anyone who doesn’t have a pagerank better than 5. There is simply no “quicker” way to validate whether a Web site is worth anything. If the content is good and they’ve been around for more than a few months, they’ll have a good score (http://toolbar.google.com/).<br />
<br />
I identified a short list of 20 gurus who<br />
<br />
Look big.<br />
Sell information products online.<br />
Have a big affiliate program.<br />
I could possibly provide an product for.<br />
<br />
Day 3<br />
<br />
Another posting to my Blog, an update of my Web site, a few more postings to Ablake. Check me out Mom!<br />
<br />
I got 20 gurus. I now need 20 ideas. <br />
<br />
I’m heading to the park with the 20 gurus and their audience on 20 pieces of paper. I’m going to fill these 20 pages with ideas before lunch.<br />
<br />
Lunch – yup – Ramen. <br />
<br />
I now have 20 pages with 20 gurus and they are all filled with ideas. <br />
<br />
Most of my ideas involve creating an information product or something that I’m able to do myself. I just don’t have the programming skills under my belt to pull of anything else. If I was a Web developer, I’d probably make some templates and see if I can get one of those Web template sites to bite. <br />
<br />
I cross off all but my best 3 on each page.<br />
<br />
I now have 20 pages with 20 gurus with 3 ideas each.<br />
<br />
Now the note gets written:<br />
<br />
Dear <insert guru here>,<br />
<br />
Wow, you really are all over the place. I’ve spent some serious time searching the net figuring out where I “fit in” and you just kept popping up. <br />
<br />
I’m really impressed with <insert product and or Web site and make some solid comments about it>. I love this industry because <insert reason here>. <br />
<br />
A little bit about me <a little bit about me and why you should trust me to produce a product for you>. <br />
<br />
As a matter of fact, I just commented on this issue at my Blog. If you are at all curious, do take a look at <insert URL>.<br />
<br />
I’ve got an idea I want to run by you. I’d like to get into this Internet game and would like to propose to you a win/win situation. Are you game?<br />
<br />
After pounding through your sites and your competition, it suddenly hit me that you are missing <insert idea here>. I’m sure you’ve got it in the “queue” but I’d like to help you speed up the process.<br />
<br />
I know <idea again> would really hit your audience hard and sell very quickly.<br />
<br />
Here’s what I like to do:<br />
<br />
Produce it in 2 weeks.<br />
Produce all of the sales material and supporting documentation.<br />
Deliver it all to you.<br />
Allow you to sell as much as you can for one week.<br />
After that, have you become an affiliate at 75%.<br />
<br />
What do you think?<br />
<br />
Name<br />
WEB ADDRESS<br />
Read my Blog at NAME.BLOGSPOT.COM<br />
<br />
See, look at that – I’ve complimented them, I’ve shown them that I’m real with a Web Address and a Blog. <br />
<br />
I have just risen above the crop of emails that these gurus normally get.<br />
<br />
Looks good. I’m going to put that away for an hour. Obviously I’ll need to pick my favorite idea from my short list of 3 per guru.<br />
<br />
O.k., I’m back. <br />
<br />
I’m going to send this out to ten of the gurus right now.<br />
<br />
Day 4<br />
<br />
Just posted a few more articles to my Blog.<br />
<br />
Checked my email for any bites from the gurus.<br />
<br />
Edited that letter again.<br />
<br />
Sent it to the next ten gurus.<br />
<br />
And I wait.<br />
<br />
And I wait.<br />
<br />
Man, daytime television is crap, isn’t it?<br />
<br />
Waiting is lame. I quickly write an EXCELLENT report on one of the topics I’ve been thinking about and I post it at my Web site, mention it in my blog and link to it from Ryze. What format do I use? HTML and PDF. How do I create a PDF file? (http://pdf995.com/).<br />
<br />
So, now an inventory of myself:<br />
<br />
Web site, Ryze Page, Blog – all filled with good stuff.<br />
20 gurus contacted with my excellent idea.<br />
Already produced first “piece” at my site.<br />
<br />
Check my email again – look at that – someone “bit.”<br />
<br />
Wait till tomorrow to get too excited.<br />
<br />
Now, I have that report – gosh – I should do a quick survey on Google for sites that might want to link to my report.<br />
<br />
And then contact them.<br />
<br />
Yeah, I’ll do that.<br />
<br />
I contacted them and two contacted me back that they’d be putting up links. Wow, people are linking to me.<br />
<br />
Day 5<br />
<br />
Ok, I want to close the deal today. I’m sure I’ll hear from some other gurus later but I’m making a decision today. 3 responded – that is enough.<br />
<br />
Now, I need to make sure that the “guru” I pick is ready to move quickly.<br />
<br />
I call the gurus. I’m smart enough to figure out his/her phone number.<br />
<br />
I made sure that he/she understood what was going on and how important this was. I believe they do.<br />
<br />
O.k., 2 did.<br />
<br />
I spend the day in negotiations and on the phone. I offer the guru the ULTIMATE win/win <br />
<br />
I pick one.<br />
<br />
What a day.<br />
<br />
Let the games begin!<br />
<br />
Day 6<br />
<br />
I have a lot of work to do but I take time to update my Blog and my Web site and make a few friends at Ryze as well.<br />
<br />
Other than that, I spend the day on the info product.<br />
<br />
I won’t even begin to tell you how to create an info product – there are too many people who do too good of a job at that. Again, I recommend Marlon’s “Gimme” course – all of the rest of them are just sad copies. (http://gimmesecrets.com/) <br />
<br />
Day 7<br />
<br />
Again, the info-product with just enough time taken out to post to my Blog, add to my Web site and make a few more friends at Ryze.<br />
<br />
Day 8<br />
<br />
Hey, look at that – the stuff I hocked on eBay raised $578.23. I’ll be using all of it. I might even upgrade from Ramen.<br />
<br />
With the $578.23, I pay off the money I borrowed – with interest. If I learned anyone before I lost it all it was that I need to be as good as possible to the people who are good to me. <br />
<br />
I still have $500 left. I’ll be using that later.<br />
<br />
I also use the cash to overnight a package with some local Oregon Microbrews to the guru I’m working with.<br />
<br />
If you aren’t from Oregon, use some local treat that will make the guru you are working with feel all the more better about working with you.<br />
<br />
Because I followed the PayPal directions perfectly I am now a PayPal Preffered customer. Yes, it will take 60 days for me to get my debit Mastercard (I ordered it) but I can use the virtual credit card number found in the lower right hand side of the Shopping Page to make orders online “with a credit card” – despite the fact that I don’t have one. Their site will do a better job of explaining the issue than I will here so I won’t even try.<br />
<br />
With that credit card purchase, I get an account with Clickbank. I’ll need that to be selling my product. (http://clickbank.com).<br />
<br />
Also wrote my second “report” at my Web site today. Now I have 2 PDF files at my Web site for people to download.<br />
<br />
Man, my Web site and the links and the reports really make me out to be a serious player.<br />
<br />
Day 9<br />
<br />
Worked on the product. Posted to my Blog. Ate Ramen.<br />
<br />
Day 10<br />
<br />
Worked on the product.<br />
<br />
Realized I could get a free month of Corey Rudl’s “Secrets to Their Success Newsletter” now that I have a credit card. Signed up for that. Great stuff, wow, read the whole thing – every single piece in the archives. Man, that August 2002 issue about me “before I lost it all” brought back some memories. (http://secretstotheirsuccess.com).<br />
<br />
Day 11<br />
<br />
Worked on the product.<br />
<br />
After the table of contents in the information product, I make a simple one-page call for a “free bonus MP3” on my topic. All they have to do is “sign up” to receive it which, of course, puts them into an autoresponder series.<br />
<br />
Yup, now everytime someone buys my product from the “guru”, the chances are good that they’ll sign up for the free bonus and give me their email address to get the free bonus. You know, just like Joe did when you bought this thing ;-)<br />
<br />
How did I create the MP3? I hijacked the “record from line in” option on the new version of Real Media’s Real One Player. <br />
<br />
It’s actually pretty good.<br />
<br />
What autoresponder did I use?<br />
<br />
http://myleadcenter.com <br />
<br />
$15 bucks a month for 25 newsletter and 25 autoresponders. Not a bad deal at all.<br />
<br />
Day 12<br />
<br />
My Clickbank account was approved today. I can now go “live” with my product when I’m ready.<br />
<br />
I decided to ‘sell’ that first report I wrote on day 4. Look at me – I’m an info-product barron on just day 12.<br />
<br />
It also makes my site look a lot better.<br />
<br />
Don’t think I’ll see a dime from it but it sure makes me look good.<br />
<br />
Day 13<br />
<br />
Worked on the product.<br />
<br />
Worked on the sales page.<br />
<br />
Spent some time in UseNet reading about my industry. Made a few “friends” online that I’m sure I’ll cross paths with again.<br />
<br />
Day 14<br />
<br />
Worked on the product.<br />
<br />
Worked on the sales page.<br />
<br />
Day 15<br />
<br />
Worked on the product.<br />
<br />
Worked on the sales page.<br />
<br />
Thank God for Marlon.<br />
<br />
Day 16<br />
<br />
Worked on the product.<br />
<br />
Worked on the sales page.<br />
<br />
Wife edited the thing. Man she’s good – glad I married her.<br />
<br />
Day 17<br />
<br />
Worked on the product.<br />
<br />
Worked on the sales page.<br />
<br />
Man, I can’t wait until launch.<br />
<br />
Day 18<br />
<br />
Worked on the product.<br />
<br />
Worked on the sales page.<br />
<br />
Made a couple of more friends in Usenet.<br />
<br />
Day 19<br />
<br />
I delivered today. I delivered it all – the product, the sales page, the bonuses, the autoresponder messages, etc.<br />
<br />
I delivered early. Why early, I’m trying to impress the heck out of the guru and nothing impresses more than delivering better than promised earlier than expected.<br />
<br />
Great thing is – because I followed Marlon’s rules to a T, the guru I’m dealing with knew exactly what to do with what I’ve delivered. He’s kind of a standard.<br />
<br />
Let the sales begin. Guru has 7 days to make as many sales as possible. At the end of the 7 days he PayPal’s me my part. I only asked for 20%.<br />
<br />
I’ll ask him to pay me with PayPal’s “mass pay” feature and take the $1 service charge off the final total. It won’t cost him a dime and I’ll save like 50 bucks in the transaction.<br />
<br />
Day 20<br />
<br />
Wordtracker. I love Wordtracker. I used the 1 day trial to identify the keywords that I can grab for a decent price at the PayPerClick search engines. I can’t believe what I found. If all goes well, I’ll take my earned cash to bring 200-300 people a day through the site. If I convert 1% of them, that’s $300 a day in revenue. (http://wordtracker.com). I can do that.<br />
<br />
I used Campbell’s Nothing But Net to learn just how powerful Wordtracker can be. Thank goodness I remember what I learned ;-) (http://www.internetmarketingstrategy.com/).<br />
<br />
And I’ll have some cash from the guru to do that at the end of his run.<br />
<br />
And with the PayPal credit card thing, I can buy some PPC credits right now.<br />
<br />
I’m going to set up my accounts today. Going to set up accounts with Google, Overture and FindWhat. (http://google.com), (http://overture.com), (http://findwhat.com).<br />
<br />
Day 21<br />
<br />
Hey, the guru is selling my product like crazy – this is going to be great.<br />
<br />
But I need to get ready for what happens after he’s done.<br />
<br />
I need affiliates.<br />
<br />
At this point, I don’t have time to purchase and install a new affiliate program. <br />
<br />
So, I’m going to simply create 10 different pages at my Web site with the sales letter and find 10 great people to sell my product via affiliate sales.<br />
<br />
Spent the day making the ten pages and spent the day identifying 30 potential affiliates.<br />
<br />
Day 22<br />
<br />
Heck, affiliates are great but I’m going to sell resell rights to this thing as well. I don’t know if anyone will bite this month but it is an interesting idea.<br />
<br />
Day 23<br />
<br />
Yup, I took the day off. Can’t believe I did it – but I did. Went to the Zoo with my daughters. <br />
<br />
Day 24<br />
<br />
Called the guru to see if there was anything I could “do” to help. I knew there wasn’t but no one likes to think that they are alone in anything.<br />
<br />
Day 25<br />
<br />
My potential affiliates have been contacted and I got enough to see some good cash after this round is over. Excellent!<br />
<br />
Wait a minute, could it be … what the @#$#?<br />
<br />
Look at my site in Internet Explorer and my site suddenly has a PageRank of 5? How the heck did I get a PageRank of 5? Was it the Google/Ryze/Blogger round of links?<br />
<br />
Yup, that was it.<br />
<br />
I’m glad I listened to myself. <br />
<br />
Wow, PageRank of 5 in less than a month. Maybe if this whole info product thing doesn’t work I can sell my self as a search engine expert.<br />
<br />
Day 26<br />
<br />
Wow, look at that – 250 sales of a $97 ebook. My 20% is $4850. Not bad for a month’s work.<br />
<br />
I also have 250 names in my mailing list of people who buy digital products online. My list has begun.<br />
<br />
Obviously, after I took over the sales page for my site I’ve got a popup for people who didn’t buy to <br />
<br />
I’m now in charge – this is going to be a big day<br />
<br />
Day 27<br />
<br />
I now go BALASTIC with advertising with Google Adwords. I can get uniques for about 8 cents each. If I convert one out of every hundred I’m doing fine and making $97 on an $8 investment. (https://adwords.google.com/select/main).<br />
<br />
I wonder whatever happened to that InternetButtKicking Course I wrote before I “lost it all” that went into greater detail on that one? (http://www.internetbuttkicking.com)<br />
<br />
$100 in revenue from the PPCs on the first day.<br />
<br />
Day 28<br />
<br />
$200 in revenue from the PPCs.<br />
<br />
But I can’t just sit around all day.<br />
<br />
Oh wow, what an idea …<br />
<br />
250 people bought the product. I’m gonna offer resell rights.<br />
<br />
But I’m going to do it in a way that has never been done before. Well, ok, I came up with this one back before “I lost it all” but it still works.<br />
<br />
I signed up with Commission Junction (http://cj.com). They run the affiliate program for eBay and have this great little item called the “flexible destination tool.” In short it allows me to create an affiliate link for any page at eBay.<br />
<br />
I’m going to put up a 1 time 10 day auction for resell rights for my product at eBay. I’m going to link to it through the flexible destination tool and contact EVERYONE who either purchased the product or found themselves in the “interested” autoresponder series.<br />
<br />
I’m going to start the bidding at $1.<br />
<br />
See, everyone who goes through my link and makes a bid – I get $5 if they’ve never bid on ebay before.<br />
<br />
What if 50 people do that? $250. Not bad.<br />
<br />
Day 29<br />
<br />
$300 in revenue from the PPCs.<br />
<br />
Day 30<br />
<br />
$300 in revenue from the PPCs.<br />
<br />
I made it to day 30.<br />
<br />
I now have:<br />
<br />
A great relationship with a guru that I helped make nearly $20,000 for. I’m sure I’m on his Christmas card list.<br />
6k in revenue in my first month – not bad.<br />
350 people who have purchased my product on one mailing list.<br />
More than 1000 people on my other mailing list of people who are at least “interested” in what I have to offer.<br />
3 products and bonuses.<br />
A decent Google pagerank.<br />
People linking to me.<br />
Legitimate Internet destination sites related to me in terms of my Blog, my Ryze page and my Web site.<br />
And look at that, I made $9 from Clickbank on the product I put up for sale on the 12th day.<br />
<br />
It’s been a good month. <br />
<br />
I’m going to take a nap.<br />
<br />
Maybe next month I’ll rebuild http://www.colligan.com.<br />
<br />
If I did, I’d sure use a Web template? I wonder if there are any good ones online?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
Peter Sun – PeterSunMarketing.com<br />
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Peter Sun is the founder of The Better Business Institute. Author and creator of countless best selling marketing, advertising and business development products. <br />
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He is recognized as being the most successful marketer in <br />
Australia by marketing gurus all over the world.<br />
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In his first year working from home in ‘Mail Order’ he sold 14,000 copies of one manual using his fax machine. A $600,000 profit. He then overcame shyness and became a business consultant.<br />
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He usually charges $3,000 per hour to give advice to business owners. They considered this price a bargain. He’s worked with over 45 different industries as a consultant. The last client he worked with increased his sales from $15,000 to $80,000 a week. <br />
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He has been the keynote speaker at seminar where attendees have payed as much as $4,500 per head. <br />
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Many of his clients have reached millionaire status. John Giann of Break Free Events generated $12 turnover in 18 months after implementing Peter’s strategies. Peter Nicholas of Naturopathica turned over $48 million last year directly from Peter’s information. There’s just too many stories to list here.<br />
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After nearly a decade of marketing, Peter is now offering to ‘spill the beans’ and share the secrets of his outstanding financial success … to the right people who have an open mind. <br />
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If you are interested you can contact Peter Sun on: jesse@petersunmarketing.com <br />
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Answer – By Peter Sun<br />
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DAY 1: Create my vision page. Get 100% clarity on my goals. Ask yourself – do you know exactly what you want and have a clear specific path to get there? <br />
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This means listing my goals and cutting out pictures from magazines and making a collage vision of my goals. I’d also write down my short term and long-term goals. <br />
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This helps me bring certainly and confidence in troubled times. A clear vision of your outcome is paramount for your success.<br />
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DAY 2 - 5: Begin looking for a product. As you say Joe, I’ve no longer got my good name, friends or JV partners. So I’d scour the Internet, newspaper and money making magazines for products that I could sell. These would most likely be marketing products. <br />
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I’d also look in the newspaper for what marketing products were being sold. I’d find as many as I could. Write a list of them with the distributors name and details.<br />
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DAY 6 - 7: Call all the authors or distributors of the marketing products I wanted. I’d offer them either one of these business proposals:<br />
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1. Straight out tell them I’m interested in selling their product. Tell them I’m not going to buy the rights to sell it (this can cost between $1,000 - $3,000) however I’ll buy each product at wholesale cost (you would pay just 20% - 30% of retail price). And to sweeten the deal, I want a free sample before I begin. That means I get a product for free.<br />
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2. Be really confident when I approach them. Tell them I’m the best marketer around. Plus if they give me their product, I will sell more than anyone else ever could. No down payment. But I’ll give them a royalty for each one I sell. Thus, my confidence buys me the “reseller rights” to a product for FREE.<br />
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DAY 8: Package the product. If the author was selling it for $300, I know I could sell it from $2,000 to $3,000. And if it wasn’t reasonably presented, I’d make a new flashy cover for it using my computer. Then I’d put together a package where the customer gets: <br />
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The marketing product<br />
12 months of phone consultation and support from me<br />
Subscription to my monthly newsletter<br />
Subscription to my weekly teleconference call.<br />
A 2 hour one-on-one implementation of the product coaching session<br />
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I would value it at $5,000. But make a *special offer* where they could have it for $2,500. So I’m basically adding massive value to the product. But what am I really adding? Simply my time and know-how. It’s perceived value is priceless. Yet the extra bonuses cost me nothing.<br />
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DAY 9: Pick up the yellow pages and start calling businesses. Pick out an industry of small businesses that I want to target (eg hairdressers). Start calling them using my “appointment setting script” (if you can read this amazing script with enthusiasm in your voice, for every 10 business owners you speak to 8 will want to see your presentation) <br />
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I’d ask them; <br />
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“If I can show you how to increase your profits by 36% in the next 3 months, would that be worth 35 minutes of your time?” <br />
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I’d call businesses until I had enough appointments for an entire 2 week period. This would take 2 days. <br />
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Once they have agreed to see me for 35 minutes. I would arrange a meeting with them at an expensive hotel. If I met them at the hotel, I’d tell them I was staying there for just a few days, as my services are in big demand all over the world.<br />
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I would present to them for around an hour. In this time I would ask quality questions that would uncover the problems in their business and their dreams. Uncover enough problems and they will beg me for solutions. <br />
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This unique smart selling system has taken years for me to develop and is explosively effective in the right hands. I call it the “Marketing Audit”. <br />
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Yes, it’s a documented simple selling system. Even if you’ve never sold a thing in your life, you can use the “Marketing Audit” and convince business people to buy almost any product in record time.<br />
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DAY 11 – DAY 25: Okay. Progress so far. I’ve found a marketing product. Obtained the rights to it. Re-packaged and added my services with it. Priced it at $2,500. Yet it costs under $200 to make. <br />
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Then, I’ve used my “Appointment setting script” to set up enough appointments with business owners for the next 2 weeks. When I see them, I’m going to talk them through my “Marketing Audit” (a smart presentation questionnaire that influences business owners to buy products quickly)<br />
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(If you want to know more email me now on: jesse@petersunmarketing.com)<br />
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I could meet with 5 business owners each day for 2 weeks. That’s 50 appointments in 14 days. Troy, a licensee of mine actually did this. He’s an ex-pilot and had never sold a thing in his life. He set up 48 appointments in a 2 week period. He was selling a $2,500 marketing program. He sold 18 of them. That’s $45,000 gross profit. Not bad for 2 weeks work.<br />
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DAY 25: So, I’ve just presented with 50 small business owners. Selling the $2,500 program. If I sold to just 50% of the prospects that’s $62,500 in sales (if you copy exactly the way I do the “marketing audit” you can expect a similar result). <br />
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DAY 26: Now I’ve created a sales ledger. The next step is to leverage myself and duplicate what I have just done. So that I can be making money even while I sleep. I would run small ads offering an opportunities to make up to $20,000 per week selling business programs and sell licenses for between $10,000 to $30,000 as we are doing now. I’ve reached my short term goal of making money. But my long term goal is to sell the opportunity to train and educate people to do what I just did. That’s where you can make serious money! <br />
I’ve actually been creating and selling opportunities like this for almost a decade. I’ve generated over $1.2 Million each year, for the last 8 years selling products and opportunities.<br />
If you want to know how you can do this too contact me on: jesse@petersunmarketing.com <br />
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Rod Beckwith – MrJV.com<br />
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Rod is a well known and respected Joint Venture Expert, Inventor & Publisher. Rod can be contacted via email at rod@mrjv.com or you can phone him at 650-747-9301. You can view some of Rod’s accomplishments and activities at http://www.internetinventions.com <br />
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Joint Ventures are what Rod excels at. People need to work together in this world to be a success. Anyone who states they have done anything on their own doesn’t understand how the world really works. Any product or project requires more that one entity to complete, even if that is God looking over your shoulder whispering in your ear on what to write next. I like to help put people together to do whatever ethical type of business that they would like to transact. See http://www.mrjv.com/ <br />
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Rod has invented a number of different products in his lifetime. The most successful and well received has been his Dive Inn Instant Privacy Enclosure. The Dive Inn was designed to give people who need a place to change their clothes in a public setting a way to do it with very little effort. Go to http://www.diveinn.net for more info.<br />
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Recently, Rod and the great mail order guru Melvin Powers have started offering the success classic "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill in ebook format... This is the same book that has influenced generations of some of the greatest achievers and leaders ever. Go to http://www.tagr.com/ to learn more. Rod and Mr. Powers are in the process of publishing a number of new titles in various markets. <br />
See http://www.mpowers.com <br />
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Answer – By Rod Beckwith<br />
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The scene is looking bleak as someone has stolen my identity. Just like in the movies. I woke up and looked into the mirror and saw a face I didn’t recognize, a body that was<br />
definitely not mine in any way shape or form. It takes me a moment to catch my breath, I am now in a full on anxiety attack because the person that I went to bed as, is gone, <br />
completely gone...vanished. I am someone else...physically that is. My mind is still intact with all of my memories, my experiences, everything that truly makes me, me.<br />
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Thank God, I think to myself.<br />
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Just as I start to calm down, the phone rings ~baRING ~baRING. I stagger to the phone And answer it with a kind of desperation that comes with a life altering event such as this. The voice on the other end informs me that I am, or at least whom I’ve become is in big financial trouble. I am now the proud owner of a mountain of debt a mile high and with an angry mob of nasty bill collectors after my skin. I try to explain, but I sound completely off my rocker. The people on the other end of the line aren’t buying it and sound very <br />
threatening with their hissing snake like voices.<br />
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I hang up the phone in despair, I hang my head and begin to wonder why this has happened to me. What did I do to deserve this bizarre twist of fate?<br />
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~baRING~baRING, Ugh, the phone again. Should I answer it? I gather the courage to pick the receiver up and say “hello”, This is Rod Beckwith, may I ask who is calling? The voice on the other end of the line is very deep and monotone. It says, “You are now John Doe, how does it<br />
feel?”<br />
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I scream at the top of my fully inflated lungs into the phone asking why this has happened and get this terrifying answer. “Mr. Doe, There is no why, just do what I say. You have 30 days to become a successful online publisher or I am afraid you will have to stay the person we have transformed you into for the rest of your natural life.” But, he says, if you can put together a plan that is successful and can produce substantial profits in 30 days, we will give you your life back.<br />
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I have never been more motivated in my young life to succeed in the forced task at hand, but I could not help but ask, “what assurances do I have that you will not go back on your word?” The voice spoke very slowly and clearly, “You have my word as an Illuminati”<br />
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He said, “You have 30 days, no more, no less. You will have a roof over your head, a phone line, computer and an Internet account for 30 Days to complete your task. Goodbye Mr. Doe, see you in 30 days”<br />
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I have 30 days to rebuild my life with just the knowledge and know-how in my head. I grab my composition notebook and begin to write feverishly...<br />
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This has been a somewhat drastic dramatization of what has been asked of me by the author of this book, Joe Kumar, but I did it to illustrate the mindset that you must be in to take on such a task.<br />
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I have recently heard a very good saying that applies directly to this situation. <br />
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It reads:<br />
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“No Hocus-Pocus, Just Focus”<br />
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You must be hungry, very hungry. You must be willing to direct your mind on a given task until it is complete with no deviation. You must give it all you have 24X7, taking only the necessary time to sleep, eat and recharge the batteries a bit with family. Anything else is a distraction. No aimless<br />
wandering on the net or in your mind. Write down what you need to do and just do it.<br />
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Bill Gates and his Microsoft empire are masters at turning that beast of a ship on its ear and zooming off in another direction crushing everything in its path. That is what true focus can accomplish. I have first hand knowledge of this as I was one of the founders over at Netscape. Single minded persistence is what most successful people have in common, besides the original idea. Successful people can focus and they don’t make excuses why they can’t do something, because “can’t” is something that is not in their personal vocabulary.<br />
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You must also realize that you can’t please everyone. Many people will not like the way I dramatized the situation above, while others will see it as something more entertaining and useful than some of the canned answers that many people give. I like to have fun with my writing and I realize that I can’t please all of the people.<br />
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I hear this kind of thing all too often, “I am a nobody....at least that is what everyone else thinks. “Who is going to want to talk or correspond with me about anything?” Who cares if you are not known, people ask me all of the time, “How can you just ask to speak with the CEO of such and such company or talk directly to a person without knowing them. It’s easy when you remember these couple of things.<br />
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In my mind, a nobody is just someone who hasn’t tried to be somebody or has given up prematurely. You have to be willing to try to get out there and be somebody or no one will ever know that you are. trying. <br />
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CEOs, Celebrities, Gurus, etc. Are people just like you and I. They just happen to be in the public’s eye, that’s all. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s ok to admire someone for what they have accomplished, but don’t put them in a place in your mind where you are not worthy of talking to them. It’s just plain silly and you will miss many opportunities if you can’t deal with people like this. <br />
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Don’t be afraid to fail, because that is where you learn the most valuable information. It may be painful or uncomfortable at times, but you will get past it. After the situation passes as it always does, you will look back and say “Gee, that wasn’t so bad”. We make things much bigger in our minds than we have to. Fear is the progress killer, fear is a self imposed prison that is what keeps many people from their dreams.<br />
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It’s like Henry Ford said, <br />
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"Whether You Think You Can or Can't, You're Right."<br />
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There are only 3 possible outcomes to a question<br />
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Yes<br />
No<br />
Maybe<br />
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Always remember that #2 and #3 are negotiable. Recall when you were a child or if you have children<br />
now.....since when does no mean no? Your kids will hammer on you in different ways until they get what they want. No or Maybe are a challenge for you to get to Yes. You don’t have to be a hard sell, just be persistent and think of different ways to get your potential partner what they want, while keeping in mind what you want out of the deal. Really listen.<br />
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At any rate, I am going to stop preaching here. I have been setting you up for how I am going to Attack my 30 day challenge. I am not going to write gobs and gobs of non-workable stuff, just a very simple plan that I know can be accomplished by anyone with average intelligence and aptitude. Look, a person is successful just in the sincere attempt to become successful. Go out there and give it an honest try, you may surprise yourself.<br />
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I am focused on Joint Venture Marketing and Digitally Delivered Information Products for the most part these days, so that is what I will be drilling down on in my plan.<br />
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Here we go...<br />
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Day 1: Whew! Gotta get things rolling quickly here. The first thing I must do it get those pesky bill collectors from calling. I pick up the phone and call each one. I tell them that I will have their money to them in 30days. It will do them no good to keep calling as I don’t have the money to pay them right now and need to use the phone for the next 30 days for business.<br />
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This will only take an hour or so of the first day. I would then take the rest of the day off to gather my thoughts and devise a plan that will work within the 30day time-frame with the tools and resources I have at my disposal. I must be able to have a quiet environment to do this, so I will spend time at the beach or in the mountains with nobody around.<br />
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I will have my handy composition note book and pen in hand to write down some ideas that come to my head for what I must do next. I must also remain calm and confident. People can’t think clearly if they are in a panic and full of fear. I know that it is easier said than done, but fear and any negative thoughts must be set aside. There is no room for them in your life, especially your business life.<br />
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I know from experience that I must find a group of potential customers with money to spend. They must have a problem that I can solve for them. I must then develop a product to fulfill these needs. I understand that there are numerous affiliate programs and products out there, but those are for later on down the road. I need to create my own product quickly. That is where the quicker profits are going to be made.<br />
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Right now, I need to get all of the logistical things out of the way. Time for a list of products and services that I will need to do the job. I was not given any instruction on if I have any money or not, but I will assume that I have at least a little room left on my credit cards. Many of the products and services have a FREE 30-day trial, so I will take advantage of this fact to reduce the start-up costs where applicable.<br />
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Although there are many FREE services out there for you to use, I don’t recommend using them. There is a hidden price you pay with using FREE services that amounts to lost sales and credibility. There is always some advertising involved with any FREE products and we don’t want to confuse your potential customers with that. <br />
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People are not searching to buy a product or service from you, they are looking to solve a problem from someone who knows what they are talking about, so having a Geocities website, or any other ad sponsored service will look like you are a newbie.<br />
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Here is my list of products, software, services and short explanation why they are needed to get started.<br />
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Service – Autoresponder –Getresponse.com or Eznetgroup.net<br />
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I have used both of these services and I highly recommend both. Both are reasonably priced with various options. An auto responder is used to stay in contact with your potential customers as well as current and past customers. You must have some form of newsletter/ezine that covers the interests of your market segment.<br />
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There has been much written about the use of Autoresponders, I highly recommend you reading that vast amount of material out there to become familiar with it. Since we only have 30 days to make a profit, I would say that you will need daily or bi-daily contact to gain your potential clients trust.<br />
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Normally, I keep a pattern of once per week with my standard newsletter and once per week for a special offer. We don’t want to flood people with offers as they tend to unsubscribe.<br />
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Auto Responder Websites<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.getresponse.com<br />
$17.95 Month<br />
http://www.eznetgroup.net<br />
$15.97 Month<br />
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Software - HTML editor – Dreamweaver or Frontpage<br />
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Until recently (6 months or so) I was building all of my web pages manually. I mean I used a UNIX text editor vi and built them the old fashioned way. I started that way back in 1995 where there were no HTML editors and just stayed that path.<br />
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Thanks goodness I was forced to get Dreamweaver in January because I had to do some special things for a company and they wanted me to use DW. At any rate, I can’t believe how much easier it is to use a quality product like this. My web development time has been drastically reduced.. If you aren’t using a good HTML editor, you need to get one of these. It took me a couple of days to get the basics down, but that is all you need for the project at hand.<br />
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I haven’t used Frontpage, however you can’t go anywhere without hearing a reference to Microsofts flagship HTML editor.<br />
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HTML Editors<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.macromedia.com <br />
Free to try $250 to buy<br />
http://www.microsoft.com<br />
Free to try $99 to buy<br />
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Service - 3rd Party Merchant Account – Clickbank, 2Checkout, Paypal, Paysystems & Amazon<br />
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All of the services listed below are very solid companies that I have been dealing with for many years. They are have their unique pluses and minuses. I use all of them for various types of products and services I sell. They all take a couple of days to setup, so you need to keep that in mind once you sign up.<br />
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I am including Amazon as many information publishers forget about it. Amazon takes a bit of work to get into, but it is worth it in the long run. You can’t beat the amount of traffic they get. You will need to get an ISBN number to participate. You can find more information on getting an ISBN number at http://www.isbn.org <br />
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For my 30 day plan I will be using Clickbank as they are the only one that has a built-in affiliate program that can be started with virtually no effort.<br />
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Merchants<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.clickbank.com<br />
$49 setup – No Monthly – Digital Products Only<br />
http://www.2checkout.com<br />
$49 setup - No Monthly – All Products Allowed<br />
http://www.paypal.com<br />
No Setup Fee – No Monthly All Products Allowed<br />
http://www.paysystems.com<br />
$49 Setup – No Monthly – All Products Allowed<br />
http://www.amazon.com <br />
$19 Setup – No Monthly - $12 year<br />
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Software -PDF Creator/Reader – Adobe Acrobat or Equivalent <br />
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There are a lot of different opinions about what kind of eBook software one should use. I have tried many, but I always seem to come back to Adobe’s PDF.<br />
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There are many reasons, but the one that sticks with me the most is that it is platform independent. It doesn’t matter if you have a PC, Mac or UNIX computer system. PDF is viewable on them all. It is also one of the only formats that is accepted at Amazon, Barns and Noble or Borders.<br />
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PDF Creator and Reader<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.adobe.com<br />
Acrobat $250 Acrobat Reader $FREE<br />
http://www.planetpdf.com <br />
N/A Directory<br />
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Service - Webhosting Account – Host4Profit or A zillion others<br />
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Be very careful here. The key to good customer service and satisfaction is having your server up when it is needed. Host4Profits has been around for a long time and have a great reputation. Plus, you can get a residual income stream for recommending their services.<br />
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Webhosting Accounts<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.Host4Profit.com <br />
$24.95 per month<br />
http://www.allcheaphosting.com <br />
N/A - Directory of Services<br />
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Product - Small handheld digital recorder w/phone adapter.<br />
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There are many different products on the market that will accomplish the same task. But not all of them are created equally. Conducting interviews on the phone is one of the easiest ways to gather valuable information for my products. <br />
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Don’t skimp on quality here. I own a Sony ICD-BP100. I very nice unit with all of the software that goes along with it<br />
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Digital Recorder w/Phone Adapter<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.sony.com <br />
$69.00 and worth every penny<br />
http://www.radioshack.com <br />
$14.95 Mini Recorder Control<br />
Catalog #: 43-1237 Model: 43-1237<br />
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Software – FTP Client – Secure FX<br />
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I have tried many FTP programs and I know there are many that are more popular, but for this techie, Secure FX is simple to use and has the option to use SSL encryption for your piece of mind. <br />
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There are many of them out there, so I am including a link to a directory as well. On the search bar, just type in “ftp client” and this should return many results.<br />
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Secure FX FTP Client<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.vandyke.com/products/securefx <br />
Free to Try $59.95 to buy<br />
http://www.download.com<br />
N/A Directory<br />
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Service – Access to Publishing Co-op Sites – Pushbutton Publishing.<br />
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These are websites that have many resale rights products you can sell individually or in bundles. I am including them here as they are an inexpensive resource for bonus and FREE giveaways. Use them to beef up your own product offering.<br />
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Resale Rights Products<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.pushbuttonpublishing.com <br />
$19.95 per month<br />
http://www.resalerightsriches.com<br />
$97 one time activation fee<br />
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Service – MiniSite/eBook Cover – KillerCovers or MaxCovers<br />
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As my friend Vaughan Davidson says:<br />
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It is a fact, people DO judge a book by its cover, or a product by its package! Don't believe me? Go into any book store or video store and look around. Nine times out of ten it is the cover design or packaging that will first draw your eye to a particular product. It's at that moment your first impressions are formed and the sale is made..... or lost!<br />
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Don’t skimp or cheap out here. An unprofessional site or ebook cover can kill or retard your sales drastically. Get it done right. If you are not a graphics person, get a professional to do it.<br />
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Mini-Site – eBook Cover<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.killercovers.com <br />
$197 per site/ecover<br />
http://www.maxcovers.com <br />
$149 per site/ecover<br />
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Software – File Compression – Winzip<br />
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Winzip is the only files compression utility that I have ever used for my PC. You can go to download.com and look for others, but this is the industry standard. You will need it to uncompress files that you receive from your vendors or from programs that you have downloaded.<br />
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You will also need it to compress your packages for upload to your website.<br />
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File Compression Utility<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.winzip.com <br />
Free to Try $29 to buy<br />
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Service – Transcription - Joann Moes<br />
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I can’t say enough about Joann Moes work. She has done several projects for me and is very fast and accurate. She does way more than transcription. Anything having to do with text manipulation, scanning, editing, etc. I highly recommend her service.<br />
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I found her from a very cool service called elance. Elance is an auction site for all kinds of services. If you need anything done that you are not a wizard at, elance is the place to go.<br />
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Transcription Services<br />
Pricing<br />
FASTYPECLEV@aol.com <br />
Varies, but very reasonable<br />
http://www.elance.com <br />
Varies<br />
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Service - Domain Name Provider<br />
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Something that is very important is to get you very own domain name. This is what will identify you to the rest of the world. You know, www.easytoremembername.com You must get your own domain as it definitely adds to your credibility. Even if it is your name, like www.rodbeckwith.com <br />
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There are many services out there, but the most reliable and best priced has been www.GoDaddy.com Goofy left over dot com name, but they have been the most progressive in providing services that people want at a fair price.<br />
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Domain Services<br />
Pricing<br />
http://www.godaddy.com <br />
$8.95 Per Year<br />
http://www.internic.net/alpha.html <br />
N/A Directory of Domain Registrars<br />
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Products – Self-Help, Motivational/Inspirational Reading Material <br />
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During these times of stress and growth, it is helpful to have positive reinforcement during the in between times. I have a very respectable library of such books, articles and websites that I frequent to keep my mind positive. Negative thoughts can hinder your progress in a big way and must be avoided at all costs.<br />
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Must have books and information<br />
Website<br />
Pricing<br />
Think and Grow Rich<br />
http://www.tagr.com<br />
$24<br />
How to Make Money on Demand<br />
http://www.howtomakemoneyondemand.com <br />
$37<br />
SelfGrowth.com<br />
http://www.selfgrowth.com<br />
N/A Directory<br />
Getmotivation.com<br />
http://www.getmotivation.com<br />
N/A Website<br />
Mpowers.com<br />
http://www.mpowers.com<br />
Varies w/title<br />
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Day 2: Software, Products and Services Day<br />
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Is a day of downloading and setting up all of the software, services and products above. This must be done right away as some of the services such as the merchant account takes a few days to get ready.<br />
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Days 3-5: Product Research Days<br />
<br />
Are spent doing research for the new product. I first must define what type of product(s) I want to develop. It is important to remember that you should develop a product that you have some knowledge and passion about. If you are thinking about trying something new, forget it for now.<br />
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To learn something new is fine, but if you are on a tight schedule for success, you really need to start someplace that is on familiar ground. Or find experts that can give you an interview. In fact, that is just what I am going to do with this product. I am going to develop a platoon or compilation product with influential members of the Internet marketing community.<br />
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Good places to do research are readily found all over the Internet. Here are some of the places I like to go to gather basic intelligence information when dealing with the Internet marketing segment.<br />
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http://www.ablake.net/forum<br />
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http://www.netbreakthoughs.com<br />
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http://www.howtocorp.com/forum <br />
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http://www.revenews.com/opinion/discuss.cgi <br />
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http://www.williecrawford.com <br />
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Here is a resources of general interest forums and newsgroups<br />
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http://groups.google.com/ <br />
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Here is a good website to research the many Online and Offline marketing scams, plus some systems that work.<br />
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http://www.mazu.com <br />
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You can also find great resources at your local library. An often overlooked place with a plethora of valuable information.<br />
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Days 5-15: Product and Website Development Days<br />
For me, this is one of the easiest parts of the whole process. I have decided to do a platoon/compilation eBook on an age-old problem on the Internet Traffic, or lack thereof. It really doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, what really matters is that you have 2 things before you write one word.<br />
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A large hungry group of people that have money to spend on learning about something they are passionate about.<br />
This large group must be accessible from many different inexpensive venues.<br />
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After gathering enough information on what problem you are going to solve for this very hungry market, you then start putting together a simple outline of what the product will include. You then come up with the most critical questions that people tend to ask over and over. You must also list what appropriate bonuses that should be included.<br />
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Platoon/Compilation products can be done rapidly as the content that is contributed by many people. My job is to interview the participants either via an email questionnaire or via telephone. Since I am not a well known author or marketer at this time, I shoot for quantity rather than a targeted group of quality. I send out to a large group of people, between 50 and 100. To alleviate resistance I will offer the participants a 60% cut of revenues. The pricing of the product will be in the $49-$99 price range.<br />
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I have learned some very valuable lessons on how to build a platoon/compilation product quickly and effortlessly. Remember that the people you are going to contact are EXTREMELY busy. They will agree to work with you most of the time as long as the project with not take up an enormous amount of their most precious resource....Time. <br />
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You must also remember that these guys/gals are approached every day with JV offers and all other kinds of deals, so you absolutely must make it worth it for them financially. Sometimes they will do it just to get their name out there, but don’t count on it. Most of the time, giving them a piece of the pie is much more of an incentive to get you on their to-do list. Giving someone 10%, 20% even 40% is not going to turn most of these guys heads. You must give them at least 50% of gross sales. <br />
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Joe Kumar started his affiliate program at 75% in the favor of the platoon authors and any potential JV partners. And on a $97 product, that is very attractive to participants. Very smart move on Joe’s part. On one of my projects in the past I offered the authors 100% of the profit to participate. This was done to get my name out there, build my list and although I won’t make immediate profit from this action, I know it will come back to me ten-fold in prospects for the future.<br />
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Days 16-20: Joint Venture and Testimonial Acquisition Days<br />
After completing the product phase, you must then gain access to the targeted customers for your product quickly. I will already have a built in market with the platoon authors I have selected. They will send out the offer for the product to their lists.<br />
<br />
Since I have already studied my market and gathered a list of the people/websites that I would like to Joint Venture with other than the authors, I craft a letter to send out to those people.<br />
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I will make sure that I personalize each JV letter I send out. I don’t mean write the whole offer over and over, but you most humanize the letter such as it shows that you care enough about them to spend the time to do this. By personalization, I don’t mean just their name, I mean say something nice about their website, service, software, etc. Don’t be phony as people will read right through that. Just be honest and find something you like. It isn’t that hard.<br />
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If you don’t so this, you can be accused of SPAM. Sometimes you will be accused of this regardless. Just make the effort to do things right and most of the time it will turn out fine.<br />
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At any rate, keep the letter short and to the point. Busy webmasters don’t have time to read War and Peace.<br />
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Days 20-25: Sales Letter Tuning and Newsletter/Ezine Days<br />
<br />
Test, Test, Test. That is the mantra of a true marketer. You must test various aspects of your headlines, sales copy, and pricing. Then establish a control piece to compare all of your changes to. I recommend changing only making one key change at a time so you can track it accurately.<br />
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You must also start building your newsletter to build up your prospect and customer list. This doesn’t have to be a long thing that takes up an enormous amount of your time. How I do most of my newsletters is via autoresponder. The secret is to do many in advance so you are not pressured to do them every day/week/month. I recommend contacting your no more than 2 times per week unless you have some kind of daily thing that your customers would be interested in.<br />
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There are many good places for you to get FREE articles out there. Go to any website at look around. Many will give you permission right on the webpage, while others you will have to ask the authors permission. Never just assume the author will allow you to publish something. This can get you into trouble. Always ask if you are not sure!<br />
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Day 25-30: Begin Cycle Again on New Product and Search for Affiliate Product Days<br />
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I believe in the Matthew Lesko way of producing many products in succession. Unless you have a runaway hit on a new subject that people are extremely interested in, the shelf life of your product is limited. You can verticalize it in many instances to extend its life, but the product will eventually cool off and you will need something new to replace it.<br />
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Always be on the lookout for products that can compliment your own. Affiliate programs for aligned products are a very nice additional income stream. A solid back-end is where most of us make the lions share of out money. <br />
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A back-end is simply other related products that may or may not be created by you. I would plug these into my newsletter and/or send a special offer to my now growing list of customers/prospects increasing my revenue.<br />
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Conclusion: <br />
<br />
Becoming proficient at knowing what people want and why are not brain surgery. They haven’t changed for thousands of years. Please read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. http://www.tagr.com. It will help you see what these things are more clearly and help you identify and develop a successful persons persona.<br />
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Also read, How to Make Money on Demand by Mike Litman. http://www.howtomakemoneyondemand.com This book is so awesome on helping you understand why many people fail, while others succeed.<br />
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Always be ready to educate yourselves as the opportunity arises everyday. If you are not learning a new thing or two everyday, then you are not trying. Exercise your mind, the dividends will pay off well into the future. Many people avoid thinking and this is what contributes to their failure.<br />
<br />
Also, keep a composition notebook, pocket notepad or a digital recorder with you at all times. If you write down or record your ideas and thoughts, they are guaranteed to be saved to be reviewed at a later time. Many times before I started using this, I lost many great ideas. Don’t let this happen to you.<br />
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Continuing on, I think it is important to note that you must keep the pressure up all of the time with new products and services for your customers and potential customers. Although I haven’t quite reached this point yet, I think and good info product publisher should be doing at least 1 product every month.<br />
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Joint Venture, Joint Venture, Joint Venture. I can’t emphasize this strategy enough. You must be constantly searching for new partners on a daily basis. Set a number of messages that you would like to send out a day and stick to it. This is the lifeblood of your business. Everything else will fall into place if this is your primary focus. Your targeted list will be built with the help of others. Read my newsletter at http://www.mrjv.com for better insights on how to become a JV Marketer. I will be releasing Secrets of the JV Masters here in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for it.<br />
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Keep in contact with the relationships you have already established. Relationships grow stale if they are not nurtured, so even if it is just a simple “Hello Joe, hope all is well with you and how are things?” goes a long way to sustaining a good relationship.<br />
<br />
Just keep trying and you will succeed. This business can be very rewarding and profitable, but it does require some patience and persistence. Here is a great quote from H. Ross Perot on achieving success:<br />
<br />
“Most people give up just when they are about to achieve success. They quit on the one-yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from the winning touchdown.”<br />
<br />
Or as Captain Taggart(Tim Allen) from Galaxy Quest said:<br />
<br />
“Never Give Up, Never Surrender”<br />
<br />
To Your Success!<br />
<br />
Rod Beckwith<br />
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<br />
Ryan Deiss – SiteSightings.com<br />
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Since 2001, Ryan Deiss has made a career for himself on the Internet by creating products that make people say, "Why didn't I think of that?" <br />
<br />
Ryan's first project, The "Webs Worth Watching" Newsletter, was launched out of a desire to offer something different in an Online Marketing related ezine. Since then "Something Different" has remained his battle cry. In November of 2001, Ryan launched Opt-In Automator, which has since helped hundreds of ezine publishers achieve higher opt-in rates in highly competitive markets. Its characteristic "javascript warning" pop-up has now become commonplace on many of the top marketing related websites. <br />
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His next product, Pop-Up Rotator, literally sent the controversial world of pop-up marketing spinning. Using Pop-Up Rotator, online marketers could now display multiple pop-ups on their site in a defined series so that visitors were exposed to a new ad every time they returned to the site. This not only increased profits for the marketers, it also made pop-ups as a whole less annoying to visitors since they were no longer forced to see the same pop-up time and time again. <br />
<br />
Ryan's fuel for starting his online businesses came from a highly unlikely source...a girl. As Ryan tells the story... <br />
<br />
"In May of 2001 I decided that I needed to buy a ring for my girlfriend. Now this wasn't just any ring, mind you, this was *THE RING*. By that I mean, the ring that I would give to the girl of my dreams when I asked her to be my wife. There was a problem... Engagement rings are anything but cheap. In fact, they're the anti-cheap. But since I had no money, I decided that after two years of sitting on the sidelines I would finally try my hand at this 'crazy Internet thing' to see if I could bring in enough cash to eventually pay off the ring." <br />
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Fortunately for Ryan, he surpassed his original goal and started making a full-time income from his websites in less than 4 months. Now Ryan's primary focus is on new product development and teaching others how they can rollout and market products using the Internet.<br />
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Here are some of Ryan’s “Why didn’t I think of that” products...<br />
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“How to Create Best-Sellers Online”<br />
http://www.CreateBestSellers.com<br />
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Best-selling authors, Jimmy D. Brown and Ryan Deiss, team up to show you the secrets to generating fortune and fame on the Internet with your own runaway hit poduct.<br />
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Secrets to Cashing In On Dead Software”<br />
http://www.DeadSoftware.com <br />
<br />
Ryan Deiss, along with software expert BenJamin Prater, share with you the top-secret “Dead Software” strategy for rolling out your own software products quickly, easily and inexpensively (even if you’ve never programmed a single line of code in your life).<br />
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Pop-Up Rotator<br />
http://www.PopUpRotator.com<br />
<br />
Discover the amazing, new pop-up tactic that puts your opt-in list, backend sales, and affiliate promotions on AUTOPILOT. <br />
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Opt-In Automator<br />
http://www.OptInAutomator.com<br />
<br />
Double your Ezine’s opt-in rate in 8 minutes with this simple <br />
piece of software!<br />
<br />
“The Great Ezine Experiment”<br />
http://www.EzineExperiment.com<br />
<br />
Read about how one Internet “nobody” turned a simple ezine into an online empire that earns him THOUSANDS of dollars each month (plus the secrets to duplicating his success).<br />
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AutorespondIt Advanced Autoresponder System<br />
http://www.AutorespondIt.com<br />
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Simply put, it’s the most inexpensive, ADVANCED autoresponder system on the NET. ‘Nuff said!<br />
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“Webs Worth Watching Newsletter” – http://www.SiteSightings.com<br />
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Discover the BEST sites you've NEVER seen, along with tried and true 'From the Trenches' marketing tips, all in one place.<br />
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Answer – By Ryan Deiss<br />
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Day 1: Choose a target market.<br />
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Your target market can be anything from lawyers to hang-gliding enthusiasts. The only qualifications are that:<br />
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The market/niche must be easily reached via the Internet. Look for markets that have their own forums and websites. (ex. hobbies)<br />
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The market must actively be purchasing products via the Internet. If your market isn’t already buying online, what makes you think they’ll buy from you? (Here’s a hint...they wont!)<br />
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You must have some level of interest in the target market you choose. And while it isn’t necessary, it would also help if you already possessed a reasonable amount of expertise in the niche you choose.<br />
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Your best bet is to brainstorm a dozen or so possible target markets, and then narrow it down to your favorite using the list above.<br />
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Once you’ve chosen a market that meets our basic qualifications, it’s time to move onto Day 2...<br />
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Day 2: Choose and begin developing your first “product”.<br />
<br />
Once you have chosen your market, you now need to develop a presence in that market. At this point, many online marketing experts would tell you to create your own product. And you know what? I couldn’t agree more!<br />
<br />
If you’re going to be successful in a niche, I believe that you absolutely must have a line of products that you can call your own.<br />
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But here’s where my strategy differs from that of most other online marketing experts...<br />
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Rather than creating time-intensive products such as ebooks or software as your first venture, I instead recommend that you create a “product” that can be completed in 24 – 48 hours.<br />
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How does that sound? <br />
Imagine having your own product in a target market of your choosing in less than 48 hours. It can be done, and here are the types of products that I’m referring to:<br />
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Ezines<br />
Mini-Courses (aka eCourses)<br />
Special reports<br />
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If you’ve noticed, everytime I’ve used the word “product” in this section it has always been accompanied by quotation marks (“”). That’s because my definition of a “product” differs greatly from other people’s opinion.<br />
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For example, when you think of a product, you think of it as something you can SELL, d |
